Tournament officials angry at Andy Murray is turning into a trend for the Scot. Last week it was Marseille that wasn’t pleased with Murray’s pulling out of that event for basically not feeling up to it. Now Murray has earned the wrath of the Barclays Dubai event after admitting during his press conference after his second round loss to Janko Tipsarevic that he was trying “some things out” and that, quote, “If it had been a slam, my tactics and game style would have been a bit different.” Continue reading
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Fed Struggles in London & Day 2 Predix.
For a moment it looked like the erratic play of Roger Federer late in the season would continue as he dropped the opening service game in his match against Fernando Verdasco at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Verdasco, who had never won a set against the world No. 1, finally did through steady play and solid serving to go up 6-4.
In the second set, Verdasco stayed right with Federer throughout. But Verdasco’s sloppy attempt at a smash overhead on the baseline that went awry gave Federer the opening he needed to take the second set 7-5.
After that it was all Federer as the wheels came off of Verdasco’s game while Federer’s forehand finally found its mark allowing Federer to seal the victory 4-6, 7-5, 6-1.
Tomorrow Rafael Nadal opens up against Robin Soderling while Novak Djokovic, the pre-tournament favorite, takes on Nikolay Davydenko. I actually like Soderling in the first match as recently Nadal has been very vulnerable indoors. Djokovic should win against Davydenko but will be interesting to see how much gas “Nole” has left after winning the last two events in a row.
By the way, kudos to the ATP for staging the ATP finale in London. The arena has been packed for each match and the play so far has lived up to the superstar billing. Hopefully this will finally allow the finals to be the “fifth slam” the ATP has dreamed of.
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Murray Wins ATP Finals Opener.
Andy Murray got off to a good start at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals by defeating long time rival Juan Martin Del Potro 6-3, 3-6, 6-2.
Murray jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first set before closing it out 6-3 and it looked like it would be a short day for the home crowd favorite. But Del Potro started to cut down his errors and got his big forehand going helping him to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the second.
Del Potro effectively used his forehand, especially crosscourt, to force Murray into deeper defensive positions. Del Potro sealed up the second set 6-3 with another crosscourt forehand and it looked like the big man was ready to take the match.
But Murray dug his heels in early in the third and broke Del Potro to jump out to a 3-0 lead. Murray’s first serve became his most lethal weapon as he did not drop a point when he hit a first serve in. Del Potro missed two forehands long and his chance to break back at 4-2 down and that was pretty much it as he dropped serve to lose the third set 2-6.
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Soderling on Standby for London.
According to the London Times yesterday, Andy Roddick was preparing to announce he was withdrawing from the Barclays ATP Finals in London due to his ongoing knee injury. The internet was abuzz with the rumor and waited for the news.
Well, we’re still waiting.
As of now, Roddick is still officially in the field although Robin Soderling and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the official alternates should Roddick bow out.
At last year’s ATP finale in Shanghai, Roddick lost his first round match to Andy Murray then withdrew from his next match due to an ankle injury. If Roddick does withdraw prior to the finale start, he would at least give Soderling a chance to win the whole thing and avoid the injury plagued drama of that WTA season ending event in Doha where alternates Vera Zvonareva and Agnieska Radwankska were called up to play with no hope of winning the event.
Stay tuned.
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Adjusting the Net 