Who’s the daddy?
After one of those evil twin starts, Big Poppa Federer arrived at the O2 arena on Tuesday evening, spanking Andy Murray in the final two sets of their round robin match at the ATP World Tour Finals: 3-6, 6-3, 6-1
This win improves Roger’s record against his Scottish nemesis to 4-6, and it’s the first time he’s ever beaten Murray after losing a set. But even better than a hard-fought win over his younger rival, this victory clinched Roger Federer’s year end No. 1 ranking for the fifth season of his career. Before falling all the way to No. 2 in August of last year, Roger held the No. 1 ranking for a record 237 consecutive weeks. He reclaimed the top spot from Rafael Nadal this July, after winning his record-breaking 15th major at Wimbledon. Federer joins Ivan Lendl as the only other player to have held, lost and regained the ATP World Tour Champion title (a.k.a year-ending No. 1) in the history of the South African Airways ATP Rankings (since 1973). What an accomplishment!
Here’s some Federer footage, if you want to bask in the glow of his 2009 season:
Federer fans may want to keep the cork in the champagne until Thursday night. If Juan Martin Del Potro beats Fed in straights and Murray steamrolls Verdasco, Roger will be out of the tournament. Juan Martin stayed in semi-final contention, beating Fernando Verdasco today in a tough three-setter. Here are some highlights from their match.
Group B takes the court on Wednesday with Djokovic vs. Soderling in the afternoon and Nadal vs. Davydenko in the evening match.
Tags: ATP, del potro, Federer, Murray, tennis, Verdasco, World Tour Finals
Loading ...
YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!
So proud of Roger for winning this match and locking up the #1 rank!
Well deserved really. When Pappa Bear is on his game, ‘aint no one gonna stop him!
Were do i watch these matches for free?
how is fed out if he loses and murray wins, they’ll each have 2-1.
It’s worked out by sets. If del Potro and Murray both win in straight sets, they’ll both have 2-1 records in RR, the same as Federer, but they’ll have lost fewer sets.
Man, that would suck to go out of the tournament that way. Hope Roger avenges his US Open loss.
I was just at the match, it was pretty spectacular stuff from Federer. I don’t think he played too badly in the first set, he was just cutting a little too loose on the break points he had against Murray. I think it’s the best he’s played since the USO. The crowd were definitely pro-Roger, gotta love it!
Fingers crossed for 3-0 in the RR.
YOU’RE SOOOO LUCKY.
I’M CROSSING MY FINGERS AND LIGHTING CANDLES.
Thanks for your take, Lisa! I’m so jealous!
A little bit of welcome relief. Our Roger is numero 1 again…
congrats to roger, great accomplishment. i thought he played smart, aggressive, courageous, outrageous, beautiful tennis.
FF, SPANKING GOOD “WHO’S THE DADDY” COMMENT. I WAS THINKING THE SAME THING. GLAD U SAID IT. THANKS FOR THE BASK IN THE GLOW HIGHLIGHTS…..I DID.
Jeez FF, you are quick! I barely got home and your post is already on! And I am wondering: does Roger read GTT? he chose to receive today even he won the toss! talking about coaching the Fed!
I am really thinking your twins theory has something to it. How can Roger play some junky stuff again in 1st set only to have an even more superb Roger to emerge in 2/3 set?
Random observations so far:
1. Roger received the louder cheer when he entered the stadium. Over there Murray, London is Roger’s place.
2. The crowd has turned from Wimby ‘reserve’ to can’t-help-shouting-even-in-between serves. The whole thing is very non-british!
3. I am still puzzled by why they are letting people in after every changeover. I have been to all matches so far and every match, without fail, the umpire has to say ‘please sit down, this is not change over’. Today the umpire had enough and told the ushers to close the door. Is this intentional or what?
4. There are a few articles in the Times about the scheduling of the event – basically starting the singles at 845pm is stupid b/c i) the players are tired ii) the public cannot get home. And I cannot agree more. Given the location it’s not the place you want to be at mid night, and most people will miss the last train or connecting trains back home with matches finishing this late. In fact on Sunday everyone missed the connecting trains in central london and were like headless chicken trying to get buses. I really hope the organisers get it together and rethink – logistics , flexibility and transportation is not really London’s strength.
Oh this is getting too long! i’ll leave the rant tomorrow… before I shut up, Andy Roddick made a guest appearance yesterday in the Djoker Davy match and was very warmly received – he as definitely won the heart of the Brits. Oh and Ivan Ljubicic made a guest appearance just signing things and photos – appraently Lendl was there the day before!!!!
LLKR!!!! I was looking forward to your report – thanks so much for sharing. I turned on the match after the warm-up, and was wondering why Roger didn’t serve first. Figured it was Murray’s choice, but interested to hear it was Roger’s! Not that my “advice” seemed to help much in that first set.
It’s cool to hear that the crowd cheered for Roger. It’s hard to tell on the television. I could tell that the crowd was really into the match. Lucky ducks!
Looking forward to your rant tomorrow
Oh, check this out from Roger’s presser:
Q. Could you explain your strategy to choose to receive serve to start the match.
ROGER FEDERER: Well, pretty simple: remember what happened against Verdasco? Didn’t win a point. So I just felt maybe I win one, maybe by luck. Today, I just figured I do it differently. Against top guys, sometimes you have to surprise them. I guess he likes to also sometimes choose return. So I just figured it’s the feeling of the day. It was not the wrong thing, even though I lost the first set in the end.
Entered the wrong CAPTCHA code -_-
Anyway LOVING the result and headline! Great to see him get one up against Murray, hope he can do so again in the finals!
Verdasco looked like he was going to beat DelP last night! He’d now likely (but hopefully not) be straight-setted by Murray… our man’s got his work cut out for him!
Congrats Roger!You really deserved to be no 1!
It was great to see the return of the Real Roger, and to see Murray fold like a fan in the third set. If Roger plays like that on Thursday, he should beat Delpo.
so happy for rog that he clinched #1 by beating murray mints with a solid, aggressive performance. I love when federdad takes charge! really enjoyed the match, lots of vintage fed plays. I also had a good feeling from the start with rog electing to receive, like in Madrid.
sweet!
Seems noone cares about Delpo here — He’s mine *hug* *kiss*
“Federer fans may want to keep the cork in the champagne until Thursday night. If Juan Martin Del Potro beats Fed in straights and Murray steamrolls Verdasco, Roger will be out of the tournament.”
I don’t know… I’m sure Federer would love to win the WTF (did it really have to have these initials???) and will try very hard to get this title, but after securing the year end #1, I’m don’t think he’ll be too upset if things don’t go his. In fact, if this worst case scenario actually happens, I almost expect him to go all Rhett Butler to the first ‘journalist’ who asks “Bummer. Did you expect, after two wins, not to qualify for the semis?”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a…”
That first set was NOT GOOD FOR MY BLOOD PRESSURE! I get so tense watching Roger, I think maybe it’s unhealthy, but I’m really glad he pulled it out in the end. Andy Murray can suck it.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/8377907.stm
roger at the press con…