Right well this will be my last post of the tennis season and it will cover the events leading to the final of the ATP world tour finals, which appeared to be heading towards a Djokovic and Federer final showdown. Did they get there???? Well let's find out...
Well as a quick recap with Roger Federer knocking out Andy Murray in the round robin stage, that meant Kei Nishikori qualified for the semi finals (in the runner up spot as Rog guarantee himself as the the winner of group B) after he beat David Ferrer, the alternate who filled in for Milos Raonic who withdrew. And in group A, Nole qualified for the semis and also secured his spot at the top of the world rankings after dismissing Tomas Berdych in straight sets and Stan Wawrinka qualified for the runner semi final spot as he beat Marin Cilic in three sets.
So starting with the first semi final, as Novak Djokovic made his into the semis in a hugely impressive form as he had only dropped a mere 9 games! However Nole took on Kei Nishikori in the last four, who given the Japanese player's form it promised to be a tough encounter. But Nole made an imperious start as he broke Nishikori three times to ease to take the first set in just over 20 minutes. In the 2nd set however, Nishikori picked up his level after Djokovic went up a break and then double faulted to hand Kei a lifeline, which he exploited and went on to break a distracted Nole and he did the almost unthinkable in leveling the scores at a set all. And in the deciding set, danger lurked for Novak as he had to save two break points on his own serve, but after he did he then went on to romp his way to victory as he handed Kei a tasty bagel set as the Japanese player eventually succumb to the pressure on his own serve and ended the contest with a double fault, which saw Novak reach the final with a see-saw 6-1, 3-6, 6-0 victory. Despite the second set dip this again saw Novak in incredible form and it also meant that he had now won his last 31 indoor hard court matches in a row, which is an amazing result in itself. And going into the final Nole looked to be very much the favourite in everyone's eyes.
After this we had the second semi final which was a much anticipated all Swiss encounter as the Swiss No.1 and 2 took on each other, Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka. Roger had already shown incredible form in his previous matches during the week, particularly in his straight set demolition of Andy Murray where he dropped just the one game. But unlike Andy, Stan proved to be more than up to the task to try and pull off an upset as he bossed "the boss" in the opening set and soon took a double break lead, only to squander one of the breaks, however Stan still managed to serve for the 1st set at the second time of asking. In the 2nd set it was a tight affair as Stan threatened yet again to break Rog's serve but it took all of Swiss maestro's tenacity to hold on and he later himself fashioned a break of his own at 6-5 to level the scores at a set all. And in the 3rd set the audience were treated to a thrilling decider where Stan went an early break up and when he served for the match at 5-4, despite having three match points, he was unable to convert them and Roger levelled the scores breaking back at 5-5. Play then went into a tiebreak which was topsy turvey but in the end it was Roger who made the killer move and he ended his Swiss compatriot's stern challenge with a volley to seal his place in another year end championship after a hard fought epic 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 win.
There was no doubt this was the match of the tournament and it was a match that more than made up for what had been quite a disappointing event with too many one-sided matches on both groups leading up to the semi finals. There was also a slight controversry during the match where Federer neglected to challenge a ball, which ultimately lead to him being broken. And later it was rumoured that after the match Rog and Stan both had an argument backstage over something that appeared to involve Roger's wife Mirka making a comment during the match about how Stan didn't have what it takes to beat Roger, which Stan picked up on. And its a pity for Stan that he was not able to close out the match as he had four match points on his racquet and you figure that he definitely should have taken one of them but then again he was only up against the greatest player to have played the game.
Which leads us into the final, which promised to be a real cracker between the World No.1 and No.2, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer. But..........unfortunately it didn't happen as Roger Federer made a personal on court announcement to the crowd that he had to withdraw from the final due to a back injury he sustained during his match with Stan. Roger said that he had tried everything he could to try and be fit enough to play the match but in the end he said that he was not "match fit" enough to play Novak, which saw the title automatically awarded to Djokovic, who claimed it for the 4th time in his career. And there is no doubt that this was a big disappointment for the fans but ultimately Roger made the right call and health has to come first and there would have been no point in his going out on court only to have to retire 10 minutes into the match, so its understandable that he would want to pull out prior to the match. And no doubt I'm sure Stan will be gutted with this outcome as had he taken one of those match points we would have gotten a final, although given the very one-sided nature of Stan and Nole's round robin match (with Nole winning 6-3, 6-0) it might have been more of the same.
So in the absence of the final, the tournament organisers instead came up with some alternate entertainment as Novak Djokovic took on Andy Murray in a one set exhibition match, followed by a doubles match which would also feature Andy along with John McEnroe as his partner and Tim Henman and Pat Cash both teamed up as well. Nole and Andy's exhibition match was a pro set, which meant the first to reach 8 games would be the winner and the match itself was quite an entertaining one and it saw Andy managed to put in a decent performance against the world no.1 before he was broken and Nole served it out to win the exhibition bout 8-5. After the match Andy joked to Mark Petchy (one of Andy's former coaches and current Sky Sports commentator) that he had been playing Mario Kart when he got the invite to come and play and he also apologised for "pushing Roger so hard" on Thursday night! This was followed by an enjoyable doubles match which saw Andy and Mac take on Tim and Pat as they played some typical fun exhibition stuff for the crowd, which eventually saw Andy and Mac win 8-6, which ended the night's entertainment.
And that's it for the ATP world tour finals and indeed the 2014 ATP tour season, which overall has been an excellent season although its finale in London has been overall a bit of a letdown given the number of one-sided matches and also that we were deprived of a final but well that can't be helped. But it does certainly once again cement just how good a player Novak Djokovic is as he was able to reclaim his No.1 spot this year again after losing it last year to Rafa and it sees Nole take the top spot for the 3rd time in his career. And as Novak finished up with 7 career titles, and among them the Wimbledon title, it shows that his game is going from strength to strength and next year he promises to get even better, which is a scary prospect as it is!
As for Roger well its pity his ATP tour season ended the way it has with him being injured but he still does have the Davis cup final yet to play against France, which begins on Friday, but there is still a big question mark hanging over Roger and whether or not he will be able to recover in time to play. One thing is for sure though is that if Roger doesn't play then it may seriously hurt Switzerland's chances of winning the title and that would almost automatically make France the favourites to win, especially as they are playing from home. So for the sake of the contest and competition we will just have to hope that Roger recovers well enough in time for Friday as it maybe a bit of a daunting task for Stan Wawrinka to try and pull it off on his own, but with Roger they have a legitimate chance to win should he be fit and well.
As for Andy well at least something good did come out of the tournament for him after his brutal dismissal last week as he was able to get back on the court and play two exhibition matches infront of the London o2 crowd. But with his 2014 season now at a close it does leave a few question marks hanging over his head in regards to where can he go from here? And the main question that should be asked is should he keep Amelie Mauresmo on as his coach???? Well in my opinion I don't think Andy should as I feel while she may have helped in some ways, she has not helped him to defeat any of the "big three" (i.e. Rog, Rafa and Nole) this year and that is what he needs to start doing as so far this season Andy has only managed to bag a single set off each of them and suffered nine losses combined to them. It also doesn't reflect very well on Mauresmo that Andy finished his season with such a devastating loss and if anything it shows that she lacks the edge and effectiveness needed to help him beat the elite guys in the sport.
And in my view if Andy stays with Mauresmo I doubt that he will be able to win another grand slam and he needs to find another coach who can help him get that aggressive edge back again that Ivan Lendl gave him. And in that regard perhaps Andy would benefit from another male coach such as John McEnroe, if he was willing to take on Andy then there is a chance that it could prove successful for him, or it could be a complete disaster, who knows??? One thing that is for sure regarding McEnroe is that he does possess a great serve and Mac has already stated in the media how Andy needs to improve his 2nd serve speed and just maybe if they did work together perhaps that is one area that they can finally try and resolve. Andy is said to be making the decision next month whether or not he will continue his parternship with Mauresmo into 2015, but for me personally and I'm sure many others, I would rather see Andy hire someone new so he can start the new year with a fresh perspective. And I mean no ill feeling toward Mauresmo either as she was a great player in her own right but in terms of coaching Andy and getting his game where it needs to be, so far she has fallen short of that mark. But at the end of the day it is of course Andy's decision and regardless of the choices that lie ahead for him, I think next year he will come back stronger and I believe he will start beating the top guys again as he is ultimately too good a player to keep down.
So that's it for now and I might be back soon with the result of the Davis cup final between France and Switzerland, with France who have the home advantage, and if Roger plays and is fit, it should be a cracker.
So until the next one bye for now.
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