But once the clay season began, Nadal began to find his feet and began chalking up win after win. Following his straight sets victory in the French open final, he regained the number one ranking. Since then there has been no looking back.
Nadal then defended his Wimbledon crown, extended his unbeaten run in the tournament to 14 matches and completed his career grand slam after winning the U.S. Open in October. Nadal will be desperate to perform well at the ATP World Tour Finals, especially
after last year’s performance, where he lost all three group games without winning a single set.
The tournament holds special importance for Roger Federer; a win will bring him level with Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras’ record of five tour final victories. It would also remind his detractors that Federer is still a force to be reckoned with. The Swiss
began the year in blistering form. He eased himself to another grand slam title, as he won the Australian open almost unchallenged. He continued to earn important ranking points with hard court wins early in the season. But once the clay season began Federer
was always playing catch up. A poor clay season was ended, when Robin Soderling beat him in the quarter-finals of the French Open, and he dropped to number two in the rankings. Unfortunately his poor run of form continued as he was dumped out of Wimbledon
by Thomas Berdych at the quarter-final stage. Soon Federer found his ranking slip to number three. Although he has regained the number two spot, it seems that he is still hungry for more.
Unlike most tournaments in recent history, the ATP World Tour Finals are not going to be all about Nadal and Federer, instead each of the eight men will have a point to prove. It was a disappointing year for Novak Djokovic, as he failed to win any Grand
slam title. The tour finals will provide Djokovic the opportunity to show that he is not a ‘one slam guy’. Whereas Britain’s Andy Murray will be trying to convince his followers that he has the quality to become a Grand Slam Champion. The likes of Soderling
and Berdych will be trying to add a big title to their resume’s, after both men convincingly beat Federer in the summer.
London has always been a special place for Andy Roddick, with multiple titles at Queens and three final appearances at Wimbledon. He will surely be trying to emulate his past form in the city to try and win the season-ending tournament. This leaves us with
the last of the qualifiers; a certain David Ferrer, who may not be the most dominant baseline hitter or a great runner, but he has the technical game to trouble anyone. Ferrer will be a very tough man to put away if he reaches the semi-final stage of the tournament.
No matter who comes out victorious on Sunday, one thing is for sure; none of the eight men is there just to make up the numbers.
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