Federer To Djokovic: This Year Will Be Hard To Repeat

[ClayDeath]

 


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London (AFP) - Roger Federer has warned Novak Djokovic he will find it hard to repeat his incredible 2015 campaign

Federer was Djokovic's last victim of the year as the Serb romped to a 6-3, 6-4 victory in the final of the ATP Tour Finals on Sunday.
It was 28-year-old Djokovic's 11th title of a golden year that saw the world number one win 82 of his 88 matches, reach all four Grand Slam finals and win Wimbledon, the Australian Open and the US Open.
But 17-time Grand Slam champion Federer knows just how difficult it will be for Djokovic to emulate his triumphs in 2016.
"It's hard to play at this pace all the time. You are talking about narrow margins; a break point here and there can change the whole outcome," Federer said.
"You can't always be on the winning side. Margins are very small at the top.

"That is why this year of Novak's is amazing. I've been there, Rafa (Nadal) has been there. We both know how hard it is to back it up year after year.
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"It's not the first good year for Novak. Certainly he's going into next year with massive confidence. He's playing great.
It's going to be hard for him to have a bad year, but you can't just repeat a year like this.
"It takes a lot of effort. You've got to be in shape physically with no injuries whatsoever. Mentally you have to be at your peak at all times. It's not as easy as it seems sometimes.
Federer remains one of the few players capable of troubling Djokovic, as he showed when he ended the Serb's 23-match winning run with a straight sets victory in the group stage of this year's Tour Finals.

While he was unable to repeat that performance in the final, and also lost the Wimbledon and US Open finals to Djokovic, the 34-year-old is adamant he doesn't need to change much in his game to wrestle the major trophies away from the world number one.

Asked if he needed to alter hs style of play in a bid to subdue Djokovic, Federer said: "Not really because I feel I need to work on my overall game [and] that is going to have an impact against most players.

"For me Rafa is the unique player in the field. I used to work more precisely against him.

"With Novak it's more straightforward. If you don't play very well you are going to have a hard time. If you play better I know I have my chances with my game."
Federer will now head off to recharge his batteries and plan a fresh assault on Djokovic in 2016.
As ever, winning another Wimbledon title is high on his list of priorities and he will also target a gold medal at the Rio Olympics.
"Wimbledon is a big one. Rio as well but it's not my number one priority. It starts with the Australian Open which is just around the corner," he said.
"Once that's over then I look more towards the future.
"I don't think there's that much I need to change, other than a few tactical things against certain players at some times. I had a lot of great things in my game this year."

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[MikeOne]

it will be tough because this is right up there with most dominant season ever, more dominant than Roger's 2006 IMO. Now Roger was able to produce 4 years of incredible dominance - 3 majors in 04, 2 in 05, 3 in 06 and 3 in 07. Between 05 and 06 he only had 9 losses, which is crazy.

I do think Novak is in a better place that he was in 2012 though, he seemed gassed by end of 2011 as it was the first time he became dominant. This year he looked quite fresh towards the end so seems more comfortable dominating, as if he belongs there. I think 2016 will be a better year for Nole than 2012 was, where he wasn't at is best in 3 of the slams. I think Nole will have a dominant year but at the same time, opposition will be stiff. Murray had a great second half of 15, nadal got significantly better towards the end, Federer played very well all year and Stan has two majors and will be ready in 2016. It should be an interesting year!

 

[Federberg]

Interesting that you think it's a more dominant season. Even Becker thinks 2006 was just a bit more dominant. Certainly an all time great season and in the discussion. Wonder if that's just the recency effect raising its head...

 

Fwiw.. if the argument is that the competition (something I disagree with btw) Novak faced makes his season better, then no one should ever speak of Laver's calendar slam again!

 

[britbox]

Recency does have a big effect.  Kind of a "what did you do for me yesterday" type of argument... but no doubt Novak's year is up there with the best.

 

[Federberg]

Recency does have a big effect. Kind of a “what did you do for me yesterday” type of argument… but no doubt Novak’s year is up there with the best.

No argument there! A truly awesome year and I wasn't trying to take anything away from it. I just found the opinion that it was more dominant than Roger's 2006... odd

 

[britbox]

britbox wrote:
Recency does have a big effect. Kind of a “what did you do for me yesterday” type of argument… but no doubt Novak’s year is up there with the best.

No argument there! A truly awesome year and I wasn’t trying to take anything away from it. I just found the opinion that it was more dominant than Roger’s 2006… odd

Part of the problem with modern day reporting... everything has to be labelled as the "best of all time" or similar.

 

[Federberg]

Federberg wrote:
<blockquote>
britbox wrote:
Recency does have a big effect. Kind of a “what did you do for me yesterday” type of argument… but no doubt Novak’s year is up there with the best.

No argument there! A truly awesome year and I wasn’t trying to take anything away from it. I just found the opinion that it was more dominant than Roger’s 2006… odd</blockquote>
Part of the problem with modern day reporting… everything has to be labelled as the “best of all time” or similar.

Yes it's very irritating. Not least this new thing about calling everyone a "legend"

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

Roger is right.

How is Novak going to best this year? He has to do a Grand Slam and better than 82-6

Like it or not, that was a legendary year.

 

[EdbergsGhost]

This year, who really pushed Novak Djokovic besides Roger Federer and a redlining Wawrinka? The answer is Novak Djokovic. He worked on incrementally improving specific areas of his game that produced huge benefits. He won playing with supreme confidence toward the end of the year, but he also won playing poorly at times in the beginning of the year.

Looking at his potential opposition, Roger will be a year older. Rafa is still an unknown. Wawrinka's inconsistent form as always will be an unknown variable. Murray?? :scratch:  From the younger generation, there will be the oft injured duo of Raonic - Nishi,  and Dimitrov???

The margins between number 1 and the rest of the top five alone are substantial. What about the rest of the tour? Even if his level drops next year he has room.

Another question to ask might be: What if he continues to push himself and continues to improve next year?

 

[ClayDeath]

why exactly are Federer and Rafa concerned with what kind of year Djokovic will have next year or any other year to begin with?

that would be my question.

Roger says to djokovic that it will be hard to repeat this year.

and Rafa says something damn near equally ridiculous: he said he (Rafa) can improve but that Djokovic cant.

right. where are you living Rafa? under a rock. Djokovic has shown the whole damn world that he is constantly improving in every single area. and furthermore, Djokovic is also telling the world that he has more room to improve. Becker is also in the same camp.

 

well I would just keep my mouth shut and go do something about getting your ass handed to you time and again by Djokovic. worry about your own game, your fitness, and your own improvement.

don't worry about Djokovic. he is doing just fine. it is nearly impossible to get more than 2-3 games away from Djokovic in a set, let alone a bloody set. worry about that.

Djokovic has told the world that he is not going to fart around. he just said that he is stepping up his efforts to improve his game and his fitness further.

so don't expect his level to drop. he also does not get injured so he just keeps building his game.

roger is getting old and andy does not have a forehand. rafa lacks the hunger and the drive and the blistering work ethic he once had. rafa also refuses to change a damn thing.

what the hell do you think is going to happen with Djokovic? he has told you what he is after and I believe him: he said very specifically that he is in a good place to go after the rafa and roger's slam record.

 

worry about that. go outwork him and then you can stop him.

 

[Correspondent Kiu]

I looked up all Nole losses during the year, all 6 of them!

Lost to Roger 3 times(beat him 5 times), lost to Andy once(beat him 5 times), lost to Ivo once and lost FO to Stan.

Rafa went 0-4 against him, so did everyone else.

So Technically, YES, Rafa can improve against him and Nole can not improve any more against Rafa(unless Nole beats him 5 times next year...).

Rafa can improve by beating him at least one time in 2016

 

 

[Denis]

britbox wrote:
Recency does have a big effect. Kind of a “what did you do for me yesterday” type of argument… but no doubt Novak’s year is up there with the best.

No argument there! A truly awesome year and I wasn’t trying to take anything away from it. I just found the opinion that it was more dominant than Roger’s 2006… odd

Novaks 2015 year was better and more dominant than 2006. See the thread on Djokovic 2015 season for the arguments. It's quite straightforward really.

 

[Billie]

Well, let's look at these facts when comparing the 2 seasons:

1. More bigger titles won. They’ve both won three Grand Slams and have fallen in the finals of Roland Garros, but Djokovic won six Masters titles, which is a feat no-one has ever accomplished. They both won the ATP World Tour Finals.

2. Ruler of all the surfaces. Djokovic can now legitimately claim to be the best player of the world in all surfaces and in all conditions, clay included. He’s won Monte Carlo and Rome, hasn’t played Madrid and he reached Roland Garros finals beating on the way Rafael Nadal becoming only the second man to do that in Paris. On the other side, Federer reached three clay finals in 2006 and lost all of them to Nadal – he was the world’s second player on clay.

3. Record and number of matches vs. Top 10. Djokovic had to play more often against the best and his record was better – incredible 31-5 comparing to Roger’s 19-4 in 2006. Not only had Novak had a better record, he had to play 41% of his matches vs. Top 10 and Roger had to do that in only 24% of his matches nine years ago. Also, 52% of Novak’s matches came against Top 20 player comparing to Federer’s 35%. Djokovic had a 16-4 record against the Top 5 – same number of defeats as Federer, but a double more wins.

4. Stronger competition. If you compare Top 10 at the end of both years and rivals Djokovic and Federer faced in the finals, it is clear that Novak had a harder job. In the end of 2006 the Top 10 had 23 Masters titles together, this year the Top 10 has 70 more.

Difference is huge in Grand Slam titles also (35-15) – in 2006, apart from Federer and Nadal, there was only one player who’s won a major during his career (Andy Roddick) and Fernando Gonzalez and David Nalbandian were the only ones to reach a Slam final (Nalbandian before, at Wimbledon 2002, and Gonzo after, in Melbourne 2007). Fourth and seventh in the world (James Blake and Tommy Robredo) never played a major SF, while Davydenko was more regular (four semifinals). There was a Slam champion in the Top 20 (Hewitt 20th) and a Slam finalist (Baghdatis 12th).

Today’s Top 10, except for Federer, Nadal and Djokovic, features two more multiple Slam winners (Murray and Wawrinka), four players that were a part of a Slam final (Tsonga, Berdych, Ferrer, Nishikori) and even Richard Gasquet, the weakest member of current Top 10, has in his CV three Slam semifinals. Also, we have a Slam champion in the Top 20 (Cilic 13th).

ATP list 2006 – ATP list 2015
1. Roger Federer – 1. Novak Djokovic
2. Rafael Nadal – 2. Andy Murray
3. Nikolay Davydenko – 3. Roger Federer
4. James Blake – 4. Stan Wawrinka
5. Ivan Ljubicic – 5. Rafael Nadal
6. Andy Roddick – 6. Tomas Berdych
7. Tommy Robredo – 7. David Ferrer
8. David Nalbandian – 8. Kei Nishikori
9. Mario Ancic – 9. Richard Gasquet
10. Fernando Gonzalez – 10. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga

Opponents in finals (their spot on the ATP list at the moment):
Australian Open: Andy Murray (6)
Indian Wells: Roger Federer (2)
Miami: Andy Murray (4)
Monte Carlo: Tomas Berdych (8)
Rome: Roger Federer (2)
Wimbledon: Roger Federer (2)
US Open: Roger Federer (2)
Beijing: Rafael Nadal (8)
Shanghai: Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (15)
Paris: Andy Murray (3)
World Tour Finals (London): Roger Federer (3)

 

Opponents in finals (their spot on the ATP list at the moment):
Doha: Gael Monfils (30)
Australian open: Marcos Baghdatis (54)
Dubai: Rafael Nadal (2)
Indian Wells: James Blake (14)
Miami: Ivan Ljubicic (6)
Halle: Tomas Berdych (15)
Wimbledon: Rafael Nadal (2)
Rogers Cup: Richard Gasquet (51)
US Open: Andy Roddick (10)
Tokio: Tim Henman (55)
Madrid: Fernando Gonzalez (10)
Basel: Fernando Gonzalez (7)
Masters Cup (Shanghai): James Blake (8)

5. More ATP points collected. Novak has ended this season with 16.585 points – “translating“ Roger’s results into the current system means he had won 16.075 points.

 

 

[DarthFed]

Stan was the best player on clay this year. No one would take MC and Rome over RG.  And the competition difference is a little misleading. I think most would agree that Rafa in 2006 was a lot better than his 2015 self but of course he now has way more slams and MS events under his belt.  And you also include Roger's career stats when the guy is 34 and is just another good player at this point.  For the record I do have Nole's year slightly ahead of Roger's for one reason and one reason only, more MS titles.

 

[Denis]

Lol, Stan was the best player on clay this year? You got to be kidding me. The clay season lasts over two months. He did nothing before RG. Trollish comment really.

 

[DarthFed]

He won RG and soundly beat Djokovic in the final. Only the biggest idiot in the world would take Djokovic's clay season over Stan's.  Being the best on a surface in a given year means winning a slam on it. That's just a common sense requirement. Ask Djokovic how much he cares about MC and Rome after he lost another RG final.

 

[Denis]

He won RG and soundly beat Djokovic in the final. Only the biggest idiot in the world would take Djokovic’s clay season over Stan’s. Being the best on a surface in a given year means winning a slam on it. That’s just a common sense requirement. Ask Djokovic how much he cares about MC and Rome after he lost another RG final.

You are conflating two different things: the best clay player of 2015 with the most prestigeous clay trophy.

 

[DarthFed]

Twisted wrote:
He won RG and soundly beat Djokovic in the final. Only the biggest idiot in the world would take Djokovic’s clay season over Stan’s. Being the best on a surface in a given year means winning a slam on it. That’s just a common sense requirement. Ask Djokovic how much he cares about MC and Rome after he lost another RG final.

You are conflating two different things: the best clay player of 2015 with the most prestigeous clay trophy.

Not at all. They are one and the same. Using the same faulty logic we could call Roger the best grass player the past two years because he played in and won a warmup tourney while Djokovic didn't play.  MC and Rome are warmups to the main event, regular season vs. postseason, etc.

 

[Mastoor]

I agree with Federer,  it won't be easy for him to repeat his 2015 success, to sit in No1e's chair twice in 2016. ;-)

 

 

 

[Mastoor]

Denis wrote:
<blockquote>
Twisted wrote:
He won RG and soundly beat Djokovic in the final. Only the biggest idiot in the world would take Djokovic’s clay season over Stan’s. Being the best on a surface in a given year means winning a slam on it. That’s just a common sense requirement. Ask Djokovic how much he cares about MC and Rome after he lost another RG final.

You are conflating two different things: the best clay player of 2015 with the most prestigeous clay trophy.</blockquote>
Not at all. They are one and the same. Using the same faulty logic we could call Roger the best grass player the past two years because he played in and won a warmup tourney while Djokovic didn’t play. MC and Rome are warmups to the main event, regular season vs. postseason, etc.

So you say Cilic was the best hard-court player in second part of 2014 because he won USO? I don't think so.

Wawrinka's fluke  at Roland Garros certainly doesn't mean he was the best clay court player this year, like Denis pointed out it only means he won the slam.