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!

The New World No.1

Right its been quite a while since my last post on here but given the most recent big change in the men's game that has happened I thought I might aswell do a post about it and the change is of course that we have a new World No.1 player in the game and that player is Andy Murray. 

So here I'm going to take a look at how his year has gone so far (quickly!) and what are his prospects for defending his ranking coming up ahead as Andy will look to try and finish the year as No.1 as he prepares to play at the ATP World Tour Finals in London next week.

So let's take a quick look at his year so far.

ANDY'S 2016 SO FAR

January - Andy reaches his 5th Australian open final where he lost again to Novak Djokovic, this time in straight sets. 

February - Andy takes the month off as his wife, Kim has their baby, Sophia.

March - Andy returns to the tour and secures wins for Great Britain at the Davis cup against Japan to see them make it to the quarter final stages but he goes on to suffer two early surprise defeats at Indian Wells to Federico Delbonis and Grigor Dimitrov in Miami.

April - Andy begins to turn his year around as he reaches the semi finals of the Monte Carlo Masters and then the final in Madrid where he lost to Novak Djokovic in the final in three sets.

May - Andy wins the Italian Open Masters event in Rome by beating Djokovic in straight sets to secure his first win over Novak on clay.

June - Andy reaches the final of the French Open for the first time in his career but loses again to Djokovic in the final.  He would then go on to win a record 5th title at the Queens club in London.

July - Andy wins his 2nd Wimbledon title and 3rd grand slam overall at the All England Club.  Andy attends the Davis cup quarter final between Great Britain and Serbia but didn't play the event but the team went on to defeat Serbia to reach the semi finals. 

August - Andy defends his Olympic gold medal in Rio by defeating Juan Martin Del Potro in an epic four set final.

September - Andy loses to Kei Nishikori at the US Open quarter final stage and would then go on to play for Great Britain at the Davis cup where they were defeated by Argentina.

October - Andy makes a strong comeback to the tour and narrows the gap between himself and Novak in the rankings as he wins three titles in Beijing, Shanghai and Vienna, leaving Andy only 415 points behind to overtake Novak and become the new World No.1.

November - Andy overtakes Novak in the rankings to become the World No.1 for the first time in his career and wins the BNP Paribas Masters title in Paris, defeating John Isner in the final.

ATP WTF NEXT STOP AND NO.1 RANKING DEFENCE BEGINS

So this now finally brings us onto the season finale: the ATP world tour finals which begins this Sunday coming and it asks the big question?  Can Andy finish the year as the World No.1???  Well let's take a look....

As for the ATP WTF event itself, Andy has been given a pretty tough draw as the format of the event is a round robin where the players are split into two groups of four and Andy has been drawn with Stan Wawrinka, Marin Cilic and Kei Nishikori.  And all of these players have beaten Andy previously and Cilic and Nishikori especially have secured wins over Andy more recently although Andy has beaten Stan at the French Open.  So this is a tough section for him to deal with as the new World No.1.   

Novak Djokovic (now the World No.2) however has been given a kinder draw as he will face Gael Monfils, Dominic Thiem and Milos Raonic all of whom have never beaten Novak before.  But the one thing that may give Monfils, Thiem and Raonic encouragement is that Novak's form has been below par so far in the latter half of this season as he has suffered shock defeats to players such as Juan Martin Del Potro at the Olympics and just last week he lost his No.1 spot after being beaten by Marin Cilic in Paris, a player who had never previously beaten him.  So this may inspire more confidence in his opponents that they can finally claim a win against him.

So how might the ATP World Tour Finals pan out for Andy???  Well this is a tough question to answer because if you actually look at Andy's most recent wins he's rarely played any players inside the top 10 and his most highly ranked player he had beaten during his hot winning streak in the latter half of the season has been Milos Raonic in Cincinnati, who was ranked No.6 in the world at that time. 

So that means during this whole time Andy has never had to play a player ranked inside the Top 5 in the world but at the o2 in London he won't have the same luxury and he will be up against two major champions in his own section alone with Cilic and Wawrinka both US Open champions.  And this could mean that Andy would suffer a real blow if he were to be beaten at the hands of either of these players and he could lose his No.1 ranking as a result if he doesn't reach the final.

However right now, Andy is the best player in the world and if he can maintain the very high standards he has over the last four tournaments then there is probably no reason that he can't go on to win his first year end championship title in London and secure the No.1 ranking.  But in order for Andy to do so he will need to maintain that level as at the o2 in London he has only made the semi finals there twice in the last six years and he has said himself he wants to put in a better effort this year.

So can Andy win the ATP World Tour Finals and defend his No.1 ranking???  Well its hard to say at this stage he will definitely do it but given his recent form I think it is a fair possibility that he will go on to do so and if he does well he will certainly be the man to beat going into 2017.

And right now Andy has proven himself to be not only the World No.1 in tennis but also one of the greatest British sportsmen of all time and if he can go on to win more majors next year and keep his ranking then he is sure to go down as one of the true greats in the game and right now for my money, he pretty much already is.    

Right, so that's it for now and I will be back again soon on here with another post after the ATP World Tour Finals is over and give my thoughts on how it went and we'll see if Andy was able to defend his new No.1 spot.

So until the next one its bye for now!

2016 US Open Ladies and Mens finals - New World No.1 and the Big Five??

Right, it is time for my last post on the 2016 US Open as the last grand slam of the year has drawn to a close and this post will look at who came out on top in the ladies and men's finals.

So without further ado let's take a look....

LADIES FINAL

Right, so to start off why begin with the ladies final, which saw Angelique Kerber take on Serena William's conqueror, Karolina Pliskova for the title in what promised to be a very interesting encounter.


And the match itself did not disappoint as it was a high quality encounter between the two players who battled it out on Arthur Ashe stadium.  And it was Kerber, the new World No.1, who made the stronger start as she broke Pliskova to take the 1st set and her first step towards a second major title.  In the 2nd set however, Pliskova showed her mettle and started to fight back and she managed to break Kerber to level the match at a set all. 

And in the final set, Pliskova looked to stage the upset as she went a break up against Kerber and she looked set to win her first major.  However it wasn't to be as Kerber soon broke back and play went to 5-4 on serve with Pliskova serving to level 5-5 when she dropped serve just at the wrong time and this gave Kerber her 2nd grand slam title and an impressive 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 win.

Well this was an excellent match and both women provided a great contest for the Arthur Ashe crowd that saw Kerber cement her new No.1 ranking with her second major title.  And there is little doubt that right now Kerber is indeed the best player in the world as she has played the most consistent tennis throughout the season and now she has two majors to back it up.  So things are looking very bright indeed the for new World No.1 and it will be interesting to see if Kerber can maintain her top spot.

As for Pliskova, well she put in a great effort and she really showed what a terrific player she has become and that she has developed a big match mentality in New York this year.  And from the basis of her performance in this tournament, its fairly safe to say that Pliskova may well be a future grand slam champion.  Pliskova also had her chances and it could very easily have been a different result on Saturday night but regardless of her loss, Pliskova at the age of 24 has definitely arrived as a tennis player.

MEN'S FINAL 

Right now we get onto the men's final which was between the defending champ and World No.1, Novak Djokovic and Stan Wawrinka.  Novak may have a distinct lead in their head to head 19-4 going into this match but their rivalry has been very closely contested over the last three years, where Stan has beaten Nole twice in the majors at the Aussie Open two years and the French open final last year and they have had their share of five set epics and classics. 

And this match didn't disappoint either as both men produced another humdinger for the Arthur Ashe crowd who were enthralled by the tennis on display.  And the first set started with Novak coming out sharp and taking a quick 4-1 lead against Stan, however a lapse of concentration on serve saw Novak surrender his break and play soon went to a tiebreak, which Novak dominated to win the opener. 

The 2nd set however saw a change in momentum as Stan broke Nole early on to take the lead in the 2nd set, but Nole broke back again before Stan managed to yet again break Novak to win the 2nd set and level.  And in the 3rd set Stan started to boss Novak as he began to find his range and use his powerful game and dazzling array of shotmaking to eventually grab the two sets to one lead although he had to overcome Novak's break of serve first. 

And in the 4th set, Stan really stamped his authority on the match and sped into a 3-0 lead, which saw Novak start to wilt physically with injury and 3-1 down he took a medical timeout for his toe.  However this was not enough to put off a determined Stan who then went on to hold firm and also his break which eventually saw the Swiss No.1 seal the win and his first US Open title with it after a thrilling 6-7, 6-4, 7-5, 6-3 victory.

Well there is little doubt this was the best grand slam final of the year and it featured so many great points from both players and from the start it looked doubtful that Stan might come through as Novak came out so sharp.  However, Stan soon turned the tide as he found his range and grew in confidence he rediscovered the form that won him his previous two grand slam titles and after he won the 3rd set he never really looked back.

And with this win Stan has really announced himself as one of the elite players in the game and Novak even after the match suggested that Stan could consider himself an addition to the "big four" and it could now be the "big five" especially as Stan now has three majors to his name just like Andy Murray.  And when you think about it, Stan is now only one slam away from the career slam if he wins Wimbledon then he has achieved something very special indeed.  Although the one thing that could prevent Stan from getting there and from taking on the mantle of one of the "big five" is his lack of confidence in believing in himself when it comes to being prepared to take on that mantle itself as Stan seemed insistent after the match that he still wasn't in the same league as the others.   

Its also funny to think that Stan himself said after the match that he was in state of panic before the final began and that he was in tears in the locker room looking for consolement from his coach, Magnus Norman, yet he went on to produce a very powerful and impressive display.  And this also sums up one of Stan's great strengths is his ability to quietly work his way into the major events and win them when you least expect him to. 

And no matter how you look at it, Stan has proved in this tournament once again he really is player to be reckoned with and no matter how up and down his season gets when it comes to the majors you can never write him off.  And I was personally pleased to see Stan win this one as he worked hard to get to the final having played seven full matches whereas Novak had only played three and with no offence to Novak, it felt more deserving for Stan to win it. 

As for Novak....well this was a bit of a disappointing end to his summer where he has struggled with fitness, injury and personal issues off the court, however he still proved yet again he has a great ability in reaching the final stages of the big events.  And despite Novak's injury concerns, he will still able to put up a good fight against Stan although in the end Stan overpowered him, which has often been the case with Novak this year with quite a few of his defeats coming at the hands of big hitting players. 

And where Novak goes from here....well its hard to say but I don't think he will be overly concerned by this defeat and no doubt he will be able to recover his form in the final swing of the ATP tour season.  Although this is of course where the battle for the No.1 spot between Novak and Andy Murray could start to pick up the pace because if Novak is still less than 100% then there is a fair chance that Andy could close the gap between them both but remains to be seen. 

Anyway so that's it for now and it has been a great US Open this year that has seen two excellent finals to close the tournament.  So all it remains for me to say is to congratulate Angelique Kerber and Stan Wawrinka on their victories as they are both very well deserved.

And that's it and I might be back again soon with a look at the Davis cup weekend as Great Britain, the defending champions will take on Argentina in the semi finals for a spot in the final.  Can team GB defend their title???  Well I guess we will soon find out.

So until then its bye for now.