Murray, Federer join Djokovic, Nadal as qualifiers for World Tour Finals – Tennis News
Top Brit Andy Murray and former world number one, Roger Federer became the latest additions to the elite eight playing at the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London, scheduled from 20th November
to 27th November.
As the tennis season draws to a close, the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals seem almost round the corner. The most prestigious event after the four Grand Slam events, the season finale sports eight elite singles players along
with eight tandems to battle it out one last time for the coveted title before closing down the season.
Latest to qualify for the event was the Swiss Maestro. Federer qualified for the event after winning his third round match at the 2011 US Open against Marin Cilic. He survived a mid match lapse to do away with the Croat giant in
four sets. Although disappointment for some on the circuit this year, with only one title at Doha and a final appearance at Dubai, the Maestro proves yet again that he still ranks amongst the best of the best despite his age. Qualifying for the tenth straight
year, Federer is the only player in the line-up this year to have played in Shanghai, Houston and London. His ninth appearance at the O2 Arena last year was perhaps the last pinnacle of his career as he clinched the title after defeating another former world
number one, Rafael Nadal.
Preceding Federer in the qualification was Britain’s only hope, Murray. Qualifying in the same week as Federer, Murray secured his berth for London after his second round win against Robin Haase at Flushing Meadows. Making it into
the elite eight on September 2nd, Murray is going to appear in his fourth year here after putting in two semi-final appearances in 2008 and then in 2010. Playing in front of the home crowd, Murray would hope to clinch his maiden title here especially
since the Brit has failed to secure a Grand Slam win for himself.
Murray and Federer became the third and fourth qualifiers to the WTF after world number one and two Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal.
The Serbian juggernaut became the first player on tour to qualify for the event after reaching the finals of the 2011 Rome Masters. Djoker had then gone on ahead to win the title there adding it to the vast collection of trophies
this year that now totals ten. In addition to winning at Dubai and Belgrade, Djokovic holds the title at five of six Masters events winning them at Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid and Montreal. However, the icing on the cake is the Serbian’s win at three
of four Grand Slams this year including Australian Open, Wimbledon and the US Open. Qualifying for the fifth time this year, Djokovic holds a semi-final appearance here in 2010 along with a title win in 2008.
Following Djokovic was the Spaniard King of Clay, Rafael Nadal. Playing in his fifth year at the event as well, Nadal holds two semi-final appearances (2006-07) and a final appearance in 2010. A phenomenon in tennis and the only
active player to hold the Career Golden Slam, it’s a surprise to many that the Spaniard still has to win a maiden title in the season finale event.
Tags: