Roger Federer's top 5 wins against Novak Djokovic
Roger Federer has met many a player during the course of his illustrious 22-year professional career. But no one has managed to torment him to the extent Novak Djokovic has.
The gritty and relentless game of Djokovic matches up superbly against Federer's serene all-court game. The Serb has ruffled the Swiss maestro's feathers on quite a few occasions, upending his title ambitions at the biggest of tournaments on the tour.
One of only 8 players to have met Federer at each of the Grand Slams (the others being Tomas Berdych, Stan Wawrinka, Juan Martin del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tommy Robredo, Mikhail Youzhny, and Nicolas Keifer), Djokovic is the only player to defeat Federer at all the four Grand Slam tournaments.
Of the above octet, only Djokovic, Berdych, Wawrinka, Del Potro and Tsonga have also met Federer at the season-ending ATP Finals, with only Djokovic and Del Potro managing multiple wins over the 20-time Grand Slam champion.
Djokovic, whose 26 career wins over Federer is the highest by any player to have beaten the 20-time Grand Slam champion, enjoyed a five-match win streak against Federer going into their clash at the 2019 ATP Finals. Only Rafael Nadal has enjoyed a similar win-streak (twice) against the Swiss maestro.
In a 'winner-takes-all loser-goes-home' virtual quarterfinal at the 50th ATP Finals, Federer and Djokovic faced each other for the 6th time at the season-ending tournament, with a place in the semifinals on the line. Federer, still smarting from two missed championship points on serve in the 2019 Wimbledon final against Djokovic, was in no mood for charity as he turned in a near flawless performance to beat the recently deposed World No. 1 6-4, 6-3 to romp into a record-extending 16th semifinal at the season-ending tournament.
The emotions knew no bounds as Federer leaped into the air in delight, akin to winning a tournament. This was his first win over Djokovic in 4 years and 6 matches, since a round-robin victory at the 2015 ATP Finals.
In the process, Federer registered his 23rd win over Djokovic, which is the joint-most he has beaten any player (also Stan Wawrinka), to improve to 23-26 in their riveting head-to-head rivalry.
On that note, let us re-live Federer's top five wins over Djokovic:
#5 2010 ATP Finals semis: Federer beat Djokovic 6-1 6-4
Going into their 2010 ATP Finals semifinal clash, Federer had enjoyed three wins in four meetings against Djokovic during the season. His only defeat against the young Serb had come in the US Open semis, where Federer failed to convert two match points.
In his 9th consecutive appearance at the ATP Finals, Federer breezed through the group stage without dropping a match, to book a semifinal meeting with Djokovic.
For the umpteenth time in his illustrious career, Federer made a brisk start, taking the opening set with two breaks of the Djokovic serve. After recovering from an early break in the second, Federer re-asserted his supremacy by breaking the Serb two more times to complete a 6-1 6-4 win and romp into his 5th final at the ATP Finals.