// Where do I begin? I can write 10 e-books about this result probably so this will basically be a summary. Congrats to the Djoker!!!!!! I am incredibly proud to call myself a fan today because of the immense composure Djokovic showed against a disgraceful crowd to win his 10th grand slam title. The stakes in this match were ridiculously high and the crowd was constantly shouting out when Djokovic was serving and cheering against him.It was classless behaviour as you would expect from the pro-Federer crowd but Djokovic kept his head down and heroically found a way and shut the crowd up. With everything that was at stake, the quality of the match was quite low compared to the Wimbledon final. But the scoreline was very similar and so was the pattern of play. Federer was the aggressor while Djokovic made his life hell.

There was a three-hour delay to the start of the match due to rain which was highly frustrating and thank God this will be the last year without a roof at this cursed slam. It wasn’t the worst thing in the world from a Djoker fan perspective because the rain would slow down things and help him, but it also meant it was going to be a night match where Federer is at his best.When the players finally came out the very first game of this match showed that Federer was up against something entirely different than the rest of the losers he faced who folded like cheap tents. It set the tone for the match. The game went to several deuces before Federer finally held serve. Djokovic responded with a love service hold of his own. Another big statement. In Federer’s next service game, Djokovic already made his move.He did what I mentioned in my previous post which was to be aggressive and put Federer under pressure right off the bat when he hit a very aggressive forehand winner to go up 30-0. Federer saved the first break point at 15-40 but Djokovic took the second break point after an extended baseline rally for the break. That was obviously huge to set the tone for the match but in the next game Djokovic had a very bad fall after changing direction and slipping.

It was a bit of a scary moment but thankfully nothing serious apart from Djokovic leaving about half of his skin on the court. Not surprisingly that shook him up a bit and he dropped serve right away and then Federer held serve to love. Another big moment. Djokovic steadied himself in the next game though with a service hold to 15. And in the next service game he was at it again, breaking Federer with a precision backhand pass after trailing 0-30.Right back on top. In the next service game, Djokovic faced another break point but finally consolidated for 5-3. Federer held serve after going to deuce again and at 5-4 Djokovic held serve to love to win the all-important first set 6-4. From here on you liked Djokovic’s chances. It was absolutely imperative for Federer to make a strong start and not allow Djokovic to drag the match out, but as usual Djokovic proved he is Federer’s master in the big matches.The hype around Federer was immense as usual going into this final. Craig O’Shannessy, the lead analyst for the ATP Tour and many other big organisations listed 15 reasons why Federer is the favourite. Federer defeated Djokovic in Cincy, he didn’t lose a set up to the finals, the surface suits his attacking game, blah blah blah. It only took one set for these people to realize what a big mistake they made once again to jump on the Federer bandwagon.Before I continue I have to bring up Luke Jensen who was the commentator for the ESPN broadcast here in South Africa who was an absolute disaster. His Federer bias and worship was so disturbing and evident that I had to switch off the sound for most of the match. But it is ESPN the worst tennis channel in the world after all so I guess that was not all that surprising. Back to the match.

The second set was a close affair and it was imperative for Federer to win it to stand any chance in the match. To his advantage, he served first which meant scoreboard pressure for Djokovic. At 5-4 and 30-30 on the Djokovic serve, Federer was once again piling on the pressure when he attacked the net with an aggressive backhand. Djokovic threw up a defensive backhand, but Federer went straight back to Djokovic who ripped the backhand straight at him forcing him into error.The Djoker erupted with a celebration that was just delicious to see. That game turned into a monumental struggle with Federer holding I don’t know how many set points. When Djokovic held serve to level at 5-5 it felt like another big moment. But with Djokovic serving at 5-6 and under more scoreboard pressure Federer brought up two more set points and finally took the second one. All squared.I think in the first game of the second set Djokovic was threatening the Federer serve again but failed to break, and in the second game at 15-15 Federer began again with the SABR. He tried it several times in the match but this time Djokovic was up to the task. In some cases, it paid off but overall it failed so I now call it the FABR(Failed Attack By Roger). That said, I wasn’t overly convinced with the way Djokovic handled it.The one he did at 15-15 sat up waiting for Djokovic to drill it straight into the sitting duck at the net but he went for the pass and missed badly. Federer did it again on the very next point but this time Djokovic embarrassed Federer who couldn’t keep up with the pace of shot from Djokovic. Same as in the opening set, Djokovic broke serve in the third game. Ajde! But same as in the first set as well Federer broke straight back in the next game.Fuck! This match was beginning to wear on me. The tension was already unbearable. Djokovic appeared to be unbelievably nervous as well. Probably the crowd had a lot to do with that as well but since I had to silence Jensen I didn’t know at the time just how much the crowd was getting involved. And then of course there was an awful lot at stake so I can’t blame him really. As a fan, this was by far the most nervous I’ve ever been before a tennis match.

The tension was already sky high before the first ball was struck so I can’t imagine what the players must have felt. At 3-4 Djokovic squandered a 40-0 lead on his serve and faced several break points. This was not the Djokovic I knew. This was the old Djokovic who choked when things got tough. But somehow he found a way to hold onto his serve in which was probably the most important game of the match.There were several games that took ages to complete and which was absolutely nerve-wracking and this was certainly one of them. If Federer held his nerve and broke serve there he would probably have won the third set and been in a very strong position. But he didn’t. He choked. The same way he choked against Nadal in the 2009 Australian Open final in the third set when he had Nadal at his mercy.And since Djokovic is a killer like Nadal he came back from 15-40 in Federer’s next service game to break. You don’t give Djokovic second chances. He smells blood like a shark and rips you to shreds. Federer was still fighting hard but Djokovic held serve to win the third set and now the writing was all but on the wall. Could Federer come back from two sets to love down against Djokovic at age 34? It seemed unlikely.Djokovic seemed more relaxed at the start of the fourth set as he broke Federer’s opening service game. He was still far from making things easy on himself, though. He was still struggling mightily on his own service game while he allowed Federer way too many easy service games. But I guess this is truer for the entire match. There wasn’t anything clinical about this performance and it was the hardest tennis match I ever had to watch.He also missed some ridiculously easy shots, while at the same times making some ridiculously difficult ones. In particular at 1-0 in the second set when Federer was trying to intimidate with the SABR again. He lobbed Federer consecutively for clean winners which were just delicious to see. At 4-2 and 30-40 on Federer’s serve came one of the points of the match which ended in Federer shanking an overhead into the crowd after another superb lob from Djokovic.