ATP 500 Dubai Final: Roger Federer (2) d. Novak Djokovic (1) 6-3, 7-5.
Roger Federer had to get the match
won in straights if he was going to stand a chance of beating Novak Djokovic in the 2015 ATP 500 Dubai final. The two’s 2014 finals in Indian Wells and Wimbledon had featured some of Federer’s very best tennis only for him to struggle when the matches
went the distance.
A long game with Federer serving at 1-2 in the first set was not what Federer or his fans wanted to see in the 2015 Dubai final. Djokovic seemed to be imposing his game early on, keeping Federer back and getting him stretching for wide balls, and held break points. Federer, though, was intent on imposing his game, too, and saved those break points with a smash and then a service winner. The game went back and forth for a little longer before Federer closed it out, again with a smash/ service winner combo and the Swiss was level at 2-2.
That serve, the shot that got him through that tough game, was the shot of the match
for the Swiss. It had some competition, too. Federer’s attacking game and his defense were also on-song, but it was the serve that sung the loudest.
The Federer return was pretty vocal, too. At 4-3, Djokovic serving, Federer got the break as his perfectly thought out sliced return caught Djokovic off-guard and forced a backhand error.
Federer served for the set, opening the game with an ace and racing to a 40-15 lead. Djokovic saved the first with a huge backhand return that earned him a short ball off which he struck a forehand winner. Federer did not give Djokovic another chance to show why he was known as the game’s best returner, though. On his second set point, he struck a service winner and was a set up.
The first set won and half of the mission accomplished. Federer would need another clinical set to be safe- Djokovic has beaten him from a set down in 7 of his 17 wins, including those Indian Wells and Wimbledon wins last season.
That mission looked like it would be done soon at 3-3 with Federer returning. Two backhand winners in a row got him to 0-30, and he had Djokovic on the ropes.
But Novak Djokovic is a hard man to deliver the killer punch to. He got through that game, to lead 4-3, and then began to impose his own game on Federer, keeping the Swiss back with his full range of spins and depth. A huge Djokovic return and a forehand down the line winner gave Djokovic a 15-40 lead and the script he needed to play out, the three set win, looked to be a possibility.
Federer, though, was still focused on not fluffing his lines. The Swiss saved the first break point with an ace and the second with a service winner. Level at deuce, another service winner and another ace leveled the second set at 4-4.
Federer was in trouble, again, serving at 4-5 when a Djokovic forehand winner earned the Serbian two set points. Federer saved the first with a sublime volley that died on the baseline. On the second, a service winner
came to his rescue. Two aces, in a match in which Federer struck the 9000th ace of his career, and the Swiss was level at 5-5.
Djokovic got to 40-0 in the next game, his own serve much improved the past year since he lost to Federer in the Dubai semi-finals last season. The world No.1 then wobbled, his lead vanishing, and he was serving at deuce. Djokovic missed the first service, but there was no alarm, his second serve being arguably the game’s best.
Not this time, though. Djokovic threw in a double fault, just when he was a few games away from taking Federer to a tiebreaker and to taking the match to a much needed third set.
Federer could not have asked for more in terms of Djokovic wobbling, and then, when serving for the match, from himself. The Swiss went 0-30 down as he missed an easy drop shot and a Djokovic forehand on the run passed him at the net, but his serve would not miss when it mattered. A service winner and an ace, his tenth of the match, got him to 30-30. A serve and volley paid off when Djokovic’s forehand on the run went wide.
Federer now had a match
point for his first win over Djokovic in an ATP final since Cincinnati 2012, But he would have to wait as he netted a forehand and was back at deuce.
Djokovic’s dreams of a tiebreaker then looked like they might come true as he earned a break point, but a Federer smash was too good and the Serbian netted his backhand retrieval.
Federer earned his second match
point with his eleventh ace. He then served out wide to the Djokovic backhand, getting the Serbian on the stretch, and flew into the net to take the short return down with a forehand winner to win the match
6-3, 7-5, in straight sets, reading his script perfectly in what Federer and fans will hope will be the perfect rehearsal to a win on the game’s bigger stages come the Grand Slams.
Watch Roger Federer’s championship point in Dubai here:
Commentary by Christian Deverille
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