ATP World Tour Finals day 8: Djokovic v Federer in final showdown

Sam Barnard, Assistant Sports Editor | November 21, 2015

Novak Djokovic v Roger Federer

Dominant tennis titans Djokovic and Federer duel

What happens when two steamrollers collide? Well, we’ll find out on Sunday evening when the current best tennis player in the world and the greatest ever in history, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer respectively, battle it out once more for this final of the ATP World Tour Finals.

They’ve already faced each other earlier in this event, with the Swiss sensation winning on that occasion in straight sets, but expect the impact to be far greater this time after both players smashed aside their other challengers with relative ease.

Federer (2/1 outsider with Coral) was last on court on Saturday night, and dispatched compatriot Stan Wawrinka (7-5 6-3) for a second successive year at this stage, to set up a third third Tour Finals final with Djokovic.

The Serb was able to defend his crown in 2014 without even hitting a ball, however, as the Swiss pulled out due to injury, so Federer will now get his chance to stop Djokovic’s run of three-straight title wins and extend his record to seven season-ending tournament trophy triumphs.

As the top two players in the world right now, in terms of standard, it is unsurprising that all six of their meetings in 2015 prior to their Group Stan Smith round-robin clash have been in finals.

Can Djokovic gain revenge after group loss?

World number one Djokovic, who knocked out back-in-form Rafael Nadal 6-3 6-3 in his semi-final, won four of those, which is why he is the 2/5 odds-on favourite.

However, with Federer 22-21 up in head-to-heads, back it to go all the way, so take more tempting odds of 11/4 for a 2-1 victory in the Serb’s favour in revenge for his earlier loss.

If you fancy Djokovic to win in straight sets, as he did in his only other Tour Finals final over the 17-time Grand Slam champion back in 2012, then take a 10/11 price. But with Federer taking the second in each of their last four duels, taking enticing odds of 6/4 for him to do so once more.

A victory for young pretender Djokovic would mean that he goes one Tour Finals title behind Federer on five, and equal with former greats Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras, after he also triumphed when this tournament was held in Shanghai.

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Coral’s top tip: Federer may have defeated Djokovic in straight sets in their round-robin match, but lightning very rarely strikes the super Serb twice, so back him at 11/4 to gain revenge and win 2-1 this time around.