ATP World Tour Finals: London

wr8_utd

Ripped :'(
Joined
Apr 22, 2008
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Starts off on Sunday.

Group A

Pretty much the group of death this.

Nadal
Djokovic
Roddick
Berdych

Group B

Fed
Murray
Soderling
Ferrer

Group B should be straightforward and expect Fed and Murray to go through. Soderling, Paris Apart has been rubbish since Rolland Garros and well Ferrer is just rather useless.

Group A is tight. Would back Djokovic to go through and one of Nadal and Roddick. Nadal's not been great since the US Open and has not played any tennis in over a month so won't even surprise me if he crashes out early.
 
You can never know with Group B. Soderling will be riding high on confidence, and Murray has suffered some shock losses in the hands of big hitters you'll usually expect him to beat- Cilic and Wawrinka. Federer for a guy his age has played a lot of tennis as of late, and had a really strange loss to Monfils last week. But yeah I still think Murray if he's fit should beat Soderling and I expect Federer will do the same, so it'll probably be those two.

As for Group A, Djokovic has admitted that right now, all he's focused on is the DC final, so who knows he might not give it his all. Nadal's, his returning game and break-point conversion has really sucked at some crucial points this year, both of which will be important against Roddick. It's a bit harder to call than Group B. But for either group, I'd expect Berdych and Ferrer to be the whipping boys.
 
Group B is the tougher group. Soderling >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> Roddick and Berdych > Ferrer. I expect one of Murray or Fed to go in the first round more than Nadal or Djokovic
 
Seveneric said:
You can never know with Group B. Soderling will be riding high on confidence, and Murray has suffered some shock losses in the hands of big hitters you'll usually expect him to beat- Cilic and Wawrinka. Federer for a guy his age has played a lot of tennis as of late, and had a really strange loss to Monfils last week. But yeah I still think Murray if he's fit should beat Soderling and I expect Federer will do the same, so it'll probably be those two.

As for Group A, Djokovic has admitted that right now, all he's focused on is the DC final, so who knows he might not give it his all. Nadal's, his returning game and break-point conversion has really sucked at some crucial points this year, both of which will be important against Roddick. It's a bit harder to call than Group B. But for either group, I'd expect Berdych and Ferrer to be the whipping boys.
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Yep. Soderling might be riding high on confidence right now but he's Federer's bitch and Murray in front of "home" support I think will do well. And plus he's the King of the ATP tournaments off late, especially on hard courts and indoors.

Nadal has been poor since USO and has not played any tennis in over a month now since Shanghai. I'm not really confident about his performances. A semi final appearance at best I reckon.
 
Just realized that if Nadal does win this he joins Agassi as the only two men to achieve a Career Super slam i.e all the Slams plus the Olympic and the Year End Finals.

He and Nadal hold a number of records together actually. Just the two of them.
1) Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and U.S. Open
2)Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and grand slams on clay and hardcourt
3)Simultaneous holder of Olympic singles gold medal and three grand slams
4)Career Golden Slam

The two of them are quite similar with their records :D
 
If Murray is not over his Wrist twinge, he's going to struggle.. his first match should tell us alot about the way he's feeling.
 
Reckon he will. He's had a good 2 week rest since his earlyish exit in Paris. He'll do well here imo. And he'll beat Federer as well. Murray owns Federer in all masters series tournaments.
 
Murray's taken the first set against Soderling comfortably, but he's doing his customary passive stance in the 2nd set and is in danger of letting the Swede back in it.

Its in the Scots hands though, just needs to maintain intensity.
 
Sean_RedDevil said:
Have Murray and Soderling ever played against each other?
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Yeah the h2h was 2-2 before this match with Soderling winning their last two meetings.

Not really a surprising result from Murray as he turned up today and executed his tactics well, plus the court speed favors him.
 
As I've said I can really see Murray win this. He's the best at Hard court and indoor ATP tournaments. Reckon he'll beat Federer in the group stages as well. So hopefully Nadal can top his group as well because I can't see Nadal beat Murray on this surface.

That was a tribute to Moya right now btw. Great stuff.
 
Federer beat Ferrer 6-1 6-4

It might indicate that it was an easy win but it was anything but. Ferrer had tons of break points in the 2nd set but he just could not convert.
 
Well Djoko won rather easily. 6-3 6-3 vs Berdych.

It'll be him and Nadal/Roddick to go through.
 
And Roddick takes the set 6-3. This has been sensationally rubbish stuff from Nadal. Roddick's not even had to play too well to win this set. 9th consecutive set Nadal's lost in this tournament now. Hugely embarrassing performance till now.

Needs to start taking some break point chances in the next set if he's to have any chance.
 
So annoying I can't find evening matches on the red button.
 
Set Nadal. That's the first set he's won at this tournament since the group stages in 2008 :eek:

PS: That Roddick serve is a monster. Impossible to play at times.
 
Phew. That was close. Rafa wins 3-6 7-6 6-4. A real struggle but a crucial win.

Positives:

Nadal was well below par for most of the game and yet managed to win.

Crucial for him to finally win a match at this tournament after 6 games.

Serve was going well for the last set.

Negatives

Far too many unforced errors and yet not taking his chances on break points.

The loss of a set and a lot of games conceded could prove crucial when it comes to qualification from the group. Rafa needs to beat Birdych in straight sets.

All in all a good result considering it's his first game in over a month and he's just recovered from a bit of shoulder tendonitis.

Feel for Roddick though. Guy played well and was up a break in the 2nd and up a mini break in the tie break as well. Hope he does well in this tournament.

Can't wait for Murray Federer tomorrow now. Murray to win in 2 difficult sets imo.
 
Oh and Kylie Minogue :drool:

None of you Londoners out here going for any of these games?
 
wr8_utd said:
Murray Fed is today...he said tomorrow. Unless he meant today as tomorrow :nervous:
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Well judging by the time of his post it was 23.53 yesterday:lol:... he's left it real tight, I guess he'll tell us soon enough which game he was at.
 
Raees said:
Well judging by the time of his post it was 23.53 yesterday:lol:... he's left it real tight, I guess he'll tell us soon enough which game he was at.
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Oh right I just saw the time as 05:23 and forgot to reduce the 5.5 hours time gap :lol:

Well then lucky him. Fed Murray is even better!
 
wr8_utd said:
Oh right I just saw the time as 05:23 and forgot to reduce the 5.5 hours time gap :lol:
Well then lucky him. Fed Murray is even better!
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Ah as if it wasn't difficult enough:lol:.. I just hope Murray brings it today.
 
Federer a break up, already imposing his game.. Murray needs to show some balls, typical performance from him so far in a big Fed-Murray matchup that means something.
 
Yeah Murray's been rubbish so far. I still expect him to beat Fed today or in the final in this tournament. Murray's the King of the Small time and anything that's not a Slam he does well. Fed's been good today. Very good serve. Sometimes I wish Nadal had a serve as good as his.
 
Federer continues to serve well and to serve for the set. NOT looking forward to Fed vs Nadal (if he makes it) in the semis indoor :nervous:
 
Murray had a huge chance at 0-30 but Fed closed it out. First set Fed 6-3
 
wr8_utd said:
Yeah Murray's been rubbish so far. I still expect him to beat Fed today or in the final in this tournament. Murray's the King of the Small time and anything that's not a Slam he does well. Fed's been good today. Very good serve. Sometimes I wish Nadal had a serve as good as his.
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This tournament has always meant a lot to the players - more so to Murray now as it's in London. It's hardly small time. Also, failing to beat arguably the best player of all time in grand slams hardly makes Murray 'the king of small time'...
 
Murray's been destroyed in this 2nd set :lol:

If he's not careful he's in real danger of going out in the group stages even if he wins his next match due to the number of games dropped today.
 
BaldwinLegend said:
This tournament has always meant a lot to the players - more so to Murray now as it's in London. It's hardly small time. Also, failing to beat arguably the best player of all time in grand slams hardly makes Murray 'the king of small time'...
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Well it's not just Roger Federer though is it? He can lose to pretty much anyone in Slams. Losses to Cilic, Wawrinka, Verdasco and the likes are a testament to that.

He chokes on the big stages but is actually very very good on the hard court Masters Series tournaments. Maybe it's nerves at the big stage but right now he's not a man for the big occasion.
 
wr8_utd said:
Well it's not just Roger Federer though is it? He can lose to pretty much anyone in Slams. Losses to Cilic, Wawrinka, Verdasco and the likes are a testament to that.

He chokes on the big stages but is actually very very good on the hard court Masters Series tournaments. Maybe it's nerves at the big stage but right now he's not a man for the big occasion.
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He's lost two grand slam finals to Federer meaning that in any other era he might well have been a grand slam champion by now.

He's still young enough to win several in this era though, so crowning him 'the king of small time' seems somewhat premature to me.
 
BaldwinLegend said:
He's lost two grand slam finals to Federer meaning that in any other era he might well have been a grand slam champion by now.

He's still young enough to win several in this era though, so crowning him 'the king of small time' seems somewhat premature to me.
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True and I can honestly see him winning atleast 1 Hard Court Slam but he's already 23, just a year younger than Nadal who has 9 Slams.

Fed at that age had a number of slams as well, as did Hewitt and even Djoko has one.

And anyway King of Small time is apt for him right now. It's a tad bit harsh but he really does lack the bottle to turn it on consistently at the biggest stage. He'll most likely change that in the future but right now his game and mentality is just not that of a Slam winner.

I still expect him to win this tournament though. I can see him meeting, and beating Fed in the final.
 
Sean_RedDevil said:
It was today. :D

Doubles: Fantastic match
Federer v Murray: Murray was so poor therefore it wasn´t a great match.
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Yeah quality of tennis in the Murray match wasn't great. Going for the Nadal match tomorrow? How much are the tickets btw?
 
Bizarre match from Murray today. I'd have almost staked my left leg that he'd beat Federer as this court favors Murray's style of play so much that it's almost like they asked his opinion when laying it. But like Murray has shown so many times this year, he just fails to show up at some big moments, today was another example. Even Federer was shocked it was so easy.

And I have to :lol: at Roddick coming in with a attacking the net game plan because it worked for him so well at Indian Wells earlier this year and not having a plan B. It worked the first time because it had the surprise factor, he's not even that good of a net player. Once Nadal started finding his range on his forehand and backhand passing shots, he was toast. Again last night's match also proved to me that Nadal's returning game has really deteriorated. Used to be the best/2nd best returner in the game, now I'd put him behind Djokovic, Murray and Federer.
 
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