Novak Djokovic outlasts Roger Federer to capture title – ATP World Tour Finals 2012
Reigning world number one, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic, captured his sixth title of the season by overpowering the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer, in straight sets 7-6(6), 7-5 in the final of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London
on Monday.
The top seed grabbed the season ending championships for the second time in his career, as he had defeated Nikolay Davydenko to capture the same title in 2008 as well. However, the tournament was held in Shanghai at that time.
Djokovic had reached the title match for the first time at the indoor hard courts of O2 Arena in London.
The Serbian star had a stunning season for second year in a row, having a personal best 75-12 win-loss record. The 25-year-old started it by defending his Australian Open title but his rate of success dropped during the mid season.
However, he recovered in the second part to end it on a high note.
Discussing the proceedings of the latest match, Federer started aggressively to put his mark early on in the contest and he succeeded in that, grabbing opening three games to take a 3-0 lead. Djokovic held a tough serve in the
fourth and then he captured two more games to equalise the score at 3-3. The Serbian broke Federer in the ninth but could not close out the set in the following game, losing his serve to take the proceeding to 5-5. It was taken to a tie-breaker, where both
players went neck to neck till 6-6 but then Djokovic grabbed two straight points to win 7-6(6).
The Serbian could not make a good start again in the second set either, as he lost his serve in a 20-point opening game. Though, he pulled it back when Federer was serving for the set, levelling the score at 5-5. Momentum shifted
on Djokovic’s side at that moment and he claimed two more in a row to seal it 7-5.
When Djokovic was asked to tell how he felt at 0-3 down in the first set, he replied, “I was just trying to hang in there. It's not the first time that Roger [has] started against me so well. I've experienced before his aggression,
really trying to put his mark on the match. I didn't know in which direction the match would really go, but I tried to convince myself that I would make a turnaround and I will fight."
Talking about the turning point of the match, Federer stated, “I think there were too many [turning points] to really pinpoint one because any one of them, obviously, could have thrown the match into a different direction again
in the first, and in the second, too.”
The 17-time Grand Slam champion was bidding to capture the ATP World Tour Finals for a record seventh time. He ended the season with six titles and 71-12 win/loss record.
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