Roger Federer admits that he had a good opportunity to win the Indian Wells final as he broke Novak Djokovic back early in the third set. The Serb had been up a set and a break before Federer leveled the match and sent it to a decider.
Down 2-0 in the third, Federer broke to get back on serve, after which Djokovic became angry with himself and destroyed a racket during a changeover. The world No. 1 went on to win the final four games for the title.
Djokovic also defeated Federer in the previous year’s Indian Wells final, 7-6 in the third.
“I thought it was positive for me,” Federer said of the way the match was going. “Very positive physically and mentally. I think he smashed a racquet in the process. I felt like I was getting the upper hand from the baseline. I was making every return, first and second serve, so overall it was the perfect thing to happen. That's why I'm even more disappointed that it ended up finishing the way it did.
“For me it was totally against the way the match was going. It was actually the comeback for me to really snap my authority on the match. He loosened up and tried to play a bit more aggressive and that worked. He did very well at that. After that he never looked back and he loosened up a bit.”
The world No. 2 will not play this week’s Masters 1000 tournament in Miami. His next tournament will be the Monte Carlo Masters in early April.
“That's what I'm looking forward to, training very hard now in the next three weeks,” Federer said. “It's key for me to get really in great shape for the clay-court season and for the grass-court season. I’m actually looking forward to that and spending also time in Switzerland. Overall it's going to be great.”