The Battle For No.1.....

 

Right well its just about the end of the 2016 men's tennis season as the ATP World Tour Finals draws to a close and only one match now remains in the tournament and that match will be the discussion of this post.

However let's do a quick recap on how the ATP World Tour Finals has went so far...

HOW THE ATP WTF HAS WENT DOWN SO FAR....

Well done to start off with a little about the format of the event, it consists of two teams of four players as the top eight in the world face off each other.  The teams play a round robin format where the men in each play against each other until the players with the most wins will finish as the winner of their group or as the runner up whereas the other two team members will be eliminated.

After this the remaining four players will play each other in the semi final stages where the winner of one group will play the runner up of the other group and then the winner of both those matches will play each other in the final.  Confusing????  Yeah it is kind of! 

Anyway so far this is roughly how it has gone for the players....

JOHN McENROE GROUP

The groups for some reason are named after former professionals and this year we have a John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl group.  Ironically Andy Murray, who is ranked No.1 in the world and is also being currently coach by Ivan Lendl didn't appear in the Lendl group himself!  But I digress...

So the McEnroe group consisted of:

Andy Murray - World No.1, who secured three wins in his group to finish as the winner as he defeated Marin Cilic in straight sets, Kei Nishikori in three sets and Stan Wawrinka in straight sets to qualify for the semi finals.

Kei Nishikori - World No.5, secured only one win against Stan Wawrinka but went on to lose against Andy Murray and also Marin Cilic, but due to Stan's elimination Kei qualified for the semis.

Stan Wawrinka - World No.3, secured only one win against Marin Cilic and he played Andy Murray for a chance to qualify for the semis but lost to him in straight sets which saw him eliminated from the group.

Marin Cilic - World No.7, secured only one win against Kei Nishikori and he was already eliminated by then as it was a dead rubber match.  Cilic will go on though to play in the Davis cup final next weekend for Croatia against Argentina.

IVAN LENDL GROUP

As for the Lendl group it consisted of:

Novak Djokovic - World No.2, who lost the top spot to Andy Murray two weeks but has a chance to regain the ranking if he win the title.  Novak finished top in his group as he went unbeaten in all three of his matches against Dominic Thiem, Milos Raonic and David Goffin, who substituted Gael Monfils who withdrew with injury.

Milos Raonic - World No.4, who secured two wins against Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem both in straight sets to qualify for the semi finals. 

Dominic Thiem - World No. 9, who secured one win against Gael Monfils but lost to Djokovic and Raonic, which eventually saw him eliminated from the group.

Gael Monfils - World No.6, scored no wins against any of the players in his group and he was eliminated but he also withdrew before he was due to play Djokovic, who went on to play David Goffin who substituted Monfils and he was defeated in their dead rubber match in straight sets.

SEMI FINALS

So this brings us onto the semi final matches, which were between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic and Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori. So let's take a look at them...

MURRAY VS RAONIC

First up was the match between Andy Murray and Milos Raonic, which promised to be quite a competitive one and it turned out to be more than that as the whole audience got more than they bargained as this match turned into one of the most memorable titanic battles of the season.

The match kicked off with both men holding serve until 5-5 where Raonic made his move and took advantage of the ropey Murray first serve to break and take the opening set.  The 2nd set saw Raonic move further ahead as he broke Andy but Andy then started to fight back and he broke back and he pushed play into a very tense tiebreak where Andy battled through and levelled the match.  And in the 3rd set we were treated (or subjected to maybe!) to a thrilling battle between both players and it appeared Andy got the upper hand as he managed to break Raonic's serve to go 5-4. 

However, Andy failed to serve out the match at the first time of askin as Raonic broke back, only for Andy to break the Raonic serve yet again to go 6-5.  But...Andy again failed to serve out the match and play went to a tiebreak, which was an incredibly tense breaker that saw momentum to and fro and Andy had to save a match point before finally grabbing one of his own and with it he sealed his place in his first ever ATP World Tour Finals finale after an epic 5-7, 7-6, 7-6 battle. 

Although this match had its ups and downs there is little doubt it was one of the most exciting and tense battles of the year and most definitely the match of the tournament so far.  Andy however made life very difficult for himself on serve as he failed to serve it out on two occassions in the last set, which could prove worrying for him in the final ahead if he is to do the same.  Regardless of that though it was a tremendously brave and gutsy performance from Andy who's sheer determination got him over the line. 

As for Raonic well he was very much at his best in the match and he threw absolutely everything at Andy that he could as he kept firing a barrage of big serves a bludgeoning forehands in Andy's direction but he still came up second best.  But regardless of the result, Raonic has still managed to finish year on a very positive note and will have much to take forward into next year.

DJOKOVIC VS NISHIKORI

So the second semi final was between Novak Djokovic and Kei Nishikori and it promised to be quite an intriguing match with Novak's form improving throughout this week, Nishikori could have been a real step up for him.

However....the match proved to be no match at all really as it was nothing more than a warm up session for Novak who ploughed his way through the Japanese player right from the start and he grabbed a quick triple break to take the first set.  And in the 2nd set it was more of the same as Kei was powerless to do anything against Novak's imperious form as he started look like he was getting back to his very best and he grabbed yet another triple break that saw Kei's challenge end and Novak reach another year end final with a commanding 6-1, 6-1 win and a chance to reclaim the World No.1 ranking.

THOUGHTS ON ANDY AND NOLE'S 2016 PROGRESS UNTIL NOW...

So this sets up the final everyone has been waiting for and it will see the world's two best players duke it out for the No.1 spot but how will it go???  Well let's take a moment and speculate on it....

Well so far, both men have had contrasting seasons, the first half of the year saw Novak totally dominant in the sport whereas the second half has been dominated by Andy.  In the first half, Novak won the Australian and French Open titles to secure his "Nole" slam and become the first person since Rod Laver to hold all four grans slams at the same time.  Novak however suffered a bizzare loss of form over the summer at Wimbledon where he lost to Sam Querrey in the 3rd round and he went to suffer a string of surprising losses such a Del Potro at the Olympics, Bautista-Agut in Shanghai and Marin Cilic in Paris.

Andy Murray after the French Open defeat however totally turned around his season as he went on a 22 match winning streak over the summer to claim three titles in a row with Queens, Wimbledon and the Olympic gold medal in Rio.  Andy did however suffer a few setbacks as he lost to Marin Cilic in the final of Cincinnati, Kei Nishikori at the US Open quarter finals and Del Potro at the Davis cup semi final.  However Andy then regrouped and went on to win the next four titles in a row in Beijing, Shanghai, Vienna and Paris and he now sits on a career best 23 match winning streak having reached the final at ATP WTF.

So this sees that both men have had their fortunes and misfortunes but what impact will this have in the final????

THOUGHTS ON FINAL AND PREDICTION

Well as for my thoughts on the final itself....you would have to look at how both men's draws have worked out and so far its safe to say Novak has had the easier draw by far and has spent much less time on court than Andy has.  Andy on the other hand has had the tougher draw and has had to endure two three and a half hour battles in order to get to the final, which physically would leave him at a big disadvantage going into this match.  So for me on paper Novak would look to be the favourite going on fitness, freshness and the less time he has spent on court.

And this raises another question for Andy... how fit will he be for the final? He said himself after his match against Raonic he didn't know he would be feeling physically tomorrow but no doubt that he was feeling pretty sore and tired after such a gruelling match.  And this could also raise the possibility that Andy might even withdraw from tomorrow's final if he feels he isn't physically up to the task, which would make for a big anti-climax to the season finale, however it could prove to be an unavoidable one if Andy isn't up to the task.

So as for my prediction....well....I really have to go with Novak simply because he is the fresher player of the two going into this match and he has spent significantly less time on the court and he has also even managed to regroup and recover his form as the event has gone on and this will be very worrying for Andy tomorrow. 

Also to beat Novak at the best of times any player would need to be physically at their best and no doubt Andy will be feeling incredibly fatigued after the week he has had in London and right now he just may not be up to the task of taking on Novak.

So as for my scoreline prediction....unfortunately I would have to say that Novak will probably win this one in straight sets as Andy could very quickly drop his serve and run out of gas and once he does there will be only one winner.  And that would be a real shame as this match could very well be a damp squib, yet it should promise to be an epic battle between the world's two best players but if you have one player who is incredibly fresh and playing great and another who is very tired and drained its bound to be a no-brainer who would come out on top.  I do think Andy will put up enough of a fight with what strength he will have left in him but in the end I think unfortunately for him that Novak will reclaim the top spot and finish as No.1. 

However even if Andy does lose the No.1 ranking tomorrow either through defeat or even possibly a pre-match withdrawal, I still do believe he can reclaim the No.1 spot next year and the battle for No.1 may only have just begun.

Right! So that's it for now and I will be back tomorrow with the result of the match and we'll see who will finish as the top man in tennis.

Till then its ciao fer now!