Delpo v. Djoko, an instant classic

Had to do a separate thread for this match what an incredible contest. It was close and decided by just a couple of points here and there, both players pulled out some incredible shots. Novak was so wasteful on break point and with his backhand. Djokovic played pretty well except for having an atrocious day of epic proportions off of the backhand. Del Potro as well stepped up whenever Novak seemed to take the lead, breaking back and taking the tiebreaker after he looked dead and dusted in the 4th set. Del Potro in my mind would have beaten 98 percent of the top 100 with the match he played tonight. Djokovic served, hit his forehand, and used his variety beautifully. This is an odd 5th set match because the guy who played the big points worse ended up winning the match. Djokovic was a horrific 3 of 15 on break point while Del Po had fewer break chances but converted at a much better rate. So impressed with highlight quality of the lot of the shots hit in this match. My hats off to Del Po as he is another one who can really boost the game if he can manage to remain healthy. A class act and a major talent.

Congrats to Nole and fans for a spectacular win, Del Po tried his best . 

Delpo could've won this in 4 sets a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today. But it has been a while since he made a semi final so that is something to smile back on i guess. That 3rd set was a bad one to have slip away  Novak is now locked in for his 7th slam so well done for him

Josiah Maiestas wrote: a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today.

Winners
Djokovic: 80
Del Potro: 48

You were saying?

HM Murdoch wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote: a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today.

Winners
Djokovic: 80
Del Potro: 48

You were saying?

Not to mention who had more net approaches and aces. Del Po played great, thanks IC for your congrats. Del Po has nothing to be ashamed of really played a match where he deserve to be the winner and Novak's ineffectual play and that monster forehand almost got him over the line. Novak had to come up with probably the best serving performance he has had in quite some time to win this thing.

HM Murdoch wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote: a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today.

Winners
Djokovic: 80
Del Potro: 48

You were saying?

I use my eyes not the stats sheet. What a poor way to dictate who is most aggressive from stats  Delpo was certainly more aggressive after 4 sets then tiredness came at 3-3 5th set  

Josiah Maiestas wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote: a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today.

Winners
Djokovic: 80
Del Potro: 48

You were saying?

I use my eyes not the stats sheet. What a poor way to dictate who is most aggressive from stats  Delpo was certainly more aggressive after 4 sets then tiredness came at 3-3 5th set  

And being more aggressive manifested itself in hitting fewer winners, making fewer net approaches and scoring fewer points?

Thanks for clearing that up.

JM's eyes are the problem Murdoch, I don't know how he manages to see thru the has of smoke.

Socal, I'm actually surprised in the gap in the winners numbers. I expected it to be much closer.

I guess Novak got something on a lot of unreturnable shots which stops them being counted as winners?

Great match though. Massive credit to both players.

Yes, it really was a very fun match to watch. Also it was close in every set down to the wire there was never a stage when the match got lopsided. Novak maybe will be fired up by surviving this. He certainly burned a lot of legs on this match.

It was a brilliant match and one that it was a shame someone had to lose.

Hopefully we will see more of Delpo's return to top class form at USO

socal1976 wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:

Josiah Maiestas wrote: a real shame that the more aggressive and brave player has to lose today.

Winners
Djokovic: 80
Del Potro: 48

You were saying?

Del Po has nothing to be ashamed

I would ashamed of him if he didn't have the respect for the winner nor had he not given the best in the game, he came short in the result but didn't come short in the sportsmanship, he paid the right respect for the winner he deserved after the match.  

Life is not all about results, its about fight and he was awesome today, specifically the way he turned the match point down in the 4th set to win it, it was breath taking and I could not breath for few seconds, I knew my boy is the real danger man hanging on Djoko's side, credit to Djoko to overcome the assault.  

A fantastic match.

How can you not ben enthralled by Novak. Classic with Wawrinka at the AO, another with Nadal at the FO and today.

Box office

Was a brilliant match. Loved every second. Delpo is fast turning into one of my favorite players. Like everything about him.

Djokovic hit 80 winners? Wow.

He hit 22 aces to Del Potro's 4, would be interesting to see the full breakdown of the winners by volley/smash/backhand/forehand/aces.

The statistics are interesting and show the quality of the match but 39% second serve points won is a worry ahead of the final.

Novak's big worry is break point conversion.

It's been poor all fortnight and today it was 3/15.

I'm convinced this is going to cost him the final.

Wonderful match... Wouldnt say JMDP was at his best, but he definitely came to fight, huge perfomance, lots of heart. Just worried about Djokos excessive split lunges, he is risking doing himself in on grass.

Service winners 25 (of which 22 clean aces)
Forehand 17
Backhand 13
Volleays/Overhead 21

That doesn't quite add up to 80, I'm tired and I did something wrong, but anyway, it should give you an idea roughly.

http://www.wimbledon.com/en_GB/scores/stats/day19/1601ms.html

Novak looks like he's playing slightly better of the two at the moment but I tipped Murray before the tournament and so I'll stick with that.

There were some real highlight points from start to finish. Novak has been in so many of these five set wars I think his experience led him though.

An amazing match. Best of the tournament and maybe best of the year, only the FO semi compares for me personally.

As for Novak not being aggressive, are you kidding me? Sure he won a lot of points through his incredible defence and elasticity, but I'm frankly bored of that somehow being viewed as a negative. It makes him incredible to watch.

If anything Novak was TOO aggressive, trying to outhit Delpo. But I'm glad he did because it made for remarkable entertainment.

Danny_1982 wrote:An amazing match. Best of the tournament and maybe best of the year, only the FO semi compares for me personally.

As for Novak not being aggressive, are you kidding me? Sure he won a lot of points through his incredible defence and elasticity, but I'm frankly bored of that somehow being viewed as a negative. It makes him incredible to watch.

If anything Novak was TOO aggressive, trying to outhit Delpo. But I'm glad he did because it made for remarkable entertainment.

Exactly, most players on tour would have been reduced to a defensive shell against Del Po's serves and monster groundstrokes, but Novak more than held his own. Interestingly, for such a boring champion as Novak he plays in a lot of classic 5 set wars of historic proportions. Both players were hitting and defending with reckless abandon and neither could open up any type of lead on the scoreboard, that I think made this match so tense from start to finish.

Djokovic really serving so beautifully this whole tournament with just 5 breaks of serve in 6 matches. He really won this match with his serve as much as anything else.

socal1976 wrote:
Djokovic really serving so beautifully this whole tournament with just 5 breaks of serve in 6 matches. He really won this match with his serve as much as anything else.

There is a remarkable improvement on his service in grass, if not for his service it would have been st.sets for Del Po with a huge margin, how many countless breakpoints did Djoko saved himself  , never seen Djoko Ace this much in any tournament.

invisiblecoolers wrote:

socal1976 wrote:
Djokovic really serving so beautifully this whole tournament with just 5 breaks of serve in 6 matches. He really won this match with his serve as much as anything else.

There is a remarkable improvement on his service in grass, if not for his service it would have been st.sets for Del Po with a huge margin, how many countless breakpoints did Djoko saved himself  , never seen Djoko Ace this much in any tournament.

He does a great job of using disguise and spotting his serve well, he doesn't have too many tendencies that a returner can pick up on and just sit on. The grass helps his serve and he can still return well on the surface. One point of concern Del Po really punished the second serve today, but was clueless for much of the match in answering Novak's precision on first serve. I agree if Novak did not put in a great serving day he would have lost. In fact up to the last set Del Po played most of the big points better and won most of the big points.

This match definitely deserves a thread. It was a cracking game, high quality play - really enjoyed it. I'll be rooting for Novak in the final as a result. He was enterprising and fun to watch today, and I suspect he will remain so.

Silver wrote:This match definitely deserves a thread. It was a cracking game, high quality play - really enjoyed it. I'll be rooting for Novak in the final as a result. He was enterprising and fun to watch today, and I suspect he will remain so.

I think Del Po played like he has this wimbeldon Silver, he served exceptionally well and his Fhs were terrifying as usual. I can't see too many guys on tour other than Djoko, Nadal, or Murray playing well that could have stood up to this onslaught. Del Po has come a long way on grass he used to be really poor on the surface but credit to him he has become a real contender for this title.

It was a classic and another reminder that Novak, whilst he can revert to the defensive, has outrageous attacking talent when he needs it too and is all class as a player and as a sportsman

socal1976 wrote:

Silver wrote:This match definitely deserves a thread. It was a cracking game, high quality play - really enjoyed it. I'll be rooting for Novak in the final as a result. He was enterprising and fun to watch today, and I suspect he will remain so.

I think Del Po played like he has this wimbeldon Silver, he served exceptionally well and his Fhs were terrifying as usual. I can't see too many guys on tour other than Djoko, Nadal, or Murray playing well that could have stood up to this onslaught. Del Po has come a long way on grass he used to be really poor on the surface but credit to him he has become a real contender for this title.

Del Boy's gone up in my estimation. I now like watching him play, because he's now got far more variety that he used to be

I still don't understand why he has such a poor Masters record, though - you'd think in the short form he'd cause the Top 5 continual problems

He doesn't always seem to get his game firing straight away, so I guess bo3 can get away from him much easier.

It would be good to think, if say that is it for Fedal (away from clay) of Top 2 with say Del Boy, Berdy, Tsonga, Raonic, Tomic and JJ for the next three or four years

The icing would be on the cake if Dolgo could join the party as well

I think we'd quickly look back fondly on our memories of Fedal and revel in these new combinations

Well of course........sport like life moves on. Plus ca change!

That's why it would be very good to see a new generation behind the 22 year olds that will light up the courts as the current top guys have done.

We'll see what happens. I agree that it is probably the end of Fedal. (Though that really comes when Rafa loses RG)

banbrotam wrote:

socal1976 wrote:

Silver wrote:This match definitely deserves a thread. It was a cracking game, high quality play - really enjoyed it. I'll be rooting for Novak in the final as a result. He was enterprising and fun to watch today, and I suspect he will remain so.

I think Del Po played like he has this wimbeldon Silver, he served exceptionally well and his Fhs were terrifying as usual. I can't see too many guys on tour other than Djoko, Nadal, or Murray playing well that could have stood up to this onslaught. Del Po has come a long way on grass he used to be really poor on the surface but credit to him he has become a real contender for this title.

Del Boy's gone up in my estimation. I now like watching him play, because he's now got far more variety that he used to be

I still don't understand why he has such a poor Masters record, though - you'd think in the short form he'd cause the Top 5 continual problems

Agree he actually has pretty good volleys and feel in the forecourt, which is a new development in his game. Also I was very impressed and surprised at how Del Po struck his backhand and attacked Novak's second serve. There is more now to his game than just the huge forehand and the serve.

ChequeredJersey wrote:It was a classic and another reminder that Novak, whilst he can revert to the defensive, has outrageous attacking talent when he needs it too and is all class as a player and as a sportsman

Exactly ChequeredJersey and how fitting that the final point of the match was decided by another beautiful Djokovic winner. He went toe to toe with the most fearsome groundstrokes in the game in terms of raw pace and he still managed to be the aggressor for much of the match. Most players would have played that match in a complete defensive shell when you look at how Del Po was striking the ball from both sides.