CAMELOT FANTASIES

Yes, your story is always the same and predictable. LOL I've been laughing for the better part of the last hour. Now you sure that I'm bitter. More mind reading.  Maybe I can take notes. What sarcasm? I'm just using your own obviously impeccable reasoning to add support for your incredible story. Seems to work for you. 

Anyway, I need to get back to the real world; things to do before bedtime.  Have fun!

Respectfully,
masterclass

Thanks for the stats General.  Interesting match.  Overall, Federer didn't play throughout the match as well as he did against Dolgopolov, especially on serve, but he wasn't poor either.  Djokovic played better than he did the whole tournament, but still had lapses, but shorter in scope.

The result?  A very even match.  It could have gone either way in the end. Even stats, almost even # of games won/lost, almost even # of total points won, Djokovic 99 points, 98 for Federer.
Federer played well the first set, aggressively,  charging the net at just the right times, while Djokovic looked  nervous early and got broken, which was enough for Federer to take the set, as he continued to serve well at crucial times.  He was over 70% won on both 1st and 2nd serves.

Federer seemed to let off the aggression pedal in the second, I don't why, and stayed back and rallied.  His 1st serve also declined significantly.  I think this let Djokovic back into the match, and Djokovic got stronger, more consistent and confident, while Federer looked weaker and more tired as rallies and points played longer.  Djokovic broke Federer once and that was enough for the second. 

Djokovic continued to look strong at the start of the third set, while Federer still seemed lost or tired or something, giving an early break to Djokovic, and it looked like that would be enough for Djokovic, until he tried to serve out the match.  Then Federer, with his back against the wall, played some great attacking tennis, 3 points in succession for love-40, which seemed to startle Djokovic out of his zone of good play,  and Federer broke him at 15 to even the match at 5-5.

Federer once again regained confidence serving to love in his next game for a 6-5 lead, but then looked disinterested on the Djokovic serve and seemed content to have it decided in the tiebreak.  Not sure I agreed with that way of thinking, even at that moment, not after the fact.  I think Federer was on a roll and should have gone all out as in the 4-5 game to break Djokovic.  But he didn't.  Perhaps the effort to break previously sapped him a bit, and he was saving himself energy.

Then the tiebreak was a poor effort from Federer.  Djokovic didn't need to do much but play steady, as Federer had 4 unforced errors on his serve.  One certainly can't expect to win a tiebreak like that. 

Regardless, Djokovic did up his game in general from the previous matches in the tournament, still had some lapses here and there, but it did not deter him, and he won it in the end.  Federer's play was up and down, brilliant at times, and then seemingly on cruise control at others.  He did very well to break Djokovic at the end of the third, but didn't take advantage of that, and played a poor tiebreaker, and due to that did not deserve the victory.  With his former career #1 tiebreaker record .649 pct, now #2 just behind Isner .650, who has played about 1/2 the tiebreakers Federer has, one would think he should have done better. 

Congratulations to Nole, his fans, and his team.  He should play with more confidence after this.

Commiserations to Roger and his supporters.  I don't think this loss hurts him a lot. He played a good tournament, just missed, so his level looks good going into his next training block before his clay season starts in Madrid.  He said he had not expected to be at his best level till after the next training block so to have these good results prior to that was a bit of a surprise to him. 

Maybe General CETSVids will have the match and some interviews to share with us. 

On to Miami! 

Respectfully,
masterclass

Fully agree, Lady TT.

Nole summed it up pretty well in his interview (I've bolded some phrases for emphasis...):

"That was definitely a relief in the end of the match.  The last point when he hit the backhand in the net, I just focused on each point individually.  Didn't really try to think about what happened or what's going to happen, if it happens. I just tried to be in the present moment and that helped, especially in the tiebreak of the last set. "

"It was a very even match.  One break was enough for him to win the first.  It was exactly the same for me in the second. As I said before the match today, very few points will decide a winner, and that's what happened. "

"I know that he's not going to give me anything, you know.  As the match progressed, I felt like he started to make a little bit more unforced errors, and it allowed me to step into the court.  Of course when I served for the match, he played a fantastic game."  "I made I think all my first serves in and he returned well, he was aggressive, he made a couple of winners. I couldn't do much about it."   "I was under pressure. I managed to regroup and get into the tiebreak.  That was absolutely great for me, I mean, from the first to the last point. "

"I'm just very happy and thrilled to be able to win the first title in this season.  It was the first final that I played this year. It was necessary for my confidence, and hopefully I can carry that into Miami and the rest of the season."

Again, well done to Novak in another tough match between the two.

Oh, by the way, Novak also confirmed that though Boris Becker wasn't present, that he was on the phone with him and also he with Marian Vajda throughout the tournament.  And that Boris would be in Miami. He also spoke about the relationship:

"Boris is new to our team, so it's still a process of getting to know each other, and, you know, people of course always question if Boris should be there or not be there, you know, now that Marian, first tournament he won the title with me, and Boris didn't do that in Australia and Dubai.

But, look, it's the start of the season.  We are all working together as a team.  It doesn't make any difference now.  Boris is the head coach and Marian respects that, I respect that, and we hope for success. "

Oh, and before someone accuses me of being biased toward Novak, I'll include what Roger had to say about the match, mostly near the end of it:

"I think I played a good game to break back.  Got the first serve returns back, and then played well from the baseline.
I think I was playing with the wind at that moment, as well.  A bit more wind coming from my side, which made it more difficult for him maybe to serve it out.

It would have been easier for me to get on the offensive, you know, in the rallies.  And then the same thing switched around in the breaker.  He then played the first six points with the wind.  He took advantage of that, and, you know, maybe against the wind that's when you have to get those easy points and those service winners I couldn't get and he couldn't get.

So it was an interesting end to the match, no doubt.  But I think he played well, you know.  At the end he made sure he kept the ball in play and I might have made a few too many errors when it really mattered.
But, you know, I think he made a crucial sort of 20 minutes, half an hour midway through the second set and third set where things could have gone either way. But credit to him for toughening it out and winning that second set and getting the breaker in the third."

Interesting that Federer gave his technical reasons regarding the wind why he was better able to do well and why Djokovic had a more difficult time in that game to break.

When asked about his satisfaction regarding his level of play, he responded:

"Yeah, very happy.  I think I'm playing really good tennis.  I'm moving well.  Serving well, consistently well, you know.
So many things are working.  I'm just surprised that I'm able to keep it up week for week now. I expected myself to have a breakthrough tournament, but then maybe a couple of early exits.  Who knows, maybe that's all upon me, I don't know (smiling).
But overall I'm just happy I'm playing consistent tennis and I'm going deep in tournaments and I'm giving myself chances to win. So clearly would have been amazing to win here and win back to back tournaments with Dubai.
But I got very, very close, so it's encouraging for Miami and for the rest of the season, no doubt."

About playing or skipping Miami he said:

"I mean, normally I'll go.  I'm going to leave tonight to Miami, and then I will see how I feel over there.  But I will definitely go to that direction and have an event as well over there, so most likely, yes, I will play."

Respectfully,
masterclass