Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will kick off their London campaigns on Tuesday. Djokovic beat Federer in last year’s title match.
Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer will be squaring off for the 31st time in their careers and for the second time in the last four days when they meet during Group B competition at the World Tour Finals on Tuesday night.
Federer leads the head-to-head series 16-14, including 12-11 on hard courts. Djokovic, though, has won five of their last seven encounters dating back to the 2011 U.S. Open and eight of their last 11 dating back to the start of that season. This is a rematch of last year’s World Tour Finals championship, which Djokovic won 7-6(6), 7-5. They also faced each other just last Saturday in the Paris semifinals, with the Serb recovering from a set deficit for a 4-6, 6-3, 6-2 victory.
Djokovic went on to capture the Paris title, his third triumph in as many events since the U.S. Open. The world No. 2’s record during this fall swing is a perfect 17-0, having also lifted trophies in Beijing and Shanghai.
While his 2013 campaign has been much different from that of Djokovic, Federer is also playing his best tennis of the season this fall. The 32-year-old Swiss lost a tough three-setter to Gael Monfils in the Shanghai third round, but he finished runner-up to an on-fire Juan Martin Del Potro in Basel before reaching the semis in Paris.
“I have had a good couple of weeks now,” Federer assured after his loss on Saturday. “Maybe the extra day I will get over Novak (for losing in the Paris semis instead of reaching final) could be an advantage. But I doubt it. He didn’t play Basel.“
Federer’s extra day certainly won’t hurt, but he’s also correct in assuming that a long week in Paris won’t affect Djokovic. The defending London champion has played only three of the last seven weeks. By comparison, David Ferrer–also one of the fittest players on tour–had already played five in a row before reaching the Paris title match. If anything, in this kind of form Djokovic will be eager to play more and more matches to stay on top of his game and maintain the hot streak.
Even though Federer has improved greatly since this summer, Djokovic’s defense will once again force the 17-time Grand Slam champion to hit too many balls. Federer’s necessary net-charging tactics worked for a while in Paris, but Djokovic quickly figured out how to solve the puzzle. The No. 2 seed should be able to do it again.
Pick: Djokovic in 2
[polldaddy poll=7533233]
Leave a Reply