Tennis luminaries Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer clash in a high-stakes encounter at the ATP Finals in London tonight.
While a match between this pair is always guaranteed to generate excitement, Thursday's meeting at the O2 Arena takes on an extra significance as a winner-takes-all shootout for semi-final qualification in the end-of-season tournament.
Owing to Dominic Thiem's fine form in Group Bjorn Borg, only one of the illustrious duo can now reach the last four, while the other will be forced to accept a premature exit.
Neither Djokovic nor Federer had much trouble in seeing off Italy's Matteo Berrettini, but both were bested by the in-form Thiem, who deservedly sealed his progression with a stellar pair of performances.
Fans in attendance will be hoping for a repeat of July's incredible Wimbledon Final, when the two superstars went toe to toe for almost five hours on a memorable day at SW19.
ATP Finals preview
Novak Djokovic vs Roger Federer
Venue: O2 Arena
Start time: 8:00pm GMT, tonight
Prediction
Both players will have been stung by losing to Thiem, particularly Federer, who was not able to force a deciding set against the Austrian.
Djokovic still harbours hopes of ending the year as world no1 and should advance in a three-setter that hopefully will not be short on both drama and quality.
Betting tips and odds via Betfair
- Djokovic to win: 5/13
- Federer to win: 21/10
Odds provided by Betfair. Click here to place a bet. Odds correct as of November 14.
Tickets
Click here for Thursday ticket information.
TV channel and live stream information
The match - due to start at 8pm GMT - is not available on television in the UK and will instead be shown live on Amazon Prime Video. New users can sign up for a free 30-day trial with full access to live sports coverage.
Once the trial period is finished, there will be a £7.99 charge per month.
You can follow all the action with Standard Sport's LIVE match blog with Joe Krishnan at the O2 Arena.
Head to head (H2H) results history
Djokovic currently leads the ATP head to head between these two all-time greats with 26 victories to Federer's 22.
They last met in the final at Wimbledon in July, when Djokovic triumphed 7-6 (7-5) 1-6 7-6 (7-4) 4-6 13-12 (7-3) in a truly epic five-setter that lasted four hours and 57 minutes to win his 16th Grand Slam singles title.
The duo last faced off in this specific competition in 2015, with Federer winning during the group stage before losing the final in straight sets.
Federer has won the ATP Finals singles tournament a record six times, while Djokovic has gone all the way on five occasions, level with Pete Sampras and Ivan Lendl.
