After squandering double match point to Novak Djokovic in an epic fifth set for the second successive year at the US Open, an unimpressed Roger Federer refused to hand out free compliments to his rival, criticizing his approach to the match from double match point down.
“I didn’t hit the best serve. But it’s just the way he returns that. It’s just not — a guy who believes much, you know, anymore in winning. Then to lose against someone like that, it’s very disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go…”
…..
“Confidence? Are you kidding me? I mean, please. Look, some players grow up and play like that. I remember losing junior matches. Just being down 5 2 in the third, and they all just start slapping shots. It all goes in for some reason, because that’s the kind of way they grew up playing when they were down. I never played that way. I believe in hard work’s gonna pay off kinda thing, because early on maybe I didn’t always work at my hardest. So for me, this is very hard to understand how can you play a shot like that on match point. But, look, maybe he’s been doing it for 20 years, so for him it was very normal. You’ve got to ask him.
“
Recently, I’ve really begun to see huge parallels between Roger and Serena. We all remember Serena’s infamous “lucky shots” comment on Henin here four years ago and this is in the same vein. Much like the media whirlwind that Serena caused after this, it’s easy to call Federer “classless” and a “sore loser” (not that most of the media, who eat out of the palm of his hand, will) after this, but to me, his candidness is refreshing.
It may lead him to be reactionary after tough losses as he is here, but he speaks his mind 100% of the time and he isn’t afraid to give his own unbashed opinion on any given subject, even badmouthing his opponent if he sees fit. The idea that a player must “give credit” after losses has always disturbed me. Tennis is so much about mental strength and belief, and part of what makes him and many others such great champions is believing that no player has the better of him, and regardless of whether it’s true, he’ll go to bed thinking that Novak simply got lucky, and he’ll strive to right that wrong the next time the play. And of course, who doesn’t love a bit of *****iness? You then look at Rafa, who for half this year has been lamenting about how tough it is to play Djokovic and find weaknesses in his game. Even though he will always go out and try his hardest, from where I’m standing he is losing these matches before they’re even played.
The funny thing is, to an extent, I actually agree with Federer’s comments. As he went match point down, the first thing I thought after seeing Djokovic’s reaction was “Novak has given up”. He walked to the deuce court shaking his head and smiling humourlessly, clearly disgusted and angry at the 25k people in the crowd who were roaring their support for Federer, rudely cheering Djokovic’s errors just as loud as Federer’s winners. And the return was certainly a split-second decision without much prior thought behind it.
However, being a champion is knowing, when your back is against the wall, when to close your eyes and trust your instincts and when to use your brain and common sense to dig you out of holes. Djokovic trusted both his brain and instincts so well in that final set. The return was not “luck”; he is the best returner on the planet and if anyone is capable of making such a shot off a first serve, it’s Novak Djokovic. And there’s no doubt that he has made similar shots in his career. Much like last year, he did close his eyes instinct simply took over, but unlike those juniors that Federer so diligently described, Djokovic’s risk-taking only lasted only one shot. Even though there was still one match point, Djokovic clearly sensed a shift in momentum, and from that point onwards he completely tightened up his game, smartly looking to prolong the rallies and asking Federer if he really had the balls to close him out after what happened exactly a year ago on that same court. Needless to say, he didn’t.
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