Roger Federer, the tennis player with the most grand slam titles ever, added another Masters to his cap, beating the World no.1 in the process.
Another classic showdown, the 41st in their careers and also giving Federer the edge at 21-20, also gave the Swiss his 7th Cincinnati title.
With the victory over Djokovic, Federer foiled the World no.1's chance for a Golden Masters. Djokovic has won all the Masters 1000 tournaments this year except the Western and Southern (Cincinnati). This is also Novak's fifth finals appearance here-but he hasn't won a title yet.
This led the Serb to jest during the trophy ceremony (from Cincinnati.com): "The fifth time I've been in the title (match) and never won this title, so I guess I have to wait for Roger to retire," Djokovic said. "I've been coming back each year wanting it more."
For Roger Federer, it vindicated his decision to sit out the Rogers Cup in Montreal a week before Cincinnati. It caused him to lose his no.2 ranking to Andy Murray, but he managed to grab it back by dispatching Murray himself and Djokovic-the World's top 2 ranked players.
"I knew I had a chance, but still felt more guys were going to have a better shot than I had because they had played Montréal before. Usually that helps. I just realized over all the years that I've played it's just really difficult to win back‑to‑back Montréal and Cincinnati, or Toronto and Cincinnati for that matter," Federer said.
"So I just chose to roll the dice a little bit and see how things were going to go. If they went great here, then it was a great plan. If not, I was going to go back and practice and be really motivated for the US Open to start."
It was recently argued that Djokovic's rampage this 2015 meant he's on his way to catching Federer's status as the greatest ever- he may have to wait until Federer retires as the GOAT is not folding anytime soon.
With Federer's newfound confidence, Murray closely stalking at no.3 and Djokovic's desire to avenge this recent loss, the US Open will be an all-out war!