After a long, gruelling and exciting season headlined by the comeback of Rafael Nadal from a long-term knee injury, it’s now up to the top eight men in the world to compete for season supremacy at the most important tournament outside of the Grand Slams, the ATP World Tour Finals.
The event will be held in London for the fifth consecutive year, after previously being held in Shanghai, Houston, and even Sydney, where Lleyton Hewitt won in 2001 to rise to world number one for the first time.
From last year’s field, five men (Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Tomas Berdych) will return for the second consecutive year, while Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet and Stanislas Wawrinka are the new faces.
Nadal returns after being forced to withdraw last year due to his long-term knee injury, while Gasquet qualifies for the first time since 2007 and Wawrinka will be making his tournament debut.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Janko Tipsarevic did not qualify this year, while Andy Murray was forced out due to a back injury which hampered him during the clay court season and after Wimbledon, where he became the first British man in 77 years to win the most coveted trophy in Grand Slam tennis.
Let’s now look at the field in its entirety:
Rafael Nadal
Current world ranking: 1
2012 year-end ranking: 4
Titles this year: Brasil, Acapulco, Indian Wells, Barcelona, Madrid, Rome, FRENCH OPEN, Montreal, Cincinnati, US OPEN
Grand Slam results this year
Australian Open: Did not play
French Open: WON
Wimbledon: First round
US Open: WON
ATP World Tour Finals history
9th consecutive qualification (did not play in 2005, 2008 or 2012 due to injuries)
Best result: Final (2010)
Last year: Did not play
One man who has had the comeback of all comebacks this year is Spain’s raging bull, world number one Rafael Nadal.
After being knocked out in the second round of Wimbledon by Lukas Rosol last year, little did the tennis world know that the Spaniard would not hit another ball in anger for the rest of the year.
Many critics and experts feared that his ongoing knee injuries would spell the end of the Spaniard, and it was vindicated when his ranking dropped to number five after he missed the Australian Open earlier this year.
But Nadal is one never to give up. His comeback began with a series of low-key events in South America, starting in Chile, where he lost the final to unheralded Argentine Horacio Zeballos.
He didn’t have to wait long to win his first title for the year, defeating the soon-to-be-retired David Nalbandian to win in Brasil. He then defeated compatriot David Ferrer to win in Acapulco and usurp his good friend as the three-time defending champion.
But Indian Wells would be where his comeback to the big time would begin. In the quarter-finals, he disposed of Roger Federer (the defending champion) before going on to beat Tomas Berdych and then Juan Martin del Potro to scoop his first title in the Californian desert since 2009.
After choosing to skip Miami, Nadal then returned home to his beloved European clay courts in Monte Carlo, where he had the chance to edge closer to ten consecutive titles in the precinct.
However, with a ninth consecutive title in sight, he was finally knocked off the throne by Novak Djokovic, who would win his most significant clay court title there.
He then captured his first title in Madrid since 2010, and maintained his dominance in Rome, by defeating Federer in a final anywhere for the first time since 2011.
This was then capped off by winning a record-shattering eighth French Open title, where after defeating Djokovic in a thrilling semi-final, he thumped good friend and compatriot Ferrer in straight sets.
Nadal then entered Wimbledon with a chance to claim his third title at the All England Club, but disaster would strike for a second consecutive year, when he crashed out on the very first day to unheralded Belgian Steve Darcis in straight sets.
That again left doubts as to whether Nadal’s time at the top was up. It was not to be.
He then continued his season rampage across North America, unseating both defending champions (Djokovic and Federer respectively) to win the Rogers Cup and Cincinnati, before triumphing in New York for the second time in four years, defeating Djokovic in the final in four sets.
He then reclaimed the world number one ranking in Beijing upon defeating Tomas Berdych (retired) in the semi-finals, before losing the final there to Djokovic, marking his first loss on hard courts since Indian Wells last year. In Shanghai, he was easily beaten by Juan Martin del Potro in the semi-finals.
Nadal is currently competing at the Paris Masters, which he needs to win to become the first man since Andre Agassi in 1999 to win the French Open and the Paris Masters in the same year. Nadal has never won the latter event.
So far in his illustrious career, the World Tour Finals is the only major trophy to elude Nadal, having been beaten by Roger Federer in the final in 2010. It’s the only trophy he needs to capture to finally complete the Super Slam.
Given the phenomenal season he’s had so far, you can confidently bet on him triumphing for the first time at the official ATP season-ending championships.
Prediction: Champion
Novak Djokovic
Current world ranking: 2
2012 year-end ranking: 1
Titles this year: AUSTRALIAN OPEN, Dubai, Monte Carlo, Beijing, Shanghai
Grand Slam results this year:
Australian Open: WON
French Open: Semi-finals
Wimbledon: Final
US Open: Final
ATP World Tour Finals history
7th consecutive qualification
Best result: Won (2008, 2012)
Last year: Won
Novak Djokovic may not have had the best season this year but he has still enjoyed another successful season by his standards.
After narrowly failing to land Serbia its first Hopman Cup with childhood friend and WTA glamour girl Ana Ivanovic, Djokovic then became the equal-most successful man at the Australian Open, scooping his fourth title and in the process maintaining his unbeaten run at the tournament since 2010.
He then won in Dubai, again marking his fourth success at the event, before losing in the semi-finals at Indian Wells and in the fourth round in Miami, where a fourth title was in sight.
After helping Serbia reach the Davis Cup semi-finals, he then won the most significant clay court title of his career, usurping eight-time reigning champion Rafael Nadal to win in Monte Carlo for the first time.
It was that victory which would give Djokovic a psychological edge ahead of the dreaded clay court campaign, but that form would not carry into subsequent tournaments.
He then crashed out in his first match in Madrid to Grigor Dimitrov, and then threw away his quarter-final match against Tomas Berdych and thus missing out on a semi-final showdown against Nadal in Rome.
Losing to Berdych in Rome revived memories of his meltdown from two sets up against Jurgen Melzer at the 2010 French Open, where a semi-final against Nadal was also in sight.
At the French Open, Djokovic was faced with climbing Mount Everest if he was to triumph at Roland Garros for the first time, as he was drawn in the same half as Nadal. He eventually reached the final four, but failed to knock off the Spaniard after leading 4-2 in the final set.
Then, at Wimbledon, he reached the final for the first time in 2011, but didn’t have it very easy – he had to overcome Juan Martin del Potro in the longest Wimbledon semi-final in history, just a few minutes off the historic 2008 Wimbledon final.
That took its toll on Djokovic, who was then easily beaten in the final by Andy Murray in straight sets.
The Serb was then unsuccessful in defending his Rogers Cup title, falling to Nadal in a final set tiebreak, and also wasted a good chance to complete his set of Masters titles by falling to John Isner at Cincinnati.
His moderate US Open series campaign then ended in defeat in New York at the hands of Nadal, marking a fourth loss from five finals in the Big Apple.
But since then, Djokovic has not missed a beat, helping Serbia reach its first Davis Cup final since 2010, retaining titles in Beijing and Shanghai and keeping alive his chances of reclaiming the world number one ranking, which he relinquished to Nadal in Beijing despite beating his Spanish rival in the final there.
As the margin between Nadal and Djokovic in the rankings is only a few hundred points, the Serb must hope that Nadal crashes out in the quarter-finals and, for his part, go on to win the title, which would mark a 50th career title.
His glory might be short-lived, as he will have to defend the World Tour Finals, which he won over Roger Federer last year. Nadal, on the other hand, has nothing to defend and has never won the event.
Nevertheless, you can still expect Djokovic to put in a good performance in front of his London fans, and indirectly make up for his failure to win Wimbledon by triumphing in the British capital for the second consecutive year.
Prediction: Final
Join us tomorrow for part II.
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