Andy Murray’s confidence has never been greater after his victory at Queen’s Club following two exceptional performances to beat Andy Roddick in the semi-final and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final.  But ahead of Murray in the current world rankings are Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and reigning Wimbledon champion and current no.1 Rafael Nadal.

Novak Djokovic has never been further than the semi-finals at Wimbledon but has only lost once in 2011.  Djokovic is the inform player but grass isn’t his favourite surface.  Rafa Nadal will need to be on his best form and free from injury if he is to beat Roger Federer, who I believe will be crowned Wimbledon Men’s Singles Champion for the seventh time.

The Ladies Singles has been dominated in recent years by the Williams sisters, and both Serena and Venus Williams will be among the favourites even though they have both recently returned from injuries and failed to impress at last week’s Eastbourne Aegon International event.  A former champion that comes to this year’s Wimbledon finals in great form is Maria Sharapova though Li Na will be looking to add to her recent French Open victory when she bacame the first Chinese tennis player to win a grand slam.

Wimbledon 2011 begins today with the Men’s Singles 1st Round when Rafa Nadal takes on Michael Russell (USA) on Centre Court and Alison Riske (USA) taking on Vera Zvonareva (Russia) the number 2 seed on No. 1 Court.

Weather permitting, fourth seed Andy Murray v Daniel Gimeno-Traver (Spain) will be the third match on Centre Court.

Tsonga had previously beaten Rafa Nadal and British number 2 James Ward in the semi-final for the right to play Murray in yesterday’s delayed Queen’s Club Men’s Singles Final.  Andy Murray had played possibly the best match of his career when he completely out-thought, out-moved and out-played Andy Roddick in the semi-final on Saturday.  At one point Roddick had joked “let’s keep it social” as the exemplary Murray pulled off shot after shot.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga started the first set the brighter as Murray was unable to break Tsonga’s serve. Tsonga looked like causing an upset when he won the first set 3-6. But Murray began to fight back, even though he was still unable to break Tsonga’s serve, as the second set went to a tie-breaker.  But it could have been such a different result when at five games all and Tsonga leading 30-40, his return shot hit the top of the net, only to drop down instead of over the net.  That would have left Tsonga to serve for the match.  But as it was Andy Murray appeared to step up a gear and dominated the tie-break to take this exciting match to a third set.

That was the turning point of the match.  At the start of the final set, Tsonga looked slightly jaded. Murray took advantage and finally broke Tsonga’s serve in the fifth game.

The 7,000 spectators at Queen’s Club were treated to a great spectacle and delighted when Murray began to showboat, returning a half-volley from between his legs, not once but twice.  Both players found the first trick amusing as Tsonga won the point.  But he was less amused when Murray pulled out a winning stroke later in the set.

Andy Murray ‘showboating’ has split critics.  Was it really disrespectful? I personally think it is exciting for the crowd and makes the game more enjoyable.  Seeing Andy Murray play this good against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Roddick was a delight to watch.

Murray’s attention is now on the 125th Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Championship that begins on Monday 20th June where he will be brimful of confidence and no doubt be one of the bookies favourite to win the Men’s Singles final on Sunday 3rd July.

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.