Cincinnati MS 1000 Final 2018 - Federer v. Djokovic

[Moxie]

Well, to be fully honest the “faction wars” are a major reason I haven’t posted a lot lately. The noise just drowns out the signal.

The irony is that it has reminded me that while I’m a Roger fan, I also do enjoy and greatly respect Rafa and am going to miss him when he’s gone.

(I know I’m now dead to at least three Federer fans )

I hear ya. Part of me just wants to enjoy this for as long as it lasts. I can't swear I won't participate in the Fedal wars, but I am tired of it and I do really just want to enjoy Roger and Rafa, as long as we have left of them. Djokovic and Murray, too.

 

[DarthFed]

Looking at Djoker, if he plays passive and has these extended periods of erratic play you'd think Roger wins easy. And with Roger if he struggles to return and misses a high % of backhands you think Djokovic wins easy. May be stating the obvious but this figures to come down to who can find a good level more consistently. What I like about Roger is that he is staying aggressive for the most part even though he's missed a lot more than normal.

 

[atttomole]

I am now worried about Federer's stamina. He does not look like he can handle long points well. Whenever a long point is played, I expect Federer to miss, even though he wins some. I think the other players now know that Roger has become patchier, and they are ready to pounce. His best hope is to serve well, but his serve has been on and off this week. Not the kind of form he would like to be in when facing the best returner.

 

[DarthFed]

I am now worried about Federer's stamina. He does not look like he can handle long points well. Whenever a long point is played, I expect Federer to miss, even though he wins some. I think the other players now know that Roger has become patchier, and they are ready to pounce. His best hope is to serve well, but his serve has been on and off this week. Not the kind of form he would like to be in when facing the best returner.

The last two matches it seems he's gotten better in the longer rallies as the match went along. There was always a chance he'd be real flat today and that seemed to be the case. The good news is he is pulling it together with his back against the wall. The last 4 months it's been him losing a few matches that he was in control of.

 

[DarthFed]

I hope Fed was paying attention at Wimbledon to how bad Nole struggled moving forward. It seems better here but I still feel like Roger could have a lot of success tomorrow with short chip returns.

 

[Mastoor]

I don’t know if anyone noticed, but there seems a tradition in Cincinnati that Novak loses finals to Federer every 3 years. He did so in 2009, 2012 & 2015. Now they play once again in 2018.

There is definitely something in Cincinnati that Nole doesn’t like. All other big tournaments with exception of RG, Novak won at least twice. In Cincinnati, he lost all 5 finals he played.

All 3 previous Cincinnati finals against Federer, Nole lost while playing nervously.

Nole also played nervously in his previous matches in the tournament this year, which makes Federer heavy favourite in the final. The only chance for Nole is to tame his nerves and show that he is the better player of the two, so he can hope to be sixth time lucky.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

All stoked for the final!

I hope Roger takes the Roger 2.0 game to Nole. I hope he wins!

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

It's showtime guys. Federer vs Djokovic in an epic final. On a fast HC. Let the madness begin.

 

[britbox]

You mean loyal fool.

So loyal, you want the other fella to win.

 

[Riotbeard]

I hear ya. Part of me just wants to enjoy this for as long as it lasts. I can't swear I won't participate in the Fedal wars, but I am tired of it and I do really just want to enjoy Roger and Rafa, as long as we have left of them. Djokovic and Murray, too.

Haha, when I signed back on first time in a year or so, I thought to myself: they're still arguing?!

Also, "Fedal wars" needs to be some sort of Star Trek story arc...

 

[Moxie]

Haha, when I signed back on first time in a year or so, I thought to myself: they're still arguing?!

Also, "Fedal wars" needs to be some sort of Star Trek story arc...

They'll be long-retired and we'll still be arguing about it, I'm afraid.

 

[Murat Baslamisli]

I can't read this one. Roger showed some signs of goatness in patches, never sustained, same with Nole. His mind wanders to places and he loses interest for bit, then comes back with a vengeance. What I seem to remember in their finals before is Roger always came out of the gates fast and had a fast and easy first set. By the time Nole got his stuff together and made it a tight second set, Roger would just grab it and run.
So it might be an idea for Roger to stick to that plan. Hit the ground running.

 

[monfed]

They'll be long-retired and we'll still be arguing about it, I'm afraid.

Nope only you're arguing. We're all cool about Fed being the GOAT.

 

[Fiero425]

Well we're going to have to wait a bit longer since Halep unable to finish Bertens off in straight sets! What an awful TB by SH!

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Well we're going to have to wait a bit longer since Halep unable to finish Bertens off in straight sets! What an awful TB by SH!

I am in India where the time is 2 AM. lol

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Federer's finding it slowly. xD

 

[Federberg]

For the life of me I can't understand why Roger has such difficulty with Novak's second serve

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Its neck on neck stuff.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

The first serve is extremely important for Roger today.

 

[DarthFed]

Federer's play is flat out disappointing, only serving well. You need more than that to beat Djokovic.