Beating Roger Federer these days is much like beating Manchester United. Pull it off and you are bound to hit the headlines. Novak Djokovic triumphed against Roger Federer for the first time in a Grand Slam event since the 2008 Australian Open, the Serbs' last Slam Final, and his last Slam win. It may be auspicious for the world number three, or it may mean nothing, as he will have his work cut out against Rafael Nadal, who will be aiming to win his third Grand Slam of 2010, and become only the fourth player in the Open Era to win all four majors, joining Rod Laver, Andre Agassi and of course, Federer. The match itself defied any master narrative, swinging seemingly decisively one way before shifting straight back. Indeed, when Federer set up two match points in the fifth set, it all looked familiar to regular tennis-watchers, before Djokovic played two gutsy points to get back to deuce.
Back at 5-5 and on Federer's serve, the Serb broke decisively, and then saved a break point of his own while serving for the match. The world number two then saw a succession of forehands sail long, handing Djojovic the fifth set 7-5.
In six previous seasons Federer has not failed to make two Grand Slam finals in a calender year, and prior to this year's French Open, had reached the past eight finals at all four majors, winning four of them, but losing three to Nadal. The match also ended his run of six US Open finals, including five titles before being beaten by Juan Martin Del Potro this time last year.
The match also ended a streak of three consecutive times that Federer had dumped Djokovic out of the US Open. In 2007 Federer beat the Serb in his first Grand Slam final appearance, then in 2008 and 2009 the Swiss triumphed in the Semi-Finals of both years.
For Djokovic the win salvaged something from an immensely frustrating season. Beaten by Tsonga in the Quarter Finals of the Australian Open in a re-match of the 2008 Final, he was then put out of the French by Jurgen Melzter, again in the Quarters, despite holding a two sets to love advantage in the match. Then he was outclassed by Tomas Berdych in the Wimbledon semi-finals, and another Semi-Final defeat to Federer at Flushing Meadows would have compounded the Serb's woes.
The first four sets were topsy-turvy encounters with the 16-time Grand Slam winner taking the first and third sets 7-5, with the Serb picking up the second and fourth 6-1 and 6-2, breaking Federer twice in both sets. Whatever is to blame for Federer's recent performances, at times he seems a shadow of his former self, and on the Arthur Ashe court, where he has so often excelled, he racked up more unforced errors than winners. Where he showed entire matches packed with flair and brilliance, his game flickered into life invarably, and only on the odd point did he display the sort of tennis that has dominated the sport for the past six years.
He would occasionally step in and strike the ball imperiously cross-court for a clear winner, but more often than not his opponent displayed far clearer aggression, hurrying Federer's forehand, and forcing him to either net, or shoot the ball long. The match might have headed away from the Serb after the fourth set, as the cat-and-mouse tennis suited the former world number one by far.
With far less hesitancy Djokovic stepped up the aggression in the fourth, and kept a steady nerve to triumph in a tight fifth set that could very easily have gone either way. The Serb's father, hard to miss with his son's visage emblazoned on his t-shirt, and those in the world number three's camp were sent into raptures by the win. Nadal provide a far sterner test today.
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