[RgtrsKfR]

Name: Barclays ATP World Tour Finals
Category: 1500
Place: London, England
Date: 20.11.2011-27.11.2011
Draw Size: S-8 D-8
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: £ 2,227,500


Singles Player Field
1. Novak Djokovic (SRB)
2. Rafael Nadal (ESP)
3. Andy Murray (GBR)
4. Roger Federer (SUI)
5. David Ferrer (ESP)
6. Tomas Berdych (CZE)
7. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)
8. Mardy Fish (USA)

Alternates
9. Janko Tipsarevic (SRB)
10. Nicolas Almagro (ESP)


Doubles Player Field
1. Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (USA/USA)
2. Michael Llodra/Nenad Zimonjic (FRA/SRB)
3. Daniel Nestor/Max Mirnyi (CAN/BLR)
4. Mahesh Bhupathi/Leander Paes (USA/USA)
5. Robert Lindstedt/Horia Tecau (SWE/ROU)
6. Jurgen Melzer/Philipp Petzschner (AUT/GER)
7. Rohan Bopanna/Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi (IND/PAK)
8. TBD

[addisonnicogel]

Butorac/Rojer lost 14-12 in STB to Llodra/Zimonjic; therefore, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski is the final team to qualify.

[Investblogger]

I want Roger and Rafa in the same group! Its time to Fed win once against him this year!!!

[Finkevannon]

For some reason, I'm especially excited for this year's edition. It just seems like everyone there can beat everyone else there (with Novak and Rafa's injuries and fatigue as a factor, anyway). It's been like 9 years since I looked at the group and didn't immediately say "This is Roger's to win or lose."

random thought: For the life of me, I cannot figure out why David Ferrer has never picked up a win over Roger on any surface. I feel like he plays what should be an annoying and frustrating style for Rog.

[Siffidiolla]

random thought: For the life of me, I cannot figure out why David Ferrer has never picked up a win over Roger on any surface. I feel like he plays what should be an annoying and frustrating style for Rog.

Mostly because he has a poor serve for a top 10 player but also he has never been lucky enough to catch Roger on a well below average day.

[hapasaparaz]

Group A
Djokovic
Murray
Ferrer
Berdych

Group B
Nadal
Federer
Tsonga
Fish

-------------------------------

Group A
Bob Bryan / Mike Bryan
Mahesh Bhupathi / Leander Paes
Robert Lindstedt / Horia Tecau
Jurgen Melzer / Philipp Petzschner

Group B
Michael Llodra / Nenad Zimonjic
Daniel Nestor / Max Mirnyi
Rohan Bopanna / Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi
Mariusz Fyrstenberg / Marcin Matkowski

[Lunims]

Group A
Djokovic
Murray
Ferrer
Berdych

Group B
Nadal
Federer
Tsonga
Fish

Looking at these groups I'm really impressed Ferrer made it. He's the only one of the eight who doesn't clock the ever-loving piss out of the ball.

I'm curious to see what happens with the Berdych-Murray and Tsonga-Fed rematches.

Who's healthy and who isn't!? Djokovic, Nadal, and Fish are all really questionable. I'm betting at least one of the alternates gets to play a match. One of those three could easily go down 0-2 and then call it quits.

[Marc Spilkintin]

ORDER OF PLAY - SUNDAY, 20 NOVEMBER, 2011

CENTRE COURT start 12:15 pm
[3] M Mirnyi (BLR) / D Nestor (CAN) vs [5] R Bopanna (IND) / A Qureshi (PAK)

Not Before 2:00 PM
[4] R Federer (SUI) vs [6] J Tsonga (FRA)

Not Before 6:15 PM
[2] M Llodra (FRA) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs [8] M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)

Not Before 8:00 PM
[2] R Nadal (ESP) vs [8] M Fish (USA)

[Marc Spilkintin]

ORDER OF PLAY - MONDAY, 21 NOVEMBER, 2011

CENTRE COURT start 12:15 pm
[4] M Bhupathi (IND) / L Paes (IND) vs [6] R Lindstedt (SWE) / H Tecau (ROU)

Not Before 2:00 PM
[3] A Murray (GBR) vs [5] D Ferrer (ESP)

Not Before 6:15 PM
[1] B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs [7] J Melzer (AUT) / P Petzschner (GER)

Not Before 8:00 PM
[1] N Djokovic (SRB) vs [7] T Berdych (CZE)

[Finkevannon]

Mostly because he has a poor serve for a top 10 player but also he has never been lucky enough to catch Roger on a well below average day.

Yeah, I also wonder if there's something else going on, maybe mentally. Murray and Nadal have serves that are no better and they probably don't get a lot of free points of Roger with it, but they both have relatively phenomenal records against him.

[Finkevannon]

Group A
Djokovic
Murray
Ferrer
Berdych

Group B
Nadal
Federer
Tsonga
Fish

I'm honestly not sure Rafa could have gotten a worse draw.

[Nosmas]

I'm honestly not sure Rafa could have gotten a worse draw.

Nope. Maybe Berdych in place of Fish? Or am I unfairly regarding Fish at the moment? I still can't seem to mentally accept his ranking. Berdych has improved his results lately again.

[Finkevannon]

Nope. Maybe Berdych in place of Fish? Or am I unfairly regarding Fish at the moment? I still can't seem to mentally accept his ranking. Berdych has improved his results lately again.

I think Nadal's kind of "figured" Berdych out. Mardy's given Rafa a bit more trouble as of late. But this surface, most matchups are troublesome for Rafa. If he wins this tournament, with this draw, it would be only a smidgen less impressive to me than when he won the US Open.

[wowwieholmes]

come on MURRAY he is in great form

[mirvokrug]

I am counting on the "second four" to make this tournament interesting - and with Round Robin formats, anything can happen.

[Evsltkzl]

I'm honestly not sure Rafa could have gotten a worse draw.

Nadal vs. Federer: 17-8; vs. Tsonga: 6-2; vs. Fish: 7-1

I think the draw is fine for Rafa. Whether he is physically fine, or thinking more about Davis Cup are my bigger concerns.

[wowwieholmes]

I think Murray is going to win

[inownsuipsy]

Real nice profile on Mardy that appears in today's NY Times:


Special Report: ATP World Tour Finals
First Time in World Finals Is the Charm for U.S. Underdog
By CHRISTOPHER CLAREY
Published: November 18, 2011

Mardy Fish had dropped all that weight and kept it off. He had shored up his forehand and his endurance, finally committed himself to consistency and no-regrets exploration of the full range of his tennis talent.

Yet in the early stages of this season, with his body refusing to cooperate with the master plan, Fish began to despair. At age 29, which is advanced for a 21st-century tennis professional, Fish knew the moment to make a major move was now, but despite all the training and ambition, he was mysteriously low on energy.

“It was tough, we couldn’t understand it,” said Fish’s coach, David Nainkin. “I remember in March, he said: ‘I’m never going to be in the top 10. My time is running out.”’

Nainkin can tell such Fish stories now with the ease of a coach who is on the other side of the abyss. Fish, after recovering from what was finally diagnosed as thyroiditis, actually did better than the top 10. He made it into the top eight, which has earned him his first trip to the elite A.T.P. World Tour Finals.

The odds remain heavily against Fish winning a Grand Slam singles title in this top-heavy men’s tennis era. His close friend Andy Roddick is sure to remain, in the big picture, the leader of their generation of American men.

But Fish will always have this: an unexpected place in the lineup with the game’s heavyweights after never finishing higher than 16th in the year-end rankings in his first 11 seasons on tour.

Rest of article: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/19/sp...TTENNIS19.html

[Nosmas]

I admit it.

I laughed aloud as soon as I saw the first sentence.

[Talicoabilk]

Nadal vs. Federer: 17-8; vs. Tsonga: 6-2; vs. Fish: 7-1

I think the draw is fine for Rafa.

It's indoors. Federer, Tsonga, and Fish enjoy indoor conditions. I'm not so sure about Nadal.