Federer regrets missing out on season finale trophy

London: World No.1 Roger Federer would have liked to have the icing on the cake with the men’s singles title at the season-finale being held at the O2 Arena here.

But, for one more year he’s had to go away without much, except the pride of being one of the greats in the world of tennis.

“It’s disappointing, but not to lose against him, just to lose in the semis,” Federer told media after his loss in three sets to Russian Nikolay Davydenko on Saturday.

“Coming so far in a tough group, in a tough tournament, I had hopes to get through to the final and maybe win again,” Federer admitted.

“But I missed the start again, and I guess that is what cost me the match at the end.”

After losing the first set 2-6 rather meekly, Federer did well to break the Russian sixth seed in the tenth game to draw level 6-4. However, he made far too many unforced errors in the third, especially on key points, to allow Davydenko to slip through 7-5. “I think I sometimes picked the wrong choice of shots right from the start and that let him sort of recover,” Federer explained.

Federer had been officially handed over the ‘World Champion’ trophy for the fifth time in his career earlier this week. So he would have definitely loved to cap this glorious moment with another trophy. “But look at the brighter side,” Federer pointed out.

“I still had a great season. And looking how deep the game is right now, to finish on top for me is phenomenal. I don’t know, but I try not to look too much in what I did wrong this week or what I did wrong today (against Davydenko),” Federer stated.

Besides last week’s World Champion crown, Federer also managed to break his Roland Garros jinx by winning the French Open for the first time this season. “From a tennis standpoint, winning in Paris and then Wimbeldon were among the most incredible moments of the year for me,” the Swiss ace admitted.

“I finished No.1 in the world, so I don’t have many regrets,” he quickly added.

Federer was also in admiration for the manner in which Davydenko handled his tennis and personal life after being under a cloud of doubt for doping among other things. “I think he didn’t have the easiest of last few years where people suspected him of doing bad things in the sport. He had a cloud over his name which was not very fair at the end of it. I think he handled it well towards the end,” Federer complimented.

The Swiss ace was expecting a few more players to make a move to the top of the game in the next season, and Soderling is definitely one of them. “He’s been very good. He’s definitely made his move now and I think next year is his year where he needs to prove himself even more again and again. That’s how tennis works. I think he’s done exceptionally well and he can be proud of himself,” Federer noted.

Tips Spain for Davis Cup crown

World No.1 Roger Federer has tipped Spain to win the 2009 Davis Cup final in Barcelona next week.

“For some reason I still favour the Spaniards to win the Davis Cup, even if they don’t have [Rafael] Nadal and [Fernando] Verdasco,” Federer told media.

“Even if they don’t have Nadal and Verdasco, they’ve got quite a few others in their arsenal of players. Good luck to them anyway,” he added.

The Davis Cup final between Spain and Czech Republic will be staged at Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona from December 4-6. With players such as Nadal, Verdasco, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez, Spain will be attempting to become the first nation since Sweden in 1998 to retain the title.

But it won’t be as easy against a Czech team that is also chasing its second crown since its maiden triumph in 1980, with the likes of Radek Stepanek, Tomas Berdych, Jan Haejk and Lukas Dlouhy.

However, Federer still favours the Spaniards to make use of the depth in their squad despite Nadal and Verdasco leaving London with an all loss record at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals this week.

“Out of form?” Federer queried following a question from a journalist regarding Nadal and Verdasco’s form going into the Davis Cup final.

“We’ll see in a couple of weeks,” the Swiss ace added.