(Well, they certainly look trust-worthy.)

Depending on which one you talk to, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal are either embroiled in a battle for the year ending No. 1 (Federer) or just in London to have some fun (Nadal). Fibs or frankness? You decide.

Here’s Federer talking to reporters during the World Tour Finals Media Day on Wednesday (via the AFP):

“I am aware of it (the race to finish world number one) and I would be lying if I said I was just here to play well.”

“Definitely I am here to win the tournament and to try to stay number one in the world. It is obvious.”

“The competition is really stiff so it is not going to be easy for me or Rafa if he wants to get it.”

But Rafael Nadal says he’s actually not too interested in the whole “battle for the year end No. 1” thing. (via AFP)

“For me the main thing is to be here and enjoy this experience,” Nadal told reporters. “Playing the tournament in London will be amazing.”

“The rest, finishing number one doesn’t matter. My only goal is to try to play my best tennis here in London.”

“If I win the tournament it doesn’t matter if I am number ten. The ranking is important yes, but not the most important thing for me.”

“For the last five years I was two and one in the rankings, so I have had this experience for a long time.”

“If I am competitive to try to win then I am more than happy. If I win this tournament it doesn’t matter if I am one, two or three.”

Click here to see how the No. 1 ranking may shake out in London.

On a side note, Federer also told Reuters that he’s “looking forward” to playing Andy Murray this week – and improving his 3-6 record against the Scot to, say, 5-6:

“I hope so,” the 28-year-old replied when asked about the prospect of playing Murray in the round-robin and then again in the final. “If I beat him twice, that means I’m in the finals, he’s in the finals and everybody is happy. Right?”

Well maybe not everybody, Rog. But I like the way you think.

Action beings on Sunday at the O2 arena: Andy Murray plays Juan Martin del Potro and Roger Federer plays Fernando Verdasco.  Rafael Nadal begins his bid for year-ending No. 1 – or not, whatever – on Monday when he plays Robin Soderling. It’s Djokovic vs. Davydenko on Monday evening.

Click here for the ATP World Finals website. Click here for the U.S. TV schedule and here for tennis live streaming options.

This is all kinds of awesome! Roger Federer submits to a fit of giggles while being interviewed by CNN in Switzerland last week:

If Roger wasn’t so adamantly pro-WADA, I’d swear. . .

Yes! The ATP World Tour Finals can’t start before the requisite Men in Suits photo session. Along with the British press, another overlooked benefit of hosting the ATP World Tour Finals in London is seeing Federer, Nadal and the rest of the top guys in bespoke tailoring (at least I’ll pretend it is.) Here are some photos from Class Picture Day – I mean ATP World Tour Media Day at the County Hall Marriot Hotel.

These school assemblies are always so boring. . .

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Really, how lucky are we to have three ATP Top Models in the final 8?  Federer, Djokovic and Verdasco are obviously engaged in a heated pose-off in the photo below. While I love Roger’s masculine bearing, Nole takes it with his casual Gene Kelly elegance. Verdasco gets points for coaching del Po and Soderling has an honorable mention for his Swedish Sears catalogue look. Davydenko is obviously in character for the starving P.O.W. role he’s playing next week in the West End.

How the heck did Andy Murray get Dr. Ivo’s pants?

Who will be head of the class?

Nice trophy, right? It was made in England by expert silversmiths. You can check out the video on the ATP website.

Some year book photos:

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Candids! This one’s begging for a caption:

And thanks to “Tem” for passing along the Bryan Bro’s snapshot:

I’m a little concerned about Rafa’s hair:

I think Roger is, too:

Yes, Roger is deep in thought about it.

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Rafa’s like “awkward!”

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

What ho! Is that Halley’s Comet or ATP CEO Adam Helfant? The players record this momentous occasion:

Here is a sampling of sites offering live online streaming of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

The tournament runs from Sunday, November 22 – Sunday November 29. Generally, the day matches start at 12:30pm GMT/7:30am EST and evening matches begin at 7:00pm GMT/2:00pm EST.

Click here to visit the World Tour Finals website. Click here for the U.S. TV Schedule.

2009 BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS LIVE ONLINE TENNIS STREAMING

Tennis TV is offering a tournament-long subscription package for $24.95. It’s high quality, legit and fairly dependable, but might not be available in all areas (so read the fine print before you pay):

TENNISTV: Premium Paid Live Streaming
http://www.tennistv.com/

For free live streaming options for the ATP World Tour Finals, check out the sites below. But proceed at your own risk, as we can’t vouch for quality, content or non-sketchiness:

CHANNELSURFING Free Live Tennis Stream
http://channelsurfing.net/

MYP2P stream Free Live Tennis Stream
http://myp2p.eu/competition.php?competitionid=∂=sports&discipline=tennis

ATDHE.net Free Live Tennis Stream
http://atdhe.net/index.html

LiveScoreHunter
http://www.livescorehunter.com/Livescores/Livescore-Tennis.html

Also. . .

GOTOTENNIS TENNIS PARTY (From time to time we’ll host a tennis party and put up a stream on GTT)
http://www.gototennisblog.com/tennis-party/

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals takes the stage in London this year, and the caliber of the players involved and the lack of a clear-cut favorite (though many are, thankfully, clean cut) makes this a must-view event for tennis fans! Will Roger Federer end the year at No. 1? Can Novak Djokovic continue his late-season winning streak? Will Andy Murray live up to hometown expectations? Will Rafael Nadal show Robin Soderling that the “yoke” is on him? (Ask Rafa yourself – he’s blogging at the Times during the tournament)

Click here for the World Tour Finals website.

2009 BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS TENNIS TV SCHEDULE

All times Eastern, broadcast on Tennis Channel except for the singles Final, which will be on ESPN2

Sunday, November 22
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 23): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Monday, November 23
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 24): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Tuesday, November 24:
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 25): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Wednesday, November 25
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am: (Nov. 26): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Thursday, November 26
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 27): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Friday, November 27
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 28): Doubles & Singles Round Robin – Repeat

Saturday, November 28
7:30am – 11:30am: Doubles & Singles Semi-Finals – Live
2:00pm – 6:00pm: Doubles & Singles Semi-Finals – Live
7:00pm – 11:00pm: Doubles & Singles Semi-Finals – Repeat
11:00pm – 3:00am (Nov. 28) Doubles & Singles Semi-Finals – Repeat

Sunday, November 29
7:30am – 9:00am: Doubles Final – Live on Tennis Channel
8:00am – 12:00pm: Semi-Final Highlights and Singles FINAL (not before 9:30am) - Live on ESPN2
2:00pm – 4:30pm: Singles Final – Delayed on Tennis Channel
7:00pm – 9:30pm: Singles Final – Repeat on Tennis Channel
9:30pm – 11:00pm: Doubles Final – Repeat on Tennis Channel
11:00pm – 1:30am (Nov 30): Singles Final – Repeat on Tennis Channel

Monday, November 30
1:30am – 3:00am: Doubles Final – Repeat on Tennis Channel

Roger Federer was interviewed by CNN in anticipation of next week’s ATP World Tour Finals. He chats about the twins, his rivalry with Rafael Nadal and Andre Agassi’s recent drug-related confessions. I love Roger’s Scooby Doo imitation at the start: “Whuhhhhh?”

Thanks, Rog, for giving us the image of Mirka dashing around in the middle of the night. It’s all about the footwork!

Someone’s in a good mood – not too worried about Andy Murray, Rog? Click here for the WTF draw.

Andy Murray and the Bryan Brothers took part in the draw ceremony for the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday in a pod of the London Eye Ferris wheel. Here are the round robin groups for the singles and doubles competitions, which run from November 22 – 29:

2009 ATP World Tour Finals Singles Draw:

Group A
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
Juan Martin del Potro
Fernando Verdasco

Group B
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Nikolay Davydenko
Robin Soderling

Group A: Based on head-to-heads, Murray rules Group A. He holds a winning record over everyone else, for a combined win-loss tally of 17-5.  Roger has a 12-7 win-loss record over Group A, with 6 of those 7 losses coming to Andy Murray. All the players in this group have struggled with injury since the US Open, with Murray winning the group’s only title a couple weeks ago in Valencia. Based on the head-to-heads, recent form, and home-crowd advantage, Murray’s a shoe-in for the semis. And Roger Federer (apart from being Roger Federer) has the extra motivation of playing for the year-end No. 1. Group A matches up badly for Verdasco and del Potro is likely too gimpy to get through. But you never know – the tournament can’t be called the WTF for nothin’.

Your predictions:

Group B: This is where the Mojo’s at! Based on their form, Nole and Kolya (the 2008 WTF finalists) are the guys to beat – not only in the Group but in the entire tournament. Nole, the defending champ, has been on a tear this fall, winning 3 titles: over Cilic in Beijing, Roger Federer in Basel and Gael Monfils in Paris (where he also took out Rafael Nadal in straights in the semis.) His only loss in the past months has been to Nikolay Davydenko in the semis of the Shanghai Masters. Kolya went on to win the title, beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the finals. Speaking of Rafa – he’s lost to all of the Group B players in their most recent meetings. The most painful loss was to Robin Soderling in the round of 16 at the French. Besides the possibility of retaking the no. 1 ranking from Roger, revenge may be the major motivator as the Spaniard progresses through Group B.

Your predictions:

2009 ATP World Tour Finals Doubles Draw – Nestor and Zimonjic and the Bryan Bros are battling for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

Group A
Daniel Nestor – Nenad Zimonjic
Mahesh Bhupathi – Mark Knowles
Frantisek Cermak – Michal Mertinak
Mariusz Fyrstenberg – Marcin Matkowski

Group B
Bob Bryan – Mike Bryan
Lukas Dlouhy – Leander Paes
Lukasz Kubot – Oliver Marach
Max Mirnyi – Andy Ram

AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes
The AP reports that Sam “Samurai” Querrey returned to the practice courts last week after a freak accident at September’s Thailand Open came close to ending his tennis career. The 6′6″ American fell through a glass table in the tournament’s locker room while sitting on it to tie his shoes. A shard of glass cut through 30% of two different muscles in his serving arm, nearly severing a nerve (check out the scar in the above photo). He required emergency surgery in Bangkok and wore a splint for two weeks afterwards. Though he has suffered pain and uncertainty, he says that his training is going well.

”My shoulder, it takes a while to warm it up and get that (service) motion going,” Querrey said. ”Other than that I feel no difference in any part of my game.”

Querrey says there was one upside to the injury, which cut his career-best season short: an encouraging email from Roger Federer.

”That was the greatest,” Querrey said, smiling. ”I was so happy. It made my day. It was almost worth it.’‘

Looks like we can add yet another ATP member to our roster of Fedophiles!

Source: New York Times and GTT reader Liz for forwarding the tip!

As the first round of news stories rolls in in anticipation of next week’s ATP World Tour Finals, I’m realizing that there’s a hidden bonus to staging the event in London: the British press! And as with any tournament that pits Great British Hope Andy Murray vs. the Great-White-Chocolate-Loving Roger Federer, the U.K. papers have started stirring the pot.

Here’s Federer quoted in Tuesday’s Independent (I believe these remarks were taken in Paris or Basel, not sure):

“I had a lot of trouble against those baseliners (like Nalbandian and Hewitt) early on just because they were too consistent. They could always get one more ball back. Maybe they didn’t have the best serve, but I wasn’t the best return player, so I couldn’t take advantage. My serve wasn’t solid enough yet, so I would always get tangled up in those horrible baseline rallies.

“Murray can still do that to some degree, but when I play too well or too offensively I can take time away from him now. And I’m too physical, whereas in the beginning I couldn’t do that. I couldn’t get around backhands like I can now. Now I can mix up my game too well for him to get under my skin.

“I know what I can do and I know what he can do. When we both play well it’s a close match, but I always feel it’s the attacker who holds the key to success, so it’s up to me whether I win or lose, not up to him. That’s why I don’t mind the match-up, to be honest.

“It’s like when [Pete] Sampras and [Andre] Agassi played. Agassi was more aggressive [than most counter-attackers], but still Sampras held the key because he was serving, pushing the limits, taking the risks. Which Murray doesn’t do so much – though that doesn’t take anything away from Murray. That’s just his game style.

“Everybody has his own game and you can’t change the way you play. It’s just something you’re born with. He comes to the net more, for instance, than other players. I think if you look closely, every player needs to have something aggressive in his game to play well. If you want to be a top player you need to have offensive skills.“

I know, I know. Sometimes Roger just can’t help himself. Since ascending to the throne as King of Tennis, there’s always at least one Impertinent Prince that gets Roger’s goat (GOAT?), whether it’s the “unimpressive” Novak Djokovic or the “one-dimensional” Rafael Nadal. Murray should take Roger’s trash talk for what it is: a compliment. (Backhanded, of course.)

Murray leads Federer 6-3 in their head-to-head. Roger trounced Murray the last time they played, in straight sets this summer in Cincy. Before that match, Murray had beaten Roger four consecutive times, including in last year’s round robin portion of the year-ending finals. That loss knocked Roger out of the tournament, though Murray had already qualified for the semis and was psychologically playing a dead rubber. (Roger’s other loss at last year’s WTF was to another counter-puncher, Gilles Simon. )

Thanks to Judy for the tip!

Photo via www.tennis-russia.ru

There are so many talented tennis players in Russia, that the country has its own awards ceremony to honor them. Last night’s Russian Cup awards, hosted by Anastasia Myskina at Moscow’s Radisson Slavyanskaya hotel, honored Nikolay Davydenko as Tennis Player of the Year (for being the top male Russian player for the 5th year in a row), Dinara Safina for “Achievement of the Year” (obtaining the No. 1 ranking) and Svetlana Kuznetsova for “Success of the Year” at Roland Garros.

The “main event” of the evening belonged to Marat Safin, who won an award for “contributions to the development of the world and Russian tennis.” I love this (google-translated) description of Marat’s special contributions (via www.championat.ru):

“12 years of tennis fans on all continents admire this guy. He was loved by almost all, even though everyone tried to see in him something of themselves, their dreams. The girls saw in him the ideal man, or, if you want, a sex symbol. Coaches thought he was a talented athlete with a unique physique. Opponents tried to guess the direction of his serve or backhand. Journalists of all countries noted his charisma, eccentricity and inimitable sense of humor. And, finally, for the audience it has always been a man-feast at all his tournaments which had full stadiums all these years, no matter at what ranking he was.”

(Yes, I know that the translation probably shouldn’t be “man-feast”, but it works for me. An alternate translation got “man-holiday” which also sounds appropriate.)

Speaking of man-feast:

Photo via Mens Tennis Forum

Notice in the photo, above, how packed the auditorium is. It looks like the Oscars! With Marat as the Clooney/Pitt/diCaprio stand-in, or course.

Marat has that post-retirement glow:

Photo via www.championat.ru. Click here to visit a photo gallery from the awards ceremony.