Recent Results Put Federer and Murray as London Favorites

Written by: Staff on 18th November 2011

BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis Tournament

Recent Results Put Federer and Murray as London Favorites

Roger Federer of Switzerland salutes and is being applauded by the public after beating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France at their final match at the BNP Paribas 2011 Masters Tennis tournament in Paris, France, 13 November 2011. EPA/HORACIO VILLALOBOS |

Recent results distinguish Roger Federer and Andy Murray as the two favorites to win add the title of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals to the list of their achievements for 2011. Federer arrived in London on the back of back to back title wins in Basel and Paris while Murray dominated the Asian swing with victories in Bangkok, Tokyo and Shanghai.

But Federer struck a forceful psychological drive before the action begins on Sunday when he said: “’I’m not taking anything away from what Andy did, but was Asia the strongest this year?’ asked the long time world no.1 who now stands fourth in the ATP world rankings. “I’m not sure. Novak (Djokovic) wasn’t there, I wasn’t there and in Shanghai Rafa (Nadal) lost early.”

However Federer does not subscribe to the theory that the longer Murray goes without winning a major, the harder it will be for him to get his head around winning one.

The Swiss continued: “I think he’s past that tough hurdle – “Oh, I haven’t won a Grand Slam” – that stressed him out more one-and-a-half years ago,’ he said. ‘I think now he is a bit more laid back because he has gone through these ups and downs and knows how to handle them.

“I’ve always thought he is plenty good enough to win a Grand Slam and he will have a good year in 2012. It’s crazy how small the margins are in tennis.”

Federer is very much the elder statesman of the eight man field for the event and he will be aiming to take the year ending title for a record sixth time, putting him ahead of five time winners Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras.

And he believes he is currently behind the younger trio of Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray in the rankings because he drew the best from them. “I have the feeling I have set a good example, always playing the seasons from January to November,” he said.

“I’ve been in the world finals ten straight years and always played, always played the Australian Open. I’m on a 40-something streak of slams.”

In fact the 2012 French Open will be his 50th consecutive major if he remains fit and he added: “I rarely take more than six weeks off and I think that’s something before that tennis had a struggle with. Many players wouldn’t play, which was smart at times, because they weren’t in the mood or didn’t think it was important and they did what they liked.

Today I think the players are much more aware of what the tour needs. This generation is very much aware, maybe thanks to me and other great players in the game.”

Topics: Andy Murray, Roger Federer