By Chris Oddo | Thursday, January 28, 2016

Novak Djokovic paid Roger Federer high praise during Thursday’s Australian Open semifinal, and he didn't need to open his mouth to do it. Instead, the ten-time major champion came out like a house on fire. That fact, in and of itself, shows how much respect the Serb has for Federer's potency these days. It also demonstrated just how keen the world No. 1 is on continuing his run of domination at the Australian Open, a tournament he has already won five times.

Djokovic played some of the most jaw-dropping tennis we’ve ever seen him play during Thursday's heavily anticipated semifinal, and did not let Federer so much as catch his breath until he had a two sets to love stranglehold on the match, which ended in a 6-1, 6-2, 3-6, 6-3 victory for the world No. 1. Jaws dropped. Twitter buzzed. And Federer, try as he did, had zero answers.

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It was a brilliant and courageous way to approach a colossally important match against the dangerous Swiss. And, it was one that showed that Djokovic is more than a mere physical phenom on a tennis court. He's also as tactically adept and as psychologically fit as they come. Understanding oneself is difficult enough, but on Thursday Djokovic demonstrated that he also understands himself in relation to his competition. The ebbs and flows of Grand Slam tournaments, what it takes to win match after match after match on tennis's biggest stages when everybody wants what you have--or at least a piece of it.

Djokovic was likely well aware of two key stats heading into this tussle: That the winner of the first set had won 36 of 44 meetings between himself and Federer heading into the match, and that Federer had only defeated him once after dropping the opener.

Djokovic was also certainly keenly aware of how well Federer had been slamming through what was a difficult draw for him, making mincemeat of quality players such as Alexandr Dolgopolov, Grigor Dimitrov and Tomas Berdych.

So the Serb attacked from the first ball with a passion and intensity typically only reserved for desperate times. He knew that he could not afford to sit back and take his time to play himself into a match against an offensive juggernaut like Federer, a confident, legendary player that had just ripped through Tomas Berdych in straight sets with clinical precision. He knew he would need to be the aggressor in order to stop the aggressor. It was the perfect ploy, and the perfect execution, from the Serb’s end of the court. His strings were singing with the sound of the sweet spot, and by the time Federer caught his timing and began to match Djokovic’s intensity, his back was already against the wall.

“I think against Roger, these first two sets have been probably the best two sets I've played against him overall I think throughout my career,” a satisfied Djokovic said after the match. “I've had some moments against him in sets where I've played on a high level, but this was I think a different level than from before. I'm just very, very pleased that I was able to perform the way I did from the very beginning until the end.”

Djokovic’s fast and furious start was somewhat of a risk when you think about it. He put himself out there emotionally, made it clear that he was going for Federer’s jugular early. Anything other than a fast start and Federer might have been able to puff out his chest and gain the psychological edge in the contest, knowing that he had weathered the No. 1’s offensive. But Djokovic, a man very much in his prime and still with so much to prove, would not allow the maestro any room to breathe, let alone gain an edge.

“My rhythm, my timing, all that, was a bit off in the beginning,” Federer lamented. “He took advantage of that and did an unbelievable job for a long, long time tonight.”

That Djokovic did. And there was something magical about it. Djokovic’s intelligent aggression was perfectly timed, perfectly executed and derived the perfect result. The best players in the game typically don’t redline their games until they are pushed and prodded, forced to evince their superpowers. On this occasion Djokovic, intelligent chap that he is, decided that Federer’s form through the quarterfinals and the pair’s history demanded special treatment. So he uncaged the beast and let him loose from first ball. It's a time-honored cliche, given more lip service than validity, but on this occasion, Djokovic truly did play those two sets like they were the last sets he'd ever play.

We still don’t know where Djokovic will stand in the tennis pantheon when the dust has settled on this crazy, louder than love tennis era. But we do know this: each time the Serb finds a new way to wow us it gets harder to deny that he deserves a place right up there with Federer, Nadal, Sampras and Laver.