WTF 2015

There is no thread up yet and didn't know were to put this.

Ricky Dimon tweeted that Rafa is an incredible 123 - 53 against the rest of the field at the WTF. Just for fun I thought I would check other players stats.

Djokovic is 102 - 66

Federer is 96 - 66

Murray is 57 - 69

Whilst checking I also noticed that in 16 meeting David Ferrer has never beaten Federer Also surprising that Djokovic's and Federer's figures are almost identical.

Djokovic is 124-66.

That's where you fell over on the MTO thread too!

Wishful thinking perhaps.

Very surprising if Djoko does not win this. Of course, we could get a "group of death" containing Djoko, Fed and Rafa.
Very unlikely the men's end-of-year final will follow the pattern of the women's this year when two players qualified with only one win in the round-robin part and then it was those two that contested the final ?

Fed is number two now I think isn't he so he can't be in Novak's group. He could get Murray and Nadal. But bottom line whatever group he gets will be the group of death but probably for the other guys to him I don't think it matters much.

Pretty sure Murray is number 2 in both Race To London and also 12 month rankings as of this week. Being in Novak's group for Federer would not be too bad for either as they would be guaranteed not to meet each if the semis. Then again being in Murray's group would be good as I would be surprised if he made the semis given his focus on the Davis Cup.

Astonishing that the top eight were in place many weeks before the end of the season and that nobody really looked like edging them out for a place at the O2.
Ferrer was even able to miss quite a chunk of the season and still qualify comfortably. Djoko has been amazing this year, but, really, it's been a fairly mundane season. I suppose the stand-out performance - and the most significant - was Stan's at the FO.

Best thread title of the year, yes the 2015 has been a WTF year in Tennis

While my 24h ban expires (thx JHM , I thought I'd post combinations, till the real Jahu chills a little

Combinations:

Combo:1
1st Group: Đoković, Federer, Nadal, Ferrer
2nd Group: Murray, Wawrinka, Berdych, Nishikori

Combo 2:
1st Group: Đoković, Federer, Nadal, Nishikori
2nd Group: Murray, Wawrinka, Berdych, Ferrer

Combo 3:
1st Group: Đoković, Federer, Berdych, Ferrer
2nd Group: Murray, Wawrinka, Nadal, Nishikori

Combo 4:
1st Group: Đoković, Federer, Berdych, Nishikori
2nd Group: Mari, Wawrinka, Nadal, Ferrer

Combo 5:
1st Group: Đoković, Wawrinka, Nadal, Ferrer
2nd Group: Murray, Federer, Berdych, Nishikori

Combo 6:
1st Group: Đoković, Wawrinka, Nadal, Nishikori
2nd Group: Murray, Federer, Berdych, Ferrer

Combo 7:
1st Group: Đoković, Wawrinka, Berdych, Ferrer
2nd Group: Murray, Federer, Nadal, Nishikori

Combo 8:
1st Group: Đoković, Wawrinka, Berdych, Nishikori
2nd Group: Murray, Federer, Nadal, Ferrer

I thoroughly enjoy this time of year in the tennis calendar. A fitting end to the season, and the chance to look ahead to the next Slam.

WTF has developed into a better-than-ever tourney IMO  

Excellent planning, great venue. AND of course the chance to see (minimum x3 each) the absolute cream of the men's Tour pit their wits & skills against each other. No ease-your-way-in early rounds !

Obviously Novak is standout favourite by a country mile. But nothing is guaranteed in sport, and I will be watching as much of it as I can. Tickets hard to come by at this stage, but hopefully will get to the stadium itself again on one of the days.

Good to know that WTF will - reportedly - remain in London until 2018 'at least' - even though a new sponsor will be needed after next year :

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-34722037

The sole thing I don't like is the venue. London is a great place but the crowd are so far away there's scant atmosphere.  The court always looks slow too, might be that it's cold

^ Not only are many fans so far away they no doubt have to watch the screens to know whats happening but it's sold as an overpriced lottery. One session is a doubles and just one singles match with no way of knowing who you are paying to see. My theory is that they delay the draw and schedule so that the crowds are more evenly distributed. IMO it shouldn't carry ranking points either as its format is exhibition like and 200 points for winning a dead rr match is a joke. As for being permanently (well as near as...) on indoor hardcourts don't get me started...

If Murray withdraws after the draw does anyone know if Djokovic and Federer will get their own groups or will Gasquet just be slotted into his place?

I've been the last two years, Federer vs Djokovic in '13 and I bought the tickets 3 days before after working out who I would get after seeing the draw and was sat in a great seat for 60 quid, the crowd was electric! Last year I saw Federer vs Raonic with a good view too. You can go onto the site and pick where you wanna sit in the stadium, I recommend going to anyone who hasn't been it's an incredible event

hawkeye, you can keep calling it "exhibition-like" till the cows come home (whether Swiss cows or some other nationality ). Flashing lights & rock music doesn't mean that serious competitive tennis is not being played.

The bottom line is that these top guys all try hard to qualify for the event ; AND once they are there, I have yet to see even the most remote evidence of them not wanting to win the title, or adopting any of the jokey tactics seen in genuine exhos.

The roll-of-honour of past champions (so many legends of the sport) through all the years of the WTF, in all its various guises & venues - tells its own story.

Yeah, it's obviously a huge, important and prestigious tournament - all the players know it and so do most of the people who follow tennis.

It may one day change surface - but the thing I like about it being indoors is that it is a different surface and environment to any of the slams and so doesn't favour any of the slam winners per se - they have to conquer another surface to win it (if they can).

The guys dont treat it like an exhibition, but the venue makes it feel like one. Just not a fan of it... I think you have the wrong end of the stick

For reference this is what I always felt it should be like
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OPsu-zL2Ah0

Massively helped out by Becker being in the final but its a much better venue to my own tastes

Maybe it's hard to tell on TV - I don't like the blue lighting though.

Sour grapes and Hawkeye are well acquainted by now.

There is always a subtext with Hawkeye's threads. Let me guess the WTF is like an exhibition because the most perfect human being ever Nadal has never won it. You can bet your bottom dollar if Nadal had seven WTF finals titles HE would be demanding its elevation to Wimbledon standards. I mean we have seen Nadal Winning RG a thousand times has caused it to jump from the 3rd slam status to holy grail status

And Novak would love it what ever status it was

My post has nothing to do with Novak. Just an observation that for Hawk whatever event Nadal seems to win is more valuable or prestigious than things he has never won.

Groups are set

Djokovic, Federer, Berdych, Nishi

Murray, Wawrinka, Nadal, Ferrer.

Someone had to be in the Djoko side, but overall fairly balanced.

Nadal gets to protect his h2h v Djoko and Federer so that's the most important thing :-)

Don't  you mean the one thing he has never won ??

Hope Stan is ready to run!

Nishi will last all of one set!

Second group looks tougher than the first to me.

Not quite the group of death then. Novak looks fine. Fed will need to make sure he doesn't slip on Berdych.
Kind really for Rafa, a chance to make it out of that group, given Nish is unlikely to be and his replacement would be Gasquet.

For Muzz a semi is perfect, make it there, go out to Novak, gear up for the dc.

Love the BBC headline "Murray avoids Djokovic in WTF". Quality as always.

Fairly balanced draw. Fed and Novak will cruise through. Other group is harder to call given Murray's focus on bigger events.

Maybe the first tournament ever that I'm hoping Murray doesn't even reach the semi finals!

I went to the 02 in 2013 to watch Nadal v Ferrer and Djokovic v Federer. The court looks ace when you're there. It's a centre piece, and the atmosphere is good. I agree it never seems that good on tv though.

Its the same as Paris - the camera angle makes it look really slow. The atmosphere there is amazing though.

I too found the atmosphere amazing when you're actually there.

When the build-up begins to a singles match, and the players walk onto court, there is a special buzz about the place.

Fair enough, ive never had the chance. In that case the tv needs to fix it! At least fix the sound a bit

Novak should cruise into SF - but that was never going to depend on the draw. Federer should in theory join him but these days one is not so sure of him anymore.

The other group looks intriguing - any two of the top three could make it.

Personally, I hope Murray does reach the SF. Whilst not a done deal, the prospect of facing Belgium is not the scariest and he has some well-deserved rest thereafter. Maximum effort in the group - pick up 600 points - and then take a view, like Fed last year, on how his back feels.

Yeah I hope Andy gives it his all, the tournament last year was full on one sided matches. Needs some epics this year

Depends what 'giving it his all' entails. Don't think he will want to be involved in too many drawn out rallies or matches so will play more aggressively which will lead to more UE's.

It seemed last year that everyone was really exhausted coming into the tournament. I recall that the all-Swiss semi was a thriller and that the rest of the matches were utterly unmemorable. Can't remember a single point from the final !

Yes there was indeed a whole series of surprisingly uneventful contests last year.

Similar patterns are not totally unknown in the odd Slam either, where you can have matches that fall way short of expectation/anticipation. It's the nature of (any) sport I guess.

But - within the context of WTF overall - I'd say 2014 was fairly unusual in that regard. And the Final itself was certainly a very quiet affair ......

TRuffin wrote:Groups are set

Djokovic, Federer, Berdych, Nishi

Murray, Wawrinka, Nadal, Ferrer.

Someone had to be in the Djoko side, but overall fairly balanced.  

Nadal gets to protect his h2h v Djoko and Federer so that's the most important thing :-)

I think the Djokovic group is harder, maybe by far harder

Djokovic>>Murray
Federer>Warwinka debatable but at this tournament, historically, on consistently, at least true
Berdych=Nadal debatable but in terms of potency at this particular toutnament at this point in time, that's how I'd have
Nishi>Ferrer

I think if Nishi were fully fit the Djokovic group would certainly look tougher on paper, but with Nadal's improved recent form and Nishi's serial fitness issues there's probably not much in it. Djokovic should cruise through, but Feds is a pretty firm favourite to join him, whereas you feel that while Ferrer has not much chance, the other three are all in with a shout. So Murray's group feels more "open", though whether that translates as tougher...