"I said the same post-match to John McEnroe - Paul McNamee on Novak Djokovic's recent admission about saving match point against Federer in US Open SF

Paul McNamee took to social media on Friday (September 15) to give his opinion on Novak Djokovic's recent admission.

In a tell-all interview with John McEnroe, Djokovic disclosed how he staved off the first match point of his 2011 US Open semifinal encounter against Roger Federer, before saving another one and eventually winning the match in five sets.

The Serb insisted that he had a good read on the Swiss' tactics before that point, as the latter always resorted to the wide serve in clutch situations against him. He said:

"I anticipated he was going to serve wide, and I don't know why but this is the first time I'm going to probably say this... I felt it was his go-to serve against me in important moments. I said, 'Okay, you know what, if he serves here I'm gonna snack it if I'm in a good position, which I did. You know how it is, one or two shots can really shift the momentum."

Roger Federer himself didn't acknowledge Djokovic's forehand return back then, inferring in his post-match press conference that the Serb was lucky to win the match.

"It’s awkward having to explain this loss because I feel like I should be doing the other press conference... To lose against someone like that, it’s very disappointing, because you feel like he was mentally out of it already. Just gets the lucky shot at the end, and off you go," Federer had said then.

In that context, Paul McNamee claimed that he was equally cynical towards John McEnroe after the latter had come up with some clutch play to deny him and fellow Aussie Pat Cash in the 1984 Wimbledon men's doubles final.

The former player reminisced about the championship match in his post on X (formerly Twitter), revealing that he himself had chalked McEnroe saving a break point on return in the deciding set of their 1984 Wimbledon men's doubles final encounter up to purely luck.

The 68-year-old added that the American told him in response that he knew which direction the serve was headed at before the point began.

"I said the same post-match to Johnny Mac after he hit a ridiculous FH return winner off a wide serve on break point in 5th set of Wimbledon doubles final 'That was a lucky shot'. His answer - 'I knew you were going there'. The great ones know….Bravo Johnny Mac, and Novak," McNamee wrote.

John McEnroe and long-time partner Peter Fleming would eventually win 1984 Wimbledon final, sealing the title match 6-2, 5-7, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3.

Novak Djokovic has made a comeback from two-sets-to-love down 8 times in his career

Novak Djokovic celebrates at the 2023 US Open

Novak Djokovic, meanwhile, has displayed immense mental strength in his career at the Grand Slam tournaments. The 24-time Major winner has lately made a habit of starting slow in his matches, before eventually making use of his endurance and deflating his opponents' confidence over the course of five sets.

Notably, Djokovic has won a best-of-five match from a two-set deficit eight times in his career. His most recent comeback came at the recently concluded US Open, where he overcame countryman Laslo Djere 4-6, 4-6, 6-1, 6-1, 6-3 in the third round. The Serb was relatively unchallenged in his subsequent matches in New York, as he won a record-tying 24th Major title a week later.

Djokovic also came back from two sets to love down against Jannik Sinner in their 2022 Wimbledon quarterfinal match. The Serb's most resilient campaign, however, came at the 2021 French Open, when he made two comebacks from a two-set deficit — against Stefanos Tsitsipas in the championship match and Lorenzo Musetti in the fourth round.

Having said that, Djokovic making a comeback from two-sets-to-love down was not a regular occurrence before 2021. Between 2005 and 2020, he only made four such comebacks. They came against Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at 2005 Wimbledon, Roger Federer at the 2011 US Open, Andreas Seppi at the 2012 French Open, and Kevin Anderson at 2015 Wimbledon.