London: Roger Federer won a record sixth ATP World Tour Finals title with a 6-3, 6-7 (6/8), 6-3 victory over France’s Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on Sunday.
Federer came to London’s O2 Arena determined to end a frustrating year on a high and he fulfilled that ambition by moving ahead of Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl on the list of Tour Finals champions in the 100th final of his majestic career.
The 30-year-old, who retains the title he won 12 months ago, has now won 70 trophies in his career and has also equalled Lendl’s record of 39 match wins in the end-of-season event.
While rivals Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray have all faded in the final weeks of a gruelling season, Federer is still going strong and this triumph — which followed back to back titles in Basel and Paris — will be a major boost to his confidence heading into 2012.
Although Federer, who takes home the winners’ cheque worth USD 770,000, ends the season without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2002, talk of his demise seems greatly exaggerated. The 16-time Grand Slam winner has reeled off a 17-match winning streak since the US Open and he will rise back above Murray to third in the world rankings as a result.
Tsonga had hoped to become the first Frenchman to win this event in its 41-year history.
But the 26-year-old was unable to emulate his famous Wimbledon quarter-final win in June when he became the first player to beat the Swiss star from two sets down in a Grand Slam.
Tsonga has served more aces than anyone on the ATP Tour this season and bashed down his 815th of the year to open his first service game in front an 18,000 crowd including the Duchess of Cambridge and Cristiano Ronaldo.
Federer knows that his main threats for the big prizes next year will likely be the familiar trio of Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray.
“Novak was the Player of the Year, which goes without saying. A guy who can win 40 matches in a row from the start of the season completely deserves it,” Federer said.
“I thought Andy played a very good season this year, he’s going to be very tough to beat next year. And Rafa, with his class, he’s always going to be a threat for the throne and to win all the big tournaments.”
London has been a happy hunting ground for Federer, who has won six Wimbledon crowns and now back-to-back successes in the Tour Finals.And with the Olympic tennis tournament being played at Wimbledon next year, Federer will be favourite to claim a first gold medal. (AFP)