Nadal, however, will probably leave London in good spirits.
Advertisement
“I don’t know why, but I returned really well”, Nishikori said.
Despite the loss, Nadal kept the positive attitude he has had all week and remains confident of a better season in 2016. His form has picked up appreciably in the last two months, despite having to play on his least favoured surface of hard courts.
Serving to stay in the match, Nadal was forced to deuce as Djokovic had the Mallorcan scampering back and forth with drop shots and lobs.
Novak Djokovic set up an ATP World Tour Finals showdown against Rafael Nadal as the defending champion booked his semi-final berth with a 6-3, 7-5 victory over Tomas Berdych, while Roger Federer defeated Kei Nishikori to eliminate the Japanese star. After another eight days’ practice in Majorca he will begin his 2016 season at an exhibition event in Abu Dhabi in the week after Christmas. “When you are coming after a tough period, when you feel you are better, you breathe better”.
“There are certain areas of the game that I definitely need to work on”, he admitted.
It was typical of Nadal’s honesty that he put everything into a match yesterday that had nothing riding on it other than ranking points and additional prize money.
The world number one will play his nemesis Rafa Nadal and it could prove to be a world class match as Djokovic is looking to level up the head to head record against the Spaniard as he is now trailing 23-22 in Rafa’s favour. “But I’m excited for next year”, he said.
“But for me the main thing is to keep going the same way, keep practicing the same way, to try to start next year with that energy that I have today”.
However, at 5-5 a number of bad mistakes enabled Djokovic to break again and naturally the world’s best player sent down a number of unplayable serves to seal his place in the last four.
He added: “My motivation is always high in every tournament”.
Those strong performances have given Nishikori renewed hope of a strong 2016 and he said: “I think for me it’s important to win a title, especially big ones, Masters, going further in a Grand Slam especially, because I didn’t do quite well this year”.
The Swiss won three of three to advance to the semifinals.
“But for sure I would love to win here at the World Tour Finals”.
Advertisement
Their rivalry has produced a few of the most dramatic matches in tennis history – think of the 2012 Australian Open final, when Djokovic prevailed in almost six hours – but lately the Serb has had little difficulty seeing off Nadal. He also knew Novak Djokovic awaited him in the semifinals a day later. He overturned a 1-3 deficit in the first set to break twice, 4-3, only for Federer to break straight back, and then again for the set, 7-5. Subpar versus Federer on Tuesday – his 23-match winning streak was snapped – and doing enough to down Tomas Berdych on Thursday, he lifted his game Saturday. It was an wonderful atmosphere, I really enjoyed it tonight.
