ATP Men's Finals London - Review

There were few surprises at this years ATP men's tour finals.

I was surprised by the notable improvement of Stanislas Wawrinka. I am not his great fan of his style of tennis but he did well to make the semi-finals. 

I was disappointed with Rafa Nadal's performance in the final. After playing well to reach the final, his below par performance was certainly a surprise and disappointment. 

I personally can't see Roger Federer winning anymore major titles. I think he has had his time and for him to beat either Rafa or Novak at any of the majors in 2014 sounds a tad unrealistic. 

Novak Djokovic performed better than I expected. But then I think losing the the world number one ranking motivated him to play even better. 

Overall it was a good tournament and it was good to see both the number one and number two players in the final. I was only disappointed that Rafa couldn't win it.

 

ATP Men's Finals London- Final

The men's ATP men's final took place yesterday and Novak Djokovic beat Rafael Nadal in straight sets. 

I was suprised with the ease in which Novak beat Rafa. However Novak seemed hungrier for the win and he was blasting winners from all over the court. 

Rafa did not come across as his usual focused self and was making a lot of unnecessary errors.

 It was only really towards the end of the second set that we started to see Rafa's brilliance.

 By that time it was too late and Novak was able to close out the set and the match. From Novak's perspective it was a great match and he was able to retain his title. 

From Rafa's perspective he played a poor match and may rue the chance to have picked up this trophy after such a great year. 

It wasn't really a great final and as Rafa fan I would have loved for him to win it but I guess it was not meant to be. 

Both players will be firm favourites for the Australian Open and for Rafa,  2014 could be the year he makes history. As he is only three grand slams behind Roger Federer. 

Premiership review - Sunday's games Podcast

VR Online Service: Premiership review - Sunday's games

ATP Men's finals - Preview of the men's final

Today's ATP men's final will be between to great competitors in Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal. 

This should be a great match and could become classic match. It is difficult to predict who will win this encounter. 

Novak will want to win as he has not won has many grand slam titles as he would have liked this year. 

He also would like his world number one status back so I think he will be hungrier for the win. 

Rafa has had a great year and his wins year have included two grand slam titles. 

As the current world number one he does not want to lose this status anytime soon, so he will be fighting to hold on to it. 

So I think Rafa will probably win this final but in three close sets. 

ATP Men's Finals - Semi - Finals

The ATP men's semi finals took place yesterday and Novak Djokovic beat Stanislas Wawrinka in straight sets. 

To be fair it was probably the expected result, whilst Stanislas has had good year  he probably needs to focus on winning his first grand slam. 

Novak has lived up to expectations to reach the final. He has additional motivation of wanting his world number one status back so he will be doubly motivated for the final. 

In the other semi final Rafael Nadal beat Roger Federer in straight sets. Rafa nows seems to have no problems beating Roger which is different to a few years back. 

Roger has achieved and won so much in tennis and if he wants to have a successful 2014. He is going have to dig deep to beat the likes of Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic. 

Rafael Nadal has had a good year since coming back from injury. The current world number one will want to win this final to sign off on what has been a great year. 

Premiership review - Saturday's games

Premiership returned this weekend and Chelsea drew two all with Bromwich Albion. 

It was a controversial match which saw Chelsea saw a last minute penalty equaliser and retain their place fourth. 

Liverpool beat Fulham by four goals to nil. Liverpool are doing well this season and if they can keep this up then he might have a genuine chance of winning the premiership. 

 

Fulham are now hovering just above the relagation places and so another bad loss like that and Fulham could themselves in the relegation dog fight.  

ATP Men's Finals, London - Day six

Day six of the ATP men's final and Roger Federer beat Juan Martin Del Potro in three sets. 

This meant that Roger qualified for the semi finals and it knocked Juan Martin out of the finals. 

This was very good win for Roger as Juan Martin was a firm favourite for this title. However Roger now faces the World Number One Rafael Nadal.

This will be a good match and both men would really fighting hard to make the final. I do think Rafael has the edge but I suspect it will be three close sets.

Novak Djokovic beat Richard Gasquet in three sets and Novak will now play Stanislas Wawrinka in the semi finals.

This semi finals should be a good match as all the pressure is on Novak. Stanislas will be able to really go for it as Novak is the favourite.