Federer Holds On To Beat Tsonga In Final

Written by: Staff on 28th November 2011

Federer Holds On To Beat Tsonga In Final

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France reacts during ATP World Tour tennis singles final match against Roger Federer of Switzerland held in O2 Arena in London, Britain, 27 November 2011. EPA/KERIM OKTEN |

As if 16 Grand Slam titles weren’t enough, the Great One Roger Federer now owns the record for most ATP World Tour Finals titles, holding off Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday for his sixth career title with a 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 victory at the season-ending tournament.

It was hard not to think back to Wimbledon of this year once Federer failed to close out the tense second-set tiebreaker. It was just a few months back that Tsonga became the first player to rally from a two-set deficit to beat Federer in a Grand Slam tournament in this year’s Wimbledon quarterfinals. But this time the hard-serving Frenchman couldn’t pull off another upset.

Playing in his 100th career final, Federer broke for a 5-3 lead in the decider and served out the match to love, sealing his 70th career title with an easy volley.

“I couldn’t be more happy. I couldn’t be more exhausted,” Federer told the crowd at the O2 Arena after being presented with the trophy for the second year in a row. “Jo sucked every last bit of energy out of me today.”

Federer passes Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras, who both won five titles at the season-ending event for the world’s top eight players, previously known as the Masters Cup.

The Swiss former No. 1 has not lost a match since the US Open semifinals, and finished the year with a 17-match winning streak following titles in Basel and Paris before coming to London.

“He’s the best player indoors for the moment,” Tsonga said. “He’s maybe the best player ever, because he’s really quick. He’s playing well. That’s it.”

And a Quote From the Man Responsible For All The Greatness: Roger’s father Robert has been watching the great tennis all week at the O2, supporting his son from the sidelines during matches and practice. He told ATPWorldTour.com that he loves seeing the fans support his son. “This is what I actually really like, whether I’m in Indian Wells or Australia or wherever I go, is actually the reception he gets all over the world when he steps on court,” he said.

Toughest Player Ever? Our vote goes to guess who? Roger Federer, who has this to say after his match on Sunday.

“I think for me, the most important thing is the reaction I show after losses like this. Because [the US Open] was a tough loss. It was one that hurt. It was one that makes you wonder, ‘How in the world can I end up losing this match?’ But to bounce back and not lose a match from that moment on I think shows, again, how tough I am, the right decisions I can take. These are the kinds of reactions I expect from myself. So to come through and prove it to myself was a great feeling.”

A Star-Studded Affair: The capacity crowd included Pippa Middleton, Cristiano Ronaldo and London Mayor Boris Johnson — who was initially cheered when showed on the big screen but received boos when he and his party were late to return to their seats after a changeover, holding up play as Tsonga was about to serve at 2-1 in the third set.

He’s One For Shortening Season: Count David Ferrer as one who would like to see the season shortened. “I think all the players know the season is very long and is very tough for us,” Ferrer said. “We play a lot of tournaments, Davis Cup, ATP tournaments. We finish in December. Now I will play in the Davis Cup. Finally in December I will have only one week to rest and then I will come back in January to play in the new season. We know that and we want to change. We know it’s not easy, but we need to change the calendar.”

There are changes planned for next year, but don’t forget the Olympics in 2012 will have players limping to the finish line once again next year.

Funny Tweet of the Week: From @JamesLaRosa: “No Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal or Andy Murray in the WTF semis. It’s like the Beatles without George, John or Ringo.”

Twitter Nation Loves It Some Rafa: He has only 127 tweets but @RafealNadal has become tennis’ first to reach the one million mark of Twitter followers. His most recent post said this: “Hi everybody, thank you very much for your messages of encouragement, last year I played better, I’ll keep working to improve my results in this competition the next year. Today I have rest at London, tomorrow I’ll travel to Sevilla for the Davis Cup’s final with my teammates. We’ll win at Sevilla!!”

Topics: Atp, Federer, Tsonga