Who Will the Surface Favor?
This is the first time that Djokovic and Federer will meet on grass. Federer has won here six times, while Djokovic is the defending champion. Today each was asked about facing the other on the surface, and what effect it would have.
Actually, Djokovic, forever in the shadows of Rafa and Roger where the media is concerned, was asked, “What do you admire about the play of Roger Federer on grass?” (Another question from Novak's presser: "How would describe from your perspective what Roger's place in history is?")
“He has great variety in his game,” Djokovic answered about Federer's grass skills. “He uses his serve very well. He opens up the court. He uses that slice really well to get the balls to bounce low. . . He has a really smart game for this surface.”
Federer was first asked about what he “can do on grass which you can’t do on other surfaces”?
“It’s much harder to defend on grass, time and again, than on any other surface,” Federer said. “But it’s hard to set up sometimes. . . . On grass I think it’s worth it to go closer to the lines, use a lot of down the line shots, which aren’t easy to pull off on other surfaces.”
As far as his matchup with Novak, Federer says, “Obviously it helps that he won the last couple [of matches] against me. Again it is our first grass-court match. We don’t know quite what to expect. I feel it’s a bit of an even ground. . . . I feel good about the match.”
In a nutshell, Djokovic believes that Federer’s slice helps him on grass especially, while Federer will likely be taking more risks down the line than he does elsewhere. If either of them throws in any new surface-based wrinkles, it will almost surely be Federer. What he does tactically to try to change their recent results will be interesting. Whatever it is, he’ll need to be sharp with it. Djokovic has been gathering everything in and spitting it back out at Wimbledon so far.
"This year," Novak said today, "I've been playing really well, constantly well, from the start of the tournament." Indeed, he's been calmer at Wimbledon than anywhere else I can remember in 2012.