ATP and Davis Cup Finals

mariabueno.org has taken a while to catch up with Maria’s thoughts on the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals at London’s O2 Arena and the Davis Cup Final a week or so back… here she is:

“It was a strange tournament, the ATP Finals, with the early round group matches very one-sided and two very dramatic semi-finals and then no final at all!” she recalls.

“With the top eight players in the world we were expecting much closer contests but it is clear that there is a big difference now between [Novak] Djokovic and Roger [Federer], and, of course, Rafa [Nadal], who wasn’t there, and the rest of the pack.

“It was billed as the coming of the new generation of top players but they didn’t do too well in that environment.

“Playing a round robin format is very different from the usual knock-out tournament and the fact your are always in with a chance to recover, doesn’t always make for great tennis.

“Of the also-rans, only Kei Nishikori and Stan Wawrinka made any sort of real impact in the semis but were, in the end, also simply out-classed by Djokovic and Federer respectively.

“They both took sets but couldn’t sustain their performances.

“Roger’s earlier, virtually-perfect, performance against Andy Murray was a master class and something that the Brit will not forget in a hurry as he was pretty much humiliated.

“It took a lot of guts for Murray to come back on finals day to fill in for Roger at the last minute after losing love and one – something I think the crowd appreciated, seeing him play against Djokovic.

“As for Roger, he had a three-hour marathon against fellow-Swiss Stan Wawrinka, who had so many chances to win the match – four in all – but he managed to find a way out and took it in the third-set tiebreak.

“There was controversy too, with Wawrinka accusing Mirka [Federer] of heckling from the player box, which I find hard to believe, but from what we heard later, he and Roger had words later.

“The following day Roger left it until just an hour before the final to pull out with a bad back and although he explained his position to the crowd and they put on an exhibition instead, it was a huge disappointment for so many fans.

“Djokovic took the title for the third year in a row and, once again, finished the year as world number one, which is a remarkable achievement.

“Roger, who came very close to reaching number one himself, managed to recover in time for the Davis Cup final a few days later when, apparently, the row with Wawrinka was patched up and they appeared to be firm friends again, which was just as well since they faced a strong French team for the trophy.

 

Switzerland v France at Lille

“Wawrinka played very well against [Jo-Wilfried] Tsonga to win the opening rubber but Gael Monfils got the better of a rusty-looking Roger, who had barely practised leading into the indoor clay court match.

“The tie levelled, Federer and Wawrinka teamed up for the doubles and put in a really good performance in what was to prove the pivotal match of the weekend.

“Roger proved he had got over his back issues and they combined really well to beat Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau (a late replace for Tsonga) in straight sets to put Switzerland ahead 2-1.

“Something went wrong for Tsonga and he wasn’t particularly well received by the French crowd in the opening match, and then he pulled out of the doubles and was replaced in the singles.

“They said it was a recurring arm injury but he looked very down to me. Perhaps it was just the end of a very long year for him…

“It took Federer three sets to overcome Gasquet in the reverse singles on the Sunday to win the Davis Cup for the first time and the result was never in any doubt.

“It was fitting, really, that it was Roger who won the winning tie with a match in hand.

“I’m really pleased for him and the whole Swiss team!

”They had a fantastic home-coming with the trophy too!”