Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, London

Men’s Final: [CR1] Novak Djokovic (SRB) vs. [CR3] Roger Federer (SUI)

Djokovic may have had a slight off-day in their round robin encounter, but today he was completely dialed in.  There would be no repeat of their last match as Djokovic was over his funk and was fully engaged.  He was sharp and confident, while Federer was rushed and uncomfortable.  Djokovic broke twice in the first set to win it 6-3 and Federer just seemed to get more rattled.  Something you would not expect from the “Fed”; yet, Djokovic has a tendency to elicit that response from his opponents when he is on. Djokovic made the adjustment mentally to his loss earlier this week to Federer and Federer failed to make any adjustment to Djokovic’s new strategy.  Again, it was quite surprising, because we have grown to expect so much from Federer. However, it is beginning to look that as much as we may want to ignore it, age is catching up to Federer and he is not able to bounce back as he used to.  A day of rest between the semifinals and the final may have benefitted him.  Unfortunately for everyone, Djokovic in his current form is invincible when it matters.  We can all remember when Federer was once admired for his reign of dominance.  Today Federer never seemed fully himself, appearing a tad sluggish and against Djokovic that is a recipe for disaster.  Although he played a tad sharper in the second, he was not able to duplicate his level of play that earned him the victory earlier this week.  Djokovic won the ATP World Tour Finals 6-3, 6-4 and goes into the 2016 season as the player to beat.  He will spend his off-season basking in his dominance, while all the other players will spend the time trying to figure out what they can do to dethrone him.