The second hard fought final of the year and Roger Federer this time succumbed at the Canadian Open to an inspired Djokovic. The irony of the match is that Roger the final "king", the best big points player and tiebreaker leader was beaten in all departments. Does this mean anything for the US Open 2007? Nothing, zero, nada!
Roger can come out of this defeat however painful and dismantle Novak on a 5 set match at the US Open. Will he?
Hard to tell, but one thing I am sure, the young wolfs, Novak Djokovic, David Murray, Richard Gasquet and Marcus Bagdahtis are no longer just showing their teeth at the pack leader, but inflicting rather serious wounds on him and little by little undermining his supremacy. At the moment Djokovic is proving to be the most perseverant and with the highest rate of success as he so superbly demonstrated today.
There were three elements among several of Djokovic's armour that impressed me:
· The hability to read Roger's mind (just like Dr. Spock in the Starship Enterprise!) to the point of toying around with the idea and execution of two drop-shots to bring Roger unwantedly to the net and to counter Roger's retrieval with feather measured lobs over a scrambling Federer who run them both down to no avail.
· The uncanny consistency he showed throughout the match, barring a few moments in the second set where there were some sloppy unforced errors, which I think it were tactically in order to recover from the follies of the first set and take charge on the third set, which he did.
· The correct use of the down the line winner or "go for broke down the line" when pulled out wide of the court. This earned Djokovic three crucial points that in many ways demoralized and surprised a Roger Federer that often is the benefactor of his opponents cross court poor play right into his racket.
Novak showed us plenty more things well done but so did Roger, which lead to a very hard fought match, highlighting that these two young men have tremendous heart and in the end it was hard to see either of them lose.
What is in this match for you?
- Be like Dr. Spock read your opponent's mind and anticipate his moves.
- Stay focused, believe in yourself from beginning to end.
- Be consistent, keep your unforced errors to a minimum.
- Go for broke when needed and use your forehand to dictate inside the court.
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