2011 ATP World Tour Media Guide

2011 PREVIEW
O
ver the past seven years, the ATP World Tour
No. 1 ranking has been dominated by two
players, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer. One
of the two superstars has occupied the top ranking
position every week since February 2004, with
Federer finishing No. 1 five years and Nadal twice.
The duo has claimed 21 of the past 23 Grand Slam
trophies since Roland Garros in 2005 when Nadal
earned the first of nine Slam titles. Federer opened
last season with his on-going record 16th career
Grand Slam crown at the Australian Open. Nadal
swept the next three Slam titles to become the seventh
player in history to win all four majors in his
career en route to finishing No. 1.
In the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour
Finals in London, Federer defeated Nadal in three sets
to claim his record-tying fifth year-end title. It was the
first time in 24 years the top two players met in the
season finale championship.
Along with their Grand Slam supremacy, Nadal is
the all-time leader with 18 career ATP World Tour
Masters 1000 titles and Federer follows with 17.
Federer is No. 4 on the Open Era titles list with 66
career championships and is one week away from
tying Pete Sampras’ record for most weeks (286)
at No. 1.
While Nadal and Federer garnered headlines
throughout the season, a historic match also gained
worldwide attention at Wimbledon as American John
Isner and Frenchman Nicolas Mahut played the
longest match ever. Isner completed a three-day, 11
hour, 5-minute marathon victory over Mahut 70-68 in
the fifth set, firing 113 aces. Mahut hit 103 aces himself
in the 183-game match.
The question going into the 2011 season is who
will challenge the dynamic duo? Two years ago
Andy Murray reached No. 2 briefly and last season
Novak Djokovic spent a majority in the second spot
before finishing No. 3 for the fourth straight year.
Murray ended the year No. 4 for a third consecutive
season. Both players were also a finalist in Grand
Slam play, Murray Down Under, and Djokovic in
Flushing Meadows.
The foursome of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and
Murray have finished among the Top 4 for the last
three years. It has been 25 years since a similar quartet
finished in the Top 4 for three years running.
From 1983-85, Hall-of-Famers Ivan Lendl, John
McEnroe, Mats Wilander and Jimmy Connors accomplished
the feat.
Other players to watch for who compiled careerbest
seasons last year are No. 5 Robin Soderling, who
reached the final at Roland Garros for the second
time, and No. 6 Tomas Berdych, who advanced to his
first Grand Slam title match at Wimbledon, and
The foursome of (L to R) Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic,
Andy Murray and Rafael Nadal finished in the Top 4 in
the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the third
year in a row.
climbed from No. 20 from ’09. Young Argentine Juan
Martin del Potro, who finished No. 5 in 2009 highlighted
by a US Open title, looks to come back strong
after a wrist injury that sidelined him for 10 months
last season.
Federer and American Andy Roddick are the most
familiar Top 10 faces with nine straight finishes in the
elite group. Top Frenchman Gael Monfils, who
helped France to the Davis Cup final, and young
Croat Marin Cilic, are poised to finish in the Top 10
for the first time.
In doubles, Americans Bob and Mike Bryan are
coming off an undefeated season in finals (11-0), and
they finished as the No. 1 team for a record sixth time
in the past eight years. The Californian duo has an
Open Era record 67 titles together.
The Bryans will be challenged by new teams after
rivals and last year’s No. 2 squad of Daniel Nestor and
Nenad Zimonjic, decided to form new partnerships in
the 2011 season. The No. 3 duo of Mahesh Bhupathi
and Max Mirnyi are also going a different direction.
The ultimate goal is to play in the 63rd tournament
of the season at the year-ending Barclays ATP
World Tour Finals in London where over 500,000 fans
have come the last two years to The O2 arena to
watch the sport’s top eight singles players and doubles
teams battle it out for the last title of the year.
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