ATP WTF Previews Part I: Who’s in it to win it?
With the ATP World Tour Finals right around the corner, the entire world is eagerly anticipating and speculating about the outcome of the prestigious end of season tournament. The elite event features the world’s top eight players taking on each other in round robin play from November 21 to 28 in London. The eight qualifying players are Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Robin Soderling, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Andy Roddick. The first part of these previews discusses the four topmost players.
Rafael Nadal: In addition to the world number one’s remarkable progress this year, in which he completed a career Grand Slam with his first U.S. Open title, another reason why Nadal may stand a decent chance of winning his first end of year title is because he is determined to redeem himself. Last year, the Spaniard put up an abysmal performance in which he lost in straight sets to each of his opponents in round robin play. Nadal will be extremely motivated to win the event in London, just as he was motivated to winning the U.S. Open. After winning the French Open, Nadal skipped his preparations for Wimbledon to focus his attention on the year’s final grand slam. Yet he still managed to win Wimbledon and set up his first ever victory at Flushing Meadows with relative ease. Expect Nadal to come out all guns blazing.
Roger Federer: The 16-time Grand Slam winner isn’t playing the best tennis of his career, but he not playing the worst either. He has reached the semi-finals of every tournament since Wimbledon, and only failed to make it to the finals twice due to botched match points. Although he might choke again when it matters, he is still the Maestro. He seems set on regaining the world’s top tanking, and the World Tour Finals is the most important tournament after the Grand Slams, and might just be the right forum for Federer to start his bid to reclaim the World Number one spot. Federer has seized this title on four previous occasions, and lost narrowly to eventual winner Nikolay Davydenko in last year’s semi-finals, so he may yet have some tricks left up his sleeve this year.
Novak Djokovic: The Serbian re-entered the field as a major contender with his final appearance at the U.S. Open, but his performances since then have been patchy at best. Novak has shown glimpses of his immense talent but he hasn’t managed to put off anything significant. His priority at the moment seems to be the Davis Cup, and that might be preventing him from playing his natural game. However, he still managed to fight for the title in Beijing, and only lost to Federer before the Paris Masters. If he can win this title, it would be a warning to all his opponents, especially the French, who will face Serbia in the Davis Cup final.
Robin Soderling: While he has been most popular for his upset wins over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal at the French Open in recent times, he has won the Paris Masters title on a surface very similar to the one in London. Last year at the World Tour Finals, he lost to Juan Martin Del Potro in the semi-finals in a third set tie-breaker. He may prove himself capable of going one step ahead of that milestone this year. He stands to gain much of the same things as Djokovic: a chance to prove himself to his rivals and the rest of the tennis world.
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