Federer fighting for top billing
22 November 2009Roger Federer is three wins away from finishing the season as the number one in men’s tennis for the fifth time in six years.
Winning all his opening group matches at the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals, which start today in London, would mean that the 28year-old Swiss can’t be surpassed by Rafael Nadal. The Tour finals, held from today to November 2 9 at theO2 arena in south-east London, are the culmination of the tennis season for the top eight singles and doubles players.
US Davis Cup captain Patrick McEnroe is backing Federer to win. ‘‘He thrives in that kind of environment where he knows he’s playing against the best," McEnroe said.
Federer is seeking to join Ivan Lendl as the only men to hold, lose and regain the number one ranking in one season. He finished in the top spot from 2004 through 2007 before his streak was ended by Nadal last year.
An undefeated champion may win as much as $1.6 million and gain a maximum 1,500 ranking points. Federer, ranked number one, and Nadal, number two, are only 945 points apart entering the tournament. No one else can claim the season-ending number one ranking.
If Nadal wins all his group stage matches and the semi-final but loses the final, he will earn 1,000 points. Should that happen, Federer would need only to win one round-robin match to beat Nadal for the top spot.
If Federer doesn’t make the championship match, or win all three of his group stage matches, then Nadal could end the year as number one, as long as he finishes the tournament undefeated.
Federer has a 28-5 record at the finals with four titles, three more than the rest of the field combined. Nadal has a 4-4 record and made the semifinals in 2006 and 2007, losing both times to Federer, the eventual champion. Injuries forced Nadal, a 23year-old Spaniard, out of the finals in 2005 and last year.
Nadal, whose season was marred by knee tendonitis that prevented him from defending his Wimbledon title, said he wasn’t focused on regaining the top spot he lost to Federer after the grass-court Grand Slam in London in July.
‘‘That is stupid talk right now," Nadal said at a news conference last week at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, where he was ousted in the semifinals by third-ranked Novak Djokovic.
‘‘Number one, I think, is almost impossible, no?"
The ATP World Tour Finals will be played in a round-robin format, with eight players divided into two groups.
Each will face the three others in the section, with the top two in each half moving into the knockout semifinals. Federer is the top seed in Group A, where he’ll face fourth-ranked Andy Murray of Britain, US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina and Australian Open semifinalist Fernando Verdasco of Spain.
In Group B, top-seeded Nadal will play Djokovic¤, the defending champion from Serbia, 2008 runner-up Nikolay Davydenko of Russia and FrenchOpen runner-up Robin Soderling of Sweden.
‘‘Federer is the best in the world, Del Potro has won the US Open and Verdasco has just had his best season to date. There are no easy matches regardless of what group you’re in," Murray said on his website.
There are questions about Federer’s thirst for another title after a season in which he won his first French Open, took a record-breaking 15th major title at Wimbledon and became the father of twin girls with his wife, Mirka.
‘‘It all depends on how long he wants to play," said Paul Annacone, the former coach of 14-time Grand Slam winner Pete Sampras. ‘‘For most of those guys, at the end of their careers, it becomes more of a mental drain."
Following his triumph at Wimbledon, Federer’s five-year run of US Open titles was ended by Del Potro last September. He decided not to play tournaments in Asia in the autumn, citing a ‘‘physically challenging year." After his break, he was beaten by Djokovic in the final of a tournament in his hometown of Basel, after winning the event three straight times.
The next week, he lost his first match in Paris against unseeded Frenchman Julien Benneteau. ‘‘I definitely had chances. I missed them," Federer said at a news conference after his defeat.
‘‘Seems to happen a bit to me now, looking back at the Basel final or the US Open final. I just have to make sure I don’t let chances go by like this all the time."
Competitors have started to catch up with Federer, McEnroe said. ‘‘He’s never going to dominate the way he did for a four-year stretch when he was winning ten or 12 tournaments a year and only losing four or five times," the Davis Cup captain said. ‘‘Still, he’s proved by winning two majors, and reaching the final of two others, that he’s still the man to beat."
One bad loss wasn’t going to change things, said Federer. ‘‘Pressure is long gone since the French Open and other great victories I’ve had," he said. ‘‘I hope I can make a good run, because I really feel like I have some good tennis left in me."