Can Roger win his 7th ATP Finals? Or is it going to be Nole after 4 years?
Why is this match so important?
There is a lot in this match, really a lot. Besides the fact that Roger can break another record (7th wins) and he can equal McEnroe’s 77 titles, there are 500pts on the table that can go either to Roger or to Nole (it would be 700 for the Serb as the undefeated Champion).
If Roger wins he will have a clear shot to become world no.1 after the Australian Open, if he loses… it’s difficult.
Money prize is also ver important (of course!). If Roger wins he adds $420.000 (good pocket money for him), if Nole wins he adds $1.350.000 as the undefeated champion (that helps for the retirement!)
Head to head
Roger leads 16-12 and he won the last 2 matches in Cincinnati (Final 6-0 7-6) and in Wimbledon (semifinal 6-3 3-6 6-4 6-3). But Nole is 7-3 up in the last 2 years (since he became super-Nole).
Prediction
This is really tough. Roger is not at his best and he candidly said that he was surprised to reach the final.
If Roger is in this (below the par) condition and Nole plays his tennis it is going to be definitely Nole. Yes, this is an indoor court where Roger is still the strongest player in the world if he is in good conditions, but the court is also not as fast as Roger likes.
But there is still hope for the Swiss as Djokovic is not playing well and he is also very tired (and Roger can take advantage of it). With Murray and in the first part of the match with Del Potro Nole committed many uncharacteristic errors. He had a couple of overhead errors and a (very laughable) missed tweener that were just incredible (something you may see at club level).
There is a crucial area for Roger to improve if he wants to win this final: his return. Especially on his backhand he is struggling too much for the last few months. So if his opponents has a decent 1st serve percentage the Swiss has huge problems in breaking serve. A solid enough first serve on Federer’s backhand is a safe heaven for his opponents at the moment.
So given the circumstances the world no.1 seems to have the better package to win this trophy (but can you ever say that when Roger is on the other side of the court?)
From Federer
“It’s exciting, no doubt about it. I love playing against Novak,” said Federer. “He’s had a great year. He’s had a great tournament so far… It is a big opportunity playing sort of the last match of the season, and facing off against Novak obviously is always special, especially here at the World Tour Finals.”
From Djokovic
“I’m very pleased, it’s the first final here in London,” said Djokovic. “I haven’t played a final of the [World Tour Finals since 2008. I really look forward to it. It’s already a great success. But knowing it’s the last match of the season, I’m really going to try to give my best physically and mentally tomorrow to eventually try to get the trophy.”
Looking forward to it.
Last year’s final
