Roger Federer’s 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 victory over Rafael Nadal in the final of the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday didn't live up to the pre-match hype, mainly because the two rarely play well at the same time.
There was little of the fever-pitch excitement of the riveting Nadal-Andy Murray semifinal on Saturday.
Federer’s backhand is vital for countering the devastating spin of Nadal’s cross-court forehand, and from the start on Sunday he hit it with gusto and consistency. His forehand was sound and his first-serve winning percentage was nothing short of perfection in the opening set—100 percent on the 65 percent of first serves that landed good.
Federer got the only break of the set in the eighth game, appropriately with a boldly struck backhand cross-court winner.
Nadal appeared a little sluggish, as might be expected after spending five hours and five minutes on court (against Tomas Berdych and Murray) the previous two days, while Federer had only been on court for an hour and 19 minutes (against Novak Djokovic) in that same interval. But he rallied to win the second set when Federer played a shaky third game, getting in only one of six first serves and missing an inside-out forehand wide on game point.
Reinvigorated, Nadal held serve the rest of the way to even the match at a set apiece.
But in the third set Nadal failed to convert a 40-15 lead when trailing 1-2. After Federer took four points in a row, breaking serve with a forehand down-the-line winner, he never looked back.
By the end, a weary-looking Nadal was reduced to being a punching bag as he made a rash of unforced errors and was obviously tired or—hopefully not—injured. In this reporter’s notes was the following: “To see a physical monster like Nadal so out of character is sad, especially at the end of a big match.”
Federer’s win will probably have more to do with the start of next year than with tying a bow on the 2010 season. That already belonged to Nadal, who became the first player in more than forty years to achieve the triple of winning the French Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and the first ever to do it on three different surfaces.
With the fifth year-end championships title of his career, Federer heads into 2011 with the confidence of a win over his great rival, and with added rankings points to make things a bit more competitive at the top, should the Spaniard falter during the clay and grass-court seasons (where he was utterly dominant this year).
For the week at the O2 Arena, Federer finishes the event with a plus 1,100 points on last year, while Nadal is plus 1,000, as he failed to win a single match in 2009. That makes their No. 1 and No. 2 ranking points 12,450 for the Spaniard and 8,145 for the Swiss.
Nadal’s tip-of-the-hat to Federer at the presentation ceremonies was both gracious and accurate after an impressive run of five straight-set victories for the Swiss. “Congratulations Roger, you played unbelievable during all the week, so well done for everything.”
Federer deserved the praise and his performance should inspire him as he heads into 2011. The win was his 66th career title and his fifth of the year, the first time he has won more than four in a year since those heady days way back in 2007, when he had eight.
—Tom Tebbutt