That said, Roger’s one guy that gives Novak problems, so that will be in Djokovic’s head.
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The world’s number one tennis player Novak Djokovic managed to reach the final at the ATP World Tour Finals in London for a fifth time in his career on Saturday, after defeating Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3, 6-3.
“I’m going to get ready for that one and hopefully I’ll be able to play at my best”.
But the pair appeared to patch up their differences, teaming up to win a first Davis Cup for Switzerland.
“But otherwise I’ve still had a good tournament”, he said. I beat so many top guys.
“I’ve lost against Roger three times this year”. No blows below the waistline.’ Perhaps Nili was not intentionally referring back to a year ago, but Federer and Wawrinka heeded his advice with no sign of any issues. It’s great to have the opportunity, but I’m not getting carried away.
“In general, his game is tough for me, for my game”.
Meanwhile the global Tennis Federation voiced its concerns about the raised terror alert level in Brussels, which is only 35 miles from Ghent, but said that preparations for next weekend’s final were going ahead.
Nadal was on his bike last night after being soundly beaten by Djokovic, whose victory was even more convincing than the scoreline might have indicated. There were times when the Serb toyed with the Spa-niard as he played exquisite drop shots followed by killer lobs. Despite Nadal doing nothing wrong and being extremely aggressive throughout, the Serbian strolled through the next game to take an insurmountable 3-0 lead.
He won two of their three matches this year, including their last encounter in the US Open semi-finals, where Federer went on to lose to Djokovic. The Serb’s serve was as emphatic. Those blown break points are a killer. Correspondingly the fifth-ranked Nadal notched up a 70 per cent aggregate on first serves in the match, 74 in the second set, but won just 44 per cent of those points in the last set.
Novak Djokovic came hurtling into the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on a terrific tear.
With his consecutive finals reached streak up to 15 tournaments, the Serb is seeking to hoist his 11th trophy of 2015 – a career high in a single season. Nadal responded with an impressive love hold of his own, to add a few intensity to the match. Asked what it was that made him so hard an opponent, the Spaniard said: “Everything”. This year he is serving great.
Federer has been the only player capable of regularly pushing Djokovic this year, winning three of their seven matches.
As well as closing his press conference wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and looking forward (!) to seeing us all again, he also found the humour in his loss, saying: “He played just fantastic”.
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33-year-old David Ferrer, despite another consistent year, doesn’t quite have that mental or physical edge when it comes to the biggest players on the biggest stages, and legend Rafael Nadal’s season of woes has had doubters gathering around him for months.
