2014 ATP YEC: Djokovic Wins 3rd Consecutive World Tour Finals Title

A sad end to the 2014 ATP World Tour Finals in London. Roger Federer announced that he has withdrawn from the tournament with a back injury and will be unable to take the court to face Novak Djokovic in the last ATP final of the year. Apparently Stan Wawrinka took more out of Federer than we though in their hard-fought match despite losing after blowing 4 match points. Federer made the announcement on court:

"Unfortunately, I'm not match fit to play the match tonight. Clearly I wish it wasn't so. I tried all year to be ready for the [Barclays] ATP World Tour Finals, and I didn't want it to end this way. I tried everything I could last night, also today – painkillers, treatment, rest, so forth, warm-up, until the very end – but I just can't compete at this level with Novak. It would be too risky at my age to do this right now and I hope you understand."

With Federer's default Djokovic wins his 3rd consecutive year-end championship and 4th in his career (2008, 2012, 2013, 2014). It's his 7th title of 2014 and it means that he narrows his head-to-head rivalry with Federer to 18-19. He ends with a 62-8 while Federer ended the year with most match wins on tour (72-11). Federer also becomes the oldest player to end the year ranked #2.

The back injury is especially ominous for Federer because it was a back injury which hampered his play and led to his sub-par performances for most of 2013. Hopefully, this injury is not too major, but the fact that it forced him to withdraw from a match for only the 4th time in more than 1200 professional matches demonstrates how rare an event it is. Federer and Wawrinka are trying to win the Davis Cup for Switzerland in France this weekend so a quick recovery of Federer's back and a mending of fences between the two compatriots after a testy semifinal is imperative.