Federer, Djokovic to fight for title at ATP World Tour Finals

“I don ‘t feel unbeatable, but it does definitely feel great when I’m playing the way I’ve played today, when I feel like I’m dictating the pace and the match itself and most of the rallies…”

The most memorable of their recent meetings came when the world number three and the world number one played each other at the US Open final earlier this year where Djokovic overcame Federer in an epic four-set battle to win his 10th grand slam title.

Federer snapped the Serb’s 23-match winning streak with a 7-5, 6-2 victory, but he’ll have to repeat the feat on Sunday at the O2 Arena if he is to have a chance to retain the year-end No. 2 ranking and claim his record seventh World Tour Finals title. His wife, Mirka, also taunted Wawrinka late in the third set. As his opponent is known to be a resilient baseline player, he needs to make sure he gets Djokovic on his feet, moving left to right. He doesn’t plan to be a no-show this year.

“I know that, I’ve been watching”.

‘For me it’s an advantage because I guess it gives me a bit of confidence.

Federer beat Djokovic in the group stage of the tournament earlier in the week, ending a Djokovic’s 15-match unbeaten run at the season-ending showdown.

Nadal tried just about everything to stay in the match, even hitting a “tweener” in the last game.

But the tone was set from the moment Djokovic fired four clean winners to break to love in the second game of the match. Federer took the first set 7-5 successfully winning 11 of 16 net points and winning 64% of second serve return points. He broke again with a backhand cross-court victor, a shot that has tormented the 14-time grand slam victor, to wrap up proceedings. The 28-year-old Djokovic, with soaring confidence and 10 titles this season, won the pair’s 46th encounter 6-3, 6-3 in 79 minutes, drawing level in their head-to-head record with 23 wins. He is 9-0 in sets in 2015.

A willingness to gamble intelligently was the defining feature of not only this game but his whole season, and Wawrinka, more content sticking to what he knows, did not have the diversity in his game to respond.

The Serbian, though, has been too good for just about everyone this year and Nadal was upbeat about his prospects for 2016.

Federer – who then withdrew from the subsequent final due to a back problem – and Wawrinka rebuilt their relationship in time for the Davis Cup final against France but any lingering resentment would surely be exposed as both players honed in on Sunday’s final.

Djokovic, meanwhile, collected his 30th win this season against top-10 opposition. He responded by beating Czech Tomas Berdych.

In the 2014 semis, they embarked on one of the most draining matches of the season – almost three hours of cut-throat tennis that Federer won 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (8/6) after saving four match points along the way. I made the semi-finals at the US Open, Australian Open; quarter-finals at Wimbledon. When he’s on, it’s hard to play him. I am happy of how the week’s gone so far, so it’s a good feeling this time around’.