At the ATP World Finals, Roger Federer is now ranked 1 in the sport for the 5th time. He's one away from tying Pete Sampras' record of 6 number one spots. He won that trophy at the ATP World Tour Finals in London at the O2 Arena on Wednesday, but was eliminated later in the semifinals. Federer is a 15-time Grand Slam Champion and now it's conceivable that he'll at least tie Pete Sampras' 6-time number 1 spot at some point in the near future.
Federer had ended 5 seasons in a row in the number one spot until last year when Rafael Nadal knocked him out of the top rank. This year, Nadal could have taken the top spot again, at least statistically, but lost his opening match and made it impossible. Federer, on the other hand, won both of his opening matches and secured the top spot.
Last year was a rough year for Federer overall, not just in losing the top spot to Nadal. But this year he rallied with 4 Grand Slam finals and 2 titles. He became the 6th man to manage a career Grand Slam when he won the French Open, and then he beat Andy Roddick in the 4th set at Wimbledon with 16-14 and took that title. It's worth noting that here he did beat a Pete Sampras record. His 15th major title put him past Sampras' record of 14.
Reclaiming tennis' top spot is also a record, considering he's only the second player ever to hold the top spot, lose it and then reclaim it. The only other player to rank at 1 again after losing the title to another was Ivan Lendi. He was the #1 player from 1985 through 1987, and then lost the spot only to reclaim it a year later in 1989.
Federer's next goal is to take #1 again next year to match Sampras' record, which he'll then undoubtedly aim to beat. Right now, at 5 number one rankings, he's matched Jimmy Connors' record of 5 top spots.
It seemed uncertain that he'd even advance in the ATP World Tour Finals because he came out shaky against both Verdasco and Murray. He lost the first set against both men, but then hit his stride and ending up defeating them both.
But the winner of the ATP World Tour Finals was Nikolay Davydenko, who had a red letter day. He won the first big tournament of his career, and beat top-ranked Roger Federer.
Nikolay Davydenko, who eliminated Federer in the semifinals, was thrilled to win his first major tournament on Sunday by defeating Juan Martin del Potro. Davydenko came to the finals ranked at #7, and won after defeating top-ranked Federer and then del Potro. He finished with 15 unforced errors and 25 winners.
Federer and Davydenko met 12 times before Davydenko eliminated him and squashed his chances of winning the ATP Championship. Davydenko's elimination was the 13th match they'd played and only the first time Federer didn't emerge victorious.
Photo Credits: underdogpiano@btinternet.com
Related Posts -
The ATP World Tour Finals The ATP World Tour Finals in London set 2 tennis records, with 17,467 in the audience, making it the largest crowd to ever watch a match in Britain--2,500 more than can watch a match at Wimbledon's Centre Court. This also ranks as the biggest indoor tennis tournament in tennis history,...... -
US Open, New York This week in tennis features the US Open, the final major of the year that is held in New York. While the tournament will be missing the premier womenâs star (Serena Williams), the field is stacked with plenty of incredible talent. This week featured the second half of the tournament,...... -
Recap US Open Day 13 & 14 Rafael Nadal is going up against Juan Martin del Potro this Sunday. Playing against Juan Martin del Potro is sort of like swimming up the stream because no matter how quickly you're paddling, there is always a feeling of certain inevitability that is going in the opposite direction, and this...... -
Barclay’s ATP World Tour Finals This week in Tennis featured the menâs ATP tour finals, known as the Barclayâs ATP World Tour Finals. This year the tournament was held in the O2 Arena in London, England. The tournament takes the top eight singles players and top eight doubles teams and pits them against each other...... -
ATP World Tour: Robby Ginepri The $519,000 ATP World Tour 250 in Indianapolis, United States of America, running from the 19th of July, 2009 until the 26th of July, 2009 on hard court surfaces. More information can be obtained through http://www.atpworldtour.com. Results for Sunday, the 26th of July, 2009: Singles Final, R Ginepri of the......
Related Websites -
PGA Championship at Hazeltine: Top 10 Contenders The PGA Championships is returning to Hazeltine, located in Chaska in MN, which is where the 2002 PGA Championships were held. Here are the top ten contenders who are going to wipe up this tournament. 1 - Tiger Woods - He finished in second place here during 2002, and the...... -
Tiger Woods Wins AT&T National Anthony Kim is finally getting a chance to go head to head with Tiger Woods, a moment that he says he has been waiting for all of his life. Kim managed to keep cool after a few blinders at the Congressional, though he managed to save par from 84 years...... -
Gonzalez Takes SAS Masters Victory with Birdies in Five of Six Last Holes! Ricardo Gonzalez managed to win the SAS Masters this last Sunday by a total of two strikes after taking birdies on five of the remaining six holes of the course, walking away with a four under sixty-nine. This thirty-nine year old Argentine player managed to finish at ten below 282...... -
Exciting Action in Two Different Golf Tournaments There were two different golf tournaments to follow this weekend. Both of the tournaments had some great gameplay and some close finishes. The Nelson Championship ended with a sudden death and the BMW PGA Championship ended with two Englishmen battling it out for number one in a playoff. One of...... -
Athlete Profile: Seth Wescott Seth Wescott is the current snowboard cross gold medalist, and now in Arosa, Switzerland, he has the fastest runs, winning the SBX World Cup and earning 1000 cup points overall. This was the first World Cup win for the Maine native, who managed to out speed Markus Schairer, David Speiser......
- Digital Player Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
- Emerson Baby Grand, Baby Grand Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
- 1905 Kimball Grand Upright Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
- Challen Grand, Baby Grand Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
- Tom Willett Player Piano Acoustic Musical Instruments
Categories:
News, Tennis, Tournaments and Championships
Tags:
0 comments ↓
There are no comments yet...Kick things off by filling out the form below.
Leave a Comment