Wimbledon Mens Final - Where it ends all

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Awesome match and a fitting climax for a tournament full of upsets, its Wimbledon Final come Sunday and it will be contested by 7 time Champion Roger Federer and the No.1 Seed Novak Djokovic.


Federer

Key Strengths - Experience , Grass court movements, Serve and finally anticipation.

A-Game - Serve, volley, aggression, grass court movements, big forehands [all], backhand slices, topspins and flatout shots DTL and experience in handling points and holding nerves.

Weakness - Lack of Stamina to play a longer 5 set game [compared to his prime], Mid match focus lapse, Loops balls on backhands, slow 2nd servers [off late a big problem].

Crowd Support - Big time on, will be undoubtedly the crowd favorite , 80-20 should be expected.

Historical Achievement - First ever Men's Champion of all time [Yes all time] to win 8 Wimbledon  titles. 18 Grand Slams.   


Djokovic

Key Strengths - Return, movement, stamina, Backhand [all], Big points play.

A-Game - Backhand [all], Forehand  [all], Super Serbian Serves, Rebound Aces [Returns], Pace Variance [Slow and Fast Mix], passing shots, lobs, slices, top spins, volleys, drop shots.

Weakness - Grass court movements, lack of confidence, mid match focus lapse pressure to perform and Lack of Crowd Support

Crowd Support - Generally loves to play against the crowd, it won't be different tomorrow, 20% plus support should be expected.

Historical Achievement - Multiple Wimbledon Winner, World No. Status

H2H

In General - Federer 16-14
@Wimbledon - Federer 1-0
@GS Finals - Federer 1-0
@GS - Federer 6-5
@All Finals Djoko 5-4

Wimbledon 2014 Stats

Djoko vs Fed

Aces - 73 vs 69
DF - 9 vs 5
1st Serve in 68 vs 66
Server Broken 8 vs 1
Service Held - 93% vs 98%
Forehand Winners 53 vs 56
Backhand Winner 55 vs 31
Time on Court 15:09 vs 10:16

Prediction: Djoko is more or less determined and I guess destined to win his 2nd Wimbledon given his age , stamina and experienced coach Becker.

Well done Novak for a great match. I'm disappointed for Federer but would have been disappointed had Novak lost too. Is the Iron Man of Tennis back?

Djokovic, you legend!! What unbelievable guts to turn that around after the 4th set. I think this is huge for Novak and his confidence, could be the making of him. Hope he can get to 10 slams and win the French.

We'll done to roger too

The Special Juan wrote:Well done Novak for a great match.  I'm disappointed for Federer but would have been disappointed had Novak lost too.  Is the Iron Man of Tennis back?

Agreed. Would have been very disappointed for Djoko to have lost another slam final, esp. after having match point in the 4th.

Well my heart has returned to a normal pace again. I'm gutted for Roger but when he failed to press the advantage early in the fifth and with having to serve second, the pressure on serve was always going to tell. I thought that quality was exceptional.

Oddly enough I think this result will do more to secure Rogers slam record against Rafa than a win would have. Djokovic could press on now

Well that certainly heated up quickly towards the end! Great final in the end, entertaining and the right man won.

Novak had a scarcely believable afternoon from the baseline, and his returning was sublime. Some astonishing play, his returning in the 5th set had me in awe. His play was good enough to deserve a 4-set win, so I'm glad he got over the line again. Classy speech too. Congrats HM, slasher, socal etc

Going to put my partisan hat on for once: very proud of Federer's efforts today. He was clearly second-best for the most part, but he displayed some serious grit to hang in there to take it to five, and generally played a very good match. He just ran into a guy who was playing so consistently. 33 years old, four kids - still made it to five sets in the final, amazing effort.

(And yes, I am absolutely gutted despite really liking Novak)

Congratulations Novak Djokovic, a well deserved second Wimbledon title! Showed the grit of a true champion.

Unlucky King Roger, but showed there's still life in the old dog yet.

IMO Djokovic saved his soul today. Had he lost after leading 5/2 in the forth, his career might've crumbled.

Whether he's back as the 2011 edition? I'm not sure, he still seems very shaky in the big moments.

But tennis needed Djokovic to get back to winning majors.

Tennis needs djokovic to beat nadal but this will be very good for him nonetheless.

Congrats to Djoko.. He certainly played lights out- esp on ROS.. and his serve today...wow.. Great speech in the end as well.

Federer-- look what it took to beat him.. at nearly 33. There is a reason why no one in the modern era has won a Major at Fed's age, but he came as close as you could. Maybe this is it, but the guy can still play!

Roger Federer lost......but still won. He should be proud of himself and so should his fans.

Congrats to Novak Djokovoic. I expected him to win, but he had to earn it.

Once his child is born, he joins the great man and Stan Wawrinka as the very few dads on the tour in the top 10.

Very please for Djokovic considering what damage a loss from that 4th set position would have done. Very sad for Fed though; this was it, the last chance and he came astonishingly close. I mean, 33 bar a few days and he pulls that out. Incredible.

Hi BB, I don't think there is anything to be sad about. Federer's legs aren't just the same anymore no matter the time he puts in. I think this was a heroic performance and demonstrates the stuff the great man is made of.

No 1 spot changes hands yet again, interesting to see how long Novak can hold on to it this time. He and Rafa have such a big points lead over everyone else that they can only take it off each other for the foreseeable ......

Neither of them have enjoyed stretches of much more than 12 months consecutive at the top, but at least they know that old man Fed won't be interrupting them as he did in years past.

Rafa likes being number 2 but I can't see him winning the USO again this year. Not that I could last year though...

Well another WTF for Fed would do. No GS. No chance there.

Djoko earned it, stood like a wall and then kept falling and up again.

Very good final, worthy of wait.

I think Djokovic will keep it until November. Nadal can only lose points between now and Shanghai whereas Djokovic will have points to gain.

coolpixel wrote:Hi BB, I don't think there is anything to be sad about. Federer's legs aren't just the same anymore no matter the time he puts in. I think this was a heroic performance and demonstrates the stuff the great man is made of.

Yeah, but #8 would have been great, passing Pete (and Renshaw of course). Sad that it's passed him by, and close too. A three set hammering and there'd be no regrets but this was 50/50 in the 5th. Coming back from the abyss in the 4th would have been legendary.

Now the nervous energy has subsided, I can appreciate it as a great match. The winners to unforced errors ratio from both players was incredible.

I think Federer-Djokovic is the most entertaining pairing of the Big 4. Their blend of styles seems to allow both players to produce something near their best. Neither stifles the other.

I'm glad Novak found a way to win. If he'd lost after serving the match in the 4th and suffered a fourth consecutive slam final defeat, I really believe we could has started writing the epitaph on his career. He wouldn't be the same again.

Federer though - awesome. To be such a contender in such a physical sport just a few weeks before his 33rd birthday is stunning. Only Usain Bolt can rival him as the greatest sportsmen I've seen in my lifetime.

No chance at all of one last USO for Fed .....??

His HC record of 82.5% is still pretty good (even Djoko is only fractionally ahead @ 82.6%)

I think Federer is in with a shout of the US Open. He will have a decent seeding. Let's hope it's followed by a kind draw.

Zimonjic wins the mixed. A good day all round for Serbia and a very good tournament indeed for the Eastern European countries.

legendkillarV2 wrote:I think Federer is in with a shout of the US Open. He will have a decent seeding. Let's hope it's followed by a kind draw.

I don't see it. If he can't win Wimbledon, a tournament on his favourite surface with the draw he had, I can't see him winning a more physically draining championship. I think that's it for Rog.

Yeah, W was good for EE players in, Djoko, Raonic, Cilic, even Korgi from Greece.

No, the USO has been slowed down so much. They mix sand in the coating and it causes exactly what he hates, slower, higher bounces.

The AO up to 2007 was to his liking but that's too attritional now.

Wimbledon is the only one he can really hope for and next time he's virtually 34.

I think it's nice that we had a high quality final where both players come out of it with reputations enhanced, pretty much the sort of match nearly all of us were hoping for too.

Well done Novak. Your ability to always put yourself in a position to try and win a Slam, means that this is well deserverd

The Special Juan wrote:

legendkillarV2 wrote:I think Federer is in with a shout of the US Open. He will have a decent seeding. Let's hope it's followed by a kind draw.

I don't see it.  If he can't win Wimbledon, a tournament on his favourite surface with the draw he had, I can't see him winning a more physically draining championship.  I think that's it for Rog.

Not sure I go along with that. Wimbledon is even slower than the Flushing Meadows!

I think he has a chance.

I'm more of a chances for Dimi/Dolgo/Korgi/New blood these days.

If Fed wins, fine. If not he's won enough.

What makes novaks win even more impressive was the tough draw he had. Beating stepanek, Simon, tsonga, cilic, dimitrov and federer is some effort. I really didn't think Novak would win a 2nd Wimbledon. I expected him to add to his us and Aussie open title count.

Would be amazing if he could win French open beating nadal. He could say he has beaten nadal in all the slams, nobody else has done that. Despite federers age, beating him on centre court at Wimbledon is a huge career accomplishment

Fantastic match. Fantastic tournament and title for Novak.

I'm actually glad he got it in the end as I feared for his future mental state had he lost and he does deserve to be one of the all time greats via slam count. There were many micro-points in the match where I felt he wasn't striking the ball as hard/confidently as he used to...often his FHs down the line were pushes and you could palpably sense his tentativeness. He'll push on now I feel having got this monkey off his back.

But hey what a match...Federer is truly remarkable to be in the slam conversation at nr 33yo, and its his serve increasingly which keeps him in these high level matches...saving break point time after time. His serve has got better with age no doubt to significantly compensate for other areas of decline, ~30 aces vs the best returner today speaks to that.

Well done guys, a match worthy of the billing. I've never been a massive Djokovic (or Federer) fan but respect to both guys today in different ways plus classy speeches from both.

  

If Federer never makes another Slam Final (and that's very likely to be the case), then perhaps this afternoon's performance, and the match itself, was a fitting manner for his time as a serious contender to draw to an end. I wonder would the great man himself even see it that way - if not maybe tonight, but when the dust has settled a little and the disappointment of defeat has begun to fade ....   

From a field including three other recent Wimbledon winners - all in their prime and with age on their side of course - he somehow made it through the fortnight, and put on a show that went the distance - something that many felt would be beyond him.

As others have said, some of Djokovic's returns were little short of astonishing. He brought some of his very best tennis, no lack of grit, his serving & passing shots were exceptional, and it's a tribute to Federer that the eventual winner was kept on court for so long.

I thought that too lags, there were times as he sat in his chair or did the lap of honour at the end where you could sense him taking just that little bit of extra time to memory-print the occasion into his mind. I suspect he knows today was almost certainly his last chance of a slam... the draw was kind, major rivals fell by the wayside and I still don't think Djokovic was at his ruthless, fully confident, best today. He may be in future though...  

It was a good match, but it also showed why Djokovic hasn't had slam success for so long, I think he got away with it because he was facing a guy who'd gone even longer without slam success. Federer will probably be a little disappointed at his inability to create half chances. He had a lot of second serve looks at scores like 0-15, 15-15, and he didnt win enough to put Nole under the cosh a bit. Overall, I'd say, the Becker experiment has paid off (unless he really hired Boris with RG in mind), but I'd be hesitant to claim he's rediscovered his ability to consistently win big matches for a few reasons.
1- He still seems to get burgled out of sets he's dominating in
2 - The walkabout is still strong in him.

Yes but that's due to confidence issues in my opinion. Today's win will turbo-boost and galvanise his steely determination now.

Ironic that Becker was hugging the guy who just eclipsed his slam number BTW! But suspect he got more pride out of today's win than some of his own slams, eg AO95, having witnessed the huge mental journey his charge has suffered and come through. Will be interesting to see what USO brings for many reasons...

Yes, I agree, New York becomes very interesting. Surprise loss aside, Nadal can be quite pleased with his performance, at least serve-wise. Djokovic finally broke the duck, and Roger proved, to himself most importantly, that the three stages of hell are still worth it.

This far out, I'd have Nadal and Djokovic as joint favourites, last four years they've gone a combined 45-4, with only one loss being inflicted by someone else, but it's mighty interesting, Dimi is definitely no longer a dark horse, while Raonic is always one big serving day away from causing an upset. No eventuality will surprise me.

Djokovic or Nadal for me in NYC, with Djokovic clear favourite. The funny thing about this year is that aside from Djokovic, no one else is really playing well. The only one outside those 2 who I'd even consider causing an upset is Stan.

kingraf wrote:Yes, I agree, New York becomes very interesting. Surprise loss aside, Nadal can be quite pleased with his performance, at least serve-wise. Djokovic finally broke the duck, and Roger proved, to himself most importantly, that the three stages of hell are still worth it.

This far out, I'd have Nadal and Djokovic as joint favourites, last four years they've gone a combined 45-4, with only one loss being inflicted by someone else, but it's mighty interesting, Dimi is definitely no longer a dark horse, while Raonic is always one big serving day away from causing an upset. No eventuality will surprise me.

How about Serena Williams turning out to be a man? HMMM SCOTTY?

The thing with today's match was that 3rd set. The ever reliable Federer FH went AWOL and Djokovic was able to take advantage. Djokovic did pummel the Federer BH and it didn't cough up the errors it normally would with Nadal.

Djokovic's returns were nothing short of fantastic. Constantly putting Federer under pressure on the first serve and attacking the second.

Both players can take enormous confidence from this.

The HC season shall be very intriguing because you have Raonic/Dimitrov/Nishikori/Gulbis have hit some good form this year. I think the top 5 could be under some real pressure.

Its sad to see that Federer's doesn't seem confident enough to go big and flat on his forehand as he used to. Also, why did it take him to be a break down in the 4th set to really have the determination and spirit to try and break Djokovic. He was sleepwalking through most of djokovic servic games. Having said that, great match from both players and a worthy winner.

From what I saw of the match it looked similar to the two matches they played in Paris and the WTFs last year. Federer can catch Djokovic cold and put up a fight but as soon as Djokovic finds his range then there is an inevitability about the match. Although Federer did push it all the way to a fifth set today.

For Djokovic, it seems as if he got that monkey off of his back and may no play more freely in the big matches in the coming months to the despair of his rivals. He was due another slam win and is too good a player to keep falling short of the biggest prizes.

For Federer, its hard to feel sorry for a guy who has won 17 slams, including 7 Wimbledons, but it would have been a great last hurrah for him. Besides, since 2009 Wimbledon I think everything he has won has been a bonus and there is no shame in losing to a rival that is 6 years younger, he will be 33 next month after all.

I'm interested to see how Federer goes now, I think he will still have a shout at the USO but we may have seen the last slam final ever for Federer, or at least his best chance at another slam win. Who knows but I look forward to the US hard court swing to see how that shapes up for the big four.

I think because it went the distance it is harder on the guy who comes second and in this case even more so as I think this was Roger's last chance. If he went with the momentum early in the fifth he would have been the winner today.

Serving second was always going to bring on added pressure and I cannot imagine how Roddick held serve to stay in the match 10 times in 2009. Roger should have played aggressively as he did towards the end in the 4th. At 5-2 he just went for it, similar to the FO semi in 2011.

Congrats to Novak for hanging in there and waiting for the dip.

Sadly, I think this loss will be the turning point for Roger as I think psychologically this will have an effect on him. Next year he will be going on 34 when he plays at Wimbledon. What he failed to do at 32 is even more likely at 33.

Well done to Djokovic. He's got out of that Slam slump.

As for Federer, well if Jimmy Connors can get to the US Open semis in 1991 aged 39......

Dave. wrote:Well done to Djokovic. He's got out of that Slam slump.

As for Federer, well if Jimmy Connors can get to the US Open semis in 1991 aged 39......

Getting to a slam at 39 is one thing, winning it is another. There is only so much shot making and talent that compensates when you are playing a guy 10 years your junior. We forget that the age difference between Federer and Djokovic is 6 years which is massive. The fact Federer took him to five sets is an achievement which is more the pity he could not get the job done.

Fed for Basel. Go Fed Go   

Simplg fantastic match. The best Wimbledon final I can remember watching in terms of quality. Fed played as well as he has ever played in a Wimbledon final and came up agonisingly short against a guy playing tennis of quite astonishing standard. How Novak recovered to take the 5th is incredible. Kudos to both players both for their play and grace in victory/defeat. We are truly lucky to be seeing such a golden era.

It was a good match... but do you genuinely believe that's as good as you've seen Fed play a Wimbledon final? Djokovic won nearly 2/3 of his second serves, a stat hampered by a brain fart fourth set... has Roger really always been this bad a returner?

kingraf wrote:It was a good match... but do you genuinely believe that's as good as you've seen Fed play a Wimbledon final? Djokovic won nearly 2/3 of his second serves, a stat hampered by a brain fart fourth set... has Roger really always been this bad a returner?

No. That slice return, sometimes chip and charge, on the 2nd serve didn't really work, yet he kept persevering with it. That was strange.

I think BS may be referring to Fed's matchplay, which was very good and has arguably gotten better with age. These days he's more used to being the underdog, so he finds ways to hang in sets and points longer than he has any right to, and robs players of sets that they should be winning. Today he did that very well.

Obviously in terms of raw play he's not the player of the past, but that doesn't matter. It shouldn't detract from the Djokovic achievement today, he beat a grass court monster on his home turf - hugely commendable.

It was a good performance from Djokovic, but this shouldn't have gone five Djokovic was the better player in every single set, and it took a dip in the first set TB, and a damn near meltdown in the fourth for Fed to get close. I maintain he could have won it had he just been more competitive on the Djokovic second serve. Its a testament to Rogers ability to stick to task that he got this close.

I recall in 2012 prior to the final here, Roger was going through his 6 wins and he commented that he should have lost the 2009 final to Roddick. He has had his share of lucky escapes and bad losses. Throughout the tournament he seemed the better player but maybe the lack of tight situations in his past matches made the difference compared to Novak who had a couple of tight matches to come through. He had the harder draw so I think all in all he deserved it.

I think for the sake of sentimentality I wanted Roger to win. From a fan perspective, this loss is not as bad as 2008. That was tough and to be honest, if there was someone else I would have wanted to win this, it would have been Novak. Also, Roger should be thanking him for his services the last couple of years as otherwise Nadal would have been at 17 by now.

I'm still surprised he can push the #1 this hard. I feared before the match that it could be three sets but to get to the brink is admirable.

I don't go with this idea that he was lucky to get to the fifth, that's nonsense - he resisted a hard assault on his serve throughout - Djokovic would have broken anyone else far more than four times today - and he was brutal in attacking Djokovic in the fourth when all seemed lost. That crosscourt forehand to break back to 2-3 was stunning, even Novak couldn't get close to it.

So TMF possibly walks away from his last Slam final. Probably, even. But he is the most talented player I've ever seen since I started watching the game in 1972 and he's healthy. Why not another?