“Because I’ve won so many times against him, maybe there is this factor of mental edge; maybe an advantage in important moments, decisive moments where I’m able to stick around and stay tough and believe that I can actually win”. “I don’t deserve a vacation this year”, Nadal told reporters when asked about his off-season plans.
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Djokovic has now won 21 of his previous 23 matches against Berdych.
Nadal has edged out Djokovic over the 45 meetings and has been in excellent form at the Tour Finals. But instead he sweated his way to a 6-7, 6-3, 6-4 victory in the longest battle of the tournament so far.
Federer will next face either Andy Murray or Stan Wawrinka in the last four on Saturday.
Friday afternoon’s audience at the O2 Arena could be thankful for Rafael Nadal’s superhuman competitive drive, which rather overcame his own self-interest as he spent 2hr 37min grinding out his third pool win of the week.
In a thrilling match Roger Federer bested Novak Djokovic in straight sets.
In the 7th game, a wrong sideline call cost Berdych his serve, giving Djokovic the crucial break for a 5-3 lead.
The 34-year-old champion struggled early (he was within two points of a 5-3 deficit in the first set), but completed the round-robin portion of the event 3-0.
He has beaten the Czech five times in the last six years at the ATP finals.
He has bounced back with two victories, against Tomas Berdych in his final round-robin match and Nadal in this semifinal, to take his record for the season to 81-6 – that is a win rate of over 93 percent.
The momentum appeared back in Nadal’s favour when he capitalised on a few sloppy errors to go a break up at 6-5, only for Ferrer to hit back on his fifth break point in a lengthy 12th game and he clinched the set after an error-strewn tie-break from Nadal.
And Federer had a small incentive of his own to win: It would guarantee the top spot, and that would guarantee avoiding Rafael Nadal in the semis.
“We’ll see. Maybe he’s going to feel more relaxed, no pressure, go for it more, or maybe he’s not going to be completely here”. “After that I’m going to practise physical performance”.
Federer, meanwhile, had booked his place in the last four with Tuesday’s upset of the top seed, and now has a day to rest and prepare. Kei is a very good returner, especially on the second serve.
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Nadal’s response to dropping a set for the first time in this year’s tournament was to breeze through the second to level the match. I have a good three weeks to train, so I will try to work on little things and improve a little more. Whoever created that story, I don’t know what to say. Nadal’s first serve deserted him straight away as the world No. 1 pounced by reeling off four winners – three forehands and one backhand – to break to love for a 2-0 lead.
