World number one Novak Djokovic will meet Switzerland's Roger Federer, his closest rival in the rankings, in the final of the World Tour Finals. The Serb, who is unbeaten in four matches at this year's ATP Tour finals, is in his first final since the event moved to London in 2009.
Novak Djokovic said: "Knowing it's the last match of the season, I'm really going to give my best physically and mentally." He will finish 2012 as world number one regardless of the result of that final match. Djokovic went past Federer in the standings after the Swiss decided not to play in the Paris Masters, sacrificing the ranking points he had secured by winning the event the previous year . However, Djokovic's 2012 head-to-head record against Federer is at stake in the final, as each has won twice of their four meetings this year. Djokovic won in straight sets on the clay in the French Open and in Rome and Federer was successful in their two most recent meetings at Wimbledon and Cincinnati.
"I love playing against Novak," said Federer after beating Andy Murray 7-6 (7-3) 6-2 in their semi-final. "We always have close matches, especially the last 10 or 15 matches which have been very back and forth. We both play aggressive tennis, we're natural attackers, that makes for exciting tennis. For both of us I think it's pretty straightforward - we've got to press out the juice that's left in our body and make it a successful year end."
Federer, who won 16 of the previous 28 career meetings against Djokovic, first clinched the season finale in 2003, overcoming Andre Agassi in straight sets in Houston. Then he has won the event in five of the last eight years and is aiming to extend his record number of titles to seven. Djokovic has won the tournament only once, beating Nikolay Davydenko in the final of the event in Shanghai in 2008. The world number one insists he won't be disappointed if he fails to repeat that success. "It's my first final here in London," he said. "I'm really looking forward to it. It's already a great success."
Here are the odds for the final from Bet365:
Djokovic to win - 4/7
Federer to win - 11/8
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