2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals: Review – Novak Djokovic versus Roger Federer
Serb Novak “Nole” Djokovic was thrashed by Swiss maestro Roger Federer in their semi final match at the O2 Arena on Saturday. In a match that lasted seventy-nine minutes, Federer enjoyed a straight set win over the Serb with a
loss of only five games.
Meeting for the fifth time this year, Federer upped his already huge lead in the season head-to-head to 5-1. Their last meeting was at the final of the Basel event where Federer defeated Djokovic in a three-setter to clinch the
home title. With this win, Federer now commands a 13-6 lead in the pair’s career head-to-head score.
Federer moved into the semis with a perfect win-loss mark of 3-0 having defeated David Ferrer, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling in the round-robin (RR) stage. This will be the Swiss’s sixth final appearance as he had made final
appearances for five straight years during 2003-07, winning the title on four of these occasions.
Djokovic, on the other hand, moves into the semis with a tainted 2-1 record since he suffered an unfortunate defeat at the hands of Spaniard Rafael Nadal. The defeat was due to a contact lens issue that plagued Djokovic. Djokovic,
however, did enjoy straight set wins over Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick in the RR stage. The 2008 champion moved into the semis with the hopes of having a chance at the title, but Federer’s superior skills halted him in his run.
Winning the toss, Federer opted to serve first and won the opener to go 1-0 in the score. He then broke Djokovic’s service in the next game to take a two game lead, going 2-0 in the score. It was not before the fourth game that
the Serb caught a mini break winning his first semi final game, taking the score to 3-1. This was, however, the only game he won in the set. Federer won the next three games to enjoy a breadstick win in the set.
If Djokovic’s fans thought it was over for their idol, they were much mistaken. Opening serve in the second set, Djokovic managed to take a three game lead over Federer as he took the score to 3-0. This was however, as far as the
Swiss would let Djokovic rise. Bouncing back in the eleventh game, Federer won three consecutive games to tie the score at 3-3. Winning only one out of the next four games, Djokovic lost the set 4-6 and with that his chance to bag a second WTF title.
Federer moves into the final to meet Rafael Nadal. Nadal advanced into the final after outlasting local Andy Murray in a three-hour-long three-setter.
Djokovic ends his season after successfully defending his title at Dubai and Beijing. He also made a final appearance at the United States Open, losing the chance of a Grand Slam to Rafael Nadal. He enjoys a win-loss mark of 57-17
this season.
Following his victory, Federer talks about his semi final with Djokovic and his final with Nadal, "It seems like it's working this week. I played well against a player who's had a great season. I played a great match so I'm very
happy. I hope I can keep this up for a long, long time. I'm really enjoying myself and I hope I can produce something good tomorrow. Rafa showed today why he is the best player in the world at the moment and it should be a good match. We haven't played that
much recently but I'm looking forward to playing him. Our styles match up well and he's always very respectful, which I appreciate. We've had some epics and some matches that didn't quite live up to expectations. Hopefully tomorrow will be a great match."
Tags: