Coca-Cola IPTL diary – Djokovic vs Federer raises the roof in New Delhi

Federer and Djokovic battled each other for the first time in India

For the first time in three days, the most coveted seats at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium finally appeared to be full. It was, after all, a momentous occasion – the final day of the Coca-Cola IPTL in India – and the thing that had caught everyone’s attention, ever since the probable schedule was announced on Friday, was upon us.

As the Indian Aces took on the UAE Royals for the final match of the Indian leg of the event, crowds turned up in large numbers to witness Roger Federer take on Novak Djokovic. A rematch of the Wimbledon final, a rivalry that has seen 32 thrilling encounters, eight of which have been at semi-finals or better at the Grand Slams, the current World No. 1 and World No. 2 – they very best was saved for the very end.

The last time these two were set to play, Federer had to withdraw because of a back injury leaving several fans at the O2 bitterly disappointed. But yesterday, Federer rocked the event on his debut as he helped his team to an easy victory. And even though the UAE Royals lost their own match – against the Manila Mavericks – the crowd got to see the Serb play a set of doubles.

Having already warmed up to the court, the conditions and the rules, the hype reached proportions worthy of the two champions. And even before the match started, huge roars sounded around the arena as Federer turned up on court in a white T-shirt to hit with Pete Sampras. As if all this build-up wasn’t enough, Bollywood stars Akshay Kumar, Deepika Padukone, Riteish Deshmukh, Aamir Khan and legendary Indian cricketer Sunil Gavaskar (who also co-owns the Singapore Slammers team) turned up for some impromptu tennis along with the two tennis stars.

Djokovic chose Sania as his partner, saying “If you ask me, I will pick the lady!”, and Federer chose to play with Aamir Khan, saying, “He’s got a lot of muscles!”. It was a highly humorous exhibition which culminated with the top two players collaborating at the net, holding it down, as Aamir Khan struggled to get even one serve in!

Finally, the Aces vs Royals match commenced.

To kick off the proceedings, Ana Ivanovic took on Kristina Mladenovic. Ivanovic, who had won both her sets in India thus far, found herself on the backfoot as Mladenovic unfurled some big groundstrokes and took an early break. But the Serb fought back, breaking the Mladenovic serve and levelling the scores immediately.

The two exchanged another pair of breaks and forced a five-minute shoot-out. In the shoot-out, the Royals, who had not used any of their Happiness Power points up until then, called upon both of them and pulled off a 7-5 win to take the set.

The second set was between Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanisevic. In their playing days, Sampras had the thumb of the Croat, especially at Wimbledon. But the 14-time Grand Slam champion, who admitted to feeling a little rusty in his match against Pat Rafter yesterday due to the long flight, hoped that he would be able to put up a better display against Ivanisevic, who was in great form.

At the start of their set, it seemed just like a match from their heydays. A laser-like backhand and two aces from the American to hold his first service game caused the crowd to erupt in cheers, and even the usually stoic Sampras allowed himself a smile. However, Ivanisevic didn’t let any more opportunities the way of Sampras and raced to a 4-1, 40-0 lead. At this point, Indian Aces coach Fabrice Santoro made a substitution and brought himself on.

The change worked and by forcing several long rallies, the Frenchman managed to break the Ivanisevic serve and reduce the deficit. He then held serve in the next game and prompted a time-out from the Royals. The words of his team-mates seemed to have worked, as Ivanisevic returned to close the set 6-3.

Rohan Bopanna and Sania Mirza took the court next against Nenad Zimonjic and Kristina Mladenovic. Once again, the UAE Royals took an early lead and forced another substitution upon the Indian Aces. And the player chosen to replace Rohan Bopanna was none other than Roger Federer himself.

On his very first point, the Swiss lobbed the return over the head of Mladenovic to send the crowd into a frenzy. But once again, the substitution was to no effect and the UAE Royals took the set 6-2.

Federer was supposed to play his doubles match with Sampras, but Gael Monfils stepped into the fray instead. And that wasn’t the only surprise in this set. As the set proceeded on serve with both teams playing solid tennis, the UAE Royals decided to give Marin Cilic a break and in stepped Novak Djokovic.

Trailing 4-5, Federer produced a perfect service game with two aces, and Monfils brought the set to a shoot-out with a slam-dunk smash, a la Pete Sampras. That brought the stadium to its feet and saw Federer reel Monfils in for a jumping shoulder bump!

What followed was one of the noisiest moments of the day as the Aces rallied from a 3-6 deficit to level the score with just 10 seconds to spare. In the one-point shoot-out that followed, the Royals had no answer to Federer’s stinging backhand return. They say sound is a pressure wave, and the roar that followed was a good example of that.

So finally, the cherry on the cake was here, and what a spectacle it was. The players’ full repertoire was on display. Federer chipped and charged, served and volleyed, thumped aces on both sides. Djokovic returned solidly, passed Roger off both wings and frequently turned defence into offence. Such high quality tennis has never been played before in India.

The two played a brilliant game to force one last five-minute shoot-out in India. Federer claimed that 6-5 and won the set for the Aces. But at this point, the score was 22-28 in favour of the Royals and that meant Federer had to win 6 games in a row to force a Super Shoot-out.

Djokovic didn’t give Federer any chance to do that though, and won the last game with ease to seal the tie for the Royals.

The final score read 29-22 to the Royals. With this win, the Royals close the gap to the Aces to just 3 points. They remain second, just ahead of the Manila Mavericks. The Singapore Slammers are a distant fourth as the event moves to Dubai for its final segment.

The Indian Aces may have lost the match, but the crowd got what they came to see. They saw a set of tennis which was of sheer excellence and they saw their favourite player win it. The happy faces and the excited chatter that could be heard on the way out is testimony to the fact that the “Happiness Open” has been a success in India.