World No. 1 Djokovic Bows Out of Tour Finale

Written by: Staff on 25th November 2011

World No. 1 Djokovic Bows Out of Tour Finale

Novak Djokovic of Serbia returns the ball to Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia during their group A match of the ATP World Tour tennis finals in London, Britain, 25 November 2011. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

Two observations following Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic’s most recent losses at the ATP Tour World Finals: 1) You can never overestimate just how important mental toughness is in the world of big-time pro tennis and 2) the season is much too long.

Said world No. 1 and the preeminent player all season long Novak Djokovic after his three-set loss to fellow Serb Janko Tipsarevic on Friday.

“What is missing … is that freshness,” Djokovic said, before Tomas Berdych rallied from a set and a break down to beat David Ferrer 3-6, 7-5, 6-1 and grab the last semifinal spot at the season-ending tournament. “The will to win, just being on the court, giving a hundred percent. I’m not able to do that now because I just have very little left.”

“The body says that it’s overload,” he added, when asked to explain his lack of sharpness. “It’s been too much this year. Tomorrow, if I don’t play, I look forward to going for a much-needed rest.”

“I had an unbelievable year,” he said. “Nothing can really ruin that. I will always remember this year as the best of my life.”

And then you have Nadal, whose 82 matches this year are the highest on the ATP Tour, after Jo-Wilfried Tsonga handed him his fourth defeat in seven matches he was asked to explain why his season had reached such a miserable ending.

“Seriously I can talk one hour for that,” he said. “Is because of lot of things. Probably I had a little bit less passion for the game, probably because I was a little bit more tired than usual.”

Ferrer will face Roger Federer in Saturday’s first semifinal, before Berdych takes on Tsonga.

Where does this leave us? All we can do is look amazingly at Federer, the highest seed and favorite now to win the whole thing.

“My body, even if it’s injured, it can still play really well,” Federer explained this week. “Whereas maybe other players, if they are injured, it doesn’t work anymore.”

Tipsarevic fells countryman for first time: Tipsarevic has lost all three of his previous meetings against Djokovic. “Not trying to undermine my performance or my victory, but I can freely say this was not Novak Djokovic from the US Open or Wimbledon. Still, I managed to beat the world number one and no-one can take that away from me.”

Doubles Update: Austria’s Jurgen Melzer and German partner Philipp Petzchner beat Swedish-Romanian pair Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau 6-3 6-4 but they failed to qualify for the semifinals after Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes beat Bob and Mike Bryan to win the group.

It was a shocking result for many but the “Indian Express” was able to derail the world’s best team and only Americans remaining, 6-4, 6-2, and will next face off against Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski in the semifinals on Saturday.

In the other semifinal the Bryan brothers will take on Max Mirnyi and Daniel Nestor.

Topics: ATP World Tour Finals, djokovic