There are only two more days until the start of the Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. As part on of the countdown, WorldTennisMagazine.com is presenting a special look at some of the best moments in the history of the season-ending ATP championships, courtesy of the book ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY ($19.95, New Chapter Press, www.TennisHistoryBook.com). Each day, WorldTennisMagazine.com will present the anniversaries of some of the best matches from the event.
ON THIS DAY IN TENNIS HISTORY – November 20
2005 – David Nalbandian of Argentina stuns world No. 1 Roger Federer 6-7 (4), 6-7 (11-13), 6-2, 6-1, 7-6 (3) in 4 hours, 33 minutes to win the year-end Tennis Masters Cup. Nalbandian’s win snaps the 35-match win streak for Federer and ends his streak of 24 straight victories in singles finals. Says Nalbandian to Federer in the post-match ceremony, “After knowing you a long time, don’t worry, you’ll win a lot more trophies. Let me keep this one.” Federer finishes his 2005 season with an 81-4 record.
2004 – World No.1 Roger Federer wins a 38-point tie-break – the longest tiebreak in the history of the Tennis Masters Cup – as he defeats Marat Safin 6-3, 7-6 (20-18) in the semifinals of the event in Houston,Texas. The tiebreak was the longest in men’s tennis history equaling the mark last set at the 1993 US Open, when Goran Ivanisevic and Daniel Nestor also played a 38-point tie-break in the third set.
1994 – World No. 1 Pete Sampras defeats Boris Becker 4-6, 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 to win the year-end ATP Tour Championships in Frankfurt, Germany. Sampras loses to Becker in the opening round-robin match and only advances into the semifinals when Becker defeats Stefan Edberg in round-robin play two days earlier. “I want to thank you, Boris, for letting me be here,” says Sampras to Becker at the awards ceremony, also promising to buy Becker “an apartment, anything you want.”