Ten lessons learned at the ATP World Tour Finals
The O2 Arena, Greenwich, London
Featured
Fan favourite Fed picks up three gongs in a day
After matching his 62 titles with as many winners to dispatch Victor Hanescu in Indian Wells, Federer was honoured on-court with a trio of awards
Latest Category Articles
1. Davydenko was this week’s champion – even before he won the final
It was almost in afterthought that people mentioned that the new ATP World Tour Final champion Nikolay Davydenko had reached last year’s Tennis Masters Cup final in Shanghai. Ranked No.6 in the elite eight-man field, he entered virtually every match in London as the pundit’s underdog – even against the lower-ranked Robin Soderling – and had been offered at odds as long as 12-1 before the tournament to walk away as the year-end champion. No doubt there will be a handful of punters merrily skipping back to their bookmakers today.
So has anything changed for the Russian following the most significant tournament victory of his career? Davydenko, for one, hopes that both something and nothing have. For so long the silent partner at the top table of tennis, he certainly enjoyed his time in the spotlight in London and admitted it has not been easy playing second fiddle to crowd (and corporate) favourites throughout his career.
“In Moscow I play against Marat,” he recalled of his compatriot’s final sojourn on a tennis court in their home country. “Most, like 80%, supported Safin this match. For sure is last tournament for him, but I saw how many people like him, support him, enjoy how Marat play. For me it’s really a little bit disappointment, really.”
Now, though, his name side alongside the likes of John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Boris Becker, Pete Sampras, Ivan Lendl and Roger Federer. He joins Brian Gottfried, Alex Corretja and David Nalbandian as only the fourth champion in the history of the 40-year-old competition without a Grand Slam title to his name, and beat Australian Open champ Nadal in the group stages, Wimbledon and Roland Garros champ Federer in the semi-finals and US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro in the final.
No player triumphed more last week than Davydenko. In terms of his profile, popularity and on-court prowess, the 28-year-old finally received the recognition he deserves.
2. Something has to give – and not the players’ bodies
Andy Roddick was left “envious” after having to watch from the bleachers. Novak Djokovic was suitably irritable and exhausted for a man playing his final encounters of a 97-match season. Federer looked flat, Nadal looked for Adam Helfant to discuss the calendar – and he and Verdasco aren’t done yet.
It’s an old’un but a good’un – the schedule is too long and the off-season too short. Something still needs to be done.
3. Fairweather fans? You kidding?
Sod’s law (no offence, Robin) should have destined London to enjoy the most Indian of Indian summers throughout the World Tour Finals, just to make a mockery of the biggest indoor event to be hosted on these shores. But it rained. Scratch that – it poured throughout the week. And the tennis continued. And day after day, the fans kept coming.
Now don’t get us wrong – we’re not for one minute suggesting that Wimbyfied British tennis fans couldn’t grasp the concept that playing indoors means playing even when it rains. Quite the opposite in fact. The World Tour Finals were played to capacity crowds virtually every night, and crowds of diehard tennis fans at that, fans who know the season doesn’t end when the nets come down at SW19. Thanks for reaffirming our faith that tennis really is a big deal in the UK.
4. Many happy returns as doubles shares the limelight
The dubs guys loved their time at the O2, and not just because of the supermassive changing rooms each of them got. Playing in front of five-figure audiences every night is the reserve of Grand Slam finalists in the tandem game – and even then they’d be lucky.
But like Davydenko, doubles got the recognition it deserved in London, and provided a great advertisement for the discipline so many of us play at our own clubs. There were uspets, there was needle, there were spectacular plays and at the end of it all there was a return to the top of the tree for the Bryan brothers, champions with victory against Max Mirnyi and Andy Ram in the final. Hats off.
5. Roger and Rafa being caught by the peleton
It’s been a big year for both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal, and it is a testament to both that they should finish atop the rankings for one more year. But having enjoyed time in the tennis stratosphere for some years now, there is little doubt that the Swiss and Spaniard’s positions atop the men’s game are set for a new breed of challenge in 2010.
Like leaders in a cycle race, they have asked more of their competitors and now, with age and injury playing their part, they are being slowly wheeled in by the chasing pack. Lead by Djokovic, Murray and del Potro, the game is catching up with them – but only after both raised the bar for the men’s game over the past four years.
And as legendary Formula 1 commentator Murray Walker used to say, it’s one thing to catch up – it’s quite another to overtake…
6. Painted wood, you say? More of that, please
For a while many of us were in the dark on the nature of the court surface that the ATP had laid in the four-day window between comedian Michael MacIntyre’s final date at the O2 and the start of the action proper on Sunday November 22. Thankfully the press office buffs were on hand to tell us it was, in fact, painted wood.
They may as well have been playing on greased lightning. The court was as quick as it was blue and kept the ball low, making for some pyrotechnic rallying throughout the week. Many of the top players – including Roger Federer – were thrown out of their comfort zones by the experience, but responded in the only way the top players in the world know how – they played better tennis. The real winners? Us in the stands.
7. Maths is hard…
There’s no denying that sports journalists consider themselves wordsmiths – as much a part of the drama as the players themselves. A select band will proudly admit to being stattos of the highest order. They do not, however, profess to being arithmetic geniuses, and were tested to their limit on Thursday night when Juan Martin del Potro beat Roger Federer by the exact scoreline needed to pip Andy Murray to a semi-final spot. And even though a few of us got our sums right on the night (toot toot), for the ATP were still checking theirs fifteen minutes after the match ended.
Now, yes, that was a bit of a shambles, and del Potro was put through the mill as a result, but it shouldn’t, and won’t, lead to the round robin format being scrapped. The fans got the best players in the world playing at least three matches. There was heartbreak for Nadal fans, joy for the Soderling squad, awe and frustration at a slow-starting Federer and warm – but not partizan – support for Murray all week. Plus the chance to see Carlos Tevez play tennis.
8. …but twitter is fun!
We had a blast with our new tennisheadLIVE twitter feed from the O2 each day, and apparently some of you did too. So be sure to sign up for our live updates from select matches as next year’s Australian Open – we may even let you select them…
(You can also tweet with us here and join our facebook fanpage here. Go on – it makes us feel all warm inside when we make new friends!)
9. Late late shows: made more exciting if you’ve got a tube to catch? Er…
Understandably for its first year, the largely outstanding World Tour Finals were not without its teething problems. Ushers weren’t quite quick or strict enough to prevent mid-match nomads wandering through the aisles behind the players. Photographers found it difficult to shoot under the blue-rinse lights. And after ‘London Calling’, the playlist lacked any bite towards the end of the week.
But the organisers will certainly have to rethink the scheduling of the evening sessions. With singles players not stepping on court until 8.45pm at the earliest, matches were in danger of ending near midnight – stranding those desperate to make the last Jubilee Line underground towards London. For those that drove, things were no easier – but surely fewer would feel the need if they were able to leave by train in good time. Just a thought…
10. Two white elephants put on quite a show…
Funny to think that just a few years ago, the Millennium Dome was a national embarrassment and the Tennis Masters Cup a retirement-riddled shadow of its former self. No more. What a week – roll on next year.
