ThrowbackTimes Monte Carlo: Roger Federer tops Novak Djokovic in their first meeting

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic forged one of the greatest rivalries in the history of the game in Monte Carlo 2006. By the will of the draw, it was the first-round match as Novak was ranked 67th, playing only his fifth Masters 1000 event in a career. The encounter lasted an hour and 49 minutes and Roger scored a 6-3, 2-6, 6-3 triumph en route to his first Monte Carlo final where he lost to Rafael Nadal. It was a solid encounter with a lot of beautiful shots on both sides, with Federer having the upper hand in sets one and three to move into the next round and avoid an upset. Djokovic was one of the most promising youngsters on the Tour, finishing the season with 40 ATP wins and cracking the top-20 to find himself in a perfect position for an even more potent attack in 2007. The Serb showed the complete arsenal of his shots in set number two but couldn't repeat that in the remaining parts of the clash, allowing Roger to control the scoreboard and move into the next round.

They had a similar number of unforced errors and Novak pushed Federer's backhand to the limits to force almost as twice mistakes from his rival, although that wasn't enough to push him over the top as he lost stamina and energy in the decider. Federer served at 53% but played only two loose service games in set number two, with Novak unable to reach at least a deuce in the remaining return games. That kept the pressure on the Serb who couldn't endure it, dropping 40% of the points behind the initial shot to face 11 break chances. He managed to repel eight of those and limit the damage but Roger was safe and dry with three breaks on his tally. The Swiss had a 22-14 advantage in service winners (they had just one ace each and it is always better to look at the number of unreturned serves, as they provide the better picture) and a 25-20 in the winners from the field.

He hit 12 forehand winners but also seven from the backhand wing, which is always essential against solid baseliners, while Djokovic claimed nine from his backhand that was already a rock-solid shot and six from volleys. Interestingly, Roger made more mistakes from his forehand side, especially after the first set, ending the match with 24 unforced errors while Djokovic stood on 25, missing equally from both the forehand and backhand. As we already said, Federer made more forced errors, 20 in comparison to 11 from Novak, but that couldn't harm him enough to expose his triumph. More than half of the points were wrapped up in the shortest segment up to four strokes and Roger had a clear 52-39 advantage in them, thanks to those service winners. That pretty much earned the victory for him since nothing could separate them in the mid-range points from five to eight strokes where they were all square at 30-30.

Djokovic claimed ten of 16 most extended rallies but that couldn't stand as a game-changer, as he was incapable of bringing more points up to this area where he would have the edge. Federer grabbed the first break in the third game, converting the fifth break chance after too many errors from Djokovic who was still searching for the rhythm. The Swiss landed four winners in the sixth game to remain in front, with Novak saving a break chance in the next game to stay within one break deficit. Serving to stay in the set at 3-5, Djokovic sprayed three errors to suffer another break and push Federer 6-3 in front after 33 minutes. Raising his level, Novak broke Rogers in games three and seven in set number two, forging a 5-2 advantage and securing the set on his fourth set point in the next game for a 6-2 after 32 minutes, looking good for more of the same in the decider.

If Novak could have kept that level, Roger would have been in all kinds of troubles in the final set but that never happened as the Serb started to struggle physically, losing the advantage he built in the previous set. In the second game Djokovic sprayed more errors than in the entire second set to give serve away, standing powerless on the return for the rest of the encounter and having to dig deep in service games as well. Serving well, Roger fired three winners in game seven to open a 5-2 gap, wasting a match point on the return a few minutes later but converting the fourth on serve at 5-3 after a forehand error from Djokovic. 

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2XUc9w9