Djokovic closes season with another win over Federer

The six-time tournament champion cruised through the week without dropping a match, and while Federer asserted his all-court game for stretches, he couldn’t consistently produce the key stroke to unsettle Djokovic’s lock-down baseline style.

The statistics are certainly impressive. “I just feel blessed and overwhelmed with the emotion and the thrill of achieving such a great season”.

Djokovic’s 5th ATP Finals win gives him a personal-best 11 total titles in 2015 and lifts him to 59 for his career. “I always made him play another shot, I served better and all in all it was just a better performance”. The American won on four different surfaces (twice on carpet) over the season. “Of course, you just always got to handle the conditions”, Federer said. And Borg hadn’t yet developed into Connors’ fiercest rival.

From a purely statistical perspective no men’s season matches this one from McEnroe: he won 96.47% of his matches in 1984. The pair have contested three of the last four finals in the English capital. But on the evidence of the months gone by, Novak Djokovic isn’t one to be daunted at the prospect.

To say that Novak Djokovic is the undisputed World No 1 will be an understatement.

“It’s no fun to lose but it’s better to lose than not to play at all like a year ago”, said Federer.

The benchmark for “best year of the Open era” (since Rod Laver’s aforementioned Slam) has usually been Jimmy Connors’ extraordinary 1974 season in which the brash young American (21 at the time) notched an incredible 99-4 mark and won three of the four Slams.

“But you can’t discredit the other events of the ATP”.

Chosen as Serbia’s flag-bearer at the opening ceremony, Djokovic was beaten in the semifinals by eventual gold medalist Andy Murray and lost the bronze medal play-off to Argentina’s Juan Martin Del Potro. When Federer started racking up the major trophies, we never thought we would see his like again – and then along came Rafael Nadal. Only 10 players in ATP history have earned that for their CAREER. If I can, I would pick obviously grand slam wins, especially the Wimbledon and US Open. The Masters events, these are big ones. Every time he got a little sniff of an opportunity to get himself back in the match – I never felt like he played with complete and utter freedom. “No question about it. Everything is working great”.

Djokovic appeared to waste a big chance to clinch the win when Federer fought back from 0-40 to hold his serve in the eight game, but the defiant response simply delayed the inevitable.

There’s a reason he remains revered as one of the sport’s all-time legends. “First, I’d like to tell you how happy I am that I can play today…”

Maybe, Roger. But, just like in the past few years, it was not almost enough against Djokovic when it mattered the most. The 35-year-old Bopanna, who made his second appearance at the year-ending tournament finals on Sunday after losing the 2012 final in a super tie-break while partnering compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi, missed a chance to be the first Indian to win the elite tournament.

Nadal’s world ranking sunk to number 10 in 2015 when his long reign as French Open champion ended, before embarrassingly early exits from Wimbledon and the US Open.