The ATP Finals in London closed the official ATP season two weeks ago, with Stefanos Tsitsipas claiming the title in front of the better-ranked and more experienced rivals. The young Greek is the sixth-youngest champion of the elite ATP tournament and the seventh debutant with the trophy, becoming the fifth different winner in the last five seasons.
For the second time in the previous three years, the ATP Finals legends Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic (they shared 11 titles between 2003-2015) failed to reach the final, with Stefanos ousting Roger in the record-breaking clash in the 50th edition of this event.
Namely, the 21-year-old Greek defeated the 38-year-old Swiss 6-3, 6-4 in the encounter with the biggest age difference between two rivals at the year-ending tournament in its reach history that goes back to 1970. It was the fourth clash between Federer and Tsitsipas in 2019, with the young Greek prevailing in the fourth round at the Australian Open and Federer who bounced back at his favorite events in Dubai and Basel.
The Swiss reached the 16th semi-final at the ATP finals from 17 appearances following that rock-solid victory over Novak Djokovic in the last round-robin match but it wasn’t to be for him against Stefanos who sealed the deal in an hour and 36 minutes to advance into the final on his ATP Finals debut.
In Melbourne, Tsitsipas repelled all 12 break points to mount the pressure on Federer, repeating that in London as well after erasing 11 out of 12 break opportunities offered to Roger, securing three breaks from four chances to seal the deal in straight sets and stay on the title course.
Stefanos had the same number of winners and unforced errors, forcing more than 30 mistakes from Federer who also sprayed almost 30 unforced errors, unable to stay in touch with the rival in the shortest points up to four strokes that determined the winner.
Sourced by: Tennis World Foundation
