Qualifiers set to renew rivalries, battle for No. 1 Ranking at season finale
Arch rivals Nestor-Zimonjic & Bryan Brothers clinch berths
London, United Kingdom – Roger Federer has qualified for the prestigious Barclays ATP World Tour Finals after winning a record-breaking 15th Grand Slam title on Sunday at Wimbledon. Starting 22 November at The O2 in London, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is the climax of the men’s professional tennis season and will feature the world’s top eight singles players and eight doubles teams competing to be officially crowned as the 2009 ATP World Tour Champions.
Federer joins reigning ATP World Tour Champion Rafael Nadal as the singles players to have clinched their Barclays ATP World Tour Finals berths, and the two are expected to renew their rivalry and the battle for the year-end No. 1 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking. With his triumph at Wimbledon, the 27-year-old Federer reclaimed the No. 1 Ranking – a position he had surrendered to Nadal for 46 weeks on 18 August, 2008.
“I think it's great to have the event in London in a massive city like this,” Federer said. “I think it's very fitting; this is one of the great tennis cities around the world. People in this country love sports and they love tennis. It's great to be already qualified so I'm happy to be part of that elite group again, and challenging the other players in the round robin. It's going to be fabulous I'm sure, and I've only heard good things about the arena.”
Starting with his first title of the 2009 season in mid-May at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open, an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event, Federer has been invincible – winning 19 straight matches and three successive tour-level titles. He became the sixth man in history to achieve a career Grand Slam with victory over Robin Soderling in the Roland Garros final, and then prevailed against Andy Roddick at Wimbledon in the longest men’s Grand Slam singles final (16-14 fifth set) to break his and Pete Sampras’ record of 14 majors won.
The 27-year-old Swiss will be making his eighth straight appearance in the season finale, where he is a four-time champion. He won successive titles in 2003-04 when the tournament was held in Houston and reclaimed the title in 2006-07 in Shanghai.
Defending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals doubles champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, who on Sunday won their second consecutive Wimbledon title, have become the first doubles team to qualify. They will be joined in London by the team they beat in Sunday’s final, two-time finale champions Bob and Mike Bryan. In Shanghai last year Nestor and Zimonjic defeated the Bryans in the final in a match that also determined which team finished ATP World Tour Doubles Champions.
The Bryans, who won the finale in Houston in 2003 and 2004, have won four titles this year, including their seventh Grand Slam title, in January at the Australian Open. “Qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is always one of our key goals each year as it’s a reflection of consistent success throughout the season,” said Mike Bryan. “It was an amazing finish last year when the No. 1 Ranking came down to the final match of the year when we played Nestor and Zimonjic. I wouldn’t be surprised if the No. 1 Ranking was again decided in London.”
The tournament will be the world’s biggest-ever indoor tennis event, where each of the top eight players will be drawn to play a minimum of three round-robin matches to determine which four players advance to the knockout semi-finals. Tickets are available online through www.BarclaysATPWorldTourFinals.com or by calling 0844 847 2495 within the UK. Overseas customers should call +44 161 372 0025.
(From Website : http://www.barclaysatpworldtourfinals.com/en/news/federerqualifies.asp)
