First Five Booked for ATP World Tour Finals: Who Else Will Qualify?
With the upcoming showcase event of the year, the Association of Tennis Professionals World Tour Finals at London, interest in tennis tournaments has raged back, and speculation is rife as to which players will join Rafael Nadal,
Roger Federer, Novak Djkovic, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling to compete at the elite event, to be held from 21st November to 28th November.
The most recent qualifier announced was World Number 5, the Swedish Soderling, who qualified due to draws. He seems ecstatic about the opportunity, saying, “I've always dreamed about playing at the finals. I had some really good
memories from last year. Hopefully I can take that experience and do even better this time. There are only eight players and you play against the world's best so every match you play could be like a Grand Slam final. I will have to be ready from the first
match.”
There are three slots left open for the tournament: possible competitors include Tomas Berdych, Fernando Verdasco, Mikhail Youzhny and Jurgen Melzer. Andy Roddick, too, is still holding on to a chance of making it to the Finals.
Tomas Berdych, is, however, currently World Number 6. The Association of Tennis Professionals gives him 3665 points on their ranking scale, making him 360 points above American Andy Roddick. Although Berdych’s appearance is doubtful only due to his extremely
poor record at the last tournament he played this year, the Stockholm Open. The 25 year old lost in the first round to Jarkko Nieminen, 6-1, 6-4. But it must be kept in mind, that he was this year’s Wimbledon runner-up, and is almost sure to qualify for the
London finals on basis of that achievement, and his otherwise steady performance all year round.
With Berdych almost a shoe-in at the event, six qualifiers are assured and only the bottom two places are still up for grabs. While these places currently belong to David Ferrer and Roddick himself, the fact remains that Roddick is currently incapacitated
due to an injury. He may not come back into the game for some weeks, possibly taking time off until the Paris Masters. This absence gives his competitors a great chance of stealing the spot away from him.
Who are these contenders? First off, Fernando Verdasco happens to be World Number 9, 155 points behind Andy Roddick on the rankings. To add to this handicap, the Spanish player has not yet won a match during his Asia stint and his form seems to have been
failing for quite some time.
Another possibly formidable challenger may be Mikhail Youzhny, currently holding court at World Number 10. One advantage that the US Open semi-finalist has is his great performance year round – however, he is still 500 points behind Roddick as a consequence
of a viral infection knocking him out of the Kremlin Cup, held last week. However, he still stands a brilliant chance of scoring a spot; the 28 year old Russian has a tournament at St Petersburg lined up this week, and he is by all means the strongest favourite.
If he wins, the odds for World Tour Finals would become very interesting.
One last tennis pro who may make the cut, given the right odds, is the French Open semi-finalist Jurgen Melzer. However, his chances may seem slightly astronomical; the player has had a variable year, and is behind Roddick by 2400 points. Practically speaking,
the Austrian player will only be able to qualify if he slaughters the opposition and seizes the championship at the Vienna event this week. Even then, he would only have a chance if other players dropped out or became ineligible.
The most plausible qualifier right now, seems to be Tomas Berdych, with the other players still seeming like a toss-up. Whatever the draw, the London finals promise to be an event to watch out for.
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