Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer have both reached the finals at Wimbledon and will be facing each other Sunday to mark their 35th time playing against each other.
Djokovic is the top seed and was a favorite to win the entire tournament, so reaching the finals is no surprise. Federer, who turns 33 next month, was seeded fourth and lost in the fourth round of two of the last three majors. Making the finals is pretty impressive. The last time he reached a major final was two years ago at Wimbledon.
Based on his history against Nole and at Wimbledon, you have to give Federer a shot at winning. Roger has won more titles at Wimbledon than anywhere else and has gone 7-for-8 in the finals at the All England Club.
Let’s take a look at the head-to-head match history in this rivalry between the players.
Federer leads the series 18-16 in their 34 meetings. He has gone 6-5 against Djokovic in majors.
The last time they met was in the semifinals at Monte Carlo this year. Federer won that match 7-5, 6-2, though Djokovic had his wrist heavily taped and was playing through an injury. That was nearly three months ago, and Djokovic’s wrist seems to be fine since then.
Though they have played 34 times, the only occasion they met on grass courts came two years ago at Wimbledon when Roger won the tournament. Federer won their semifinals match in four sets pretty easily, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0, 6-3.
One aspect of each players’ game that has been pretty notable at Wimbledon is how much they’re coming into the net. Roger isn’t a straight serve-and-volley guy, but he tends to follow that style at Wimbledon pretty often. He came into the net 32 times in his semifinal win over Milos Raonic and won a devastating 75 percent of those points. He also played mistake-free tennis and only committed 11 unforced errors. Though Roger liked coming into the net at Wimbledon anyways, you have to figure the influence of new coach Stefan Edberg, a former serve-and-volleyer, has played a role in that.
The same can be said for Djokovic, who typically plays from the baseline. Nole came into the net an absurd 47 times in his four-set win over Grigor Dimitrov in the semifinals. He won 57 percent of those points, which isn’t nearly as high as Federer’s success rate at the net. His determination to come into the net in an attempt to end points early is likely due to the influence of his new coach, Boris Becker. Like Edberg, Becker came from a similar era and dominated Wimbledon with his game at the net. His influence has definitely been seen throughout the tournament.
There is a ton at stake for both players.
Federer is looking for his 18 career grand slam singles title. He’s looking for his eighth Wimbledon title, which would snap a tie with Pete Sampras and give him the sole record.
Djokovic is hoping to win his seventh grand slam singles title and second Wimbledon. He also wants to turn around his fate in the finals of grand slams; he’s lost his last three grand slam finals — two to Rafael Nadal, and one to Andy Murray.
Though Wimbledon is Federer’s tournament and he has been playing well, we’re giving Nole the edge.
