Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will play for the World Tour Finals title.
This final will not define who is going to be the world no.1 by year end (that’s Novak), but it will be a phenomenal boost of confidence and it may be critical to give the opportunity to Roger to clinch the world no.1 spot sometime in 2015 (and he would love it!).
Federer leads in H2H
Roger leads 19-17 in H2H, but Nole is 4-3 in indoor courts. This will not mean too much, probably the most important stat is that Nole leads Roger 2-0 in this year’s finals (Indian Wells and Wimbledon), but Roger has a 3-2 record against the Serbian this year after defeating him in the semifinals in Dubai, Monte-Carlo and Shanghai. To be honest, however you read this it is difficult to find a favorite.
Why is Djokovic the favorite?
Even if the final can really go anywhere there are 3 reasons why Djokovic can be considered as the favorite.
First. Roger perceives this court as rather slow and he thinks that the supremacy from the baseline is key… and Nole is more consistent than Roger from the back of the court. This will make Roger to rush to the net as much as he can…sometimes recklessly.
Second. Besides the 2nd set played against Nishikori, Nole has been apocalyptic in this World Tour Finals. If you do not consider that set with Nishikori, Nole has lost 10 games in 8 sets. That’s quite good for his confidence!!!
Third, Roger looked quite tired after the match against Wawrinka. Besides the fact that he has spent 2 hours and 48 minutes on court, the Maestro looked quite tired from a mental point of view.
In addition, the Swiss won’t end his season in London as he still has to play the Davis Cup final while this will be the last act for Djokovic, thanks another plus for the Serbian that can put all his mental energies in it.
Please do not write off Roger…
Can we write off Roger? Not really! Even the great Martina Navratilova said sometimes ago that Roger would have never been a world no.1 and he did it the year winning his 17th slam in Wimbledon. Nobody would have predicted that Federer could have come back strongly in 2014 after a horrible 2013 (not even Roger)… so we won’t be surprised… to be surprised…
Game on!
POLL
Our readers also consider Djokovic as the favorite for the title
