Novak Djokovic applauded Roger Federer’s “exceptional” serving in their Dubai final last night, admitting the Swiss gave him little room to fight back.

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In his 20th defeat to Federer in 37 meetings, it was Djokovic who had seven break point opportunities compared to his opponent’s two, but the second seed saved all of them to triumph. 

“Today (his serving) was exceptional. I thought at least I’m going to get one good look at the rally or something like that, but he did a very good job,” said Djokovic, who was denied a look at a 50th career trophy.

“I thought it was a good match. I thought there wasn’t much difference, a few points decided a winner.

“He was a better player in the first set. He deserved to win it. In the second set, I had, what, a couple games at 15-40, set points. If you don’t use these opportunities against Roger, then he fires back.

“I didn’t play too bad. I thought he just was too good in the points where maybe I had a chance, break points. He served well. He aced.

“Maybe just a couple out of seven I have had some chance to really play the point, second serve or something like that. 

“Everything else was an ace or service winner, so while I did my best, I thought I tried to hang in there, you know. Mentally I didn’t want to let it go, and it was unfortunate in the end.”

Djokovic, who next heads to Kraljevo where he will lead Serbia in their Davis Cup first round, has dropped to 13-2 win-loss on the season but still feels great about his game, having picked up an eighth grand slam title in Australia last month.

He believes there isn’t much he could have done better against Federer, who has now beaten him three times in four Dubai clashes.

“I think in important moments maybe I could have been a little bit more aggressive, but small margins, really. Nothing to really worry about. I thought it was a good week overall,” said the 27-year-old Serb.

“I played some terrific tennis. I’m happy with the result here and moving into now Davis Cup and, of course, hard court season at Indian Wells, Miami, which is going to be tough obviously.

“But I look forward to it. I actually do feel good about how I play and how I feel physically, and I’m motivated. So I just hope I can continue to maintain that level of high performance throughout the season.”