RICHARD EVANS REPORTS FOR 10SBALLS FROM THE OFFICIAL TENNIS PLAYERS PARTY AT THE CUTTY SARK

Written by: Staff on 10th November 2016

2016 ATP Singles Group Photo © Red Photographic

RICHARD EVANS REPORTS FOR 10SBALLS FROM THE OFFICIAL TENNIS PLAYERS PARTY AT THE CUTTY SARK |

photo credit: Red Photographic

The world’s eight best male tennis players had a new experience while attending the ATP Awards dinner in London’s Docklands on Thursday night – they dined a few feet underneath the hull of an nineteenth century ocean-going Clipper.

It’s a good thing the Cutty Sark cannot break free from its moorings because the lot of us would have gone down into Davey Jones Locker and there would be no ATP World Tour Finals at the 02 Arena next week.

There was no chance of that because, since being restored after a fire in 2007, this magnificent 212 ft sailing vessel, weighing 921 tons, is clamped to the dock with its lower portion encased in a specially designed museum structure which allows visitors to walks, dine and drink while staring up at the glistening steel and wood hull hanging just a few feet above their head.

The Cutty Sark, launched in 1869, was designed for the tea run to China and then, when steam ships took over, was used for the even longer haul, bringing in wool from Sydney. After World War Two it was used as a training vessel by the Royal Navy.

So it was difficult to decide who had seen more of the world – the Cutty Sark or the tennis players seated beneath her. Probably the latter, flitting around the world in their jumbo jets, faster to be sure, but which somehow lacking the romance and majesty of a three masted Clipper in full sail.

The ship was a bit of distraction but the evening was really all about tennis with Andrew Castle, a British radio host who was once Britain’s No 1 ranked tennis player, hosting the ceremonies which were highlighted by the award of a huge glass trophy to Andy Murray, Britain’s very own world No 1. Like everything else he seems to do right now, Andy was creating history – becoming the first British player to be ranked No 1 since the ATP rankings were introduced in 1973.

Are you ready for #ATPFinals? We sure are! Good luck gents! – Photo by @tasteoftennis via Instagram.

Andy, of course, was not the first to reach No 1 in the world in his family. Jamie is, after all, the elder brother so it was appropriate that he became No 1 in doubles earlier in year – an achievement, along with his charity work, which saw him going to Buckingham Palace a couple of weeks ago to receive an OBE (Order of the British Empire) from the Queen.

“I was lucky to actually receive the medal from Her Majesty,” Jamie told me. “She only does it five or six times a year now because they don’t want her standing through long ceremonies. Her sons do most of the investitures.”

Amazingly, Jamie found himself back at the Palace a week later because the Queen was hosting the President of Colombia and the Murrays were invited because Jamie’s wife, Alejandra, is Colombian. “It was really quite something to attend a State Dinner at the Palace,” said Jamie who was all dressed up in white tie and tails for the occasion.

I asked him if he thought Andy would be following him to the Palace soon. Jamie just smiled. “We’ll have to see,” he said diplomatically. It is anticipated, however, that Andy will receive a knighthood, if not in the New Year’s Honors List, then probably for the Queen’s Birthday in the summer. It would be appropriate. There is little doubt now that, week in and week out, he is Britain’s premier athlete. Before long it will surely be “Arise Sir Andrew!”

The players attending the function represented so many generations of players, Austria’s Dominik Thiem was there for the first time and teenager Taylor Fritz had flown in from America to receive the most Promising Young Player Award, being the youngest member of the world’s top hundred. “I’ve had a great year but I never expected to be here receiving this award,” said Fritz. “It’s a great honor.”

@ATPWorldTour Finals Launch #HueyMirnyi #atpworldtourfinals – Photo by @TreatHuey via Twitter.

At the other end of scale I spoke to Max Mirnyi, the veteran Belarussian who was making his tenth appearance in doubles. This year Max is partnered by Treat Huey.

I asked him how the game had changed. “Doubles is very different now,” he said. “The heavy balls and the strings along with the Super tie-break in place of the third set have made it a different game. When I came onto the circuit teams like the Woodies (Mark Woodforde and Todd Woodbridge) were all about skill and tactics. The tactics have changed. There is so much risk taking now and some guys who don’t think they can volley actually stay back and hit groundies. But you can do that now. It’s certainly different.”

Even though he was absent and hasn’t played for months, Roger Federer won the Stefan Edberg Sportsmanship Award as he seems to every year along with the Fans Award and Juan Martin del Potro won the Comeback Player of the Year Award for the second time which, at the very least, denotes persistence.

Federer had, in fact, been in London a couple of weeks earlier. “I got a call from him to say he was in town and could we meet,” said ATP CEO Chris Kermode. “We talked for over two hours about the Tour. He has this detailed interest in what is happening which is so great for us.”

Kermode told the story of how, when the ATP Finals first settled at the 02 in 2009, the ATP staff came up with the slogan, ‘The Decider’. “But Federer established an unassailable lead for No 1 in Paris the week before so it wasn’t the decider at all. This year, I am delighted to say, we have a real Decider.”

They do, indeed. Novak Djokovic could seize back the No 1 position from Murray if he goes further in the tournament than the Scot although it might not be quite that simple an equation, depending on how many matches each win the round robin stages.

The draw was not kind to the new No 1. Murray has to play Stan Wawrinka, the US Open champion, who has beaten him in three of their last four meetings; Marin Cilic who beat him in the final of Cincinnati and Kei Nishikori who got the better of him in the quarters finals at Flushing Meadows last September – the US Open being the only tournament in which Murray has failed to reach the final since losing to Rafael Nadal, another noticeable absentee here, in the semi-final at Monte Carlo in April.

Djokovic, meanwhile, has winning records against the trio he has to play – Gael Monfils, Dominik Thiem and Milos Raonic who is suffering from a torn quad muscle.

It remains to be seen if Djokovic can recover his wavering focus and whether Murray can improve on a disappointing record at the 02.

There is everything to play for beside the old River Thames – normally an underused artery running through London. But not for the players. They will be arriving by river launch every day, a 30 minute ride downstream from their hotel opposite the Houses of Parliament. Not quite the Cutty Sark but a lot quicker than fighting the traffic.