Roger Federer, 38, faces Stefanos Tsitispas, 21, in Saturday's semifinal in London. The other semifinal will pit Alexander Zverev, 22, with Dominic Thiem, 26.
Rafael Nadal, the world's number one? Eliminated. Novak Djokovic, the world number two? Also evicted. Rest Roger Federer. Saturday, November 16 in London, in the semifinals of the Masters, the tournament that brings together the eight best players of the season, the number three in the world, is the only and last representative of a trio that dominates the world men's tennis for years.
The other three "guests" of this last square? The Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, 21, the German Alexander Zverev, 22, and the Austrian Dominic Thiem, 26 years old. Suffice to say the "youth", especially given the age of the "veteran" Swiss Fededer (38 years) – we are also talking about the "Next gen" in the small tennis community about the first two.
This case is less and less rare. In October, at the tournament in Shanghai (China), neither Novak Djokovic nor Roger Federer had reached the semi-finals, respectively eliminated by Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev (Rafael Nadal did not participate in this tournament).
The rise of Federer
In London, Sunday, who will be in the final? Roger Federer faces Stefanos Tsitsipas on Saturday at 3 pm, and this is the first time he has participated in the Masters, and Dominic Thiem will face Alexander Zverev, winner of the Masters in 2018, at 9 pm for his first participation.
If Rafael Nadal has already been crowned world number one of the year 2019, Roger Federer can finish the season on a new coronation at the Masters, which would be his seventh title in this competition in sixteen participations?
The Swiss is in any case ramped up throughout the week in London. Defeated for entry by Dominic Thiem, he also had a complicated start to the match against Italian Matteo Berrettini before winning. And then, Thursday night, against Novak Djokovic, it is the "big Federer" who appeared on the court: he dominated the Serb, he had not beaten for four years.
The hat trick of Tsitsipas
Facing him, Roger Federer will find a player ranked 6th in the world, which has grown this year. And who has achieved a sort of "hat trick" by beating each of the three "old" circuit once in the past eleven months.
Stefanos Tsitispas started the year in Melbourne, Australia, knocking Federer to the round of 16. Later, in May, he eliminated Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals in Madrid, before defeating Novak Djokovic in Shanghai.
This week in London, Stefanos Tsitispas has dominated the Russian Daniil Medvedev, very prominent in recent months, and defending champion Alexander Zverev. Friday, while he knew himself already qualified for the semifinals, he lost to Rafael Nadal, after a very close match. " I wanted to win, he explained in a press conference after the meeting. But I was probably not ready to die on the court for that. "
