In a field limited to only the best of the best at season’s end, the Nitto ATP Finals generates a unique buzz on tour. Roger Federer remembers the exhilaration in qualifying in his early 20s, while his semi-final opponent on Saturday, David Goffin, had his first taste of it as an alternate player at last year’s season finale before qualifying outright this year.
In the 15 years since his first season-ending championships, Federer’s outlook has understandably changed. As the 36-year-old said, following his third straight group-stage victory over Marin Cilic, he has come to appreciate it even more at his age.
“Look, in the beginning it was like being a kid in a candy store, sharing the locker-room with legends of the game, seeing them prepare, being able to practise with them, playing doubles with or against them. Special times,” Federer said. “When you come out on the tour later on, it's different. You know, you play for different reasons.
"You play the next generation, but now you're the older guy and they're the younger guys. It takes some getting used to. But I enjoy it now in a different way. I think it was more exhilarating when I was younger because everything was new, it was fresh. It was the unknown.”
Goffin would remember the feeling well. He admits to having had posters of Federer on his wall growing up in Belgium. His game impressed Federer when they first met in the fourth round at Roland Garros five years ago. Still, he has never beaten the Swiss in six FedEx ATP Head2Head clashes, with Federer having claimed their most showdown with ease, a 6-1, 6-2 rout in the semi-finals of the Swiss Indoors Basel.
“I've never found a key to beat Roger,” Goffin said. “Honestly, I don't know what to do tomorrow. But I'm going to try something, something different, something that I've never done in the past. I will try to do my best to play a better match than in Basel.”
Of the four semi-finalists, Federer is the only man who has been there before. The year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings is out of reach, but a seventh Nitto ATP Finals title would be the perfect exclamation mark on a remarkable season, in which he has already landed seven trophies, including a pair of Grand Slam titles at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, three ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami and Shanghai, a ninth Halle crown and an eighth title at home in Basel.
Federer finished on top of Group Boris Becker unbeaten after victories over Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev and Cilic. It is the 10th time he has ended the round-robin phase without defeat.
The group stage proved more of a rollercoaster of fortunes for Goffin. After the highs of becoming the first Belgian man to beat a World No. 1 with his upset of Rafael Nadal first up, he fell convincingly to Grigor Dimitrov before rebounding with authority to dismiss his good friend, Dominic Thiem.
After a freak ankle injury during his Roland Garros campaign this year, Goffin finally found his game again to snap a six-match losing streak in finals with back-to-back triumphs in Shenzhen (d. Dolgopolov) and Tokyo (d. Mannarino).
It’s the knock-out stage of the season finale and while the locker-rooms at The 02 begin to have thinned out, the buzz at The O2 reaches a different level now.
View FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup for the semi-final matches to be played Saturday at the Nitto ATP Finals and vote for who you think will win!
Federer vs Goffin | Dimitrov vs. Sock
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