Revisiting 2012 rivalries: Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic – Tennis Special
Reigning world number, Novak Djokovic, experienced a remarkable season battling against the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer.
The two contestants waged one of the most tough fights for the world number one spot against one another.
The Serbian professional brought a drastically improvement to his pace in the year 2011, and continued his top rank since the start of the tennis season. He won the final round of the Australian Open Grand Slam Champion and nudged past the Spaniard challenger,
Rafael Nadal. However, he lost against the king of clay, Nadal, at the Roland Garros.
The 31-year-old Swiss professional, Federer, attained his world number spot after defeating the British world number one, Andy Murray in the final round of the Wimbledon Championships. The Swiss player jumped forward displaying his greater experience against
all his challengers and subdued Pete Sampras’ record by being on the world number one for 302 weeks.
In the start of 2012, the two contestants faced each other in clay courts of Rome at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for the first time. The Serbian contender was successful to put forward a strong clash and prevailed over his rival in the second set, stamping
a 6-2, 7-6(4) triumph.
At the semi-finals of the Roland Garros, Djokovic was successful in establishing his top rank, when he easily defeating the Swiss senior in a three set thriller. In spite of Federer’s powerful serves in the second set, he was unable to encounter the might
of his challenger. Many tennis fans, expected 2012 to be his last year in the competitive tennis courts.
At the courts of All-England-Club, the right-hander Swiss professional displayed a remarkable enhancement, bagged away the Wimbledon Champions trophy to prove his critics wrong. He snatched the world number one rank from Djokovic and consolidated his victory,
6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-3 in the semi-finals. Later, he faced the local opponent, Andy Murray in the final and pocketed away his 17th Grand Slam title.
In a post match interview, the Swiss challenger said, “I'm ecstatic, I played a great match today. It's been a tough tournament for me. I was able to play some fantastic tennis today. I thought Novak played good too. The third set was the key to the match
and then I was able to step it up.”
Ranked second in the ATP World Tour Finals, Federer attained the second height in his career against the Serbian player at the final of the Western and Southern Open. The Swiss contestant encountered his rival for the seventh time in a title match against
and nudged forward to grab his victory 6-0, 7-6(7).
However, the Serbian reclaimed the world number position due to consistency, snatching away his final win of the year at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Regardless of increasing age, Federer will definitely battle against his competitor to snatch the
world number rank, once again.
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