Novak Djokovic, defending champion, had put up some fight against Richard Gasquet in his third and final round robin match just 24 hours before his scheduled semi-final against Stan Wawrinka—especially considering he did not have to win it to stay top of Group B.
It took him over two hours and three sets, but it notched up not only his 70th match-win of the year but his 20th in a row since losing to Rafael Nadal in the US Open final in early September.
Since New York, the man who was ranked for most of 2013 at No1 had added no fewer than three back-to-back titles—Beijing, Shanghai and Paris—to the three he had already won in Monte Carlo, Dubai and at the Australian Open. And on top of that, he reached the Wimbledon final and the Roland Garros semis.
And still to come was the Davis Cup final—so yes, he had shown considerable mental fortitude in fighting for that 70th win to complete the round-robin phase unbeaten for the second consecutive year.
And he remained confident in his physical resources and his chances of advancing to the finals, despite his exertions—three three-setters on the bounce in London.
“I’m definitely feeling confident, more confident than I was a few months ago…I just feel well at this particular part of the year. I know most of the players are exhausted physically, mentally, emotionally, after a long season. But I try to find that as an opportunity for me to get extra motivated to kind of push myself to the limit and deliver the goods when needed.”
On paper, he should certainly have felt confident about his chances against Wawrinka, making his ATP World Tour Finals debut at the age of 28. Djokovic brought a 14-2 winning record to his semi against the Swiss, and had won the last 13, including all three this year. But a closer look, at 2013 in particular, revealed a different story.
In their first match of the year, Wawrinka almost put out the defending champion in Australia, just falling short 10-12 in the fifth set. He reached his first Grand Slam semi at the US Open, beating Andy Murray, and then pushed Djokovic to the limit again, leading two sets to one before losing another classic match in five. He nine times beat top-10 players—Berdych, Ferrer and Gasquet as well as Murray—and reached a career-high No8 in the rankings.
Since taking up with new coach Magnus Norman, Wawrinka’s tennis had become more aggressive and more forward-moving, and his physical shape was sharper and more durable. But indoors in Paris a week ago, Djokovic put him to the sword—and London would prove not so very different.
Wawrinka started confidently enough, and Djokovic took a couple of games to warm up—not surprising after his late finish last night. The Swiss converted a second break point with a volley winner to lead 2-1 but the retort was instant, a break back as Djokovic began to find his formidable base-line groove.
Wawrinka, in fact, would only get one more game in the set, broken again in the eighth as Djokovic found some remarkable defence to draw a growing number of errors from the Swiss—18 by the end of the set—and the Serb took the opener, 6-3.
Djokovic struck just as fast in the second set. A floundering Wawrinka went down 0-40 in the opening game, defended two points but not the third. In contrast, the constantly improving serve of Djokovic held to love.
This began to feel like an inevitable win for the Serb, as Wawrinka found himself embroiled in long baseline rallies that are Djokovic’s forte. The Swiss resisted a break point in the third with some clutch serving, held off another break point and three deuces in the fifth, but all the while saw Djokovic serving to near perfection: The Serb dropped only two points on serve in the set.
Wawrinka managed one more game but the pressure—and he afterwards admitted, fatigue—took their toll as Djokovic broke with ease to take the set and match, 6-3.
The Swiss explained: “I had the feeling that I was playing good, hitting well the ball. But I think I don’t have enough energy today. I think I was little bit late physically. Against him, that makes a big difference. I didn’t find a way to move really inside the court when he gave me a few balls.”
The statistics certainly supported that. After such success this year with a forward, attacking game, he made it to the net only six times, won only three points there.
But the final will, as most predicted, be between the defending champion and No2 Djokovic and the world No1 and winner of 10 titles this year Rafael Nadal. It will be an extraordinary 39th meeting, with Nadal holding a 22-16 lead. But the Serb’s win took him to his 50th win on hard courts this year, and he won there last meeting, in the final of Beijing, 6-3, 6-4. No wonder he spoke like a man with supreme confidence in his current form:
“After the US Open final, I haven’t lost a match. I’m trying to take a lot of positive energy out of this confidence and out of this run. I won against him in the finals of Beijing in straight sets and I played a great match. I liked the way I improved in our matches. I like that I changed a few things that allowed me to win against him. That’s something that I will definitely try to use tomorrow.
“He has immensely improved on hard court. Comparing to all the other surfaces in our sport, this is probably his least preferable, but not this year. Of course, no clear favourites in the final tomorrow. It’s always expected that we go the distance. Let the better win.”
Little needs adding to that sentiment.