The Fall Tennis Season

For many the perception of professional tennis in the Fall is one of the players being on cruise control. That is hardly the case, quite the contrary actually.

The intensity and pressure reaches tremendous heights as players vie for 2 major goals. For the top echelon of players it is securing their place in the World Tour Finals, debuting in London this year, which promises to be an amazing event. The 2nd goal pertains to every professional tennis player, regardless of their ranking or stature in the sport, achieving the highest year-end ranking they possibly can.

The Fall schedule on the ATP World Tour calendar has a prestigious swing through Asia highlighted by 500 Series events in Beijing and Tokyo, followed by the inaugural Master’s 1000 event taking place at a mega facility in Shanghai. Following the Asian swing, players choose from numerous events in Europe, with the final Master’s 1000 event taking place in Paris before the top 8 players of the 2009 season participate in the 5th major, the World Tour Finals. So far Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal.

Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, and Juan Martin Del Potro have secured their places in London, but the final 3 spots are totally up for grabs. Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Robin Soderling, Giles Simon and Nikolay Davydenko are the players best positioned to compete for the remaining spots. In addition to the ATP World Tour events, the Davis Cup final between Spain and the Czech Republic will take place in the beginning of December in Spain, as Spain will try to repeat as champions.

There are many intriguing story lines that will be answered in the last few weeks of the 2009 tennis year. How will Juan Martin Del Potro respond to the hero’s welcome he received upon returning to his native Argentina after winning the US OPEN? Rafael Nadal left the US OPEN with questions regarding his health after an abdominal injury and he will be looking to get back to his winning ways. Andy Murray had an enigmatic loss at the US OPEN and will be facing tremendous pressure coming back home to London for the World Tour Finals. Roger Federer looks to finish off his monumental year on a positive note. Novak Djokovic will be defending last year’s win in the World Tour Finals, while Andy Roddick will be trying to find the form that put him within points of the Wimbledon crown. Fernando Verdasco and Robin Soderling are trying to punctuate their breakthrough years by gaining their 1st berths in the World Tour Finals.

All and all there will be some scintillating tennis down the stretch of this already enticing 2009 season, so check it out, and enjoy.