Novak Djokovic will face Florian Mayer in
the quarterfinals on Wednesday, the 4th July. They have met once
before with Djokovic emerging triumphant in straight sets. In the fourth round,
Djokovic easily defeated Viktor Troicki in straight sets. Florian Mayer
defeated Richard Gasquet in four sets.
Mayer does not send a decent percentage of
first serves. It often remains below 60%. In the previous match against Richard
Gasquet, it just touched 60%. Moreover, his second serve is rather weak. Djokovic
being the best returner of serve, it is doubtful whether Mayer will score many
points on his second serve.
Both Mayer and Djokovic are fast starters.
The real match will start from the first ball itself. Both play attacking
tennis, though Djokovic has highly controlled aggression. His defence is so
good that he can turn into a solid defender on break points and transform
himself suddenly into offence whenever the opportunity presents itself. When
ahead, he creates opportunities to attack himself. His construction of point is
based on risk taking while continuing to play percentage tennis. Mayer, on the
other hand, might go for high risk game if he starts losing with his normal
game. He has an excellent forehand, but his net clearance is rather low which
makes it vulnerable to errors if the set up is not complete. His unforced
errors are unlikely to be as low as in the game against Gasquet. However, he
has variety on game and an element of surprise in shot making. He can slice low
and deny pace to Djokovic, something Alexandr Dolgopolov does. He is not shy of
coming to the net. He can hit winner from nowhere, exactly like Djokovic does
to others. His backhand, like that of Djokovic, is very good. However, he will
find it difficult to control the point from his end and many a time, may have
to go for counterpunching. Djokovic does not hit many shots just to remain in
the point. He is the one who likes to pull the first trigger, and he does it on
many occasions during a single rally.
Mayer can win if he plays like how Lukas
Rosol played to Rafael Nadal. In the normal course, he does not have wherewithal
to stop Djokovic.
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