Novak Djokovic has capped off a brilliant year by taking out the ATP World Tour Finals in London on Monday morning (AEDT) with a straight-sets victory over Roger Federer.
The win was made even sweeter for Djokovic after he lost to Federer during the group stages last week.
The final only lasted 80 minutes, with Djokovic managing to break Federer’s serve three times on his way to a 6-3, 6-4 victory.
In a total of five games at the Finals, the Serb only lost two sets – both to Federer – when he was defeated in the aforementioned group stage 7-5, 6-2. On his way to the final, he overcame Kei Nishikori (6-1, 6-1) and Thomas Berdych (6-3, 7-5), before defeating Rafael Nadal in the semi-final (6-3, 6-3).
It is the fourth time in a row that Djokovic has taken out the World Tour Finals, and the fifth time in his illustrious career.
However, this title is just the tip of the iceberg for Djokovic’s 2015, after he won three Grand Slams – the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. He also came tantalisingly close to completing a Calendar Grand Slam, going down in the final of the French Open for the third time in his career, this time to Stan Wawrinka 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 6-4.
Out of the 89 matches Djokovic played this season, he won a massive 83 for a winning percentage of 93 per cent. He did not lose a game on grass, and the French Open final was the only game he lost from 17 played on clay.
No other player in the world top 10 has lost fewer than 10 matches for the season, showing Djokovic’s complete dominance. Furthermore, he made it to the semi-finals of every tournament he entered.
Looking through history, Federer’s incredible 2006 saw him drop only five from 97 games. Something like that hadn’t been achieved since the days of Rod Laver, and hasn’t been achieved since.
In the history of the Open era, only Laver – quite possibly the best player to ever live – has ever won all four men’s Grand Slams in a year, way back in 1969. The fact it hasn’t been done again in 46 years shows how hard it is.
Winning three in a year has proven to be a monster challenge as well, with only Jimmy Connors in 1979 and Roger Federer in 2006 able to.
While it would be impossible to say Djokovic’s year is the best ever – with Laver, Federer and quite possibly Connors among others ahead of him – this is right up there with the best from Djokovic, and it has been almost 10 years since we have seen the ATP World Tour dominated in this style.
Looking ahead to 2016, Djokovic has already stated he wants to emulate Laver’s incredible achievement of winning all four Grand Slams in a calendar year. It would be amazing if he put together two seasons as good as this one, however no one looks likely to stop him.
Follow Scott on Twitter @sk_pryde
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