Novak Djokovic mentally breaks down Radek Stepanek

For almost the bulk of the first two sets, Radek Stepanek had Novak Djokovic right where he wanted him, 0-40, three match points to reach the Basel finals. Three mediocre points later, and Stepanek’s window of opportunity was gone. When Stepanek gets tense, everything slows down and he can’t hit anything with pace, or volley with any conviction. That’s the downside of having such flat strokes, you can’t really overexaggerate your groundstrokes and still find decent racquet head speed by adding topspin.

It’s a shame that Stepanek’s game fell off track so rapidly in the third set, because he was playing some extremely smart attacking tennis. Indoor surfaces are great for his game, because taking the ball earlier on the rise, that slight split second difference can make the biggest difference between hitting a defensive shot compared to an approach shot or change of pace/direction, one of his key strengths. He’s so dangerous because you can’t just pin him back and drag him into a drawn-out baseline rally. Then he’s quick to move in on the kill, and finish it off at the net. The way he bounces up and down in between points, it’s as if he’s incredibly light on his feet and it shows when he stretches and lunges around the net with ease.

First game of the match, and Stepanek’s game plan was clear from the beginning. Set up the point with the return of serve, and construct the point from there. He had a couple of break points to start with on Djokovic’s serve, but Djokovic saved them, and it stayed on serve after that. Stepanek was solid on serve, very high first percentage which allowed him to serve-and-volley effectively.

It was even for the most part but the match was played on Stepanek’s terms, that extra piece of inspiration being the key to the slight lead that he built for himself over the course of the two sets. Stepanek is purely a timing player, he relies a lot on it and it’s amazing how well he’s able to change directions on what look like relatively high risk shots. He has a lot of feel for what to do with the ball, and he is excellent at improvising and reading the play.

He doesn’t really play to the score much until things get tight. It’s more like he will have his mind switched on, with the idea of attacking whenever possible but to have the patience to wait for the opportunity to do so. To not do too much on the deep balls, which Djokovic is so good at hitting. He will usually make a fair amount of silly errors but it won’t bother him knowing that he’s playing the right way, as long as he’s not piling up on errors. He’s not one of those players that needs to be consistent to feel good about his game – he feels good about his game by sneaking around all over the court. The more he gets to move and use the whole court, the more fun he’s having.

Djokovic looked mechanical in comparison, simply trying to make every rally into a long baseline rally and attack when he had a clear opening. He didn’t play with intent, and it was as if his mind was on autopilot. I had a feeling that he somehow managed to uninspire himself with that tactic though, having several concentration lapses throughout the match. At least it was clear that Djokovic didn’t mind the hard work, and that mentally he didn’t give away much to Stepanek. I wonder if Todd Martin has been giving him advice to stop with those negative gestures and body language. I also wanted to take a look at Djokovic’s net game, but it’s hard to implement much when you’re playing against an opponent that is often going to make his way up there first.

There wasn’t really all that much of the trademark change of directions that we normally see from Djokovic. When he did it, he did it with care, not as a surprise tactic but more to spread the court. The difference was obvious late in the second set when Djokovic ripped a couple of backhand down-the-line winners, then put his hands in the air as if to say it was the first time he managed to hit that shot the whole match.

Once Stepanek lost his chance to take the match on his three match points, the match reached an anti-climax. Stepanek couldn’t do anything right – dumped volleys tamely into the net and no energy into anything. Now he walks around slowly in between points instead of being his usual bouncy self. When he hits a great shot, it doesn’t mean anything to him and he can’t find ways to appreciate it anymore. His serve was the biggest declining factor, both in terms of pace and percentage and that made him a relatively easy target for Djokovic. He had already mentally checked out for a long time, but the match point summed it all up, with Stepanek tamely attempting a dropshot to put him out of his misery, one that he never felt he had any hope of making.