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Finalists in the men’s ATP World Tour tennis finals (L to R) Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, Kei Nishikori, Andy Murray, Roger Federer and Marin Cilic pose for a group photo at the O2 Arena in London 7 November. The men’s ATP World Tour tennis finals take place at the O2 Arena from Sunday for a week. REUTERS
Effervescent Roger Federer, at 33 the oldest player in the eight-man event, is targeting a seventh title at the ATP’s blue riband tournament, and few would bet against the majestic 17-times grand slam champion achieving it.
Britain’s Andy Murray, who produced a dazzling late surge to qualify for London with three titles in his last six tournaments, will also be hungry to launch himself into next year with a first ATP World Tour Finals crown.
And why not? After all, it has been a year of firsts.
“You know, there was Stan’s (Wawrinka’s) first slam, Cilic’s first slam, Nishikori his first final, Raonic in the semis at Wimbledon,” the Scot told reporters on Friday.
“The young guys have improved and got more consistent but they are up against some of the best players of all time so regardless of how much they have improved it’s not going to be that easy to knock them off.”
Murray, absent last year because of back surgery, will open the tournament on Sunday against Japan’s Nishikori with Federer and Raonic, the other two members of Group B, facing off later.
Djokovic, unbeaten in 27 indoor matches, begins his Group A challenge on Monday against Cilic after Wawrinka takes on O2 regular Czech Tomas Berdych.
Djokovic warmed up for the tournament by retaining his Paris Masters title without dropping a set -- his first tournament since his wife Jelena gave birth to son Stefan.
“Maybe I should be making more children,” a relaxed Djokovic told reporters. “Jelena won’t like that!”
On the subject of new arrivals, Djokovic said the three first-timers in London underlined a sense of change in men’s tennis which since 2003 has been dominated by Federer, the currently sidelined Rafa Nadal, himself and Murray.
“It’s been a few years now that we’ve four different players winning the grand slam titles,” said Djokovic who claimed a seventh major title at Wimbledon this year.
“There is some change in professional tennis in terms of new players and a new generation challenging the top four who have been winning most of the major titles but I think this is something normal to expect.
“Maybe we expected it a bit earlier.”
Federer, twice a champion at the O2, said this year’s grand slam roll of honour made for exciting times, while firing a subtle psychological salvo at Raonic who he lost to at the Paris Masters last week.
“It’s nice to see new faces out there with Raonic, Cilic and Nishikori,” the Swiss told reporters.
“We’ll see how it plays out this week. You really don’t want to lose your first match in the group because then it’s out of your hands. I lost to Milos in Paris because he played well, but it’s more up to me than him. Looking forward to a re-match.”
Raonic was outclassed by Federer in the Wimbledon semi-finals this year but it has still been a superb year for the Canadian who reached as high as world number six in July.
“This is going to be a new challenge because, as he’s been here many times, I will have to find my game straight away,” the 23-year-old Raonic predicted.
Croatian Cilic, still not completely recovered from a nagging shoulder problem, said his win at the US Open, and Wawrinka’s over Nadal at the Australian Open, had given “new breath” to the ATP Tour.
“I’m really honoured to be here, it’s been an incredible season,” he said. “I feel the door opened a little for the other guys, the second line of players, this year. Maybe we are going to see more new grand slam winners next year.”
For the time being though, a $ 1.9 million cheque is up for grabs for an undefeated champion in London and few would bet against one of the “old guard” walking off with it.
Nishikori powers to victory over Murray at Tour FinalsLONDON (Reuters): Japan’s Kei Nishikori made a stunning start to what will surely be the first of many appearances at the ATP World Tour Finals with a 6-4 6-4 win over home favourite Andy Murray on Sunday.
The opening group match of the elite season-ender began slowly but once world number five Nishikori found his range he dominated the twice grand slam champion in front of a sell-out crowd at the spectacular 02 Arena.
US Open runner-up Nishikori battled back from dropping serve in the fifth game of the opening set to break world number six Murray twice - the second time when the Scot netted an ambitious drop shot to gift his opponent the set.
With plenty of Japanese flags fluttering in the cavernous arena, debutant Nishikori quickly forged ahead at the start of the second set, catching Murray miles behind the baseline with a cute drop shot to break on the way to a 3-0 lead.
Murray scrapped and scraped his way through his next service game when Nishikori failed to take three chances for a 4-0 lead, one of which, a missed forehand down the line, was a glaring error from the Japanese.
The 24-year-old Nishikori, who has enjoyed a year of landmarks for Asian men’s tennis including becoming the first man from the continent to qualify for the Tour Finals, refused to loosen his grip and held for a 4-1 lead.
Never is Murray more dangerous than when his back his firmly up against the wall, however, and the former Wimbledon champion nagged away long enough to encourage some errors from Nishikori.
Twice the Japanese player netted volleys in the seventh game and suddenly the set was back on serve.
The momentum appeared to have shifted Murray’s way but Nishikori gathered himself for another attack and sealed a first victory over Murray in four attempts on his first match point when the Briton wafted a backhand long. |
