Roger Federer Explains Why There Have Been So Many Blowouts Recently At The ATP Finals

After two rounds there were zero 3-set matches at the ATP Finals. Last year, in 14 matches just two went the distance. So what’s the reason behind the lack of dramatic matches in London? Roger Federer says it might have to do with the court speed.

“Maybe it’s the end of the season, maybe it’s the surface, we saw the faster results here last year,” Federer said Sunday about the one-sided matches. “Seems like whoever takes charge of the baseline, and if you cannot serve your way out of trouble often enough, which is hard to do here because of the pace of the court, the guy from the baseline wins, the better one.

“That’s why we see some crushing scores, like Novak against Kei today. Last year, as well, Stan against Berdych. Maybe, Cilic. There was a match with Novak, maybe, so forth.”

After winning just two games to Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori agreed the surface was slow: “Paris maybe was little bit slower, but it’s really tough to finish the point with this surface, especially against great defense like Novak. It was tough to play.”

Later today, on the slow court Federer meets tournament favorite Novak Djokovic. Federer and Djokovic were supposed to play in the finals of London last year before the Swiss withdrew with a back injury.

The are dead even at 21-21. Djokovic has never led in the series.

“I think it’s really become a very nice rivalry,” said Federer. “It seems people like the way we play against each other. I don’t think we have to adjust our games very much against each other. We can just play our game, and then the better man wins. It’s been nice seeing Novak’s improvements over all these years. He’s become such an unbelievable player, especially the last five, six years, and he’s cleaned up his game so nicely and became the best mover in the game. It’s really a pleasure playing against him every single time.”