The Roger Federer-Novak Djokovic rivalry is one of the most-followed in men’s tennis and it goes back to 2006 when it first began. Here we look at how things went in that first meeting which happened at the Monte-Carlo Masters in 2006.
The Lead-Up
Federer had come into the season of 2006 on the back of back to back years where he had won three of the four Grand Slams of the year. The French Open had eluded Federer both times, even as Rafael Nadal was about to cast his first stone of success at Roland-Garros in 2005.
Having won the 2006 Australian Open, Federer went on to clinch the Indian Wells Masters and Miami Open too. Earlier, he had begun his season with a title victory at Doha to stretch his record to 28-1 that season heading into the Monte-Carlo Masters.
The Swiss maestro’s only defeat had come in the final at Dubai where Rafael Nadal overturned the loss of the first set to defeat Federer in the final and lift the title. He shrugged off that loss to lift the Sunshine Masters titles before the start of the clay season.
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Djokovic’s maiden ATP title was still a couple of months away – he would go on to beat Chile’s Nicolas Massau in the final of the Dutch Open in July that season for his first – and his best showing at a Grand Slam was a third round appearance at both, the previous Wimbledon and US Open.
However, Djokovic had fallen in the first round of the 2006 Australian Open, and while there were solid showing at Zagreb and Rotterdam which followed, a first round loss at Indian Wells and a second round defeat in Miami meant he was ranked 67th before the start of the Monte-Carlo Masters.
What Actually Happened?
As a result, Djokovic, was forced to play at the qualifiers in Monte-Carlo. In the first round of the qualifiers, he defeated fellow Serb Nenad Zimonjic in straight sets and the repeated the same dose on Simone Bolelli – both players were ranked outside the top 150 at that time and Djokovic had gone in as a favourite anyway.
It was in the first round of the main draw at Monte-Carlo that Djokovic was drawn to face the world number one and top seeded Federer. This match would prove to be Federer’s only challenge in the lead-up to the final where he faced and lost to Nadal in a best-of-five final.
Incidentally, Federer lost only five matches that whole year and four of those came at the hands of the Spaniard, while Andy Murray crashed his part on one other occasion, allowing the Swiss another brilliant year following his 2005 season.
Coming back to this first round match at the Monte-Carlo Masters, Federer quickly raced away to a set lead against the qualifier Djokovic in 33 minutes and it looked like another straightforward victory was headed his way. Djokovic, who would end the season ranked 16th because of a solid showing in 2006, had other ideas.
Djokovic, a rank outsider even at the start of the match with odds of 12/1, stormed back into the match by winning the second set 6-2, much to surprise of those watching. Federer would go on to wrap up the match in three sets and didn’t drop another set till he made the final but the Serb had shown what he was capable of.
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What Happened Next?
As mentioned earlier, Federer continued his solid run through the season, as he won three of the four Grand Slam titles and made it 12 titles in the year with victories at Madrid, Basel and ATP Finals to round things off. Never before or after has Federer has ever won those many tournaments in a single calendar year.
Djokovic was ousted in the first round in Barcelona and made the second round at Hamburg but then entered his first ever Grand Slam quarterfinal at the French Open. Rafael Nadal was 6-4, 6-4 up in that match before Djokovic retired from the match. After a fourth round entry to Wimbledon, Djokovic won his first title at Amersfoot, made the final in Umag where he lost to Stan Wawrinka, and then captured his second title of the season in Metz.
Federer and Djokovic met again at the Davis Cup that year and the Swiss man crushed his opponent in straight sets before registering another easy win in the fourth round of the 2007 Australian Open. Another win in Dubai 2007 later, it was finally at the final of the Montreal Masters Djokovic registered his first victory over Federer.
I am not a really big follower of tennis, but when these two play each other I ensure I do not miss a match. True gentlemen and examples and very inspirational characters. They shall be missed once they retire.
Thanks Kanika, yep, they – and Rafa – have taken the sport to a different pedestal and at times one wonders if each of their presence eggs the other two into achieving greater things.