ATP Tour Finals: Novak Djokovic thrashes Kei Nishikori to open campaign

Greg Garber joined ESPN in 1991 and provides reports for NFL Countdown and SportsCenter.

At least Murray’s disappointment this year will be tempered by the knowledge that his major end-of-season goal is yet to come as he leads the British team in pursuit of their first Davis Cup triumph for 79 years. But there was a little hiccup at the O2 Arena on the way to the Sunday championship final – a loss to a guy named Federer.

Federer said courtside after beating his compatriot Stan Wawrinka nearly as easily in the evening as Djokovic had dismissed Nadal in the afternoon: “He’s had a tremendous year”. The 7-5, 6-3 win detained Federer just a dazzling hour and 10 minutes – nine minutes quicker than Djokovic spent over dismissing Nadal 6-3, 6-3. He will be targeting a flawless ending to a season which he has had to suffer agony against the Serb in the final at Wimbledon and US Open.

Federer and Nole have combined to win each of the past five ATP World Tour Finals, with Djokovic taking the past three.

“Today I’m feeling good”. He’s winning by one match. The set started off with a tough hold by Nadal, straightaway followed by an easy love hold by Djokovic to equal the score. His mark against top-10 players is an astounding 30-5. He had three, four shots that he went really aggressive. “Disappointing”, the 28-year-old told reporters. “Credit to Roger for mixing up the pace, giving me always a different ball”.

“He makes no mistakes, changes direction so easily and hits so, so deep”.

He said: “I was not able to think about Novak for the whole season. He played a great match against Rafa… and I’m sure it will be a fantastic meeting”.

Nadal declared Djokovic “almost unbeatable”, adding with a smile: ” When somebody’s doing this, the only thing I can do is congratulate him and just wish him not the best of luck for the next year”.

“It’s not like he played awful”, Federer responded. Why did he play that way?

Federer’s been playing well this week, but I still like the court and the conditions for Novak here. 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. On the first point of the final game, his forehand volley was so pure it caused Wawrinka to fall down trying to change direction. Djokovic will have a chance to level his head-to-head against Federer at 22-22 on Sunday.

But Federer says Tuesday’s victory over world number one Djokovic will have no bearing on Sunday’s showdown.

As Djokovic put it later: “When he’s on, it’s hard to play him”. It takes away the time from me. It was the 46th time that both players had met on tour, the most encounters between two tennis stars in the Open Era. There is a lot at stake.

“Seems like the last month-and-a-half, two months, I was in this league, I am in this top league”.