FINAL SHOWDOWN: World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and No. 2 Roger Federer will contest the 45th final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday. The duo, who have combined to win nine of the last 11 season-ending titles between them, meet for the 37th time and for the sixth time this season.
Federer edges their FedEx ATP H2H series 19-17 and boasts a 3-2 record over Djokovic in 2014. It marks the first time in tournament history that two fathers have clashed in the final. It will also be the sixth time the world No. 1 and 2 have faced off in the title match and the fourth time in five years:
Once again, for the third consecutive year, Novak Djokovic is through to the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, where he will meet one of his greatest rivals for the 37th time on the professional tour. The Federer-Djokovic rivalry extends back to 2006 and has reached a head-to-head record of 19-17.
The top seed faced the sternest test of his WTF campaign when he stepped across the court from an inspired Kei Nishikori. Djokovic, who came into this match having just been crowned the year-end No. 1 player, survived a mid-match lapse in focus to rebound and close out the contest in dominant fashion in the deciding set. The match ended 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 in 1 hour and 27 minutes.
Djokovic has now advanced his indoor streak to 31 consecutive wins, which date back to a 2012 loss to Sam Querrey at the Paris Bercy. He dropped a mere nine games in the round robin stage and lost his first set this week against Nishikori.
“I was fortunate because in the beginning of the third set, he had break points,” said Djokovic. “If he broke me, the match could have gone either way. I managed to find that little bit of strength and get a win today. Tomorrow is the last match of the season. Of course it’s one of the biggest tournaments in the world. This is already the biggest possible motivation. I will try to give everything I have.”
In what was undoubtedly the most enthralling match of the year-end championships so far this season, Federer and Wawrinka contested a three-set battle that featured an assortment of controversy, overrules, momentum shifts, and heartbreak, before Federer eventually struck the final blow for a 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6) score.
Having already contested five separate matches against each other this season, Djokovic and Federer are hardly strangers to the other’s game. Federer holds a 3-2 edge this season; however, both men showed slight weaknesses in their semi-final matches, making it near impossible to confidently predict a victor in tomorrow’s encounter. With Djokovic’s 31-match indoor streak on the line, he has proven to be the more consistent player on this surface.
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