Lessons and Significance of Novak Djokovic’s Win at the ATP World Tour Finals

By
at Internationaled.org

Published: November 15, 2012

commentComment        

Novak Djokovic ended a brilliant 2012 with a stunning comeback against Roger Federer to win the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals in London, defeating the world No. 2 7-6 (6), 7-5 in a match that lasted almost two-and-a-half hours.

From the early exchanges, the momentum seemed to be with Federer, who got off to a flying start, breaking Djokovic to lead 3-0 in less than 15 minutes. Anyone watching who may have thought that the first set was done at that point would not have been entirely wrong—only a few weeks ago, prior to the U.S. Open, Djokovic lost the first set of the Cincinnati Masters 1000 final 6-0 in just 20 minutes.

Djokovic's slow starts have been a feature of his game in 2012. The interesting thing is that being behind didn't seem to bother him. Receiving at 3-1, after holding his serve for the first time in the match, Djokovic made a quick tactical switch. Much like Nadal, he began to attack Federer's backhand to open the forehand.

More importantly though, he changed the pattern of play that had been favoring Federer. He kept Federer unsettled on the ad court (the left side of the court) through attacking the deuce court (the right side of the court) with his flat backhand from the ad court on his side.

This small change wrestled the match from Federer and remained a feature of Djokovic's game until the last point of the match when he successfully laced a backhand to the deuce court as Federer favored the ad court.

Breaking down the stats: of the 36 errors Federer made on his forehand, 80 percent (29) came in the deuce court and only 20 percent (7) in the ad court. So, what's the point? Federer favors his backhand side and likes to hit forehands from that area of the court. So, faced with an opponent who was threatening to attack his forehand side the more he camped at the backhand side, the Swiss had to make a sacrifice in order to defend.



As such, the efficacy of Fede...
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Tennis

Latest News


Comments

Comments are closed.

Sponsors

Bruins Tickets The Boston Bruins are a professional ice hockey team based in Boston, Massachusetts. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Red Wings Tickets The Detroit Red Wings are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit, Michigan. They are members of the Central Division of the Western Conference of the National Hockey League.

Penguins Tickets The Pittsburgh Penguins are a professional ice hockey team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New York Rangers Tickets play their home games at Madison Square Garden, they are one of the oldest teams in the NHL, having joined in 1926 as an expansion franchise, and are part of the group of teams referred to as the Original Six.

San Jose Sharks Tickets The San Jose Sharks are a professional ice hockey team based in San Jose, California, United States.

Toronto Maple Leafs Tickets The Toronto Maple Leafs are a professional ice hockey team based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

New Jersey Devils Tickets The New Jersey Devils are a professional ice hockey team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are members of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League.

Washington Capitals Tickets The Washington Capitals are a professional ice hockey team based in Washington, D.C.

Buffalo Sabres Tickets The Buffalo Sabres are a professional ice hockey team based in Buffalo, New York. They are members of the Northeast Division of the Eastern Conference of the National Hockey League. Get the Sabres and all of your NHL Tickets here.

NASCAR season is on of the most attended sports in the world. NASCAR Tickets to the best tracks is a must every year. Some of these tracks are: Talladega Tickets, Lowes Motor Speedway Tickets, Pocono Raceway Tickets, located in Ridgeway Virginia you have Martinsville Speedway Tickets and southern US you have two of the most popular Atlanta Motor Speedway Tickets and Texas Motor Speedway Tickets. Don't miss all the racing events this year!

Boston Red Sox Tickets The Boston Red Sox are a member of the Major League Baseball’s American League Eastern Division. Since 1912, the Red Sox's home ballpark has been Fenway Park. This is one of the hottest MLB Tickets sales of any team in the major league.

New York Yankees Tickets The New York Yankees are a professional baseball team based in the borough of the Bronx, in New York City, New York and are a member of Major League Baseball's American League East Division. Get tickets to one of the hottest games of the season Yankees Red Sox Tickets.

Chicago Cubs Tickets The Chicago Cubs are an American professional baseball team based in Chicago, Illinois. They are members of the Central Division of Major League Baseball's National League.

Phillies Tickets The Philadelphia Phillies are a Major League Baseball team based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. They are the oldest continuous, one-name, one-city franchise in all of professional American sports, dating to 1883.

Orioles Tickets The Baltimore Orioles are a professional baseball team based in Baltimore, Maryland.

Do you love wrestling? Get your WWE Tickets and WWE Survivor Series Tickets today!