After a year that saw some uncharacteristic matches in big tournaments, Roger Federer masterfully shrugged off a second set letdown to beat Jo-Wilfred Tsonga 6-3, 6-7 (6), 6-3 to take the ATP World Tour Finals. This is his record breaking sixth World Tour Finals title.

“I know it’s one of my greatest accomplishments,” Federer said in an Indiatimes.com interview. “This is an amazing finish again to the season. I’ve never finished so strong.”

Federer was by far the most dominant player in the tournament. He won all three of his group-stage matches including his most impressive victory over Rafael Nadal, beating the Spaniard 6-3, 6-0.
In the finals, he controlled most of the match against the talented French player, but he looked in danger of faltering against Tsonga when he failed to serve out the match at 5-4 in the second set. He later wasted a match point in the tiebreaker. Although Tsonga earlier this year became the first player to rally from a two set deficit to beat Federer in a Grand Slam tournament at in the Wimbledon quarterfinals, he was unable to pull off another miracle.

“He’s the best player indoors for the moment,” Tsonga said in a Suisseinfo.ch article. “He’s maybe the best player ever, because he is really quick. He’s playing well. That’s it.”

Playing in his one hundredth career final, Federer jumped to a 5-3 lead in the third set and served out the match in the next game. He won this game without dropping a point, putting away an easy volley to seal the title.

“I think that was the difference to other matches this year, where I lost so closely,” Federer said in a gotennis.cop interview. “This time around I was still able to find a way through. I think that was the difference at times during the year, which didn’t maybe make this an absolutely phenomenal year.”

This has been a tough season for Roger Federer. It is the first time since 2002 that he hasn’t won a Grand Slam title. His two most heartbreaking loses came at the worst possible times. He lost to Jo-Wilfed Tsonga in the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and to Novak Djokovic in the semifinals at the US Open. In both of these matches he was up two sets to none. The match against Djokovic was the most heartbreaking match in his career because he served for a spot in the finals in the fifth set wasting three match points. This made it clear to Federer that he needed to take some time off. He needed time to sort out his head.

Federer said, “I feel when it happens that often, I do have questions myself that maybe I did something wrong,” Federer said in a gotennis.com interview. “I don’t want to underestimate the mental part of the game, but there is a lot of time that goes by out on the tour, during a match, you’re just trying to stay positive. But you can’t always be positive out there. You know, it’s just too difficult. That’s maybe where the doubts were just a bit too strong during certain important moments.”