The TennisReporters.net: London ATP finals; Federer, Del Potro, Djokovic, Nadal, Dadydenko

TR.net SUBSCRIBER LOGIN

E-mail address

Password

Subscribe to TR.net

The Wrap: Week of Nov. 23-29

Juan Martin Del Potro

Mal Tam/MALTphoto Can Del Potro take down Federer for the third straight match?Del Potro, Federer Through to the Semis as Murray Edged by a Game; Nadal Out
THURSDAY. NOV. 26 - Andy Murray did what he had to in outlasting his Aussie Open conqueror Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but then had to await his fate while watching the final Group A match between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.
The verdict was agonizing, as del Potro edged Federer 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and the Argentine and Swiss advanced to the semis based on a better percentage of games won. Federer, Del Potro and Murray all ended with 2-1 records and a 5-4 sets win/loss ratio, but despite being overpowered by Del Potro when the Argentine was tossing the ball up, Federer topped the group with a 44-40 games record. Del Potro ended with a 45-43 record, while Murray came in with a 44-43 record. Murray failed to move on despite having beaten Del Potro (he lost to Federer).

Federer Mauls Murray, to End Year No. 1; Del Potro Survives Verdasco
TUESDAY. NOV. 24 - In one of his most impressive performances of the year – and there have been plenty of them – Roger Federer swarmed Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals to guarantee that he will end the year as the world's top ranked player for the fifth time.

Soderling Negates Nadal Again
MONDAY, NOV. 23 After a brilliant start to the season, Rafael Nadal’s year appears to be coming to a humdrum close. On Monday at the ATP World Tour finals, Robin Soderling took an authoritative 6-4, 6-4 over Nadal in Group B, who is clearly lacking in confidence.
The Spaniard now has little chance of ending the year at No. 1, as he still looks a bit affected by his injuries and doesn’t trust his shots. Soderling served huge, dominated with his forehand and rarely was forced to play strenuous points.

Del Potro, Federer Through to the Semis as Murray Edged by a Game; Nadal Out

THURSDAY. NOV. 26 - Andy Murray did what he had to in outlasting his Aussie Open conqueror Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 6-7(4), 7-6(3) at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, but then had to await his fate while watching the final Group A match between Roger Federer and Juan Martin del Potro.
The verdict was agonizing, as del Potro edged Federer 6-2, 6-7 (5), 6-3 and the Argentine and Swiss advanced to the semis based on a better percentage of games won. Federer, Del Potro and Murray all ended with 2-1 records and a 5-4 sets win/loss ratio, but despite being overpowered by Del Potro when the Argentine was tossing the ball up, Federer topped the group with a 44-40 games record. Del Potro ended with a 45-43 record, while Murray came in with a 44-43 record. Murray failed to move on despite having beaten Del Potro (he lost to Federer).

"Sure, it's confusing," Federer said. "It's hard for Murray. I asked Juan Martin myself at the net, 'Did you make it or not?' He said, 'I don't think so. So that's the story I got. Of course, you got to feel sorry for the guy who didn't make it."

Del Potro could knocked out Federer with a straight sets win, but choked a bit in the second set tiebreaker with three straight unforced errors serving at 5-5.

But Federer couldn’t get a good read on his booming serve and had a tough time attacking the net, often hitting his approach shots too short as Del Potro whizzed passing shots.

"I knew I couldn't lose in two sets because I knew that was going to knock me out," said Federer. “That's why I was very excited having won the second set. The only thing that was important to me was the set I needed to win. That it got so close with the other two guys, it's quite incredible."

However, the tournament lost a bit of pizzazz when Rafa Nadal’s ATP season came crashing to a halt (he’ll still play the Davis Cup final) in a routine 6-1, 7-6 defeat by Nikolay Davydenko. Two straight set defeats (the other to Robin Soderling) means the Spaniard has no chance of qualifying for the semis out of Group B, where Davydenko and Novak Djokovic are hoping to take a semifinal spot along side Robin Soderling, who wasted Djokovic on Wednesday.

Nadal has had a very tough time returning from his late spring knee injury and is title-less since mid-May. His shot selection has been questionable, he’s lacking a little explosiveness (perhaps due to the mending knee and his sore abdominal muscle) and he’s been unable to impose his relentless attack. His balls are simply landing too short and men like Soderling and Davydenko are more than capable of taking them on the rise and powering them to the corners.

Nadal will have a heck of a time defending his Aussie Open title in January. "I didn't come here to be number one. It wasn't my goal because I'm not playing well enough to be number one right now," he said. "If I'd won the Masters, I would have arrived at next week's Davis Cup with more confidence. I would prefer to get there in my best moment and I'm working hard to get my confidence back…I'm ready to practice hard. I have motivation to play my best tennis. When you have this goal and you have this motivation, doesn't matter if you are tired or not. So I am ready to start practicing and to start playing in 2010.”

Federer Mauls Murray, to End Year No. 1; Del Potro Survives Verdasco
TUESDAY. NOV. 24 - In one of his most impressive performances of the year – and there have been plenty of them – Roger Federer swarmed Andy Murray 3-6, 6-3, 6-1 at the ATP World Tour Finals to guarantee that he will end the year as the world's top ranked player for the fifth time.

Adeptly changing tactics in the final two sets and hammering Murray’s softball second serves, Federer was much the more effective attacking player as the match wore on and showed Murray that his boast that he had figured the young Scot out was not an idle one.

The Swiss joined Pete Sampras (six straight times from 1993-98) and Jimmy Connors as the only players to finish a year as No. 1 five times or more since rankings were introduced in 1973.

Federer, who is 2-0 in the A Group, will face his US Open conqueror, Juan Martin del Potro, who took down a nervous Fernando Verdasco 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (1). Del Potro played a much more cool headed tiebreaker, while the Spaniard couldn’t get himself into points and he produced a basket full of errors."I felt nervous because if I lost, I go home," Del Potro said." It was important, the victory today, to get confidence. I hope play my best tennis against Roger." Murray and Del Potro both have chances to gain a semifinal spot, but almost assuredly will have to win their next contest. Murray will face Verdasco, who will has an outside shot at qualifying.
On Wednesday in Group B, Novak Djokovic will take on Robin Soderling while Rafael Nadal will face Nikolay Davydenko is what appears to be a must win match for both players.

Soderling Negates Nadal Again
MONDAY, NOV. 23 After a brilliant start to the season, Rafael Nadal’s year appears to be coming to a humdrum close. On Monday at the ATP World Tour finals, Robin Soderling took an authoritative 6-4, 6-4 over Nadal in Group B, who is clearly lacking in confidence.

The Spaniard now has little chance of ending the year at No. 1, as he still looks a bit affected by his injuries and doesn’t trust his shots. Soderling served huge, dominated with his forehand and rarely was forced to play strenuous points.

"My level right now is not number one, no?" Nadal said. "He is a big player on this surface and if you are not completely calm and playing well in the important moments it's difficult. I'm not far away from my best level but I need more confidence."

Soderling, who also stunned upset Nadal at Roland Garros, added: "Sure, it feels better to beat the world number two than the number 200. I always enjoy beating good players than lower ranked player but, personally, I have nothing against Rafa. We've played a lot of times and we always had good matches."

Nadal now trails Roger Federer by 1,145 points. The Swiss took an impressive 4-6, 7-5, 6-1 win over the other Spanish lefty Fernando Verdasco on Sunday in Group A and looks in decent shape to reach the semis. Nadal can now only gain a maximum of 1,300 points, should he win his remaining two round-robin matches and clinch the title, meaning Federer only needs to win another match to seal the top spot.

Also on Monday, Britain’s Andy Murray kicked off the tournament by fooling Juan Martin Del Potro again, this time 6-3, 3-6, 6-2 in front of a sell-out crowd of 17,500."When I got close to winning at the end of the match, the atmosphere was excellent," said Murray. "That's going a make a big difference going into the next couple of matches. "Me and Juan haven't played that much since the US Open. I kind of expected a little bit of a scrappy match maybe. Tactically, I've always been quite good. So I found a way through it today. He does have a big forehand. He can hit a lot of winners; he can make mistakes off of it.”
Murray and Federer will clash on Tuesday, as will Del Potro and Verdasco.

The doubles action has been topsy-turvey, with Max Mirnyi /Andy Ram beating the Bryans 6-4, 6-4, Kubot /Marach taking out Dlouhy/L Paes 6-3, 7-6(3) and Fyrstenberg/Matkowski overcoming Nestor/Zimonjic 6-4, 6-4.

ATP World Finals Preview: Who Can Win and Why? MORE

Injured Roddick Out of London, Soderling In
TUESDAY, NOV. 17 - It’s official: Andy Roddick and his bum knee won't be able to make it to the ATP World Finals next week and he'll be replaced by Robin Soderling, who will make his debut. It’s the first time since 1986 that no American male has taken part in the season-ending tournament and now Wimbledon finalist Roddick has zero chance to end the year in the Top 5.

With Soderling’s elevation, Jo Tsonga becomes the first-alternate. The rest of the eight man field includes Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco.

The doubles field comprises Nestor/Zimonjic, Bryan/Bryan, Bhupathi/Knowles, Dlouhy/Paes, Kubot/Marach, Mirnyi/Ram, Cermak/Mertinak and Fyrstenberg/Matkowski.