Roger Federer will start his bid for a seventh title at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals with a revenge mission against Novak Djokovic.
After the worst campaign of his illustrious career, Federer arrives for the prestigious London O2 Arena event looking to finish the year on a high, with an opportunity to make an immediate impact when he faces world No.2 Djokovic on Tuesday.
Federer has tumbled to sixth in the world rankings, barely qualifying for the ATP's eight-man showpiece tournament.
With many pundits writing off the 32-year-old, Federer wants to prove he can still shine against the big guns by beating Djokovic before further group B clashes against Juan Martin del Potro and Richard Gasquet.
He lost to the Serb in the Paris Masters semi-finals on Saturday and in last year's Tour Finals decider.
Federer failed to reach a grand slam final this year - the first time since 2002. But the 17-time grand slam champion has come closer to peak form of late, reaching the final of his home Swiss Indoors and pushing Djokovic hard in the last four in Paris.
"I have had a good couple of weeks now, and most important now is to recover as much as I can, so maybe the extra day of rest I will get over Novak could be an advantage.
"I know physically where I am, and mentally I have a lot of confidence. I know my body is keeping it up. I still have another week where I have to give it all."
Djokovic has added reason to defend his Tour Finals title after losing his world No.1 spot to Rafael Nadal.
Since winning the Australian Open in January, the 26-year-old has suffered final defeats at Wimbledon and the US Open to Andy Murray and Nadal respectively.
There is a slim possibility Djokovic could return to No.1 ranking depending on London results, but he refuses to focus on that.
"But it does not depend on me only - it depends on Rafa as well. I don't think it's very possible, so I just try to focus on building something that can pay off in the next season."
Nadal, in group A against David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and Stanislas Wawrinka, starts the Tour Finals against fellow Spaniard Ferrer, who defeated him in the Paris Masters semis.
Nadal has never won the Tour Finals, losing his only decider to Federer in 2010, but will be a strong contender, especially with Wimbledon champion Murray out after back surgery.
Berdych and Wawrinka open the tournament on Monday afternoon, with del Potro playing Gasquet in the evening in the round-robin format, before the top two finishers in each group advance to the semi-finals.
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