ATP World Tour Finals - Summarising the tales of the season

Another season of professional men’s tennis came to an end this weekend with the conclusion of the ATP World Tour Finals. Well, almost came to an end, if you were to consider the ITF-run Davis Cup finals coming up.

Over the course of the last week, the eight best tennis players in the world met in London and engaged in heated tussles with each other. What resulted was a series of exciting encounters (mostly in the round-robin stage) and a series of duds (mostly in the playoffs stage).

Nevertheless, we were provided with a fascinating look into various storylines in the tournament that closely adhered to individual threads that have developed over the course of the last year. If ever a season could be captured in the blink of an eye, this ATP World Tour Finals did it for us.

So what exactly did we learn last week? What tennis truths of the year were reinforced in our minds by those hardy competitors on those blue courts in London?

The bright, uncertain tomorrow

Rafael Nadal

The final being contested between Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, world numbers 1 and 2, was an obvious fitting finale to a tennis season dominated at almost every point in time by either one of them.

The fact that both players entered Monday’s final undefeated served to reinforce the current gulf between them and the rest of the tour. Djokovic proceeded to score a convincing victory, just short of what might be called a drubbing, over the world number one in the final.

But even this one-sided result of an extremely hyped-up match was but a natural end to how the season progressed. Nadal kicked off his spectacular return from injury early this year on his much beloved clay courts, and extended his domination of the season as far as he ever has before, all the way to his second US Open crown and the No. 1 ranking.

Perhaps the dethroning had a liberating effect, perhaps it brought about a vengeful focus, but Djokovic has been a man on a mission since then, remaining undefeated till the end of the season, with four titles, including two victories over Nadal.

This shift in momentum is again only symptomatic of the rivalry between these two champions over the years. Their battles have been characterized by ever-changing dynamics, with Nadal being a clearly superior player to begin with, Djokovic bursting through in 2011 to the extent of usurping Nadal even on clay, Nadal pulling away again with a new, improved aggressive game, and now, this latest Djokovic streak. Their individual matches may not always be classics, though they have had their share, but their rivalry has definitely built into one.

What all this means is that we will enter 2014 not sure who the best tennis player on the planet is. Will Djokovic continue to build on his recent success? Or will there be yet another change in momentum? The future of men’s tennis at the top looks as bright as it looks uncertain.

Rolling stone gathering moss

Roger Federer

Another equally dramatic storyline this year has been Roger Federer’s sobering fall from grace. Beginning the season at No. 2, he has slip-slided his way to No. 6 now, and in the process, endured unprecedented losses to lowly rivals with unfamiliar names like Delbonis, Brands and Stakhovsky.

This year, we saw him finally give up his record Grand Slam quarterfinal streak, pick up just one title, fall to his lowest ranking in the last 10 seasons, and generally walk around looking like a man of 32 years.

It was a measure of the new, lowered sense of expectations from Federer that his semifinal appearance at the Tour Finals, a tournament on his favourite surface which he has won 6 times before, was certified as a positive end to the season for him.

The fire still burns within, as we saw with the multiple stirring comebacks he executed in his encounter with del Potro in a humdinger of a deciding round-robin match. The class still exudes, as we saw with the eye-popping rallies and winners over the course of the week in London. It is the consistency of excellence in play, however, that we may have to learn to live without in the future.

Federer continues to believe in his abilities, as any sports professional still playing the game should. But it might be getting harder and harder for his fans to do so in the coming days.