Roger Federer: “I Don’t Know How Djokovic Decides When to Do What”

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic have faced each other 48 times in their career so far and the two understands each others game inside out. They know one another tactics, next move, and their personal tendencies at every situation of the match.

In the pre-tournament press conference at the US Open 2019, Roger Federer recalled his lost opportunities against Novak Djokovic and explained how the latter is able to dig himself out of these situations.

Earlier at the 2011 US Open, Federer was serving at 5-3, 40-15 in the fifth set against Novak Djokovic. However, the Serbian went for a broke with a smashing winner. He later lost the match after holding a pair of match points. Time after, Novak Djokovic has held his nerves during the match points and saved them to win the match.

Recently, Roger Federer again missed two championship points against Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon 2019 last month as he suffered a heartbreaking defeat at the Wimbledon Championships 2019 finals. Time after, Novak Djokovic has held his nerves during the match points and saved them to win the match.

The 20-time Grand Slam champion suggested that Djokovic certainly has the confidence during pressure situation, however, he explained that the Serbian tries to play aggressive when he is down in the scoreline as he tends to play freely.

Federer continued, “Well, I think he backs himself, I’m sure there’s confidence, he does in matches, go through phases, well there goes more through making shots and then also try to be aggressive all. When he’s down in the score, he has tendencies to just to play more loose more free.”

Roger Federer further explained, “We saw it in the match at Wimbledon as well, I don’t know it was a second or the third or fourth set anymore but when he lost the set 6-1 or 6-2, he was making more mistakes and then he goes back to tightening his game up a little bit.”

However, the Swiss do not understand how the world No.1 decides to do what but suggested that it has certainly worked well for him. He concluded, “So he goes in phases, I don’t know how he decides when to do what but obviously it worked very well for him.”