A mouth-watering finale to the season on Sunday ended before it even began when Roger Federer was forced to pull out through injury prior to his ATP World Tour Final showdown with world No. 1 Novak Djokovic.
The 33-year-old Swiss, who spent two hours, 48 minutes defeating compatriot Stanislas Wawrinka in a brutal semi-final the previous night, announced his decision on court as the 17,000-seat O2 Arena in London filled up.
It meant Djokovic became the first man to win the title three years in succession since Ivan Lendl in 1987.
Photo: Reuters
World No. 2 Federer, who was bidding for a seventh title at the year-ender, apologized, telling the crowd he was not “match-fit” after developing a back problem.
“I hope you understand I wanted to come out personally and excuse myself for not playing ... I can’t compete without a back at this level,” Federer said.
Despite the huge anti-climax for the crowd, some of whom had forked out thousands of pounds for a courtside ticket, there was no booing, with applause breaking out as seven-times Wimbledon champion Federer spoke.
Photo: EPA
Explaining how the injury arose, Federer said later: “I was feeling great until yesterday’s tiebreaker. I felt all of a sudden the back was feeling funny. I tried to have treatment on it, medication, just tried to turn around as quick as possible really, but didn’t really feel much of an improvement overnight.”
It was only the third time in a career spanning nearly 1,000 matches that Federer has withdrawn from a competition because of injury.
Djokovic was not really in the mood for celebrating when he collected the trophy and a US$1.92 million check.
“Obviously not the way I’d like to win this,” said the 27-year-old, who clinched the year-end world number one ranking for the third time in four years this week.
“I feel sorry for Roger. I’ve been in tennis 10 years and I know Roger and Rafa [Nadal] have been the biggest competitors and always give 100 percent. If Roger could have come out and played he would have played,” Djokovic said.
“I’m not the kind of player to celebrate these wins, but I have to celebrate the whole season and this trophy is the crown on the season,” he added.
To appease disappointed fans, home favorite Andy Murray, thrashed by Federer in the week, agreed to play Djokovic in a one-set exhibition match, before partnering John McEnroe in a doubles game against Tim Henman and Pat Cash.
Federer now faces an anxious week as he tries to recover for the Davis Cup final against France in Lille next weekend.
Along with the Olympic singles title, the Davis Cup is the major honor which still eludes the 17-times grand slam champion, with Switzerland’s hopes resting on the shoulders of him and Wawrinka.
“The way I feel right now there’s no way I can compete at any level really,” Federer said. “Probably in a few days it’s going to be better.”
American twins Bob and Mike Bryan on Sunday underlined their status as the best doubles pair in the world as they claimed the ATP Tour Finals title for the fourth time.
The 36-year-olds came from a set down to beat seventh seeds Ivan Dodig from Croatia and Brazilian Marcelo Melo 6-7(5) 6-2 10-7 at the O2 Arena — their 103rd title together.
The Bryans recovered from a near knockout blow in the first set when Bob slammed a first serve into the back of his brother’s head, going on to dominate after dropping the opener.
“Looking back at the year, we’re very proud of the way it went,” Mike told reporters, adding that winning a 100th career title together at the US Open had been the highlight.
“This is considered the fifth slam, with the top eight teams in the world. To lose our first match and bounce back, barely qualify for the semi-finals, then win today, was a great feeling.”
The doubles tournament outshone the singles at the O2 with most of the matches being close affairs compared with numerous one-sided singles matches.
Speaking after Roger Federer withdrew from the singles final against Novak Djokovic, Bob said: “I feel the doubles game is pretty healthy right now. We put out a good product this week. I thought it really added to the event. Especially with the quick singles matches, doubles brought a lot of value.”
“But doubles has to be cared for and promoted. The trend is for no prize money increases on the doubles side. Doubles kind of gets swept under the rug. There does have to be someone looking after it. Maybe that will be our job when I retire,” he said.
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