Tennis News: Novak Djokovic qualifies for 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
World number two, Novak Djokovic books a berth in the 2011 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after his astounding performance in the current season.
The mighty Serb assured his qualification for the prestigious mega event after defeating the world number one Rafael Nadal in the final of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Italy, last Sunday.
The second ranked Djokovic has qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth consecutive time.
He is the first player this season to qualify for the mega event, which will stage at The O2 in London from 20-27 November. Only the top eight performers in an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) season are entitled to compete
in the prestigious event each year.
23-year-old Serb bagged the championship title at Rome last Sunday to get 1000 more South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings points and confirming a place in the season-ending finale at London. Djokovic has won the Barclays ATP
World Tour Finals in 2008 in Shanghai and is eyeing to clinch the title this year as well. The Serb reached the semi-final round last year but had to suffer a defeat at the hands of the Swiss Maestro, Roger Federer. Djokovic has not lost a single match since
then and is running an amazing 39-match winning streak this season.
The Serb’s blistering form in the running year has already earned him seven consecutive ATP titles, including four Masters 1000 events and the first Grand Slam of the year, the Australian Open.
Djokovic defeated Nadal four times in the finals of the ATP tournaments, breaking his 37-match winning streak on clay courts. He is inching towards the top spot in the world rankings and will be entering Roland Garros next week
as the hot favourite.
Djokovic has already gathered 6,975 ranking points this season, more than any other top ranked player. He is only the second player to qualify for the mega event before the French Open after Nadal who accomplished the similar feat
in 2009. The Spaniard is holding the top spot in world rankings for the past 52 weeks but Djokovic’s extraordinary brilliance in the running year puts him ahead of the world number one in the race to the season-ending tournament.
Djokovic has a golden opportunity to topple Nadal from the number one spot at Roland Garros and let his dream come true. His amazing 39-match winning streak makes him the hot favourite for the Grand Slam event in France and the
future world number one player.
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