The last ATP event of the calendar year reaches it’s conclusion in just over a weeks time, as the elite eight of the ATP Race go head to head for just over 1.9 million dollars and 1,500 ranking points in the 2014 ATP World Tour Finals.
There is all to play for for the Big Eight as seedings for the Australian Open come into effect on the progress each player makes at this conclusive event of the year and, when looking at the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer, they’ll be going blow for blow to earn the status of ending the year as Number One. The Swiss is currently on 8700 ranking points, in effect 1310 points behind Novak Djokovic, who at present is prized at 10,010.
What does that mean in regards to the race for Number One at the end of the year? In normal circumstances it would convey Novak Djokovic needing to pick up just the one round-robin win worth 200 ranking points, which would make the lead unassailable for the World No 1 ranking, but these aren’t normal circumstances. Roger Federer can earn 75 points per win in the Davis Cup final, which effectively means that Djokovic cannot salvage the End of Year Ranking through just winning the one round-robin match. He therefore has to win at least all three of his round robin matches to guarantee himself the prize and proclamation of this magnitude.
Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych will all be in the hunt for a fourth seeding for the Australian Open, which is significant when you consider the importance of not having to play any of the Big Three until the semi-final stage, although Stan Wawrinka profited from playing Novak in the Quarter-Final last year and eventually went on to win his maiden Grand Slam, so it’s not impossible, as the Swiss Number Two showed in the first slam of 2014. The likes of Murray, Nishikori and particularly Berdych will be licking their lips at a gap of just over 400 points seperating the four of them, as they all have the pedigree to be problematic to the big time players on an indoor court. Over the years, we’ve seen Murray and Berdych win titles and perform well on a fast indoor hard court.
Kei Nishikori, in his breakthrough year, hasn’t yet performed on the big stage on a fast indoor hard court but has titles to his name, including two this year in Memphis and Kuala Lumpur. Moreover, let’s not forget his final run in Basel in 2011, where he eventually lost out to another great indoor player in Roger Federer. This is a real opportunity for Kei to set the sort of standard he’s shown all year (to a degree), where he’s had a consistently brilliant year for the first time even with the outset of injuries, which have unceremoniously burdened his year, particularly at Masters 1000 events.
Lastly we focus on Marin Cilic, who, in a year where he’s won his first Grand Slam, has also maintained 54 wins to eighteen losses at ATP level. His form to an extent dipped after the US Open title run with a loss early to Murray in Beijing, which was a complete walk over from what I seen in that particular match but he also lost to Ivo Karlovic early in Shanghai before winning another title in Moscow on an indoor hard court.
The best ingredient for the World Tour Finals this year is that nearly all eight of the players have the ability to play great tennis on this surface when given the time to produce clean ball striking of the highest order. We have big ball strikers who play well without the added factor of the wind and heavy servers, who are always difficult to break down on this kind of surface. The bragging rights for 2014 comes to a head in the next two weeks and it’s going to be a great event for everyone involved.
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