It looked ominous from the start for Novak Djokovic today. Not only did he come out struggling with his own game—his footing, his movement, his forehand, even his defense—but his opponent, Roger Federer, appeared to have something extra in the bag today. At 1-1 in the first, Federer missed a first serve. Typically, that would be a moment when the advantage would shift to Djokovic and his vaunted return of serve. This time, though, Federer came up with a tricky mix of a kick serve and a body serve that Djokovic, caught moving forward and handcuffed, couldn’t handle. It wasn’t a significant point in itself, but it was a sign of things to come. Federer was a step, and a thought, ahead today.
He was more than a step ahead throughout the first set, in part because Djokovic never seemed comfortable with his movement on the grass. He ran gingerly to track down balls out wide, and he slipped on a crucial point, at 30-all on his serve at 2-3, and dropped a volley into the net. A missed backhand later and he was down 4-2. With the break in his pocket, Federer didn’t put a foot wrong. He hit an ace to hold for 5-2, and two aces and a service winner to close out the set 6-3.
Djokovic found his feet, and his forehand, in the second set, winning it 6-3. But at the match's most crucial moment in the third, it was Federer who out-thought him again. After a tentative, back-and-forth beginning, the play between the two men approached lift-off in the third. Their shots firmed, the rallies lengthened, and the emotions spilled out for the only time all day. Down a break point at 2-3, Djokovic survived an epic all-court rally and punctuated it with a scream. He eventually held. Two games later, with Federer serving at 4-4, it appeared that the momentum was about to shift to Novak’s side. He reached break point after a loose Federer forehand. But here Federer had the answer again. Djokovic looked for a serve to his backhand side, a favorite of Federer’s in the ad court. Federer went to his forehand instead. Surprised, Djokovic chipped his return long. He never seemed to forget that shot.
Federer held with two service winners, and took the good vibes from that escape into Djokovic’s next service game. It would be four points of vintage all-around Federer. He opened with two winners, one backhand and one forehand, made a stab save that led to a Djokovic error on a smash, and finished the set with a rapid-fire volley-overhead combination.
At the French Open, it had been Federer who had been unable to recover from the disappointment of losing a tight set. This time it was Djokovic. Downcast, slipping, spraying backhands, he went away in the fourth. At 0-1, he chucked in four unforced errors to be broken. If he had one last shot, it came in the next game, at 30-30, when Federer missed his first serve. Thoughts of last year’s U.S. Open, and Djokovic’s famous return, may have danced in both player’s heads. If they did, Federer again had the right thought to counter it. He jammed Djokovic with another good second serve and held for 3-0. From there, his 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 win was academic.
Federer won 72 percent of his second serve points and hit 31 winners to 10 unforced errors. Djokovic made 21 errors, though it felt like many more. Any time Novak makes twice as many UEs as Fed, and can make no inroads with his return—he won just 26 percent of his receiving points—he’s going to be in trouble. Federer at times was even able to overtake him in backhand to backhand rallies. He said he would go down the line more, and he did.
It was a disappointing performance from Djokovic, both in his play and his attitude. He started slowly and went away quickly, rarely appearing to believe this day was his. Federer, on the other hand, was all business to begin, and never seemed to lose faith. When it was over, there was no scream or no index finger wagging, as there had been in Paris last year. This time there was just a smile of satisfaction at his player's box. He thought they had done the work over the last year, and that he had played too well over that time not to win one of these semis eventually. As with just about everything else Federer thought and did today, he was right.