Roger Federer vs Stan Wawrinka

Before my picks, a quick recap of Friday’s final day of round robin play.

Later, Andy Murray plays Stan Wawrinka with the victor earning a semifinal against Roger Federer.

Serbia’s Djokovic, who trails Nadal 23-22 but has won all three matches this year, says the 29-year-old is over his slide. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s in a smaller event or here”.

The last time Murray recovered from a set down against Wawrinka was seven years ago in Marseilles, and banging the net with a forehand from the baseline to surrender his serve at the start of the second set can have done his mood no good at all. “I have injuries last year; this year I didn’t have no more injury. Because when I was going for my shots, I felt like I was making errors”. “Maybe I will be exhausted, but I’m not anxious about it”, Nadal said. Great crowds, good atmosphere.

“I wanted to try and win the tournament”, Murray said.

As expected, Murray has lacked sharpness on this O2 Arena hard court throughout this week.

That being said, Federer has been the more consistent player of the two this week.

Murray will now turn his attention to Great Britain’s Davis Cup final in Belgium next week.

His legendary and expansive support group were nowhere to be seen courtside, watching the game from the gods instead, seemingly at the request of the world no. 2 himself. “It was very disappointing not to win but I need to use it the right way for Friday and for the Davis Cup”.

“For me the main thing is keep going the same way, keep practicing the same way, the same things I am doing to try to start next year with that energy that I have today”, said Nadal.

It has been a season largely plagued by self-doubts for Nadal, having fallen to No. 10 in June for the first time since 2005 and suffered the most losses (19) in a single campaign in his 14-year career. “But timing’s never normally something that is an issue for me”. He broke in the first game, lacing the ball down the lines with his laser backhand and dipping topspin drives to the Scot’s shoelaces. It is one of the stronger parts of my game. “He’s come back from tight situations, which is signs he is getting back to where he wants to be”.

No-one could point any fingers at Murray for lack of application here.

Wawrinka took control of the first set when he snagged a service break for a 5-3 lead, but he blew a 30-15 advantage in the ensuing game to lose his serve.

It is a welcome situation for Murray, who couldn’t hide his disappointment at failing to make the Tour Finals last-four for the first time since 2012 as he smashed a racquet as the match against the French Open champion slipped away. It’s just more on easy shots, cheap errors.

With Nadal already in the semi-finals and Ferrer going home after two defeats, the clash of the Spaniards had no impact on the tournament but the packed arena was treated to the longest match of the tournament so far.

“I’m just trying to give reasons for why I lost the match”, he added. “Maybe against David I had a little bit more time on the ball, whereas obviously Stan and Rafa hit the ball pretty big”.