The ATP World Tour Finals beginning Sunday at the O2 Arena in London with World No.1 Novak Djokovic being touted as the firm favourite to win the title, will mark the end of the 2015 tennis season. The top eight players in the world divided into two groups, by rankings will match their skills against one another with the aim of ending the year on a high.
Djokovic apart, there will be two other former winners of the event, Roger Federer and Rafa Nadal, who will try to upset the Serbian applecart. Apart from these three, vying for their maiden victory would be Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych and the only Asian – Kei Nishikori. It will be tennis’ highest echelon dishing out the game at a very high level.
But irrespective of who has won what and what the stats may suggest, there is no denying that Djokovic, in recent times (no pun intended) has simply been joking with his opponents. On a 23-match winning streak, the Serbian stated a while ago that ‘his love for the game always enables him to set new goals for himself’. He has only lost twice to top 10 players in 2015 – the final of the French Open to Wawrinka and the Toronto Masters final to Murray. Six Masters titles, coupled with three Grand Slams (the Australian Open, Wimbledon and US Open) leaves no doubt in the minds of the tennis aficionados as to who has ruled the game this year. Orissa POST takes a look at the eight gladiators ready for the ultimate battle.
Roger Federer
At 34-plus most players hang up their playing shoes and racquets. No, not so for the Swiss. Other than achieving his 1,000th professional win in the ATP circuit in 2015, the Swiss also won six titles and reached the finals of the Wimbledon and US Open where he lost to Djokovic on both occasions. But then his form has been up-and-down in the recent past.
Novak Djokovic
The World No. 1 with a 75-8 win-loss record in 2015 will take some beating. Unless, he has a very bad day, the other seven in the field appear as also-rans already. He has been successful on all type of courts and his results on hard courts this season read an amazing 36-1. It just portrays the form the man has been.
Rafa Nadal
The year 2015 has not really been a Nadalesque season with injuries and poor form plaguing the Spaniard. His loss against Djokovic in the quarterfinals of the French Open ended his five-year winning streak in the tournament. He failed to make it to the finals of any of the Grand Slams, the first time it happened since 2007. A 58-19 record amply demonstrates how poor the season has been for him.
Andy Murray
One of the two top 10 players to have beaten Djokovic in 2015, the Brit has a 68-12 record with four titles in his kitty. But other than reaching the Australian Open final, Murray has not been in very good touch in the big events. However, he has played a very influential role in taking Great Britain to the Davis Cup final after 37 years.
