CAMELOT FANTASIES

Yep.  Federer threw that match away.  Novak was there for the taking.  I'm not happy with the Swiss Assassin.  He really had Novak behind the 8 ball in many of his service games, love - 40 or, 15-40, and either played too safe on those points, got into rallies and ended up making errors, or he hit wild shots on easy sitters.  On other points he was aggressive and did well.  For some reason he crawled into a hole on the crucial points, like a scared rabbit, after just beating the guy in straight sets in the Cincinnati Masters.

Federer :   4 for 24 on break points.  1 out of 11 on second serve break points. Third set Federer had a 2 sitter forehands for break point to go up 2 sets to 1 and blew it, one he hit right at Novak for some reason with the whole court wide open, then soon after, tactically worked hard to move Djokovic out of the court, but about 6 feet from the net hit an easy forehand sitter long past the open court that you or I could have made, and Novak ended up winning the 3rd set.

Novak: 35 Winners, 37 UE's.  6/13 on break points.
Roger: 56 Winners, 54 UE's.   4/24 on break points.

Congrats to Novak on his 10th major win.   Commiserations to Roger, who for some reason is not getting it done vs. Nole in majors, even when presented with great opportunity.

Respectfully,
masterclass

It was an awful match. Both were ripe for the taking. Federer came out tense, nervous, and afraid and the same with Novak. Novak hadn’t played particularly well the entire tournament; much credit goes to the quality of his opponents, and the same with Federer. They had a few good points scattered throughout the match, but the match was played as if either one was willing to capitulate at the slightest sign of adversity. The error count for both was atrocious. Balls spraying everywhere; it was a disappointing performance from both players. 4/24 is abysmal, because Federer did not make Novak earn those reprieves. I couldn’t believe it.

I don’t know how Federer bungled that second set. It would’ve given him great confidence. Novak was off during most of that final and the gushing by the commentators was BS. Neither one played well and any hot player facing them would’ve taken that match.

It was a disappointing end to the grand slam season.