ATP World Tour Finals 2011, London Calling

First topic message reminder :

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.

Oh man, couple of inches miss from Berdy for a winner then the ever so often wide FH. 5:2.

well this is marginally better than the first three matches, in that at least Berdych seems intent on playing some proper tennis. Surprise surprise, Djokovic's shoulder is fine...

Djoko, the master of disguise.

Berdys first serve finally firing, keep it up.

a winner from Djokovic

TWO winners from Djokovic

Yeah, a rare one tonight. 3:6, 6:3

so into a decider we go, and you can't really see past Djokovic here, can you?

honestly could we talk about something other than the shoulder? you can't serve at 80% first serves averageing over 120 MPH with a dodgy shoulder! It's fine, it's been fine since Cinci IMO...

Yes MFC, clearly his shoulder is fine.

Mad for Chelsea wrote:
honestly could we talk about something other than the shoulder? you can't serve at 80% first serves averageing over 120 MPH with a dodgy shoulder! It's fine, it's been fine since Cinci IMO...

I've said this all the time. You simply should not believe much of his talk about injuries. Com'on he's the Djoker!

I would agree that his body parts are extra tired maybe, but genuine or specific problems, not convinced.

good service game from Berdy at the start of the third, come on!

I shouldn't be noticing this, but aren't the ball girls skirts a bit too short?

Just think he's been milking the shoulder issue since the Us Open, it's become his sort of standard excuse for not playing as well as he was beforehand IMO, but I've seen very little evidence of anything wrong with it...

bogbrush wrote:I shouldn't be noticing this, but aren't the ball girls skirts a bit too short?

Manuel Santana's idea? That dirty old man again?

Not much variety of shots from players.

A flying paper causing havoc in stadium.

Skirts acceptable in this corporate event.

all gone a bit flat again, most disappointing standard of tennis at an end-of-year TMC I can remember...

Oh shut it MFC,

stop complaining about the standard of tennis.

Round Robins are always edgy and poor standard.

sorry

but I was expecting better. This is a golden era for tennis after all . Thought it was better last year...

Go Berdy 3:2

Wow what a FH from the Berd.

Okay, okay MFC, I will put you back on the friend list

having said that, great point from Berdych at 30-30 there, sets it up with a lovely cross-court forehand, and comes into the net to put away the volley. Nicely done

Berdy plays a much riskier game than Djoko, which i appreciate.

What has Berdy got to do to win a point. painted the lines right and left but had still to come to the net to finish teh point.

The retrieving nowadays reaches ridiculous proportion. When will they understand that they need to speed up the conds?!

Berdy 15:40 up, go boy go.

Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

Big bird, let's go baby

WOW, fantastic play Berdych!

That last forehand from Berdych was absolutely gigantic!

Superb game by Berdy,

woooooooooooooooooooow

awesome FH's in that game.

superb game from Berdych, Djokovic's first serve dropping a little, but Berdych with some fantastic forehands, and he's broken!

Chazfazzer wrote:That last forehand from Berdych was absolutely gigantic!

Well his last 20 shots were gigantic

Oh dear...

DF oh no 15:40

second DF.....oh berdy

Wow, Berdy's mum is hot.

God sake, Djoko breaks back.

shame he follows it up with his worst service game of the year

Berdych FFS!!

He reminds me of Verdassco, great FH when working, then mentally loses the plot when it thickens!

That has been Berdych's trademark unfortunately. As Koenig said, great talent but when you see his achievement so far, 6 titles only, just one TMS, you know something is missing.

C'mon Berdych! Just one game away!

Superb serve game from Berdy, feeling this is going TB.

I still think Berdych will win this - I think his victory over Murray in Paris might give him the confidence to get over the finish line.

Berdych must be thinking "why the feck couldn't I do that in the last service game?". Four first serves, four cheap points, easy hold...

I agree Tenez, 6 titles for a man with his shot-making ability seems very low. Anyone know how many titles Verdasco has won?

Oh man what a point from Berdy. Djoko has no power left whatsoever, barely moving.

Berdych hits the ball so cleanly it is unreal - the crack when he connects is just awesome.

Time warning Ref!

Verdasco 5.

The retrieving of Djoko...is just crazy!

Must be so depressing for his opponents.

Lucky net court for Nole!