The Barclays Brawl—Nathan’s Blog

Written by: Staff on 19th November 2011

The Barclays Brawl—Nathan’s Blog |

By: Nathan M. Cuny

Barclays is only one day away. Although it is not the last tournament of the season, with the Davis cup finishing 2011, it is the finals for both men’s doubles and singles. The tournament features the top eight singles players and doubles teams, but to make sure everybody gets a shot at the title, this tournament doesn’t use the general knockout format.

All players, singles and doubles, play three round-robin matches against opponents in their group. In case you don’t know what round-robin matches are, I’ll give you a quick breakdown. All the players of Group A, for example, play against all other members of the group.

This means No.1 Novak Djokovic will play against all three players Murray, Ferrer, and Berdych, and those three players will do likewise. The winner in round-robin matches is determined by head-to-head records, sets, games won, and number of matches. Once the factors have been added up a winner and runner-up from both Group A and Group B will be determined.

This is when the excitement begins as the knockout stage of Barclays begins. During the Barclays semi-finals Group B’s winner plays the runner up of Group A, while Group A’s winner plays the runner up of Group B. An interesting aspect of setting up the tournament in this manner is the finals could contain players from a single group, such as B, or from both.

Tomorrow’s matches feature Group B players. After 2:00 PM you can catch No.4 Federer and No.6 Tsonga go racquet to racquet in London’s O2 arena. After 8:00 tomorrow evening No.2 Nadal plays against No.8 Fish. Monday November 21^st features Group A players No.3 Murray vs. No.5 Ferrer after 2:00 PM, then No.1 Djokovic vs. No.7 Berdych after 8:00 PM.

The group set ups for both A and B offer interesting prospects. Murray has been a favorite by many to win the tournament considering he isn’t suffering from as many injuries as Djokovic, and Nadal. In the upcoming days the Group A match between Djokovic and Murray will prove exciting.

Likewise, Barclays defending champion Roger Federer will vs his old rival Nadal. In a recent interview Federer Stated, “I always enjoy playing against Rafa; we haven’t played much against each other indoors. That’s something that’s very exciting. I enjoyed last year’s final, but I’ve also enjoyed other matches with Rafa: the Wimbledon final, the Roland Garros final. We’ve had some epic battles with each other and I hope we have another one here.”

Predicting the singles winners of the tournament won’t be easy. Obviously the top four are the favorites to win the tournament, but the No.5 to No.8 players will fight like hell for a spot in the finals. As the fearless Tsonga Stated, “The only person who intimidates me is my mother, when she is angry with me.” The top eight players aren’t likely to be intimidated or intimidate, they are what happens when the primal urge to win is the sole element of their game.

Topics: Barclays