Novak Djokovic had given Roger trouble before, beating him once and playing very close with him a couple of other times. Few would have bet that he could take Roger out 7-5, 6-3, 7-6 (5) in a major semifinal, though. Roger didn't seem to be moving or hitting as well as usual, and he had barely survived (10-8 in the fifth set) against Janko Tipsarevic in the third round. Part of the problem might have been that Roger missed the warm-up tournament he had planned to play, because a bad piece of chicken put him sick in bed for five days, but Djokovic showed outstanding power and depth on groundstrokes, bigger serves on key points, and better movement. Novak's groundstokes into the last foot of Roger's court were his single most devastating shot, often catching Roger either a little late, and thus dumping the reply into the net, or not even getting near the ball.
Although seeing someone outplay Roger is always interesting, when Roger isn't playing up to his standard, the match usually isn't all that much fun to watch. In complete contrast, though, the semifinal between Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Rafael Nadal was unbelievably entertaining. Tsonga's play was absolutely brilliant. On seeing that anyone had dismissed Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3, 6-2, one would assume that Nadal had played poorly, but Nadal played quite well. Tsonga just couldn't miss. He hit his groundstrokes with tremendous variety, ranging from low, skidding slices to high, deep, heavy topspins, often with so much angle that he had Rafa, who never gives up on a ball, running not just "coast to coast," but mid-Pacific to mid-Atlantic. Jo-Wilfried mixed his volleys and serves beautifully, too. He responded to several very good attempted passing shots by Nadal with incredibly delicate drop volleys that practically parked where they landed, and he closed in on higher volleys quickly enough to smack them away decisively. Tsonga distributed his serves all over both service boxes and made Nadal's timing more difficult by varying their speeds from the high 90s to the mid 130s.
Assuming that Tsonga and Djokovic both go into the final with the same level of sharpness they showed in the semifinals, the key to the match will most likely be whether or not Tsonga can execute his groundstrokes as well against the greater depth Djokovic produces in comparison to Nadal. Nadal hits much more topspin than Djokovic, and with all of the many advantages topspin offers, one distinct drawback is its tendency to reduce depth. Of course, Tsonga might be able to hamper Djokovic's depth by pulling him farther off court (giving him less time to line up his swing) and by using higher topspin to keep the ball above his strike zone, two tactics that Federer, surprisingly, didn't seem to try.
Enjoy some outstanding photos of these players, accompanied by instructional comments:
Photo Study of Novak Djokovic's Strokes
Photo Study of the Rafael Nadal Backhand
Photo Study of the Roger Federer Forehand
