A little something for the weekend, sir?
Nov2020094:06 p.m.
The cream of the male tennis world descend on London's O2 Arena this weekend for what could be termed the unofficial 5th Grand Slam.
The end-of-season World Tour Finals see the top 8 ranked players - well those who are still standing after crippling long season - battle it out in a round-robin style event. It's basically two groups of four with the top two going through to the semis and then a straight knock out.
It's a curious tournament, with all the best players involved, especially when you compare it to any Grand Slam event which never ever sees the top 8 players making it to the quarter finals.
This time it is the eight best players (aside from Andy Roddick who pulled out to be replaced by Robin Soderling) which makes it a tournament really worth watching. Every match should be a titanic battle - there are no early rounds for the players to find their feet, and at end of it the winner should net near to £1 million.
The contenders are:
Roger Federer
Rafa Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Andy Murray
Juan Martin Del Potro
Nikolay Davydenko
Fernando Verdasco
Robin Soderling
That's a pretty impressive list and would be comparable to having an FA Cup quarter final draw consisting of Chelsea, Arsenal, Man United, Liverpool, Spurs, Villa, Man City, and Everton. There would be no weak link. The only shame was there wasn't something like this in the days of McEnroe, Borg, Connors, Nastase etc
My money's on Djokovic who has timed his good run to come into this tournament bang on form. The action gets underway on Sunday with Murray taking on del Potro, and the final is due the following Sunday.
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Comments (5)
Thomas_Bedford 'Im not sure you can say Djokovic timed it..... No one wants to be peaking after the season has basically finished. Should be some good games. Is it on sky or normal tv?' added 20th Nov 2009
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Simon_Doyle 'Djokovic generally had a poor first half of the season but has really come into it lately, as you say, after the Grand Slam events. You could say he's peaking just like Liverpool last season - too bloody late. I'm afraid you'll have to catch it on Sky you tightwad.' added 20th Nov 2009
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fatherjack 'Shame such a good tournament comes at the end of the season when they are all knackered. Why not base qualification on the end of season rankings but then play it in the spring the following year when a lot of the players are peaking?' added 20th Nov 2009
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alf_tupper 'just passing thro' for no particular reason other than spam http://viciousmalcious.blogspot.com' added 20th Nov 2009
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Simon_Doyle 'Thanks. Most helpful and honest Alf.' added 25th Nov 2009
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