Defeat Federer ? Don’t know how to, admits David Goffin

Goffin has been in excellent touch in the ongoing World Tour Finals. He started the campaign against Rafael Nadal where he emerged victorious in three sets. In the next match against Grigor Dimitrov, he was outclassed but he returned to the fore again in the next game, dismantling fourth-seeded Dominic Thiem 6-4, 6-1 to set up a seventh career meeting against the Swiss legend.

His record against Federer, much like many of his contemporaries, is one he would not want to remember fondly. In the six meetings between the two, Goffin has only been able to win one set, that too on clay. 

"I've never found a key to beat Roger," Goffin said after the game, reported AFP.

"Honestly, I don't know what to do tomorrow. But I'm going to try something, something different, something that I've never done in the past. I will try to do my best to play a better match than in Basel, for sure.

"In Basel, it was not easy. He played well. He didn't miss. He was really aggressive, as always. He returned so well. So it was not easy in Basel.

"I hope that tomorrow he's not going to play the same match. But I will try something different for sure."

The only time that Goffin has been able to take a set off Federer was way back in 2012 at Roland Garros. Goffin underplayed his chances of pulling off an unlikely win against the Swiss maestro because of the surface on which the match would be played on.

"Against Roger, on his best surface, it's indoor," said Goffin.

"It's this surface, along with the grass. There is no wind. It's tough to play higher, to find the loop when you play here on this kind of surface.

"It's not easy. It's perfect for Roger. But I will try, like I said, to do my best tomorrow to find some solutions, try to play my game, yeah, be aggressive. If he's aggressive and he hits the ball really hard with his forehand, he's dangerous."