Nitto ATP Finals: Roger Federer's top-5 near misses at the year-end tournament
Roger Federer has an impressive resume at the ATP Finals. Federer holds the records for most appearances (17), most matches (76), most wins (59), most semifinals (16), most finals (10), and most titles (6) of any player to have played at the season-ending tournament.
Federer is also the oldest player ever to have triumphed at the ATP Finals, when he lifted his sixth title at the season-ending tournament with a victory over Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the 2011 final.
However, the Swiss maestro has had his fair share of disappointments at the ATP Finals over the years. Let us have a look at five of his biggest near misses at the season-ending tournament.
#5 2019 Semi-final- Lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas 3-6 4-6
Making his record-extending 17th appearance at the ATP Finals, Federer dropped his opening round-robin match for the second year in a row when he lost in straight sets to Dominic Thiem. The Swiss maestro improved as the tournament went on, beating tournament debutant Matteo Berrettini in straight sets to face a 'winner-takes-all' scenario in what was virtually a quarter-final in his third round-robin match against Novak Djokovic.
Winless in his last five matches to the Serb, Federer burst out of the blocks breaking serve thrice in the match to close out a 6-4 6-3 win and reach a record-extending 16th semi-final at the season-ending tournament.
In his last four clash with Stefanos Tsitsipas, Federer squandered a break point in the opening game of the match and two missed overheads in the following game meant that the young Greek surged to a 3-0 lead. Tsitsipas recovered from 0-40 down at 2-4 to take the opening set 6-3.
Federer lost serve in the third game of the second set but broke back for 2-2. However, another loose service game from the Swiss maestro saw him lose serve as Tsitsipas went on to close out a 6-3 6-4 win on a night Federer went 1/12 on break points and struggled to land enough first serves and win points on his second delivery. With the loss, Federer ended a third straight season at the semi-final stage of the ATP Finals.