Nitto ATP Finals: Roger Federer's top-5 near misses at the year-end tournament

#2 2012 Final- Lost to Novak Djokovic 6-7(5) 5-7

Djokovic dethroned the two-time defending champion Federer in the 2012 final in London.

In a season which saw Federer end a two-and-a half year wait for a Grand Slam title by winning a record-tying seventh title at Wimbledon, the Swiss maestro made his 11th consecutive appearance at the ATP Finals.

Having made a group-stage exit in 2008 and endured a semi-final loss in 2009, Federer beat Janko Tipsarevic and David Ferrer in straight sets before losing to Juan Martin Del Potro in three sets in his final round-robin match.

In the semi-finals, Federer beat Andy Murray in straight sets to reach his seventh final at the ATP Finals where he faced 2008 winner, Novak Djokovic. Federer led by a break in the first set only for Djokovic to fight back and win the opener in a tiebreak. Federer led by a break in the second set as well and arrived at 5-4 40-15 on serve only to blink at the most inopportune moment as Djokovic reeled off three games in a row to secure his second triumph at the ATP Finals.

On another day Federer would have run out a straight-set victor and celebrated a record-extending seventh title at the season-ending tournament but on the day it was not to be as Federer's brilliance amidst spurts of fallibility were to be brutally punished by the relentless Djokovic.

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#1 2005 Final- Lost to David Nalbandian 7-6 7-6 1-6 2-6 6-7(4)

Nalbandian beat Federer in the final of the 2005 ATP Finals.

The two-time defending champion arrived at the 2005 ATP Finals (then called the Tennis Masters Cup) having lost only four times all season.

Federer dropped a set in each of his three group-stage matches against David Nalbandian, Ivan Ljubicic, and Guillermo Coria respectively, before reaching his fourth semi-final at the ATP Finals in as many appearances.

In one of his most dominating wins in his illustrious career, Federer double-bagelled a hapless Gaston Gaudio to book a final re-match with Nalbandian. On a 35 match win-streak in all competitions (14 at the ATP Finals) and a record-24 match win streak in tournament finals, Federer saved multiple set points in the second set tiebreak to seemingly take an insurmountable two-set lead.

But Nalbandian reeled off 16 of the next 19 games to take a 4-0 lead in the fifth set, only for Federer to re-coup the double break. Another break at 5-5 offered Federer the opportunity to serve for the match. The Swiss maestro stood to rue the opportunity as Nalbandian broke back to force a deciding set tiebreak where he let slip a mini-break advantage before winning the biggest title of his career.

It marked Federer's first loss at a tournament final since a defeat to Jiri Novak in the 2003 Gstaad final, as the Swiss star fell a win short of matching John McEnroe's Open Era best win-loss season mark of 82-3 (1984).