The three Majors bagged this year takes his tally to 11, while his Masters 1000 haul is 26, just one off Nadal’s record of 27.
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Right out of the gate in today’s match, Federer was in trouble. Federer, who eliminated Japan’s Kei Nishikori in the round-robin phase, had beaten Djokovic in pool play but could not keep up on this day. His athleticism and tactics combined in a ruthless mix of attack and defence.
Hard to believe, but Nadal turns 30 at next year’s French Open. He also came tantalisingly close to completing a Calendar Grand Slam, going down in the final of the French Open for the third time in his career, this time to Stan Wawrinka 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
No wonder Federer described the O2 as being “almost like home” when he received his runners-up bauble afterwards.
Djokovic’s consistency throughout 2015 was astonishing and the way in which he dominated all phases of the game – including the most crucial battleground of all in sports, that of players’ psyches – was incredible considering the increasingly physical nature of the sport. If anything, it merely steeled his determination.
· In 2006, Federer was in full-flight and the label “best player of all time” was already the journalistically accepted moniker for Federer.
He began in devastating mode, earning an immediate break point.
In this match, Federer faced the dilemma that everyone else does when pitted against the extraordinary agility and retrieving skills of Djokovic, which is the need to cut the margin of error to hit a victor.
“There are the Olympic Games that are happening every four years”.
Not that Federer’s first ace helped a great deal. Djokovic finished the season off with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over the Swiss Maestro at the London event.
And in the critical category of break points, Djokovic, who has won 18 of his past 19 matches at the year-end championships, converted three of nine; Federer was 0-for-2. He did raise his game noticeably in the second to fend off an improved Federer. There were roars of encouragement, both from the crowd and the Swiss man himself, as he won five points in a row to hold. This caused him to double fault on match point.
“It could not have been a better finish to what has been a very long season but the best of my life”, he said. But perhaps his serving was the most effective element of the game: he made 16 of 19 second serves.
With 82 wins and just six defeats, he is the first player for seven years to win 80 or more matches in a season. The fact it hasn’t been done again in 46 years shows how hard it is.
David Ferrer, on if he could have done anything differently against Wawrinka: “I tried to do my best”. “But Novak deserved to win”. This time, however, he was moving across the court with a flow and ease not befitting his 34 years. “[I feel] just blessed and overwhelmed with the emotion and the thrill to be achieving such a great season.
Sitting here with this trophy alongside me, I couldn’t ask for a better finish of the season”, Djokovic said in his press conference.
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Rafael Nadal said he would have to redouble his efforts to return to form after the worst year of his career if he is to get the better of world number one Novak Djokovic next year.
