RICKY’S TENNIS PICKS FOR THE ROGER FEDERER MATCH UP AGAINST STAN WAWRINKA, IT’S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN AT THE BARCLAYS ATP CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LONDON BY RICKY DIMON

Written by: Staff on 20th November 2015

RICKY'S TENNIS PICKS FOR THE ROGER FEDERER MATCH UP AGAINST STAN WAWRINKA, IT'S DEJA VU ALL OVER AGAIN AT THE BARCLAYS ATP CHAMPIONSHIPS IN LONDON BY RICKY DIMON

epa05032977 Switzerland's Roger Federer celebrates after his three sets win over Japan's Kei Nishikori during a singles group match at the ATP Tour tennis finals tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 19 November 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka will be facing each other for the 21st time in their careers when they battle for a place in the World Tour Finals title match on Saturday night.

Federer is dominating the head-to-head series 17-3, but what was once the most lopsided and least interesting “rivalries” in all of tennis has reinvented itself over the last 17 months. Wawrinka has won two of their last six meetings–in the 2014 Monte-Carlo final and in the quarters of the French Open this spring.

Their showdown at the same stage of this same event last year will not soon be forgotten. Federer saved five match points before prevailing 4-6, 7-5, 7-6(6), and even the incredibly close scoreline hardly tells the full story. The night featured an alleged on-court shouting match between Wawrinka and Federer’s wife followed by a reported lock-room confrontation between the two players.

Bad blood seems to be a thing of the past for the two Swiss stars, who teamed up one week later in the 2014 Davis Cup final to triumph over France. Off-court drama should be non-existent in this one, but another high-quality contest can be expected. After all, both men emerged from round-robin competition with plenty of reasons to be confident.

Federer swept through Group Stan Smith in undefeated fashion, beating Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, and Kei Nishikori. The 34-year-old dropped only one set–to Nishikori–in the process.

Wawrinka’s participation in the semis looked questionable at best as recently as Wednesday night. The world No. 4 was coming off a 6-3-, 6-2 loss to Rafael Nadal and found himself trailing David Ferrer 5-2 in the first set. Ferrer double-faulted on set point while serving for the opener and got broken to let his opponent back in the match. Ever since that moment, Wawrinka has not looked back. He overcame Ferrer 7-5, 6-2 then beat Andy Murray 7-6(4), 6-4 in a winner-advance, loser-go-home battle on Friday night.

Stanislas Wawrinka of Switzerland servers the ball during his game against Andy Murray of Britain during their round robin game during the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Britain, 20 November 2015. EPA/FACUNDO ARRIZABALAGA

“I had a tough match–two-hours match with a lot of pressure,” Wawrinka commented. “I also feel quite tired. I’m going to be focused on that, try to rest, try to recover and be ready for hopefully a good match…. [Roger] is playing really well. He is always fit; always ready. Last year was an opportunity to beat him [and I didn’t take it].

For a brief stretch during the second set against Murray, Wawrinka found the zone in which he bludgeons every backhand as hard as possible and does not miss. But his play this week has been marked with inconsistency, plagued by too many stretches in which he has borderline disappeared.

The undisputed two best players so far in London have been Nadal and Federer. Wawrinka was unable to overcome his rough patches of tennis against Nadal and he may not be able to against Federer, either.

Pick: Federer in 2

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

Switzerland’s Roger Federer returns to Japan’s Kei Nishikori during a singles group match during the ATP Tour tennis finals tournament at the O2 Arena in London, Britain, 19 November 2015. EPA/ANDY RAIN

Topics: 10sballs.com, ATP Finals, London, Ricky Dimon, Roger Federer, Sports, Stan Wawrinka, Tennis, World Tour Finals

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10sBalls_com says:

November 20, 2015 at 5:48 pm

-@Dimonator’s Tennis Picks For The Federer/Wawrinka Match Up, It’s Deja Vu All Over Again At The Barclays #ATPFinals
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