Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic will meet in the championship match at the 2012 ATP World Tour Finals on Monday. Federer enters the final having defeated Andy Murray on Sunday while Djokovic is into the final following a defeat of Juan Martin del Potro in their semifinal match. The championship match will conclude the 2012 season as Federer goes for his seventh year end title while Djokovic goes for his second having won most recently in 2008.
Although the contest will feature the World No. 1 in Djokovic against the World No. 2 in Federer, top ranking on tour is not on the line. Djokovic will be the year end World No. 1 for the second consecutive year while Federer will finish second. However if the Swiss Maestro plans to take yet another stab at gaining the top spot on tour in 2013, a win in the World Tour Finals championship match on Monday would certainly help.
Federer has a 16-12 record against Djokovic and the current World No. 2 has also beaten the Serb in two straight matches. Their most recent hard court head to head meeting came in Cincinnati this past summer when Federer took away a straight sets win in the final. However Djokovic was playing in the Cincy final immediately following a title effort in Toronto and following a lot of matches at the 2012 London Olympics. By the time he made the Cincinnati final he had been the most active player on tour in recent weeks while Federer entered that Masters Series event much better rested, having skipped the Canadian Masters this season.
Federer remains the more proven hard-courter with so many US Open titles and Australian Open titles to his credit: nine combined in the two majors, compared to Djokovic's four. However the Serbinator has defeated Federer in four of their last five hard court match-ups and the one exception mentioned above was under less than ideal circumstances for Djokovic.
The championship match from London will take place on Sunday evening at 8pm GMT (3pm ET). Federer is the underdog in the match (source: bet365) but he enters the final with one loss in the tournament. Djokovic has posted a flawless 4-0 record including a win over del Potro, a player who now has back-to-back hard court wins over Fed.