ATP World Tour Finals 2011, London Calling

Here we go again!

Final tournament for the best 8 of 2011: Djokovic, Nadal, Murray, Federer, Ferrer, Berdych, Tsonga, Fish.


Some call it the 5th slam, some see it as an exhibiton, as for me, it presents as a super opportunity to expereience some more tennis thrill before the Christmas off-season, to see, hopefully some good matches and the legends of the game, LIVE!!!!

This time last year, the weather was awful, tube drivers were striking, 606v2 didn't exist, I had a near-death experience, and Nole managed to put TWO lenses in one eye and was considered by most to be a one slam wonder....


Haven't things changed in the meantime ?

So, I'm taking this last opportunity of 2011 to:

1) watch tennis in GMT time-zone and not have to wear massive bags under my eyes every morning
2) see a civilized scenario of 2 matches a day (must say a perfect portion!)
3) enjoy seeing those matches in the packed O2 arena every day for every match


And because one never knows what another day may bring, who may or may not be in London this time next year, because above all we all love tennis, let's enjoy the last stop of this 2011 quirky, cosy tennis ride, let the WTF commence


Order of play for Sunday, 18th of November 2011:

http://www.atpworldtour.com/Finals/2011.aspx


P.S.

There will be a few people form this forum going to O2 next week. Please find a bit of time to give us your first-hand impressions and perhaps photos and personal anecdotes.

God willing, I'll be there on Sunday and Monday evening sessions.

Once again, to you for posting these threads. Fantastic to have a tournament thread

carrieg4 wrote:Once again, to you for posting these threads. Fantastic to have a tournament thread

Thanks carrieg4, it's not as it could be, but better than nothing !

Great article to set the scene nitb

With no guarantee that London will always be the home of the WTF, we must enjoy it while we can (how long before some really big money from the Gulf tries to pull it from us...?)

It's just great to have the absolute cream of the world battling it out right here in our own country. Sure helps brighten up a damp and dark November ......

hmm well on the evidence of that first game it looks quicker than last year, and much quicker than Paris. Fed holds to love

Mad for Chelsea wrote:hmm well on the evidence of that first game it looks quicker than last year, and much quicker than Paris. Fed holds to love

Federer agrees with you but I certainly don't. It looks awfully slow!

Tsonga not settling at all yet, made one first serve and spraying his forehand all over the place, Fed moves into a 4-1 lead. I can't agree with you on that Tenez, I'm on Fed's side in this one, looks far quicker than last year.

Tenez wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:hmm well on the evidence of that first game it looks quicker than last year, and much quicker than Paris. Fed holds to love

Federer agrees with you but I certainly don't. It looks awfully slow!

Slow, but the ball is livelier than last year. Sanchez still the court designer?

BTW: what a lousy start of the match. Nerves?
Federer is 4-2 up, but what has he done so far?

But I have Petchey on my side now! He has just said so. Actually Henman joins me too.

Anyway, No ace yet despite many first serves....and that is difficult to argue against.

gallery play wrote:

Tenez wrote:

Mad for Chelsea wrote:hmm well on the evidence of that first game it looks quicker than last year, and much quicker than Paris. Fed holds to love

Federer agrees with you but I certainly don't. It looks awfully slow!

Slow, but the ball is livelier than last year. Sanchez still the court designer?

BTW: what a lousy start of the match. Nerves?
Federer is 4-2 up, but what has he done so far?

You mean it bounces higher? ..therefore makes it even slower? To me the ball looks like it has breaks on it towards the baseline.

This is definitely slower than last year.

Looks very slow actually.

The ball is hardly going through the court.

Tsonga's shots looks like Ferrer's on this court!

Just one winner off the baseline from Tsonga in that set.

I think that tells us a lot about the speed.

Fed with no winners off the baseline.

I just think the ball is going through the court quicker than last year, and it's certainly much quicker than Paris (which was like mud). However, the ball is also bouncing higher than last year I think, which won't help Fed (particularly against Nadal)

the lack of winners is because Tsonga's playing rubbish...

Tsonga: I can't put a ball in the middle of the frame!"

Tenez wrote:

You mean it bounces higher? ..therefore makes it even slower? To me the ball looks like it has breaks on it towards the baseline.

Yeah, i think this ball has a much bigger bounce than last year. Last year it was a dead ball on a slow court. A bit like SW19 actually.

Tsonga.....did he sleep last night or what?

Good day for Fed to work on the won/loss games ratio

pfff, Federer is playing crap too

MfC. It is ridiculously slow. Very surprised yuo see it differently!

Worst match of the year?

dreadful game from Federer, who makes four straight UEs from 30-0 up to hand Tsonga a life-line...

Tenez, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, you can't be saying this is slower than Paris?!?!?!

Absolutely terrible first set. Tsonga was basically incapable of getting the ball in the court. Embarrassing really.

Yes I thnk none can get any rhythm but the weird thing is as hard as both serve no ace in 11 games!!! You typically have 5 aces per set each between thpse 2.


Hey/....first ace while typing.

I agree it's very slow, pretty obvious. Not as slow as Paris but then again that was the slowest HC I've ever seen (along with Miami).

Mad for Chelsea wrote:
Tenez, we'll have to agree to disagree on this one, you can't be saying this is slower than Paris?!?!?!

It's slower than Paris and I am pretty sure that Federer is going to say so in his post match interview.

It's Henman's slow mouvement that made him feel the court was faster when training with the brit.

The rallies are short and still ending with a UE every time
I'm in shock of how poor the quality of this match is.

Tenez, Federer better than 2006?

This is typical of what's been happening for the last few years.

Federer out of nowhere goes into UE mode, and his opponent has done nothing to cause it.

I have to agree with that emancipator

emancipator wrote:Tenez, Federer better than 2006?

This is typical of what's been happening for the last few years.

Federer out of nowhere goes into UE mode, and his opponent has done nothing to cause it.

oH oh! I was expecting that one. A break to is enough to throw away tons of evidence. That's a low shot!

No, like I said this is typical of his play nowadays. You just refuse to see what is infront of you.

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote:Tenez, Federer better than 2006?

This is typical of what's been happening for the last few years.

Federer out of nowhere goes into UE mode, and his opponent has done nothing to cause it.

oH oh! I was expecting that one. A break to is enough to throw away tons of evidence. That's a low shot!

You have to admit T, this is really really really poor play by Federer

His B game in 2006 was as good as a 7 on a scale of 1-10
But B game in 2011 is waaaaaaay below that

The difference today is that Federer hasn't got any easy points on his serve cause teh court is awfully slow allowing Tsonga to hammer the ball without being rushed.

Ok, Fed needs to pull this out somehow if he wants to get through the group stage.

I don't fancy his chances against Nadal on this court.

gallery play wrote:

Tenez wrote:

emancipator wrote:Tenez, Federer better than 2006?

This is typical of what's been happening for the last few years.

Federer out of nowhere goes into UE mode, and his opponent has done nothing to cause it.

oH oh! I was expecting that one. A break to is enough to throw away tons of evidence. That's a low shot!

You have to admit T, this is really really really poor play by Federer

His B game in 2006 was as good as a 7 on a scale of 1-10
But B game in 2011 is waaaaaaay below that

But in 2006 you never had such a slow surface with players able to hit through the slow pace like TSonga. That is teh main difference. More than ever on those courts it's about muscle and power. Great technique is not good enough to generate power and shake those kinds of players off.

rubbish Tenez! the difference is that Fed went down about three gears in this second set and started playing rubbish (think Monaco match, but Tsonga has the weapons to hurt him). Tsonga has raised his level a bit in the last few games at least, Fed is going to have to find something here if he is to pull this one out of the bag.

Tsonga has played no more than average in the second set.

It's Federer's apalling level that decided it.

As for big hitters in the past, what about Gonzalez, Blake, Roddick (when he had a FH), Safin, etc. There have always been big hitters.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:rubbish Tenez! the difference is that Fed went down about three gears in this second set and started playing rubbish (think Monaco match, but Tsonga has the weapons to hurt him). Tsonga has raised his level a bit in the last few games at least, Fed is going to have to find something here if he is to pull this one out of the bag.

Honestly you are really contradicting yourself now. The difference is that Tsonga found his range. That's all and you know it. Federer on a court like that has no weapon. he is like Ferrer. No serve and his grounds shots are not rushing anyone.

feds wont win a match playing like that in the 2nd set! come on feds pull it together!

emancipator wrote:Tsonga has played no more than average in the second set.

It's Federer's apalling level that decided it.

As for big hitters in the past, what about Gonzalez, Blake, Roddick (when he had a FH), Safin, etc. There have always been big hitters.

Big hitters on fast surface that's fine cause Fed can still rush them. On those slow surfaces, with today's fitness of those big hitters, it's a complete different game.

tenez you just compared roger federer, widely touted as having the best forehand ever, to no weapon ferrer. You make it seem as if federer never was a great player! Was there really much difference between the court this and last year the difference is he played great last time and so far he has been very erratic and has not played well!

It's clear also that both players can't quite get the rhythm of the court.

But Federer used to beat big hitters on every surface, even the slow ones (and please don't say that this is slower than any surface that existed in 06). His problem is consistency, which is what everyone has been telling you. He no longer plays full matches at his best (or very rarely) and too often allows his opponents back in, which is exactly what's happened here. I mean, did you see that service game at 1-1 in the second set, it was awful!

Such an uninspiring match. If you saw these two without any knowledge of who they were, you would probably think they were just fairly decent club players based on today's performances.

bit harsh chaz, but you wouldn't think they were in the world's top 8 players that's for sure. Fed has tightened his game just a bit this set, which is allowing him to stay in front just about...

Seriously, that last backhand from Tsonga - wtf was that? If I'd have hit a shot like that I'd have been embarrassed! Just error after error; time to switch over to the football me thinks...

Yes.. finally a good FH to get to match point.

well after an hour and a half Federer finally produces a good point, and it's enough to get him the match. He'll feel he dodged a bullet here, because Tsonga really could (should) have beaten him today. At 4-5 missing a straightforward forehand and then DFing just isn't good enough.

Hopefully the rest of the week sees some better tennis than this.

Very lucky from Fed to get that volley in the net, a double fault and a lucky return drop shot.

Not a good match from both players as I think they struggled with the conds. It reminded me the awful start Nadal had last year v Roddick.

I don;t know whether the surface is not very flat as we noticed last year (or teh year before) but also the slow conds are a disgrace. Tsonga had a clear advantage there but lacked a bit of composure.