1 Response to madrid06gonzalez_djokovic

1. Voo de Mar says:

   December 9, 2021 at 1:45 pm

   Points won by each set: | 31-27, 33-34, 43-37 |
   Points won directly behind the serve:
   35 % Gonzalez – 34 of 97
   24 % Djokovic – 26 of 108

   The 19-year-old Djokovic [17] played his first Masters 1K quarterfinal and notched quite brutal loss after midnight leading 5:2* (30-all) in the 3rd set when Gonzalez [10] hit a massive backhand winner inside-out. 15 years later, I have no doubt the Serb should be considered as the mentally strongest player of the Open Era; obviously as each very experienced player he has lost many dramatic matches, but what’s quite interesting, in the initial phase of his career he suffered four tightest defeats to only two players (and it happened in symmetric circumstances) #

   # Comparison of Djokovic’s first four very tight defeats (when he was 1 or 2 points away from victory):
   Cincinnati 2005 (1R): Gonzalez 6-3, 6-7(7), 4-6… 2 points away
   Madrid 2006 (QF): Gonzalez 5-7, 7-5, 5-7… 2 points away
   Marseille 2007 (1R): Youzhny 4-6, 6-4, 6-7(0)… 2 points away
   Rotterdam 2007 (SF): Youzhny 6-3, 6-7(7), 5-7… 3 m.p. (1, 2)

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