ATP Tour Finals Off to Great Start

Written by: Staff on 20th November 2011

ATP Tour Finals Off to Great Start

Rafael Nadal of Spain returns the ball to Mardy Fish from the USA during their group B match of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament at O2 Arena in London, Britain, 20 November 2011. EPA/ROGER PARKER |

The London fans were treated to quite a show on the first day of the Barclays ATP Tour Finals as each of the four matches were extended to the three sets, and in the case of doubles two match tiebreakers.

Rafael Nadal edged past American Mardy Fish in the day’s finale, taking him out 6-2, 3-6, 7-6 (3).

The Spaniard said: “It was a very important victory for me, for the confidence, to start the tournament with positive feelings.

“I think I played a very good first set. The second was hard. I made a big mistake when it was 40-15 for me (in the second game). That gave him a lot of confidence and after that the rest of the match was close.”

Nadal had to take an extended bathroom break after filling ill up 2-0 in the third set. “The third set was a little bit more crazy, up and down,” he said. “But I felt very bad in the stomach from the beginning of the third. I was seriously really lucky for the victory.”

Fish respects Nadal a ton and said he didn’t mind waiting for him during the break.

“With him you’re not really going to get anything extra-curricular,” said Fish. “So I just assumed that he wasn’t feeling well. We’ve all been there. I have a ton of respect for him. He wins more grand slams than I’ve won tournaments, so I’m willing to wait for him as long as he wants.”

Headline of the Day: From England’s Telegraph: “ATP World Tour Finals 2011: Rafael Nadal edges past Mardy Fish in late-night thriller at the O2”

Subhead: “Just as batsmen never order duck the night before a cricket match, perhaps it is unlucky to prepare for a tennis match against a man named Fish by eating the stuff.”

Did You Catch the Ending: Since the Nadal-Fish match ended a bit after 11:30 p.m., The Guardian reported that many of the 17,500 that made up the capacity crowd had to leave before the conclusion:

“The evening match finished half an hour before midnight and eight minutes after the last city-bound tube, leaving thousands of fans to scramble for a boat out of Greenwich or go bumper to bumper in the car park, and the loser time enough to search for his missing game.”

He’s Got His Number: In the earlier singles match, Roger Federer earned his third straight win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga since back-to-back losses at Wimbledon and Montreal, winning 6-2, 2-6, 6-4

“Today I had flashes of that match,” Federer said of his five-set loss to Tsonga in the Wimbledon quarterfinals. “I didn’t have much of a chance for a while on his serve. You just try your best.”

On Tap Monday: Britain’s Andy Murray plays his first match on Monday against David Ferrer followed by world No. 1 Novak Djokovic vs. Tomas Berdych.

In doubles, No. 4-seeded Mahesh Bhupathi and Leander Paes of India take on Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau and Mike and Bob Bryan face Jurgen Melzer and Phillipp Petzschner.

Murray Still Getting Better: Andy Murray told the media on Sunday he’s not done improving. “It has been my best year,” Murray stated. “Even if you move one stop up in the rankings, that shows you’re still making progress – when you are going backwards, that’s when you worry.

“I’ve still got a lot of improving to do – a lot of players have their best seasons at 26, 27.”

Nadal Takes a Peek: Rafael Nadal was courtside to see the end of the Federer-Tsonga match, joining soccer stars Thierry Henry and Andrey Arshavin. Instead of supporting fellow Frenchman Tsonga, former Arsenal striker Henry sat alongside Federer’s wife Mirka.

“We’re good friends,” Federer said. “I think he’s just happy to come and see me play once in a while. It was nice to catch up with him again.”

Did You Know: At 31, Michael Llodra is the youngest player in the doubles top 10.

Noah In Hot Water Over Comments: Yannick Noah got into a bit of controversy on Saturday when he the former tennis great from France accused Spanish athletes of widespread doping.

He also added that the only way to level the playing field would be to allow everyone to use banned drugs.

French doubles player Michael Llodra didn’t waste any time setting the record state and apologizing to Rafael and Toni Nadal for the comments, according to Spanish radio station COPE.

“I’m sorry about what Noah said,” Llodra was quoted as saying, to which the Nadal’s responded: “We don’t understand.” Llodra then allegedly said: “He’s stupid and maybe he was…’ and then made a gesture tipping his hand toward his mouth to indicate that Noah might have been drinking.

The 1983 French Open champion told Le Monde newspaper that French athletes no longer had a chance against their Spanish opponents and said his homeland was wrong to impose such stringent testing on its athletes.

“How can a country (Spain) dominate sport from one day to the next?” he asked. “Had they discovered avant-garde training techniques and methods that no one else imagined?”

Spain Responds to Noah: David Ferrer, the world No. 5, responded to Noah through the German agency, DPA: “Your son [Joakim Noah of the Chicago Bulls] plays in the NBA, where there are no doping controls. This is not the best person to talk. I think it’s total ignorance. For a person who has played tennis and knows how the sport works to say that is outrageous.”

What Color Do You Like Most on R-Fed: Jon L. Wertheim of Sports Illustrated was asked in his popular Mailbag column if blue was Federer’s most successful color. He did win multiple Grand Slams in blue, including his last one, the 2010 Australian Open. Now his season’s been revitalized … wearing blue.

Wertheim’s response: “As long as the cream jacket stays in the wardrobe (or incinerator).”

Now We Know: Monicia Seles was interviewed by the New York Times recently and was asked to “Tell us something no one knows about you?”

Her response: “I have been grunting while playing tennis since I was 7 years old. Everybody thinks I just started grunting against Martina in that semifinals match, but that’s not true.”

Tell Us What You Think: Some say the World Tour Finals are our sports version of the Super Bowl. Others may argue we have the four Grand Slams and that outweighs the WTF by far. Is it the Super Bowl? Or more like the Pro Bowl?

Our take is the Pro Bowl is merely an exhibition and played by players after the season in sunny Honolulu and seen as a vacation. The World Tour Finals is about real competition pitting the best eight in the world with huge sums of money at stake.

We ask 10sBalls.com readers: What do you think, are the World Tour Finals tennis’ version of the Super Bowl or Pro Bowl.

Topics: ATP World Tour Finals, Barclays, London