On balance it was a typical performance by Roger Federer as he claimed his fourth US Open title in a row on Sunday and edged even closer to Pete Sampras's all-time record.

The 7-6 7-6 6-4 win by the master must surely underline his status as the very best player tennis has ever seen, but he was aided in no small part by a mostly wonderful, but at the crucial junctures brittle, performance by his very worthy opponent, Novak Djokovic.

There is little point in analysing a match which is so typical of the Federer style - tag along with your opponent and then deliver the killer blow when he is most under pressure. There were some magnificent points by both players in the match and Djokovic probably came out on top in the spectacular stakes, but you just knew that when the set reached the business end, it would be the steely mental toughness of Federer which would see him through to yet another major victory.

'Djokovic will have to master the mental game, something in which Federer has proven that he is the very best there has ever been'

Five set points squandered in the first set and two more in the second when Federer came back from a break down, and then two break points in the third. You just can't do that if you want to beat the Swiss master. He will punish the opposition and he will do it with the killer bite of a king cobra. Had a tennis observer just landed from Mars and sat down to watch this match, they would have thought that here are two evenly-matched players lining up in a duel with neither having a particular advantage.

What Sunday's final proved, is that while Djokovic has all the shots and can match Federer most admirably, he just doesn't have the mental toughness to match his opponent. Djokovic certainly looks like the heir apparent to Federer. He has a much more rounded game than Rafa Nadal and is more talented than Nikolay
Davydenko. He is also probably better placed to take over before some of the up-and-coming new generation get settled at the top of men's tennis.

But what Djokovic will first have to master is the mental game, something in which Federer has undoubtedly proven that he is the very best there has ever been.