TENNIS ATP FINALS – Roger Federer has announced on court after the doubles final that he won’t play in the final of the ATP Finals due to an injury. For the fans the organisers have set up a singles match between Murray and Djokovic and then a doubles match with Henman-Cash versus Murray-McEnroe. From London, Paul Sassoon
After the doubles match ended and the Bryan brothers received their winners trophy Roger Federer came on court in a tracksuit accompanied by ATP Chairman Chris Kermode to announce that he wasn’t going to play in the final, “Well, good evening. I’m sorry I’m here in a track suit and not in a match outfit. Unfortunately I’m not match fit to play the match tonight. Clearly I wish that it wasn’t so. I try all year to be ready for the ATP World Tour Finals, and I didn’t want it to end this way. But I tried everything I could last night, also today, painkillers, treatment, rest and so forth, warmup till the very end. But just I can’t compete at this level with Novak. In finals like this, it would be too risky at my age to do this right now. I hope you understand. I wanted to come out personally and excuse myself for not playing. It’s been a great week for me. I played some great tennis. I love coming to the O2, to London. I’ve had so many great memories from here. Congrats, of course, to Novak who’s played an amazing season, amazing tournament here as well. I hope we can play some more great matches hopefully next year. Last, but not least, just thanks to all you guys for making it special to come out and play tennis all around the world. I know you guys travel as well, spend a lot of money on tickets and so forth. We really, really appreciate that, me in particular. It keeps me going. It’s what makes me tick really at this age. I hope I come back again next year and get another chance to compete for the title here. Thank you very much and I’ll see you soon. Appreciate it.” Surprisingly there were no boo’s as is usually the case when a final is not played.
Only in 1931 a major final wasn’t played and it was at Wimbledon when Frankie Shields, the uncle of Brooke Shields, retired before playing Sidney Wood.
The ATP chairman Chris Kermode then took the microphone to explain what they had managed to organise to entertain the fans that were present in the arena. Murray had accepted to play one long set against Djokovic and then the British player was going to team up with John McEnroe in a doubles match against Pat Cash and Tim Henman. Kermode also told the fans that the ticket retailers would contact the spectators for what will probably be a refund on their expensive tickets. Though he didn’t give any further details.
There is going to be no more explanations from Federer apart from a single interview of which we just receive a transcript, but he is not holding a press conference. I the private ATP interview the world number two said, “Yeah, it’s a very disappointing end to the season. You know, I was playing so well here, had a great season so far. I was feeling great, you know, until yesterday’s tiebreaker. I felt all of a sudden the back was feeling funny. I tried to have treatment on it, medication on it, just tried to turn around as quick as possible really, but didn’t really feel that much of an improvement overnight. Then you don’t have a day off or anything to work with, obviously it’s not enough time to recover. The way I feel right now, there’s no way I can compete at any level really. So probably in a few days it’s going to be better, but right now it’s not good enough. So clearly it’s very disappointing. Nevertheless, congratulations to Novak. That’s how it goes. You have to put yourself in those positions. He’s done that again. Congrats on World No. 1, as well. He’s had a terrific season.”
Regarding his plans, “Well, recovery obviously as quick as possible, and then traveling to France at some point and getting ready on the clay for the Davis Cup final.”
It was in the air in the press from starting an hour before the match was due to start. The speculation that Roger Federer wasn’t going to play the final started after he failed to show up for his warm up session on practice court 1 at the O2 Arena. As rumours spread around Twitter and other social media it became clear that Federer was injured, but whether he was going to play or not was a mystery. When we were told that Federer was going to announce something on court it was clear that the final was not going to happen. We shall see if the Swiss will play in the Davis Cup final.
Djokovic came into the press conference and before giving us some chocolates as a thank you he explained his strange day, “During the doubles match, that’s when I found out. Well, I did my warmup, obviously prepared for the battle, prepared for a great match as it was anticipated, as the people expected it to be. It was the last match of the season. I was ready to give it all. I’m sure he was ready, too, to give it all if he could. I spoke to him. As I understand, he retired a match maybe three times in his career in over a thousand matches. You cannot blame him. I’m sure he would play World Tour Finals if he could. This is probably the first time in the history that this happens. It’s very awkward situation to talk about it, to be honest, today. You never like to win, especially these big matches against big rivals, with the retirement. But that’s the way it is.”
And about the match with Andy Murray he said, “I was as surprised as probably you guys were when you heard the news. I was in my locker room. I was doing the routine that I do always before my matches. I received the news, you know, during the doubles. Then we started talking about possibilities, what we can do in order to save this day in some way. Because the people were already there watching. The stadium was already full. They wanted to see some singles match. Luckily Andy was in London. I want to thank him, you know, for coming out and making an effort. It really is an effort. I know how it feels when you finish the season, as he did on Thursday. Probably the last thing he’s thinking about is tennis now. He wants to rest after a long season. He receives a call. He comes out and plays an hour. Now he’s still playing doubles. It’s very genuine from him. I tried also to play. I thought we played on a good level. Hope the crowd enjoyed because there was not much you can do really. On the ceremony, as well, I didn’t feel so comfortable again receiving that trophy. Of course, I know that I’ve had a great season and I’m very proud to be holding the trophy. But the way things happened today was definitely awkward.”
Chris Kermode also came into the press room and confirmed that there will be a refund for the spectators today, but they haven’t worked out how much.
