NOvak v. Fed 29: 1 and 2 in the last match of the season!

Personally the ATP really needs to make this last match of the season 5 sets, one v. two is too special to be played over 3 sets. These guys do have the rest of the off season to rest so what is the motivation of not making this spectacular final a three setter.

This is going to be a very important match with Djokovic having a chance to become an undefeated tour finals champion and Fed can win an incredible 7th year end championship. I think Novak's improved serve will prove to be the difference. His serve has steadily become stronger over the course of the season. Novak returns Federer's serve pretty well, and if he gets in a high percentages of first serves, while being clean in backing up the serve with his forehand I think he will overwhelmn fed. For federer to win he needs to have a great day hitting his backhand both the topspin and the slice backhand because Djokovic is going to make sure to test that wing. The way Novak is hitting his forehand I think he will be able to hold his own with fed in the cross court forehand to forehand exchanges.

My prediction Novak wins in two very close, high quality sets.

I can't wait for it, I just hope Federer has one more great performance in him this year. Djokovic is clearly the form player, since the Olympics he has been outstanding. Toronto W Cincy F US Open F (I'm convinced he wins that match if there is no wind) Beijing W, Shanghai W and before conserving energy in Paris he's in another final in London. Rog has his worked cut out here but if he could pick a court to play Novak on I think this would be in the top 2 or 3.

I agree CAS this should be a great match as the surface favors Roger but Novak looks to be in great form finishing up the season. I think we will see a lot of great shot making by both players. I love indoor tennis for that reason in particular as it does favor ace and winner creation. I think Federer has to use his slice backhand well and return well with his backhand as Novak will test him in that area. I can't wait either, something so special about a one v. two match at the very end of the year. Especially with two greats squaring off who have such a history as well.

CAS wrote: Rog has his worked cut out here but if he could pick a court to play Novak on I think this would be in the top 2 or 3.

No.1 priority court would be Wimbledon with roof closed but outside that I guess he would prefer Cincy's fast courts [He always found a way to batter Nole to submission here] and then of course O2.

I am still not sure the O2 this year is playing anywhere close to the speed of the last 2 years, as you can see DP did make a statement, but indoors are indoors and Fed is the king in it, but since the courts are playing slow Nole will have the upper hand at the same time no wind in Indoors means Fed will have the upper hand, so in my view if Fed brings his A-game then its will 60-40 in his favor if not Djoko will win in easy st.sets.

I guess Djoko will win it in st.sets with a score line of 6-3 , 6-4, he looks confident well charged with that extra day of rest and finishing early today, inspite of the win today over Andy I don't think Fed played a great game, it was a game of errors and Fed surprisingly went shank less from the tail part of the 1st set.

It's a great match. I just hope that it's decided on form, not on tiredness, UE's, or shanking (pay attention Fed!).

Djoko has been the consistent player all year, his consistency has been striking as is shown by the fact that he has a huge points tally but has only(?) won 5 events. Fed on the other hand has oscillated between soaring heights, OK play, and Mr. Shanktastic - and he has on occasions played his way from shanktastic via mediocrity to soaring heights across one tournament.

I reckon that if we get the absolute best Fed (coupled with an almost psychotic desire to win this tournament on his part so it seems) and Djoko does his usual trick of giving up the first set then Fed can do it, otherwise Djoko is marginal favourite.

A 5-set final is a good idea however they would need an extra rest day. If they are going to have the final on a Monday anyway, they may as well put it on a Tuesday.

I suppose the issue might be if the Davis Cup final could be outside of Europe and someone might have to travel. And when the tickets are on sale it isn't known where the Davis Cup might be held. But maybe on balance better to have this match on the Tuesday as a 5-setter.

Five-setters are - were - all very well, but it's not as if the crowd are not getting their money's worth with the longer rallies, intense play and fierce competition the top guys are serving up in three-set encounters.
Time was when many finals were five sets and the top players did not get byes in early rounds. The result - some crocked, exhausted players. The top blokes are fairly cream-crackered by the end of the season in any case. No point in dumping more five-setters on them.

Roger won't be losing this. Novak has no say in the matter when the rallies are over in 3 or 4 strokes. Stop drinking please OP

Basically you think if novak serves and hits the forehand well he will 'overwhelm' feds. This implies it will be a routine win with feds only able to get a few games on the board.
But then you say it will be' two very close, high quality sets'. This suggests it could be two tiebreaks, hmmm.

Bit of an oxymoron there no?

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Roger won't be losing this. Novak has no say in the matter when the rallies are over in 3 or 4 strokes. Stop drinking please OP

Sometimes I need a drink to digest some of your posts JM. Glad you are going on the record with your prediction.

LuvSports! wrote:Basically you think if novak serves and hits the forehand well he will 'overwhelm' feds. This implies it will be a routine win with feds only able to get a few games on the board.
But then you say it will be' two very close, high quality sets'. This suggests it could be two tiebreaks, hmmm.

Bit of an oxymoron there no?

Yes I think if Novak serves well and hits his forehand well he will beat fed. Two close sets I think if that takes place, I don't think it will be routine fed serves so well indoors that the sets will be close but in the groundstroke exchanges if Novak isn't misfiring with the forehand because of the edge he has in the backhand department then it will be a case of fed getting overwhelmed in two sets. Meanwhile Rog isn't a soft touch on the indoors with his own forehand and serve and it will keep the sets close. I don't really see the big logical distinction. 6-4 or 7-5 can be a close set as well.

Interesting. So you think regardless of how feds plays, novak, if he does what you said above, will beat fed? hmm.

From your opening statement it seemed a pretty big contradiction bud and I still think you are doing the same in your last one.

"I don't think it will be routine fed serves so well indoors that the sets will be close but in the groundstroke exchanges if Novak isn't misfiring with the forehand because of the edge he has in the backhand department then it will be a case of fed getting overwhelmed in two sets.

Then you say "Meanwhile Rog isn't a soft touch on the indoors with his own forehand and serve and it will keep the sets close".

Surely that is a direct contradiction right there no?

If novak plays well and does everything right he will win = two close sets.

Dont think it will be routine and if novak isnt misfiring on the forehand, plus the edge in the backhand = fed overwhelmed.

hmmm me confused

I think If Fed comes out being the more aggressive of the two he will be able to pull this off. For him to do that he has to be able to serve well and win quick cheap points with unreturnable serves and aces. When receiving he has to be the aggressor and go for his shots, not try to match Djokovic's type of point i.e long grinding rallies. He needs to focus. Something that has lacked in his matches bar the second set vs Murray. I mean he was missing routine volleys standing inside the service box. What was all that about? Never heard a crowd gasp as they did last night at that one point.

If Fed comes out missing first serves and just rolling the ball in he will get hammered for winners. If he comes out shanking f/h and b/h returns its game over. You don't get too many chances with Djokovic.

First set is key. All these players say when Roger wins the first set and gets going its hard to beat him. True or not, when they lose the first set it plays on the mind. This is best of 3, it can be over in a flash as it was yesterday. Fed needs to win this match, Djokovic is not going to lose it or give it to him on a plate as he did in Cincy.

Lets simplify Luv, lets take out all the greys and qualifications. If Novak hits his serve and forehand well he takes it straights. Now we can say argue about how white is white, is it eggshell or snowflake but that is the meat of my prediction. When Novak does those two things well I frankly don't think anyone can beat him, but that is my personal opinion.

I don't agree.

I think this match will be decided by which Fed turns up.

There are 3 Fed's at present:

1) Federror - Novak wins in str8's

2) Average Fed - Novak wins in 2 or 3

3) Jesus Fed - Fed wins regardless of what Novak does



emancipator

lets not bring religion into this emancipator

I actually think the match is on Roger's racket, not Novak's. this is indoor conditions in which Federer thrives. He is moving well and served tremendously against Murray yesterday.

I think if Federer serves well, gets his forehand into play and gets in front then he'll win. He's the greatest front runner ever, especially indoors. If he had 65% of the crowd yesterday it'll be 80% tonight, and I think he'll win it in three sets.

Well gentleman I can't disagree with the fact that fed has won this year end championship 6 times and that his best surface now is an indoor surface, being the bigger server this probably favors him more than Djoko. But I think Novak is playing the best tennis of the last couple of months and is used to road matches against federer, wherever he plays federer except for serbia it is a road match. So I doubt that the crowd support will both him much. Novak's serve is looking real good and I think that will carry him through but he will need a high percentage of first serves to get the job done.

I'm mildly concerned that the tone of Novak's pre-match interviews is "this is already a great result, I'm pleased to be in the final". I want to see him hungry to win!

Yes he does seem a bit subdued Murdoch despite playing great tennis this last few weeks. He just is all business and there doesn't seem to be much joy to him on the court. That is the one thing that keeps me from being 100 percent confident, I think this has been a rough year for him family wise and has made him a bit fragile and unfocused at times mentally. We will see so far the last two months he has done a great job of just focusing on the work at hand.

We'll see socal. Of course Novak can't be discounted, he's the world number 1 and has had a phenomenally consistent year. I just feel this type of court, these kind of conditions... Well it's Federer's zone isn't it.

He's certainly started like it too. Bloody hell, 9 points in a row since I started typing!! I see that the crowd is very pro Federer again. Why do they like him Si much? I mean, what's he ever done?!

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Roger won't be losing this. Novak has no say in the matter when the rallies are over in 3 or 4 strokes. Stop drinking please OP

Unlucky.

Nostrafreakingdamus strikes again predicting a close straight sets victory. Novak now has 3 straight victories on the trot against what many esteemed posters believed are the two best fast court players in the world Murray and Fed. Now people will believe me when I tell you Novak is a great indoor player as well.

straight set victories?

i thought he beat murray in 3 no?

kudos to ya player bud great match, he deserved it

Federer is almost as bad as Tipsarevic today.

Yes Luv, Novak really has put it together at the end of the season. Federer I think pushed him to the limit as Djokovic mentioned in the post match interview. Roger plays that match in front of anyone else on tour on this surface and he wins. But against Novak when he is on song, I really don't think it matters who it is or what surface it is, I feel good about his chances.

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Federer is almost as bad as Tipsarevic today.

almost as bad as your face ha!

Josiah Maiestas wrote:Federer is almost as bad as Tipsarevic today.

JM come on man, let me defend federer he beats anyone not named Djokovic today on this surface. I think he won more total points, Novak just played the big points better as he has been prone to do as of late.

He won one less point than Djokovic - could the match have been any more entertaining? But Novak demonstrated why he is the World number 1

time please wrote:He won one less point than Djokovic - could the match have been any more entertaining? But Novak demonstrated why he is the World number 1

Great stat, TP could there be a more poetic finish to the end of the season as the number 1 edging the number 2 by one single point! Great on both players, I found that match thoroughly enjoyable with a number of highlight shots by both players.

5-3 up and sinks like a dingy in a tsunami.

socal1976 wrote:

time please wrote:He won one less point than Djokovic - could the match have been any more entertaining? But Novak demonstrated why he is the World number 1

Great stat, TP could there be a more poetic finish to the end of the season as the number 1 edging the number 2 by one single point! Great on both players, I found that match thoroughly enjoyable with a number of highlight shots by both players.

Absolutely, even as a Fed fan primarily, I think it was entirely fitting that the World's number one and two players met in the championship of champions, the best of the best, and that the winner in a brilliantly entertaining match was the number one however much I might have wanted Fed to edge it.

What an end to a great season for all the top players really.

Yes of course it is harder for a fed fan to enjoy a loss. But I think objectively if you look at the shotmaking and the entertainment level of this match it is a great finnishing match. Maybe one of the best two set matches I have ever seen because the margin in both sets was razor thin it just so happened that one guy won both sets by playing the big points better.