DJOKOVIC COULD RUIN IT FOR FEDERER AGAIN
NOVAK DjOKOVIC broke Roger Federer’s heart at Wimbledon this summer and he could end up knocking him out of the AtP Finals this week.
the 38-year- old Swiss went down to a surprise 7-5, 7-5 defeat by Dominic thiem in his opening group match last night, jeopardising his chances of making the semi-finals.
he now meets Djokovic on thursday and there is the chance the Serb — who saved two match points against him in the SW19 final — could bring his season to an abrupt end.
Federer (below) has never failed to make the last four when this eight-man event has been in London (since 2009). Indeed, he was beaten in his opening match a year ago by Kei Nishikori and still progressed. It would be a major shock if tomorrow he did not beat Italian debutant Matteo Berrettini, the weakest player in the field.
‘It’s a normal tournament from here on forward,’ reasoned Federer. ‘Not allowed to lose any more for me. that’s how it is every week of the year for the last 20 years, so from that standpoint there is nothing new.’
the Swiss master, who had a twoweek break after winning his hometown AtP event of Basle, will need to be sharper, although thiem played an excellent match.
Perhaps he had been buoyed by the performance earlier in the day of his girlfriend Kristina Mladenovic, who was the outstanding player as France beat Australia to win the Fed Cup final in Perth.
What is beyond dispute is that Federer remains the sport’s No 1 drawcard. On a cold Sunday night in November the 17,000capacity arena was packed out for what is the penultimate year the event will be held in the capital before moving to turin. Federer recovered from an early break down but then dropped his serve at 5-5 in both sets, shanking the ball too often. he was outplayed from the baseline. thiem maintained his strong record against Federer, who he has now beaten five times out of seven. the Austrian said: ‘You don’t get any presents from him. he puts in all the returns, there are nerves. ‘Not every day you are playing in this arena against Roger and I am pleased I pulled through.’ earlier Djokovic had ruthlessly exploited the shortcomings of Berrettini to win 6-2, 6-1. Yet again he looked almost embarrassingly superior to a young challenger. Britain’s joe Salisbury — playing the part of a Murray brother as Britain’s sole representative this year — is left with plenty to do to qualify for the doubles semi-finals after an opening group loss on his debut at the event. he and American partner Rajeev Ram went down 6-3, 6-4 to South Africa’s Raven Klaasen and Kiwi Michael Venus, but can still go through with two wins. In Perth, Mladenovic won her singles and doubles matches on the second day against world No 1 Ash Barty to clinch the Fed Cup 3-2 for France — teaming with Caroline Garcia in the deciding doubles.