Both players burn with heaps of motivation to hoist the winner's trophy at Arthur Ashe Stadium in the last grand moment of the 2015 slam season.
Novak Djokovic lost his momentum in the second half of last season and was toppled as the world number one by Andy Murray because his work-rate dropped, the Serbian's former coach Boris Becker said on Wednesday. Speaking a day after the two terminated their cooperation by mutual consent, German Becker said Djokovic's need to spend more time with his family had derailed him on the court.
Novak Djokovic eased into Wimbledon final after beating Richard Gasquet 7-6 (7-2), 6-4, 6-4 on Centre Court to reach the Wimbledon final on Friday.
Nadal will not be playing at Wimbledon, having decided to rest, while eight-time champion Federer is showing signs that, at 39, the window of opportunity to win one more Slam is closing.
IMAGES from Day 9 of the US Open, at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Flushing Meadows, New York.
Novak Djokovic doused Fernando Verdasco's fire then aimed a dig at French Open organisers for not watering the courts on Sunday as he moved confidently into the French Open quarter-finals.
Novak Djokovic announced his resignation as head of the ATP's Player Council and intends to form a new breakaway body to represent athletes -- but his plans have immediately met with stiff resistance from within tennis.
Live tennis action is a fading memory during the coronavirus shutdown but 20,000 fans tuned in to watch old rivals Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray chew the fat on Instagram on Friday. Sitting on their sofas at home, the duo spent an entertaining hour reminiscing about some of the classics in their 36-match series, painful losses and even came up with the perfect tennis player.
A round-up of all tennis action on Saturday.
World number one Novak Djokovic fended off a resurgent Rafael Nadal 7-5, 7-6 (4) in a pulsating battle on Friday to reach the semi-finals of the Italian Open.
Novak Djokovic has denied an Italian media report he deliberately lost a match in 2007 that has been linked to a wider scandal involving alleged corruption in tennis. The 28-year-old world number one, who easily beat French teenager Quentin Halys on Wednesday to advance to the Australian Open third round, was asked about a report in Italian newspaper Tuttosport that he had deliberately lost to now-retired French player Fabrice Santoro at the Paris Masters. "It's not true," the Serb said with a shrug and shake of his head. "What it is to say? I've lost that match. "Anybody can create a story about that match or for that matter any of the matches of the top players losing in the early rounds, I think it's just absurd." "You can pick any match that you like that the top player lost and just create a story out of it."
World number one Novak Djokovic continued his dominance of Kei Nishikori with a 6-3, 7-5 victory in the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday.
Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 7-6 (3), 7-6 (8) in the quarter-finals of the Paris Masters on Friday to claim his 20th consecutive win and stay on course for an unprecedented third title in a row at the event.
Novak Djokovic chalked up his 800th career victory to reach the semi-finals of the Fever-Tree Queen's Club championships on Friday and suggested he could play on past his 40th birthday.
Djokovic and Agassi are deep thinkers about the sport and McEnroe said that their partnership, however long it lasts, can be a meeting of minds
'When it's easy it's going to be no problem. When it gets tough that's when you know what's going to hold up and what's not'
Novak Djokovic beat defending champion David Ferrer of Spain 7-5 7-5 to win the Paris Masters on Sunday and keep alive his hopes of reclaiming the world number one spot by the end of the year.
Roger Federer rolled back the years to beat Novak Djokovic 3-6, 6-3, 6-2 in the semi-finals of the Dubai Championship on Friday, his first victory in four meetings with the world number two.
American tennis legend John McEnroe has hailed Novak Djokovic as one of the greats of all time after the Serb again claimed the year-end world number one spot with a victory at the ATP Tour Finals on Friday.
A competitor lambasted the French Open as "one big circus" on Thursday as soggy weather once again came back to exasperate players seeking a foothold in the semi-finals of the rain-hit claycourt major.
Novak Djokovic recovered from a slow start as he continued the bid to retain his world number one ranking with a 4-6, 6-2, 6-3 win over 14th-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov in the Paris Masters third round.
"Well, I don't know what his intentions are, how he feels, but he is definitely always one of the top favourites in every tournament that he plays," said Djokovic, who beat Slovenian qualifier Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 to join the Spaniard in the second round on Tuesday.
World number one Novak Djokovic shook off an eye infection to beat Kazakhstan's Aleksandr Nedovyesov 6-1 6-2 6-3 in front of a passionate home crowd to give Serbia a 1-0 lead against Kazakhstan in their Davis Cup first-round tie on Friday. Djokovic, who was forced to retire with the problem from last week's Dubai Championships quarter-final against Spaniard Feliciano Lopez, showed no sign of problems as he brushed aside his opponent in the acoustic Pionir Arena. The 28-year-old from Belgrade delighted the home fans, who enjoyed a rare opportunity to watch him live because there are no major tour events in Serbia, with a barrage of sizzling winners, including some spectacular net points.
Former world number one Novak Djokovic's preparation for next month's Australian Open suffered a blow after he pulled out of the season-opening exhibition event in Abu Dhabi on Friday due to pain in his right elbow.
An elbow injury forced Djokovic to retire against Czech Tomas Berdych in the quarter-finals of Wimbledon in 2017. After that came a series of early tournament exits and, finally, surgery.
Top seed Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro set a record for the longest semi-final ever played at Wimbledon on Friday as the Serb favourite eventually triumphed in the fifth set after four hours 43 minutes of scintillating action.
World number one Novak Djokovic on Wednesday dismissed any suggestion of friction with Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal as tennis politics spilled over to the Miami Open.
Exhausted by a near five-hour contest, Denis Istomin struggled to formulate his thoughts following his stunning upset of Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open.
Novak Djokovic's 6-3, 6-4 demolition of the top-ranked Spaniard in the ATP World Tour Finals made him only the seventh player to win the year-end championship at least three times. We take a look at the players who preceded the Serb to the feat.
It was the 31-year-old Serb's second comfortable win in the Gustavo Kuerten group and combined with Marin Cilic's 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4 defeat of American John Isner later in the day, he sealed his place in the semi-finals at the year-ender for the eighth time.
Tournaments continue to be played in front of a handful of fans at most.
Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years as the 38-year-old Swiss proved the old adage that class is permanent and form temporary by knocking out seeded Argentine Tomas Etcheverry.
World No 1 Novak Djokovic and fourth-seeded Andy Murray each had to contend with different degrees of adversity before they advanced.
Roger Federer, who suffered a groin problem in the quarter-final against Tennys Sandgren, bowed out of the Australian Open after a comprehensive 7-6(1), 6-4, 6-3 defeat to the defending champion Novak Djokovic.
The Serb was knocked off top spot by Rafael Nadal on Monday despite winning the Paris Masters last week and will need a strong finish alongside the River Thames to snatch it back.
Defending champion Novak Djokovic defeated Belgium's Steve Darcis 6-0, 7-5 on Monday to power into the last 16 of the Miami Open.
Fourth seed Rafael Nadal survived a few anxious moments before booking his place in the semi-finals of the BNP Paribas Open with a see-sawing 6-4, 6-3 victory over Japanese Kei Nishikori at Indian Wells in California on Friday.
The 34-year-old bellowed a series of frightening roars after completing a victory that at one stage looked like a formality but became increasingly fraught as Berrettini threw the kitchen sink at the Serb who becomes only the second man to reach 40 Grand Slam semi-finals after Roger Federer.
At the French Open on Wednesday, however, Djokovic's shots often failed to hit the bullseye.
World number one Novak Djokovic extended his winning run in Asia when he strolled into the last-16 of the Shanghai Masters.