Federer Targets Big Finish

© Getty ImagesRoger Federer is aiming for a big finish to 2010 by winning his fifth title at the season finale.

World No. 2 Roger Federer has put together a devastating run of results in the second half of the 2010 ATP World Tour season, making him arguably the man to beat at the prestigious Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, when the season finale begins in London in a week’s time.

Question marks were raised when Federer’s run of 23 consecutive Grand Slam semi-final appearances ended in a quarter-final defeat to Robin Soderling at Roland Garros. Doubters raised their eyebrows again four weeks later when he was bundled out in the Wimbledon quarter-finals by an inspired Tomas Berdych.

Write Federer off at your peril, though. The 16-time Grand Slam champion was undeterred. He dusted himself down, added Paul Annacone, former coach to Pete Sampras, to his coaching team in August and since his shock defeat at Wimbledon, has lost just four matches in a run that saw him win his 17th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy in Cincinnati and win back-to-back European indoor crowns in Stockholm and Basel.

The 29 year old goes into the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on the back of one of his more surprising defeats of the season, squandering five match points in a semi-final loss to Gael Monfils at the BNP Paribas Masters, but firmly believes his current form and conditioning are more than good enough to earn him a fifth title at the season finale.

“I think I have good chances maybe in London for winning,” declared Federer, who has a staggering 29-7 record at the season finale since making his debut in 2002. “I feel good physically. In a way it is a relief that I was able to finish the tournament [in Paris-Bercy] in good physical health. I'm fresh mentally, too. This is the most important thing. Victories are important, but when you're not fit and when you're injured, it's bad.  So I think I'm going to recover quite fast after that loss.

“I'm going back to Switzerland quickly and I'm going to prepare for London, because London is the great final of the year.

“I feel good. I'm playing well,” added the Basel native. “It was not a bad match [against Monfils]. I'm happy with my performance. Clearly with a victory I would have had big chances of winning the tournament. This is not the case, so now I have to look at the future. I'm going to prepare for London.”

One factor that Federer attributed to his strong finish to the season was the knowledge that his place in the elite eight-man field at the year-end championships was sewn up after his first-round win at the US Open, where he went on to lose an agonising five-set semi-final against Novak Djokovic.

“The problem [at the BNP Paribas Masters] is I think in the past, when I was stuck in the race trying to make the [Barclays ATP] World Tour Finals, that's what really gets you. It's just a mental drag.  It just becomes so hard for the players,” said Federer, who before his semi-final run this week, had never advanced past the quarter-finals in Paris-Bercy.

“I remember back in 2002/2003, I could hardly sleep at night because I was so excited, nervous, eager to either make it or not, just to find out. So that definitely had an impact, as well, on how I played.”

Federer will be joined at The O2 from 21-28 November by Rafael Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Andy Roddick.

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