Deposed champion and world No.1 Roger Federer has lauded the performance of his Australian Open 2008 semi-final conqueror Novak Djokovic.
Bidding for a place in his 11th successive Grand Slam final, needing a 20th consecutive victory at Melbourne Park to achieve the feat, Federer was out of sorts for all but the first eight games of the match.
The 12-time Grand Slam champion led 5-3 with a break in the opener but from there Serbian No.3 seed Djokovic made all the running as he won five games in a row and nine of the next 10 to take a stranglehold on the match.
Federer, who entered the tournament with no official match play under his belt this year following an illness, did his best to fight back in the third set but it was to no avail as Djokovic weathered everything he could throw at him and prevailed 7-5 6-3 7-6 (7-5).
"There's no doubt I've played better in my life," Federer said afterwards. "I've not been really serving like the way I wanted to, maybe the last few matches. Look, it happens. But he covered the court well. He didn't give me much."
"So that obviously played a role in the way I played tonight. But … I wasn't completely satisfied. He's come through the draw convincingly. He's been playing very solid. He had a tough draw, you know, if I compare it to maybe Rafa's (Rafael Nadal's). So he absolutely deserves to be in the final."
Having started the tournament in convincing fashion, particularly when he conceded just three games against Fabrice Santoro in the second round, Federer had to dig deep to get through his third-round meeting with Djokovic's compatriot Janko Tipsarevic.
And while he followed that victory with straight-sets wins over Czech Tomas Berdych and American James Blake, Federer added later that he hasn't felt completely comfortable throughout the fortnight.
"No, I don't, I didn't think I was moving that great," he said. "I think I played really well the first two matches, in terms of movement also. I don't know if the surface got a bit quicker."
"I definitely wasn't as good on the defensive like I usually am. I couldn't come up with the passing shot when I needed to. Yeah, that definitely hurt me, especially today."
Still coming to terms with the defeat when he faced reporters shortly after the match was over, Federer did manage to find some positives in the fact that he made Djokovic earn the win.
"There's some sort of a disappointment. But, you know, from the spirit, the way I fought, the way I tried, it's all I could give, you know," he said. "When you give a hundred per cent, you know, you're sort of happy with your performance."
"It can't always go your way. I know that. I've won, many, many times when I didn't expect myself to win. So tonight's one of those nights where you're a little bit disappointed. But it's going to go over and I'm going to look forward to the rest of the year."
According to Federer though, the turning point of the match was clearly when he dropped his own serve at 5-4 in the first set when he was serving for it.
"We all know if I would have served it out the match would have been a bit different," Federer said. "Sure, he could have come back and still beaten me, but circumstances of would have been different. He wouldn't have played that freely in the second set."
"He usually doesn't play that well. That was unfortunate for me. You know, I paid the price twice, not only losing the set, but also the second set. You know, I missed many opportunities the third set."
"But, like I said, he came up with some great shots, some great serves, and, you know, saved himself that way."
Federer may have suffered his first loss at Melbourne Park since Marat Safin beat him in the semi-finals three years ago in a five-set thriller on the way to taking the title but it's a sure bet he'll be back gunning for his fourth Australian Open title in 2009.
