It’s the first time since Federer lost to Rosset in Marseille 2000 that we have an all-Swiss final on the ATP Tour. That will take place after Wavrinka played a solid match in beating a likely tired David Ferrer 6-1 7-6 and an inspired Federer killed the hopes of the Serbian fans with his 7-5 6-2 victory of world number two, Novak Djokovic.
An important part of the Federer vs Djokovic match was Djokovic’s wrist/arm injury that obviously impaired him throughout. It was apparent to everyone watching and reminded tennis fans of the Nadal vs Wavrinka Australian Open final. Watching a match where a player is clearly injured is always bittersweet, but it can also be tough for the opponent to keep his cool when the opponent is clearly in pain and inviting some kind of pity. But Federer kept a clear head and played well in crucial moments to make it impossible for Djokovic to overcome the pain.
Djokovic said after the match:
“I just rest now. I cannot play tennis for some time. How long, I don’t know. It’s really not in my hands anymore,” Djokovic said. “I’m going to rest and see when it can heal 100 percent, then I will be back on the court.”
“Well, the good thing is I don’t need to have a surgery. I don’t have any rupture or something like that,” Djokovic said. “I’m going to go see doctors tonight and then tomorrow again have another MRI (scan), see if anything changed in this seven days since I had the last one.”
So, to something positive – what will happen in tomorrow’s final?
I see it like this: One player will be relaxed in his experience: Roger Federer and one player will be HUNGRY for a win, Stanislas Wavrinka. The problem for Stan the Man is that he has only won once against his compatriot and playing his first Master Series final will surely make him nervous. BUT, he did play his first Grand Slam final earlier this year and managed to win it – so you never know.
Wavrinka is playing really well again, but somehow I think Federer will take this and I think the main culprit will be their Head-to-Head record. If Federer wins it will be his first Monte Carlo title and he will be back as world number 3.
Well-deserved in that case.
Let’s end with what Federer feels about the upcoming match:
“For me it comes as a bit of a surprise to be in the finals again of a tournament this year, especially the first one on clay. But, of course, I’ll take it,” said Federer. “I feel like I have put in the performance to be there, gave myself the opportunity this week. So I’m very happy with my play. Now I set up the dream finals for Stan and myself and Swiss tennis and the Swiss fans. It’s very exciting times right now.”
“I think it’s incredible that we are in the finals together, the same week we’ve been playing well for some time now. That we’re able to have this moment together on a centre court, it’s so rare.
“This one is clearly very special, especially with the way he’s been playing the past few months, the number of hours we spent together on court either playing doubles or practising, the times we’ve talked tennis. It’s nice living a moment like this together in a final. It’s really wonderful. So from that standpoint, I think it’s going to be a great day tomorrow.”
