roger federer

Roger Federer has ensured that he finishes the season as World number one following his defeat of Andy Murray in the ATP World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena this week.

Federer had lost the title to Rafael Nadal towards the end of the 2008 season and said that he had made it one of his goals to win back it back this year. The win over Murray guaranteed that he would finish on top and he said “It’s a wonderful feeling,It’s one of the greatest performances I’ve achieved.”

Federer had started the season by being beaten by rival Nadal in the Australian Open, having already surrendered the Wimbledon crown and ranking to the Spaniard in the previous season.

In April Federer married  and in July he regained the Wimbledon crown and two weeks later he became a father for the first time when his wife gave birth to twins.

He has won five titles on this years tour and it has been interesting to see his form returning throughout the year. He puts it down to;

“Playing so well at the most important moments, it’s been the key this year, and staying healthy, especially after having a rough 2008. Coming back this year and being able to dominate and play at the top when the depth in tennis is so, so great at the moment. I think it’s a wonderful achievement.”

I couldn’t agree more, it has been great to see Federer coming back to form, although he lacks the consistency that we had come to expect of him, maybe that will return too. It is also true that both Nadal and Murray have spent time out of this season with injuries, so it will be good to judge things when each of them are back to full fitness, hopefully for the start of next season.

andy murray

Andy Murray has been drawn alongside Roger Federer in the group stages of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals that start on Sunday at the O2 Arena in London.

Murray and Federer are drawn in Group A alongside Juan Martin del Potro and Fernando Verdasco and will play each other in a ’round robin’ style, with the two highest points scorers from the group progressing to the semi finals.

Top seed Rafael Nadal heads up Group B, he will face a tough challenge from last years winner Novak Djokovic who also knocked Nadal out of the French Open last week and went on to win the tournament.

Nikolay Davydenko and Robin Soderling will make up the rest of Group B. Soderling has been drafted in as a late replacement for Andy Roddick who has been forced to withdraw through injury.

Originally set up in 1970 The Masters Grand Prix was organised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF) as an end of season showpiece event featuring the best players on the men’s tour, but without any world ranking points at stake.

In 1990 the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) took over the running of the men’s tour and replaced the Masters with the ATP Tour World Championship, with the introduction of world ranking points.

However the ITF introduced a rival year end competition at this time involving the top 16 players on the men’s circuit and known as the Grand Slam Cup. In 1999 ATP and ITF scrapped their rival tournaments and introduced a jointly owned event called the Tennis Masters Cup.

From 2009 the tournament will be known as the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and will be held at London’s O2 Arena for the next three years.

The UK event gives fans the chance to see the world’s top eight players on the men’s circuit, as well as the worlds eight best doubles partnerships battle it out for the respective titles in London.

The event starts on Sunday November 22nd with the finals a week later on November 29th, tickets for the Barclays ATP World Final Tour are currently available for all dates.

Britain’s Andy Murray qualified for the tournament in August this year, the third qualifier behind Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin Del Potro were added in September with Andy Roddick following in October.

The final two men’s singles places were filled following the recent French Open, with Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco taking the remaining places.

Qualifying as the world’s best double teams are:

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes, Łukasz Kubot and Oliver Marach, František Čermák and Michal Mertiňák, Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram and Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Tickets
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andy roddick

Andy Roddick will be among the eight contenders for London’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in November, despite pulling out of the Shanghai Masters the American has amassed enough points to book his place for the O2 Arena.

Roddick pulled out of the second round match against Switzerland’s Stanislas Wawrinka in China, with scans revealing a mild ligament strain to his knee. He has since passed a fitness test and is keen to join the other players in London next month.

Roddick has enjoyed a recent renaissance in his playing career, he is currently playing a better all round tennis game than at any other time in his career, a point that was not lost on anyone that witnessed his amazing progression to the Wimbledon final this year.

After hiring new coach Larry Stefanki in December 2008, the effect was pretty much immediate as the American reached the final of his first official tournament competition at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where he lost to Britain’s Andy Murray.

Retribution for that defeat came at Wimbledon when Roddick met Murray in the Mens Singles semi finals. Following a five set win over Australian Hewitt in the quarter finals that drained both competitors, it was a real surprise to witness a fresh display from Roddick in the semi’s beating Murray over another four sets.

Roddick v Federer in the final was nothing short of a Wimbledon classic and although Roddick lost the match he was rewarded by moving into the top five players in the world.

“The reaction I received from fans after the Wimbledon final was something I will never forget. This will be a fantastic event.” says Roddick ahead of the ATP World Tour Finals.

Roddick will be joined at the London O2 Arena tournament by Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro with the final two places still to be decided.

Russian Nikolay Davydenko and Spaniard Fernando Verdasco currently fill the 7th and 8th spot on the list but are being pursued by a chasing pack that includes Swede Robin Soderling, Chilean Fernando Gonzalez and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France.

With $5million in prize money the competition will be fierce, if you fancy the chance of seeing the world’s top eight players in action check here for tickets for The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena in London. The finals run from November 22nd to 29th.

Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Tickets
At viagogo, every Barclays ATP World Tour Finals transaction is 100% guaranteed to be safe and secure. As well as making it easy and simple to buy Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tickets or sell Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tickets, viagogo ensure their safe and prompt delivery with online tracking.