In the final part of this series, we evaluate the seasons of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic as the ATP World Tour ends next week in London.
Roger Federer
Despite not reaching the heights of his 2017 season, it has been another great season for Roger Federer. The Swiss started his season by winning his 20th grand slam title after a five set win over Marin Cilic. This remarkable achievement was followed by reclaiming the world number one spot by winning the title in Rotterdam.
The 37 year old’s 17 match winning streak came to an end in the Indian Wells final, when he lost a tough three set battle to Juan Martin Del Potro. The loss clearly took its toll on Federer, as he lost a tough first match in Miami to Thanasi Kokkinakis before announcing that he would once again skip the clay season.
After winning his third title in Stuttgart, unusual losses in Halle to Borna Coric and at Wimbledon to Kevin Anderson saw many people raise their doubts over whether Federer can still compete at a high level consistently. Another final was satisfying for the Swiss although a forehand disaster-class prevented him from beating Novak Djokovic in the final.
A US Open fourth round loss to John Millman was arguably his worst loss of the season as the New York curse continued. The 20 time grand slam champion is playing some sublime tennis on indoor hard courts though as a Basel title and a Paris semi-final epic loss to Djokovic proves that he is one of the contenders for the ATP Finals.
STAT: Roger Federer has a 12-5 head-to-head record against his round robin opponents and has played Nishikori twice in the last five weeks.
Roger Federer won both of those meetings against Nishikori in Shanghai and Paris, as he looks to start his campaign with victory on Sunday evening.
Federer’s Best Five Tournaments
Australian Open Champion – 2,000 pts
Indian Wells Final – 600 pts
Cincinnati Final – 600 pts
Rotterdam Champion – 500 pts
Basel Champion – 500 pts
Novak Djokovic
It has been an incredible season for the Serb as he finished the year world number one despite starting it outside the world’s top 20. However it was a rough start to the year after a fourth round defeat to Hyeon Chung at the Australian Open in January.
This was followed by back-to-back defeats to Taro Daniel and Benoit Paire in America as he decided to sack Andre Agassi and hire his old coach Marian Vajda. As they say don’t change a winning formula and slowly the Serb was getting back to his best.
A semi-final loss to Rafael Nadal in Rome was nothing to be ashamed as he played some awesome tennis in Italy. A Roland Garros quarter-final defeat to Marco Cecchinato lead to that infamous press conference where he stated he wouldn’t play the grass season.
Well he did and it paid dividends as a Queens Club final and his first title of the season at Wimbledon saw his hard work being rewarded. A Canada loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas lead to motivation as he would then go on a 22 match winning streak, which saw titles in Cincinatti, the US Open and Shanghai.
Illness and a Karen Khachanov masterclass saw his run end in the Paris final but its safe to say the Serb is in red-hot form and has had a dream season ending the year world number one.
Deep Returning
One key success of Djokovic’s year is how deep he returns especially under pressure. Here is a key graphic of how the Serb re-directs his opponents body serve. It’s a dream shot and he gets it deep 42% of the time which is enough to cause trouble.
The world number one will need to copy this strategy when he takes on big-serving John Isner on Monday evening.
Djokovic’s Best Five Tournaments
Wimbledon Champion – 2,000 pts
US Open Champion – 2,000 pts
Cincinnati Champion – 1,000 pts
Shanghai Champion – 1,000 pts
Paris Final – 600 pts
