Topic: Federer's game plan against Djokovic

[falcon]

Serve well.
Return aggressively.
Engage in lots of FH cross court rallies.
If you have to go to the BH, play it low and short, Nole's BHDTL is a moneymaker.
Do not expect for there to be a mental or physical lapse on Nole's part.  That's a thing of the past.

In other words, Federer has to play the match of his life and even then he might not win.

I kinda disagree with you on this. Fed at his best is better than Nole at his best. Atleast that's what I'd like to think...however Nole is playing at his best and Fed is far below his best now.

"fed at his best" never faced somebody even half as good as djokovic 2.0........outside of nadal on clay that is.........

May be not, but he would still beat the Nole of today...no doubts about that. Fed was in a different zone and different plane from 2004 to 2006 and even in patches in 07.

i can't be sure because i am struggling to find somebody as good as nole among fed's opponents back then........nadal was definitely one on clay but we know what happened on that surface........

fed himself suggested just a week ago before the start of FO that he is now a better player compared to 2005........

I agree on that point as we have said this many a time in the past and we were perhaps one of the very few on the board who said it then. I still stand by the fact that there was no one as good as Nole is now back then, but some players were on fire in a tournament and Fed stopped them (hot streaks of Gonzo, baggy in AO come to mind immediately). Anyway, Nole will beat Fed tomm....I am pretty sure about it; infact its strange that they haven't met more on clay to be honest. I would have loved to see more battles between these two on clay.

[swish]

Fed needs to stay away from long rallies, Djokovic is so reliable that even Nadal with his large net clearance was about even in long rallies.


So Fed has to keep points short, serve well and up the pace on his shots.
Use some angles to get Djokovic out of position.

[FedFanForever]

Fed needs to stay away from long rallies, Djokovic is so reliable that even Nadal with his large net clearance was about even in long rallies.


So Fed has to keep points short, serve well and up the pace on his shots.
Use some angles to get Djokovic out of position.

It's not that simple to just "up the pace", he's still going to have to be patient in the rallies. But he has to keep changing the angles, try some slices and droppers. Just keep exchanging cross-court with Nole is suicide.

[Start da Game]

i will say it again,

you have to hit through his defense, good luck trying that.....

[williamchung7]

Need to be smart indeed!

[williamchung7]

Should we make a review, see how many strategues or tactics have been used in this remarkable semi. 

[williamchung7]

I reveiw entire match and indentify a key shot. Federer served well, both forehand and backhand play well and defence well ideed. But one key shot played biggest part in this match. It is not deep defence backhand slice. It is slice use for moving Djokovic. Federer use short and low backhand slice to move Djokoivc from baseline. I find that Djokovic ( I think most players) had problem to hit backhand when the ball is low and shallow on the court. Djokovic has to move forward and shots need to carefully play to pass through tht net. The result is the ball is slower and short. It mean Federer use these shots to take out Djokovic from baseline and gain short respond. And then, Federer can attack it. Federer also use deep slice to change direction. These shots is low and deep, Djokovic has to use his own strength to create direction and pace

In other hand, Djokoic didn't play a lot of backhand down the line or big cross court backhand (most of them are in 1st set). I believe it is because variety of Federer's groundstroke did not give many chances for him to play those tow shots. It is what Nadal can't do to Djokovic.

But Nadal can do what Djokovic slightly can't do is take out Federer's comfort zone, the top spin.  

[monstertruck]

Good stuff!
Nice to see that tennis isn't always about smashing the ball from the baseline...

[williamchung7]

Maybe Nadal can learn something from Federer's tactic. It is time for him to bring new stuff in his game.

[monstertruck]

I thought he might show us some different tactics in this last final.
He must find a way to create time and space for his strokes.

...oh yeah, and fix his trrrble BH.
NOT

[williamchung7]

Federer's game plan to Djokovic should stick what he did against Djokovic in past three years, keep changing pace and rhythm by drop shot, slice and normal groundstroke shot.

This years, two loses prove that toe to toe does not work to against Djokovic.

And maybe Federer should learn some knowleges of  Sampras groundstroke shot, especially backhand.

1. Sampras able to swing his backhand to make big cross court angle to opponent oppiste position in the middle of the court, consistently.
2. Smapras able to swing his forhand and use opponent strength to make suddently changing course forehand. 

I saw him play similar shots couple of times on French open.

[Jovan]

hi people. i see you all argue about who will be better in his peak. in my opinion that is absurd. everythink is in head. self - confidence is playing huge factor in tennis (all individual sport). i mean Nole will not beat Nadal in Wimbledon final (at least not that easy) if they play different tournaments from start of the year. that is how i look on that subject.  cheer up 

[williamchung7]

Should we restart this discussion again. 
I am kind of idiot. 

[Dallas]

Play aggressive and run make Novak run like a jack rabbit. Keep down the UF errors and serve outstanding.

[Alex]

Play aggressive and run make Novak run like a jack rabbit. Keep down the UF errors and serve outstanding.

It sounds good but it's not that easy. You have to do it consistently. Fed is just not that consistent any more. I see lot's of Fed fans, on this and other boards,  predicting that Rog will win this easily  . I don't understand. Wishful thinking, maybe  .

[Start da Game]

maintain depth and hit through his defense........there is no other way he gets beat.......just forget that french open match, he let both the occasion and the crowd get the best of him.......not playing the quarterfinal also did not do him any favour.......

[Start da Game]

Play aggressive and run make Novak run like a jack rabbit. Keep down the UF errors and serve outstanding.

It sounds good but it's not that easy. You have to do it consistently. Fed is just not that consistent any more. I see lot's of Fed fans, on this and other boards,  predicting that Rog will win this easily  . I don't understand. Wishful thinking, maybe  .

they live in dreamland.......tipsarevic showed how djokovic can be beaten........he slapped down forehand after forehand and backhand after backhand, flat and down the line cracking djokovic's defenses........

that's just how you tackle djokovic.......nadal will do it a little slowly and differently but the basic gameplan is that.......

[Tennis4you]

I think Fed needs to employ that big forehand that worked well for him yesterday.  Fed will need to serve well, hit big forehands and consistent backhands.  Low UFEs.  But that is all obvious.  I think one key will be for Fed to close the net and take care of some business up there too, not let Novak run back and forth all day long and keep hitting balls back.  Nole will have to be not playing at his best.

[pawan89]

Fed needs to use the crowd. No one has the crowd support and pull over them that Roger does he needs to use it. See what Jimbo could do with the crowd back in the day.

Also let's recall that at the French, it was actually Federer's defense that was pretty damn spectacular. He let Djokovic do the mood swings and form swings and beat himself a bit with some spectacular defense. I don't know how much will play in this match but it's just interesting to keep in mind.

[Alex]

Fed needs to use the crowd. No one has the crowd support and pull over them that Roger does he needs to use it. See what Jimbo could do with the crowd back in the day.

Also let's recall that at the French, it was actually Federer's defense that was pretty damn spectacular. He let Djokovic do the mood swings and form swings and beat himself a bit with some spectacular defense. I don't know how much will play in this match but it's just interesting to keep in mind.

Oh, the crowd thing. Sure, the crowd will help Rog win the match  . You can do better than this Pawan. 

Novak played sh!t in Paris, that's why he lost. It's as simple as that  .