‘Positive’ Rafael Nadal can not wait for next season but

Djokovic is vying for his fourth consecutive Tour Finals win.

It was indeed, then, near flawless-but not quite. “It was close in the end and I’m happy I’m in the semis”. Already he knew he could do no better than second place in the pool.

He was, it should be added, the hot favourite to beat the Czech.

Djokovic upped his Fed Ex ATP Head2Head record against Berdych to a lopsided 21-2, including an 18-0 mark on hard courts.

But, with his tournament survival on the line, Djokovic could take comfort from winning 20 of his previous 22 meetings with Berdych, including their last seven matches and all four of their Tour Finals encounters. “Now you’re looking at potentially a maximum of two more matches and the season’s over”.

After Federer defeated Djokovic on Tuesday, the usually clean-shaven Swiss was asked on his new ‘style.’ He replied: “The water is very special here in London”.

Rafael Nadal celebrates his win over Gail Monfils, Stuttgart, 2015.

But there was still no sign of Nadal saving his body for the Djokovic match and his perseverance was rewarded when he broke at 4-4 to set up the win.

Nishikori was on the verge of doing just that, too.

Federer found himself up 4-1 in a set once again but was pegged back by the resilient Nishikori, who won 70% of points returning second serves.

Nishikori was not. One of the fastest players in the game, the world No. 8 is also a quality returner, who won 70 per cent of the points on Federer’s second serve to break five times from 12 opportunities – unusual against arguably the game’s best server indoors. “I’m just going to have the same approach as everybody else and try to win every match that I play on”. That Federer refused to bow when he had little at stake is testament to an enduring winning mentality, despite 14 visits, six titles and now 51 match-wins in this toughest of tournaments. The straight sets victory that Berdych needed for progression was now out of the question.

Unloading ground strokes with reckless abandon, Berdych ruffled the dominant ruler of the men’s game and a drop volley briefly kissed the top of the net chord before dropping on Djokovic’s side of the net.

Kei Nishikori boosted his hopes of reaching the semi-finals at the ATP World Tour Finals with a battling victory over Tomas Berdych. He did that and more, ousting the Czech 6-3 7-5 to bounce back from the loss to Federer.

“It’s a fact that he’s been playing better and he’s been raising his level ever since the US Open”, Djokovic said after his 6-3, 7-5 victory over Tomas Berdych at the O2 Arena on Thursday. But the world No1 forced a backhand error to break, and served it out, 7-5. And while Nadal is playing much better, it is unlikely to be enough to stop Djokovic.