Roger Federer proves his strength at World Tour Finals in London
The 29-year-old Roger Federer finished 2010 on a high after getting the better of world number one Rafael Nadal to win his fifth Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.
Despite of mastering the Spaniard in the finals of the World Tour Final event, the Swiss is still behind Nadal in the ATP rankings this season. The 24-year-old Rafa who won three Grand Slam titles in 2010 at Wimbledon, French Open and United
States Open is looking to pick up his fourth in a row at the Australian Open next month in Melbourne. His stellar season put him ahead of Federer to end the year ranked number one in the world. Federer, on the other hand, ended with five more crowns to his
name, however lost his French Open as well as Wimbledon titles to his arch rival, Nadal.
The Basel born, however, still rates his 2010 season as a descent one as he started off ideally, had a bit of trouble during the middle and then finally ended strongly.
“I have had a good season. I had some tough defeats, sure. You are not going to win every tournament you play. Obviously I cannot make sixteen out of seventeen finals like I did back in 2005. It is just not realistic. I have won five titles,
won a major - everything was there. I think physically I was better than the last two seasons. That obviously makes me be very positive for next year, that I believe I can have another great season in 2011, which is important to feel.”
By reaching the finals of the elite eight man field without even dropping a single set and eventually winning the title, thrashing out his arch rival Rafael Nadal, Federer showed his utter determination and will to dominate the men’s tennis.
This victory will definitely help the Swiss to come out strongly and successfully defend his Australian Open title next month in Melbourne.
While the top of the men’s tennis is well-sorted and has been for the past few seasons, Nadal and Federer have picked up twenty one of the past twenty three major titles, the WTA tour, on the other hand, remains in disarray after another
campaign.
Caroline Wozniacki of Denmark currently holds the number one spot in the South African Airways WTA list in spite of the fact that she is without a Grand Slam title on the tour. The apparent foot injury which threatens the professional life
of former world number one Serena Williams has put a question mark to her future in tennis. Caroline’s best major performance of the year was a United States Open semi final run with the right hander barely edging into the second week in Australian Open as
well as the All England Club.
Vera Zvonareva of Russia, who is second in the rankings, on the other hand, posted her best Grand Slam results of the season by reaching the finals at United States Open and Wimbledon. The reigning U.S Open champion, Kim Clijsters still
has plans to continue at 27, however, declared that she will retire by the time her daughter Jada turns four.
While the women’s game of tennis saw a couple of surprises throughout the season, the men’s game is still clearly dominated by two players namely Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer.
Roger with five titles and Nadal with three majors and three Masters 1000s without any question ended the season as the two players to look for in 2011. Following the two is the world number three Novak Djokovic along with Andy Murray of
Scotland and Sweden’s Robin Soderling. However, all these players are still struggling to reach the top rankings. Moreover, they also had limited success in 2010, as Andy Murray ended the season with a semi final showing at the elite eight man field in London.
Djokovic, on the other hand, helped his country winning its first Davis Cup crown, beating France in the finals whereas Soderling couldn’t go beyond the round robin stage at the prestigious season-ending tournament.
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