Why Djokovic will beat Federer

Much like the Wimbledon, we have the World No 1, Novak Djokovic and the World No. 2, Roger Federer battling it out at the final at the Flushing Meadows. While Federer looks for his first slam since Wimbledon 2012, and his sixth US Open, Djokovic looks for his 10th Grand Slam and only his second US Open and will look to wrap up a very strong and positive year at the season’s last Grand Slam.

Having won the Australian Open and the Wimbledon, Novak Djokovic’s golden run of 2015 will come to a perfect golden ending if he manages to win the US Open as well. But his opponent, Federer is currentlt playing his finest tennis of the season.

None the less, ES brings you five reasons why we think Novak Djokovic will win the US Open final against Roger Federer:

To read the opposite side of the story, check out: Why Federer will beat Djokovic.

Hard court champion:

Having initially started his year with a strong and confident victory at the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic has been brilliant throughout the year at hard courts. He’s lost just a couple of sets this grand slam, whereas in the Australian Open, he managed to reach the Semis without dropping a single set.

Apart from the Grand Slams, he managed to win two prestigious hard court tournaments: Indian Wells Masters and the Miami Masters and managed to reach the finals of the Dubai Tennis Championships, Canadian Open and the Cincinnati Open as well.

This is his fifth US Open final, but he has only won here once in 2011. His semifinal clash against defending champion, Marin Cilic further solidifies his strong position at the Open. He merely needed 85 minutes to defeat his opponent setting the record for the fewest games lost in a US Open semifinal, losing only three games in his superb victory of 6-0,6-1,6-2.

Dominance over Federer:

Of the five matches the two have played this year, Djokovic leads the Swiss 3-2, which includes a four set victory at the Wimbledon. Djokovic leads 9-6 when it comes to all time finals and 2-1 in Grand Slam finals particularly.

Djokovic has no problem in playing marathon matches and prevails  in most of them, whereas Federer might not be able to stand up for long against him, as was seen in the Wimbledon final this year, when Federer lashed out unforced errors when the game was stretching along.

The confidence and the momentum, will be in the Serb’s court and he will definitely try hard to cap off his pretty successful year of tennis with a second US Open to his name.

Difficult to ace:

Federer’s main strong point this Slam have been his service and his aces. He has 68 aces so far as opposed to Djokovic’s 45. The Swiss also has been broken only twice as opposed to the Serb who has seen his serve getting broken 8 times this tournament.

But Djokovic is one of the strongest returners of service and his flexibility and tall buid makes him difficult to ace. He made a good mockery of Federer’s serve in the Wimbledon final and will look to continue doing so in this final as well.

Apart from service, it isn’t very easy to defeat the Serb in an on court rally considering his incredible movement across the court and he is certainly on of the best movers on court.

An answer to Federer’s SABR:

Federer’s unique and controversial shot, the SABR, or the Sneak Attack By Roger, debuted against Novak in the  Cincinnati Open final between the two. The SABR left the Serb dazzled and confused. He simply had no answer to Federer’s unique shot and it only made him more and more frustrated as he tried to figure out what Roger was doing.

Federer has used the shot pretty effectively against his opponents in the US Open as well, which has given him some advantage due to an element of surprise.

But Federer’s unique playing style isn’t new to Djokovic and hence he certainly would have prepared a counter to it by now. His coach, Borris Becker isn’t a fan of that shot and termed it ‘disrespectful’. Djokovic will look to make Federer’s SABR ineffective in the final, eliminating a waepon from FedEx’s arsenal.

Stamina and endurance:

One major reason behind Djoko’s recent dominance has been his incredible stamina. Dubbed as the king of five setters, Djokovic manages to keep his games at his best levels even in the fifth set.

As was seen during the Wimbledon final, Federer cannot keep up with Djoko’s stamina and endurance and if the game goes into five sets, Federer has no chance against the Serb. Federer’s game depreciates rapidly and the Swiss makes plenty of unforced errors as the game progresses, while Djokovic manages to hold his game well.

Djokovic has played two four setters already while Federer’s stamina has hardly been tested in the entire tournament, which gives the former an upper hand if the game advances to a five setter.