The proverbial winners’ bracket in Group B pits Novak Djokovic against Juan Martin Del Potro on Thursday. Both players are looking to go 2-0 in round-robin play.
Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro will be squaring off for the 14th time in their careers and for the fifth time this season when they collide in Group B competition at the World Tour Finals on Thursday night.
Djokovic leads the head-to-head series 10-3, including 7-2 on hard courts. To Del Potro’s credit, many of their showdowns have been extremely competitive–some even instant classics. After Djokovic prevailed earlier this year in Dubai, their last three encounters all went the final-set distance. Del Potro won in Indian Wells, Djokovic survived a Wimbledon semifinal epic, and the Serb just recently scored a 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) victory in the Shanghai title match.
These two men have been the cream of the crop since the U.S. Open, with Djokovic–despite seeing his quest for year-end No. 1 come to an end–clearly ahead of the rest of the field. The world No. 2 is a perfect 18-0 since the season’s final Grand Slam, with triumphs in Beijing, Shanghai, and Paris. He kicked off his London campaign on Tuesday with a 6-4, 6-7(2), 6-2 defeat of Roger Federer.
Del Potro captured titles in Tokyo and Basel with his runner-up in Shanghai in between. After getting bounced by Federer in the Paris quarters, the fifth-ranked Argentine was robbed of prized possessions on his way from that tournament to this one. Del Potro says he is still distracted, but he managed to persevere past Richard Gasquet 6-7(5), 6-4, 7-5 on Monday. The world No. 5 is an awesome 51-14 for the year.
Although Del Potro finally has a much-needed two days of rest under his belt, this relatively slow indoor hard court is not an ideal surface on which to face Djokovic. The favorite should be able to get just a few too many returns in play and move the big man around the back of the court. Unless Del Potro is bludgeoning forehands like he did at the 2009 U.S. Open, Djokovic may wear him down again at the end of an entertaining battle.
Pick: Djokovic in 3
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