ROGER FEDERER WEATHERED a barrage of big hitting from Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to begin his title defence with a 6-2 2-6 6-4 win at the ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday.
Federer came into the tournament on a 12-match winning streak following title wins in Basel and Paris, where he beat Tsonga in straight sets in the final a week ago.
The 16-time Grand Slam champion looked ready for another easy win when he took the first set in 21 minutes, but Tsonga broke early in the second set before taking the match into a decider.
A close third set ended when the pressure seemed to get to the Frenchman. Trailing 5-4, he lost his service and Federer earned his third straight win over his opponent since back-to-back losses at Wimbledon and Montreal.
“I had flashes of that match,” Federer said of his five-set loss to Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. “I didn’t have much of a chance for a while on his serve. You just try your best.”
Rafael Nadal faces American Mardy Fish in the second match in Group B on Sunday evening. Group A begins on Monday with Andy Murray playing David Ferrer and Novak Djokovic taking on Tomas Berdych.
Nadal was courtside to see the end of the Federer-Tsonga match, joining soccer stars Thierry Henry and Andrey Arshavin in the crowd. Instead of supporting fellow Frenchman Tsonga, former Arsenal striker Henry sat alongside Federer’s wife Mirka.
“We’re good friends,” Federer said. “I think he’s just happy to come and see me play once in a while. It was nice to catch up with him again.”
“It’s not always in your control when you play Jo,” Federer went on. “That’s the beauty of it. I kind of enjoy that to some degree. But I think also partially because it was a first-round match, I think that’s maybe why we saw some ups and downs from both players.”
Murray, meanwhile, does not believe that world number one Djokovic will be able to repeat his winning run of 2011 next season. Speaking to reporters (See The Telegraph) ahead of the ATP Tour final in London, the Scot predicted a much less incredible year from the Serb, who has lost just four matches to date, in 2012.
“How many times have players had pretty much the best year in tennis and then repeated it next year? It doesn’t happen in sports,” he insisted.
“Like Barcelona in football… they’re the best team, but to win back-to-back Champions Leagues, even though you’re the best, it’s so tough, the margins are so small.”
It’s a view that Djokovic himself did not disagree with. “I know it’s going to be a really big task but it’s a new year. I think after the year I had I can only take the best out of it, be positive and be proud of what I have achieved.
“Obviously I have more expectations but I am ready for it. It’s always possible to get better.”