Djokovic Prevails in Battle of Year's Top Two

Novak Djokovic didn't have quite as good a 2012 as he did a 2011 but he came on strong and was arguably the best player of the season, capped off with a win over Federer in the World Tour Finals final 7-6(6) 7-5.  Federer took the lead in both sets and even held two set points on his serve at 5-4 in the 2nd set but Djokovic fought back reminding me of the '11 US Open semis.  Djokovic and Federer were competing, perhaps even in that match for player of the year honors as each won one major and 3 Masters and had split for meetings.  Djokovic was a little better in the majors overall while Federer was slightly more successful at regular tour events as he emphasized getting back to no. 1.  Therefore, I thought the WTF would prove to the tiebreaker and Djokovic came through by the slimmest of margins.

Moving forward, he will have an excellent opportunity to remain no. 1 for a good portion if not all of 2013 as both Federer and Nadal have a fair number of points to defend early in the season.  Murray may have the best chance of catching him as like Djokovic he banked a good number of points later in the year, and also is not defending any Masters titles.  Federer will have an outside chance of getting back no. 1 at the Aussie Open but after that it will take another great season.  Nadal won't be a factor until late next year.

-It is his 34th career title, 6th of 2012, last '12 Shanghai
-It is his 2nd win at the World Tour Finals ('08 in Shanghai)
-It is Federer's 2nd runnerup to go along with his 6 WTF crowns.

Federer (2-1) and Del Potro (2-1) advanced to the semis from Group A after Del Potro snapped Federer's 12-match WTF winning streak.
Djokovic (3-0) and Murray (2-1) advanced to the semis from Group B.
The other players records were: Ferrer (2-1), Tipsarevic (0-3), Berdych (1-2), and Tsonga (0-3).

Djokovic now has 55 weeks at no. 1 placing him 12th on the all time list.  Through the offseason he will pass Jim Courier's 58 to move into 11th with Stefan Edberg's 72 weeks in sight.  Djokovic is the 9th man to be the year end no. 1 in back-to-back seasons.  (Connors, Borg, McEnroe, Lendl, Edberg, Sampras, Hewitt, Federer)

And thus concludes the ATP season.  I will have a couple of posts about Davis Cup (likely a preview and a wrapup including setting the stage for 2013's groups) in the coming days.  I am also planning to post my 2012 slam summaries soon and do a WTA top 10 by birth year 2012 Year End edition, so stayed tuned to my blog through the offseason.