One of my greatest wins, says Djokovic
Date published :
11 Sep 2011 - 00:30:04
Novak Djokovic hailed his epic five-set US Open semi-final triumph over Roger Federer on Saturday, where he saved two match points for a second successive year, as one of his greatest ever wins.
"This is my greatest victory of 2011 and one of the greatest of my career," said the world number one and top seed after a four-hour 6-7 (7/9), 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 victory over the five-time champion.
"I was two sets down against Roger Federer. We are all aware of his quality and when he's two sets up he doesn't often let you back in and win. But I showed what I had, I stepped up and it paid off.
"I managed to play better, to switch gears, and I managed to play two incredible sets -- third and fourth. Then I felt it's the moment when I should step in and show what I got, and it paid off."
Saturday's win was also the second successive year at the US Open where Djokovic had beaten Federer at the semi-final stage, saving two match points in the process.
It was just the 24-year-old Djokovic's second career comeback from two sets to love down, six years after he overturned a similar deficit to Guillermo Garcia Lopez in the second round at Wimbledon.
Victory for the Australian Open and Wimbledon champion also took his 2011 record to 63 wins against just two losses -- one of those was against Federer at the French Open semi-finals which ended his 43-match winning streak.
Third-seeded Federer appeared poised for victory after breaking Djokovic for a 5-3 lead in the fifth set, but the Swiss great couldn't convert either of two match points in the following game.
Djokovic saved the first with a searing forehand return before a double fault from the Swiss legend allowed the Serb Djokovic to even the set.
"It was just like last year. I had to take my chances. With the way he was serving, I was very close to being on the way home when he was 40-15 in that game in the final set.
"But I hit that amazing forehand return which got me back into it. I got tremendous energy from the crowd, I fought back and stayed positive. I didn't want what happened at the French Open to happen again. That defeat was very painful."
He added that after being outplayed in the first two sets, a break in the third represented a crucial shift in the balance of power.
"I relaxed a little bit. I started hitting the shots that I maybe didn't hit in the opening two sets, and he started making more mistakes. But that's a switch of momentum."
Djokovic will be playing in his sixth Grand Slam career final on Monday when he faces either defending champion Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray.
