Roger Federer psychology discussed by Novak Djokovic after Cincinnati Masters win
ROGER FEDERER held a psychological advantage over Novak Djokovic heading into the Cincinnati Masters last night, claimed the Serbian.
Djokovic: Federer is the most dominant player at Cincinnati
Djokovic had lost all five of his previous Cincinnati Masters finals - three of which were to Federer - before he finally ended the barren run.
The world No 10 completed his career Golden Masters by securing an unexpectedly comfortable 6-4, 6-4 victory in Ohio.
Djokovic also extended his slightly dominant head-to-head record over the Swiss star to 24-22 while providing a huge confidence boost heading into the US Open next week.
But the 31-year-old says he was a little nervous heading into the final because of the occasions he lost in Cincinnati.
“Definitely one of the most special moments in my career,” Djokovic said.
“Achievements, making history of the sport that I truly love is a great privilege and honour and something that I'll be very proud of for the rest of my life.
“I was saying previously that during this week that obviously this trophy has been a motivation, big motivation for me.
“But at the same time I tried not to think about the pressure of really making history too much, because I have had already some failed attempts, three years ago with Roger, and coming into today's match, it wasn't easy psychologically because I knew I lost to him every time I played him on this court.
Cincinnati: Djokovic thanks ‘great man’ Federer after win
“But at the same time, I liked my chances because I felt better and better as the tournament week was progressing.”
However, Djokovic was confident once he got to the semi-finals that he would have a real shot of ending his Cincinnati hoodoo.
“I felt that in the past when I had this particular circumstances in the tournament and matches where I come back from situations where I'm down a set and a break and I managed to win close matches," he added.
"I usually come out semi-finals or finals playing my best tennis.
“That's something that I was hoping is going to happen again, and I believed that it will and it did.
“It was by far the best performance of the week.”