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November 16, 2014

An Unfortunate Ending?

After a breath-taking, star-making, record-setting season, it's a bit of a shame that the most anticipated match of the post season never got played.

After a week at the World Tour Finals in London, world #1 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, just a bit behind in the rankings, had characteristically gotten through the Round Robin matches largely unscathed. Both went a perfect 3-0 in early rounds, with Nole losing just nine games and Roger decimating a suddenly back-in-form Andy Murray in their final contest. They were finally tested in Saturday's semis -- Djokovic faced a rematch with his U.S. Open vanquisher Kei Nishikori, dropping his first set of the event before reaching his eighth final of the year. And Fed battled through a late-night nail-biter, saving four match points during his nearly three-hour marathon against compatriot Stan Wawrinka on the way to his eleventh. The effort ultimately proved too much, though -- the thirty-three year old legend had to pull out of today's final with a back injury, only the second time in his storied career he's withdrawn from a title match. And while it may not have happened the way he wanted, Novak Djokovic was crowned year-end champion for the third straight year.


It's unfortunate, of course, since the entire tennis world was hoping for another historic match between the two greats. And though Nole had already secured his third season-ending #1 ranking, Roger was still slightly ahead in their head-to-head and actually led in their five encounters this year. But it doesn't take away what Djokovic has accomplished during the year -- six seven titles, another Grand Slam, not to mention the life-changing events he's had off the court. While Roger could have put up a great fight, it's hard to argue anyone else deserved this trophy more.

And we'll just get to look forward to what these two will give us in the new year.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

It's 7 titles for Novak this year, not six.