Cincinnati MS 1000 Final 2018 - Federer v. Djokovic

[Federberg]

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

here comes DF with his negativity

 

[DarthFed]

here comes DF with his negativity

Buddy, are you seeing this one differently? It's a horror fest from him these last couple days.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

Woah! How does he play that well.

Now come on Roger! Show your game.

 

[Fiero425]

Well Nole draws "first blood" breaking Federer at 3 all! Roger got a code violation for an audible obscenity! :whistle:

 

[atttomole]

Not surprised with what I am seeing right now. What surprised me is how Tsitsipas was able to beat Djokovic at the Rogers Cup. Maybe he had found his consistency.

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

As always I love this challenge for Fed.

 

[Fiero425]

Not surprised with what I am seeing right now. What surprised me is how Tsitsipas was able to beat Djokovic at the Rogers Cup. Maybe he had found his consistency.

Well Nole's hitting the ball on a rope if he gets his racket on the ball! He's making Roger work hard if he doesn't get that 1st serve in! :whistle:

 

[atttomole]

Djokovic is in the zone right now. His return seems back to its best. Federer has nowhere to go. I fear this could end in two sets.

 

[atttomole]

Well Nole's hitting the ball on a rope if he gets his racket on the ball! He's making Roger work hard if he doesn't get that 1st serve in! :whistle:

Roger can not afford to play many long points at 37.

 

[Federberg]

Buddy, are you seeing this one differently? It's a horror fest from him these last couple days.

haha! I'm just teasing you mate. He's not been flowing at all. Seemed to show some good signs in the tie break against Goffin yesterday though. But he's not really bringing it today. I actually don't think his serve is that great. He's been forced to do some hero stuff on serve, but I like him better when his serve is allowing him to set up his offensive play. Not seeing that so far

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Fed needs to be ultra-aggressive now. Should not engage in extended rallies. Should perhaps indulge in some SABR moves.

I was thinking that Novak vacated his spot from Fed's head. But, still some remnants of him are there.

 

[DarthFed]

haha! I'm just teasing you mate. He's not been flowing at all. Seemed to show some good signs in the tie break against Goffin yesterday though. But he's not really bringing it today. I actually don't think his serve is that great. He's been forced to do some hero stuff on serve, but I like him better when his serve is allowing him to set up his offensive play. Not seeing that so far

Yeah his serve has actually been poor as well the last few games. The problem is his return and baseline play is so harmless right now it makes life easy for whoever he's playing.

 

[DarthFed]

No placement on Roger's serve which happens when he misses a bunch and then plays it safer to land more.

 

[Federberg]

Yeah his serve has actually been poor as well the last few games. The problem is his return and baseline play is so harmless right now it makes life easy for whoever he's playing.

I think he needs to commit to aggressive returns against Novak. The same way he's decided to do against Rafa. There's no point ever not being no the offensive against these guys. If it doesn't go in, so what? Better than a slow dispiriting death against them

 

[DarthFed]

I think he needs to commit to aggressive returns against Novak. The same way he's decided to do against Rafa. There's no point ever not being no the offensive against these guys. If it doesn't go in, so what? Better than a slow dispiriting death against them

I think for the most part he has been aggressive, the problem is he is missing way too many. He returned great in the first set vs Mayer and set 3 vs Stan. Other than that it's just been miss after miss this tournament.

 

[atttomole]

Gift!

 

[atttomole]

I think for the most part he has been aggressive, the problem is he is missing way too many. He returned great in the first set vs Mayer and set 3 vs Stan. Other than that it's just been miss after miss this tournament.

His major problem now is that he misses more often than he used to. I remember he used to make surgical, diagonal forehands from one corner of the court to the other, seemingly without any effort, and now he can not hit those shots anymore. He is almost like a shell of his old self. Painful to watch.

 

[DarthFed]

Well they both just broke themselves.

 

[DarthFed]

Another problem is that this is just one of those matches where his net play is a disaster. I'm cringing anytime he's up there because bad things are happening.

 

[Federberg]

Another problem is that this is just one of those matches where his net play is a disaster. I'm cringing anytime he's up there because bad things are happening.

I think it's all tied together. Seems like a footwork issue to me. He's out of practice. Either he plays more or he's simply using this tournament as a a US Open warm up or we should all chill out and wait for that