Novak Djokovic is gunning to win an all-time record 7th ATP Finals title this year. If he does so, he would overtake one of his big rivals, Roger Federer, who stands with 6 of those at the moment. Many consider Djokovic and Federer in the top 2 of the ‘Big Three’ of tennis, which includes Rafael Nadal and the ATP Finals is a big reason for the same.
Rafael Nadal has never won the ATP Finals and a large part of the reason was running a lot into the unsurmountable peaks of Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, especially on the indoors hard court surface. Most of the Nadal vs Federer rivalry was in the Spaniard’s favor as he led 24-16 on head-to-head. However, what that doesn’t tell is how the Swiss legend dominated him in the year-ending tournament.
Incredibly, Roger Federer has a 4-1 lead over Rafael Nadal in the ATP Finals. Federer beat Nadal in nearly all knockout matches of the competition, i.e. the 2006 and 2007 semifinals as well as the 2010 final match. In 2011, Federer prevailed again in their earliest meeting ever in the competition, at the round robin stage. It was only in 2013, in Nadal’s great comeback season and when Federer was on a decline, that the Spaniard cracked the code to win against his archrival in the tournament, beating him in the semifinals.
However, even the Rafael Nadal of 2013 could not beat Novak Djokovic in that year’s final. Now, here is where it gets interesting. Roger Federer has a better record than Novak Djokovic against Rafael Nadal in the tournament’s history. If the Nadal vs Djokovic rivalry is taken into account at the ATP Finals, the Spaniard played him 5 times as well but only trails 2-3.
Besides the 2013 final, Djokovic beat him twice more, i.e. in 2009 round robin and 2015 semifinals stages. And Nadal’s best chances of winning the tournament arguably came in 2009, 2010 and 2013 when he was himself winning other big titles in tennis more than Federer and Djokovic. While the Spaniard lost out clearly in 2006, 2007 and 2015 due to different reasons.
Novak Djokovic won both the ATP Finals tournaments post 2010 in which he beat Rafael Nadal. Perhaps, Djokovic must have seen how Federer led the way when it comes to defeating Rafa on the surface. Taking a leaf out of Federer’s book perhaps, the Serb made a strong indoors game for himself and challenged the trailblazer too, winning 4 out of their 7 contests.
In the eyes of many today, the zero in Rafael Nadal’s column when it comes to ATP Finals titles won is a huge blot largely since his competitors have won it. And Novak Djokovic has 7 titles to his name alone, making him a more ‘versatile’ player than the Spaniard. Had Nadal beaten Federer at a time when it was just them and Djokovic was not in the mix, then even having lesser number of ATP Finals titles would have perhaps still made the 22-time Grand Slam champion command more respect from the tennis world.
Roger Federer vs Novak Djokovic in the ATP Finals
Roger Federer had a 77.6% win percentage, winning 59 out of the 76 matches he played in. On the other hand, Novak Djokovic is second, having a 72.7% win percentage, winning 48 out of his 66 matches so far.
Federer qualified 18 times for the event, which is another record. While the 2023 edition was the 16th time Djokovic played at the event. The Swiss maestro won the tournament in 2003, 2004, 2006, 2007, 2010 and 2011. But the Serb took over from him, winning in 2008, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2022 and 2023.
