TENNIS 2014 ATP FINALS – With the ATP Finals over it is time to rate the performances of the nine players who took part in the tournament that was rather disappointing. The only highlight was the all-Swiss semifinal. From London, Paul Sassoon
The 2014 ATP Finals had an unexpected and underwhelming ending with Federer forced to withdraw because of injuries, but it has left a lot of speculation and unanswered questions. How injured is the Swiss? Is he trying to save himself for the Davis Cup? And what happened between Federer, his wife Mirka and Wawrinka? The first two questions will be answered next weekend in Lille but the answer to the last one is probably never come out.
The tournament was disappointing for the most part and the exhibition match that ended it is probably a fitting show end with. Let’s look at how the players performed:
Novak Djokovic (A-), The serb won his fifth Master title and secured the end of year number one position in the ATP rankings, so overall a really good week for him. In the whole event he only dropped one set in the semifinal against Nishikori. He lost that set because of a drop in concentration when he took issue with the crowd that applauded his double fault on break point. As I wrote at the time, the applause was more due to the fans wanting to see a longer match rather than against the world number one. Nole’s tennis level is probably worth an A+ but that gesture towards the fans after that double fault is something that a world number one like him should not do. It wasn’t anything major, especially because he did apologise later.
Roger Federer (B+), The Swiss also deserved more for his performances on court, but the ending was not the best. He was fantastic in the three Round Robin matches and he took part in one of the best matches of the year in the semifinal against Wawrinka. I couldn’t give him an A, not because he didn’t play the final, after all we cannot assume that he just wanted to save his back for the Davis Cup, he retired only three times in his career prior to yesterday, so he should have at leas the benefit of the doubt, but because he didn’t come into the press room to talk with the media. Some further explanations were necessary and the speculation going on now is also a result of not having a press conference.
Stan Wawrinka (B-), Stan the man played a fantastic semifinal and deserved to play in the final against Djokovic. That match was easily the highlight of the tournament, but at the end of the day he did miss four match points and he should have been able to finish Federer off before the final set tie-break as he was in control of the match. Had he played better in the Round Robin matches I would have put his performance on the same level as Federer’s.
Kei Nishikori (C+), It was a good performance in his first ATP Finals. Reaching the semifinals at the first attempt is always a great feat. Also he has been the only player capable of taking a set from the Serb. The disappointing par twas that bagel he received in the last set of the semifinal, he should have been able to win at least a game as he had the chance to do so at the start of the set.
David Ferrer (C), There is no better example of a real professional player on tour than David Ferrer. He came to London as an alternate and just spent four days training and taking care of a back problem, but when he was called in to replace Raonic he played a good match, fighting for three sets against Nishikori despite the fact that he had no chance of qualifying for the semifinals
Tomas Berdych (D), Same old story for the Czech player. He has the talent to be competing at the very top for the big titles on tour, including this one, but he has never been able to really challenge for the trophies that matter. Again he seemed to be happy to be here and far too content of being behind the top players. He needs to try something different as time to leave his mark is running out.
Andy Murray (D), I was expecting more from him. His run in the last couple of months was probably too much and he arrived in London with an empty tank. Still he should have done better than winning just one match and he should have avoided the humiliation of losing 6-0, 6-1 against Federer. He gets some extra marks for coming to the rescue of the ATP accepting to play an exhibition match with Djokovic and a doubles with McEnroe, Cash and Henman with only a couple of hours notice and for no money at all.
Milos Raonic and Marin Cilic (F), It was their first time at the ATP Finals, but that is not enough of an excuse for such poor performances. Nor is the slow court that penalises the serve. If you want to be a top ten player and stay there for some time you cannot depend only on the serve, there must be a plan B. I hope they will learn from this experience and come back better prepared in the future.
