ATP Tour Finals - Round Robin Comparison - Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and Sampras

[McEnroeisanartist]

Federer
14 ATP Tour Finals Appearances
9 Times Undefeated in Round Robin - 5 Times went on to win
2 Times did not lose a set in Round Robin

Sampras
11 ATP Tour Finals Appearances
3 Times Undefeated in Round Robin - Never Went On To win
1 Time did not lose a set in Round Robin

Djokovic
9 ATP Tour Finals Appearances
3 Times Undefeated in Round Robin - 3 Times went onto win
1 Time did not lose a set in Round Robin

Nadal
7 ATP Tour Finals Appearances
3 Times Undefeated in Round Robin
Never won all round robin matches in straight sets

 

[RNadal]

What does this tell us?

 

[McEnroeisanartist]

That Federer does not treat this tournament as an exhibition, where a player can lose and still win. He goes all out.

 

[timnz]

That Federer does not treat this tournament as an exhibition, where a player can lose and still win. He goes all out.

"tournament as an exhibition, where a player can lose and still win"

The first half of the sentence (before the comma) doesn't equate with the last part of the sentence. No top player or serious tennis journalist treats the WTF as an exhibition. Yes Federer doesn't treat it as an exhibition because none of the players treat it as an exhibition. All of them treat it as it is - the biggest event in tennis outside of the slams.

 

[Chadillac]

Sampras
11 ATP Tour Finals Appearances
3 Times Undefeated in Round Robin - Never Went On To win
1 Time did not lose a set in Round Robin

Tour Finals W (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999)

From sampras wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sampras

 

[timnz]

Tour Finals W (1991, 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999)

From sampras wiki

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pete_Sampras

Sampras never went on to win the tournament when he was unbeaten in the round robin phase (that is what the OP is saying). In all of his 5 tournament victories he lost 1 round robin match each time.