By Linda Pearce
London: As Novak Djokovic declared "I do not feel vulnerable", Milos Raonic quantified the recent change in the dethroned world No.1's game. "He's pretty much where he's always been," Raonic said of the 12-time major winner.
"Sometimes he slips up (on) one or two points, sometimes he lets it be three points now. I think that's the only difference. Before it would be very rarely you would see two successive poor points from him."
Yet in another sense, too, Djokovic is pretty much where he has been - in recent seasons, at least. On Tuesday at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the four-time defending champion qualified for the semi-finals. Unlike in 2015, however, the year-end No.1 ranking is also at stake this week.
The second seed's qualification came in straight but highly competitive sets, the 7-6 (8-6), 7-6 (7-5) defeat of fourth-seeded Raonic guaranteeing Djokovic top spot in Group Ivan Lendl. The winner of Thursday's play-off between Raonic and Dominic Thiem will advance to the last four.
Not vulnerable: Novak Djokovic.Credit: Getty Images
A contest he admitted could have gone either way is also one Djokovic hopes will serve as "a great wind in the back" for the remaining matches that will decide the finishing order in a year he started so exceptionally, but which has unravelled since his historic triumph at Roland Garros in June.
"All in all, two tiebreaks against a big server is a great win and great confidence boost," Djokovic said, despite admitting he again played too passively at certain moments, and was unhappy to have been unable to capitalise on either of his service breaks in the second set, the last of them surrendered from 30-0 with consecutive errors. Four of them.
What is rated as the weaker of the two round-robin pools in the year-end championship nevertheless produced the most compelling contest of a slightly tepid opening three days. Djokovic needed more than two hours to extend his career record against the Canadian to 8-0, and 19 sets to one, with Raonic left to lament his inferior serving on break points against the game's best returner.
Djokovic fell behind in both tiebreaks but, having saved a set point at 5-6 when Raonic botched an attempted forehand winner, a brilliant backhand half-volley winner from the reigning Australian and French Open champion late in the tiebreak was one of the best and most important of the night.
"It's not my most natural shot, I would say, but it happened to be there in the right moment," said a relieved Djokovic, who had belted his shoes in frustration after surrendering his first service break earlier in the set, and raised his racquet to the heavens after finally closing it out. "I should have done my job earlier, to be honest. Credit to him for really hanging in there, putting pressure, being aggressive, especially from the forehand. But I think I should have done better there."
Having gained another 200 rankings points for the victory, the deposed ruler, who had become so dominant in recent seasons that he was perhaps better described as a dictator, Djokovic can wrestle back top spot from Andy Murray in the final tournament week of the year if he goes on to win a record-equalling sixth title on Sunday.
Raonic, who could not complete the Paris Masters due to a torn quadricep, will be favoured in his shootout against Thiem. "This is one of my best surfaces," the Canadian said. "I don't know if indoor hard courts is necessarily his. So hopefully I can take time away from him and play on my terms and have him react to the things I put forward and try to push him around."
Earlier, it had been an unhappy ending for Monfils, beaten 6-3,1-6, 6-4 by Thiem, the junior member of the field. Having finally qualified among the top eight for the season finale after more than a decade in or around the top 50, the winless Frenchman is guaranteed a swift exit. Hampered by injury but ultimately nobbled by three double-faults in the final game, the sixth seed was beaten 6-3, 1-6, 6-4 by his fellow debutant. Thiem, who took a set off Djokovic on Sunday, became the youngest winner of a ATP Finals match since the Serb back in 2009.
The 23-year-old Austrian, the son of two tennis coaches and long-awaited heir apparent to former French Open champion Thomas Muster (with apologies to former top-tenner Jurgen Melzer), is also at his best on clay, but has nevertheless won titles on three surfaces in rising from 20th last year to No.9 in this one.
Monfils, who withdrew from the Paris Masters with a rib injury suffered the previous week in Stockholm, and was unable to train in the lead-up to the O2, admitted his fitness was "not my best". For his final group match against Djokovic, whom he has never beaten in 13 attempts, Monfils said he would "try to recover because obviously I'm not good enough to play back-to-back. So hopefully, you know, I'll be much better."
Or, possibly, the Frenchman may not be there at all. With a semi-final place now beyond reach, it would be no surprise to see Belgian David Goffin, the first alternate, make his debut.