Today Fed showed the difference between the boys and the men.
But all due respect to Djoko; i believe scheduled in the bottom half he would have made it to the final. To me he's a better player than Nadal; better serve, better at the net and even a better forehand.

But the buzz concerning Djoko is exactly what Federer needs to play on top of his game. The scary part (here we go again) was Federer didn't play a perfect game. He was clearly annoyed by the rude group of Serbs in the audience and the irrespective attitude of the ref during the close calls (hiding behind the hawkeye).
That's why he didn't close down the 2nd set like he should have.

conclusion;
Djoko; top 5 at the end of this year as i can't name 5 better players

Feds' biggest threat this AO is Roddick. With his extremly dominant serve he'll be the one to put serious pressure on Feds' service games.
From what i've seen today i don't think Nadal will beat Federer in a possible match up. If you can't make the difference with your serve, there's not much left you can do :shrug:

Hi greasepipe, I saw as well the match and here my comments (some are in your lines..As often ;) )

Anyway, Djokovic played a good match but I was surprise about the way he handle a couple of long rallies: I had always the feeling that sometimes he was surprise about the quality of the ball that was coming back; I just do not believe this guy did not yet realize that against FED you have really to be on your guard until the end of a rallly :yikes: ...

Still he is young and he certainly will improve on that side...

In any case, first set, FED was just too good and Djoko (as said) too surprise by some balls...

Second set: The best one in term of drama clearly divided in two part. First part FED just in another dimension and then suddenly (second part) flying away with the concentration and let Djoko square at 4-4...tension at that moment but a Maestro coming back to his best Tennis and then the way in which he took the serve at 6-5 was just superb...This was really the final turning point Djoko after that was out.

Indeed third set FED was playing a training session and Djoko was thinking about the shower IMO :)

Two last comments:

A) Clearly it will be a dream to have a semi AROD-FED..With an AROD playing so well it remembers the 2003 semi at Wimbledon (one of the great master piece of recent Tennis): So let's hope both will be able to move on and reach the semi.

B) How can FED play his AGame when it is needed? FED was not playing well the first two rounds at this AO and then suddenly but surely the Agame came out when needed: It started with the Youzhny's match and then today it was fully in place against Djokovic...

How is this guy able to change the level so easily? It is just awesome :yikes: :yikes: ...Man what a champion :bow: :bow: ...NB: I know a lot of great players in the past were able to do that..But still FED is amazing because he is doing so naturally B) ..

Conclusion: Yes the main threat to FED is clearly AROD and yes it is a shame that it is likely to see this match in the semi and not in the final...

From the other side: I really believe Rafa is just in the middle of the battle: Andy will be a good test of his current level but then I really hope he will face Blake. To be ( and become) a champion you need to master the opponents who are generating more problems to you so let's hope we will be able to see the Blake-Nadal match B) .

5 cents opinions :rolleyes:

exactly :ok:

I've seen 3 different parts of Djoko today;
1) entering the arena; "bring him on, i can do this"
2) after 4 games; "holy sh!t, why are these balls coming back to me?"
3) after the match; "thnx for the lesson, mate"

Djoko learned a lot today ;)

Just watched the match.. on delayed time, as I slept in! Well it is Sunday after all B)

A good match, but I had thought that Federer would have too much class for Djoko, and so it proved.

In fact, there were few surprises in this match. Djoko put his heart and soul into the match as expected. He had already set out his stall that he was going to bring Federer down, and was now going to have to walk the walk! His ambition is laudable, and against lesser players would probably have won as he played a lot of good tennis. His groundstrokes were very good, serve was solid, some excellent dropshots, and some good netplay.

And yet he still lost in straight sets. The reason? Roger was simply too good. Djoko had good grounstrokes? Well, yes, but then they came back with interest (reminiscent of the Fed Blake matches), and also the length of Fed's shots were just too good to allow Djoko with the opportunity to dominate. Djoko's serves were good? Yes, but Fed's returns were excellent, especially punishing on the second serve. Some excellent dropshots? Well, he got Fed a couple of times early on, but then Fed made some amazing retrievals. Oh, meant to mention Djoko's return of serves which were goood too.. he did put Fed under pressure, with a few 0-30s, and indeed a break, but Fed imo has one of the best second serves in the game. He topped the rankings for points won on second serve last year, and it is easy to see why.

And now the maestro. :bow: I thought that Roger playing very well, and showed what a champion player he is. He needed to be on the money against Novak and responded well. His serving was top notch as usual. He had no double faults, and he had double figures of aces. Business as usual there. His groundstrokes were exceptional, mixing top spin and slice beautifully, and hitting fabulous winners off both wings. I liked the commentator's point that his backhand is his "weaker strength"! He hit some memorable winners off his backhand, including a half volley cross-court pass similar to the one that he hit past Rafa to win the first set in SW19 last year. And again, as per usual, his defence was superlative, rarely giving Djoko the chance to dominate rallies and really making him earn points.

So.. again, no surprises there. The aspects that did stand out a little included Roger's netplay. Again, some people think that it is a weak part of his game, which is unfair. He just hasn't used this aspect much over the last few years. however, it was noticeable how often both he and A-Rod came to the net in the USO final.. and he has been doing the same here (and A-Rod too). Roger's netplay was excellent, with some fine volleying, looking extremely effective off both wings.

So only minor blip was that he missed a couple of overheads on key points. This is where Djoko did a 'Rafa' and strained to make Fed play that extra point. In fairness, he did put away maybe 1 or 2 other overheads that came his way, and to point these out is being a little picky.. I guess that they stood out because one miss was on break point, and another put him in possible danger of being broken. But still, minor points.

So a high quality match, but with Federer having too much class for the young pretender. Djoko has a good attitude, but he is not a jedi yet. This was the first time that I saw one of Fed's matches in this tournament and he looks in great touch, and was a joy to watch, as is so often the case. :bow:

Transcript of post-match interview with Djoko here:

http://www.australianopen.com/en_AU/news/i...9378273554.html

Does anyone have a link for the post-match interview with Fed?? :shrug:

Simple conclusion:

Djokovic does a great job of sweeping aside tennis deadwood, but when it comes to the big boys, he's not quite able to cut it. This results in a drop in his level.

Given a year or so this should stop happening. He's got a solid, strong all-round game which should develop to greater heights. But right now, he's overhyped, I mean what's his most notable performance been so far? Beating Monfils at the French?!

:yikes: Wise this is your day man roflmao roflmao

In a recent interview (unfortunately I was not able to find it at the moment on the web) FED was pointing out exactly this point: All these new young guns are very good but they need all of them some additional experiences..He was indeed saying something like 1-2 additional years ...You are sharing FED's views :yikes: ...man This is great.. roflmao roflmao

:blink:

I am not sure Wise is going to thank you for pointing that out TV - so carry on ;)

sounds like a great match from Fed and its only the beginning of the season.... :)

The look on Djoko's face at some point was just unbelieveable - he was practically saying "what else can i do? I'm trying everything" and sometimes he really just could not believe how good Fed was playing! I think he realised after losing that second set, that it was all a bit inevitable.....

He did play well though, and there were some amazing shots from both of them. One thing that one of the commentators mentioned is that Fed and Djoko don't really like each other? i'm always one for gossip, so can anyone give me the background to this?

It stems from comments Federer made after the Davis Cup match last autumn. He criticised the way Djokovic called for a trainer on several occasions, only to show no hint of an injury the moment he returned to the fray. Djokovic did do this against Federer but what people forget is that he did this far more cynically against Wawrinka and that was what Federer was alluding to primarily. Djokovic does (did?) do this and I don't think anyone would argue otherwise. Federer said he was pleased to have beaten him and criticised him for abusing the injury break rules.

Subsequently, Djokovic's dad weighed in and said Federer only made those remarks because he knows his son will soon take over as world number one. Federer has not commented on this since although I believe the father has.

That's all I know Jo!

Wise's comments are much more measured and sane on this sitecompared with the BBC where he still trolls it up, he's either worried he'll be thrown off this site if he starts the anti fed prattle or has acute split personality disorder!

Yes, Fed was critical of Novak, and Novak's Dad didn't help proceedings by being about as subtle as Damir Dokic/ Richard Williams/ Yuri Sharapova in his response!

As Nick mentioned, it stemmed from Novak's alleged taking of strategic injury time outs. There is controversy about this in one of Djoko's matches against Monfils, as well as ones against Stan.

This is a grey area, esp as Novak did actually retire from a final match with Stan during the hardcourt season last year with breathing problems, which makes it seem honest. But then he allegedly admitted to taking a strategic injury break against Monfils, which caused some consternation in the locker room.. again, allegedly!

Anyway, I'd thought that it had blown over, but did wonder a little otherwise when Novak declared that he was going to 'take Federer down' in the match. But I'm pretty sure that this is more just him being ambitious. Federer was cool about this bold intent, replying in so many words that it would be easier said than done. ;)

Anyway, the beeb commentators were a bit sensationalist by saying that they didn't like/ hated each other. Both Fed and Djoko have said kind things about each other recently.

Here's a link to a photo of them at the net after the game, clearly 'not getting on'. ;)

http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/apphoto/pho...h&source=tennis

Federer was referring to the strategic injury break that Djokovic took in that same Davis cup rubber against Wawrinka, when Stan was leading two sets to one and then lost. It was a blatant and successful attempt to break Wawrinka's rhythm and that was what truly irked Federer at the time.

Thanks for the photo, petalp - I was actually going to say that their handshake at the end of the game (something I always look out for) was quite warm - well, the photo says it much better!

.. and it is certainly a reputation that has stuck with him, hasn't it?!

I hope that he has had second thoughts and cut it out of his gameplans.. and his dad's ill-advised comments didn't do him any favours either..

Great analysis as usual, but do you think Federer really has the edge on Nadal now? Id love to think so, but this surface suits his game. I still consider him Feds main rival not Roddick, look at the H2H's.

i am so sad i couldn't watch this match :(

I knew fed would win convincingly and so he did B)
Who is next for him btw?

So disappointing. I thought Novak would give him more of a headache. Let's face it, Federer is going to win this whole shebang. There's no-one who can beat him in this tournament. Blake certainly won't and he'll probably get to meet him in the final. Oi!

I have watched the match twice and heres my summaray.Djokovic said he would bring it to Federer in his interview and I think this in many ways fired Federer up!

Federer didnt play supremely,but he playing devastatingly.He really crushed that boy off both backhand and Especially his forehand.At times I couldnt believe the pace and quality of the shots he was making!

Another youngster firmly put in his place.Djokovic did play really well and with his tennis he would have beaten almost everyone else including Nadal.He just came up against the Master!And until his apprenticeship is over he has lots to learn until he graduates!

I was most impressed wtih Fed's Djoko demolition job. :ok: I think fed showed us that he's nto going to be messed around and wanted to put the youngster in his place, which he did, and quite brutally so. I was very impressed to see alsmost a fire in the eyes of fed from the start of that match, he really wa sin no mood for games. I dont; see anyone but him winning the AO - I hate to sound corny but I think that Federer sent out a Chilling Warning last night! And it's cold enough to freeze the balls off Nadal too. roflmao

wow - lots of chilling warnings! Didn't Murray just send one as well SB? :P

Yes he did Jo, he had Nadal's b*lls slightly cold anyway! roflmao

On chilling warnings, the best moment was when that thread Murray sends chilling warning to federer appeared on the BBC, and then he beat Fed! roflmao