Rafa & The 2011 ATP World Tour Championships, Round 3

(Tough times for Rafa. I will have to rename the blogpost for the semis...)

Oh, boy. Here's how the groups were ranked at the end of the 3nd Round of Round Robin:

Group A:
2-1 David Ferrer - ESP - Semifinalist!
2-1  Jurgen Melzer - GER - Semifinalist!
1-2 Novak Djokovic - SRB
1-2 Andy Murray -GBR / Janko Tipsarevic SRB

Group B:
3-0 Roger Federer - SUI - Semifinalist!
2-1 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga - FRA - Semifinalist!
1-2 Our Hero, Rafael Nadal ESP
0-3  Mardy Fish - USA

So in a surprising twist, the top 3-ranked players in the field will not make it out of round Robin play. Djokovic, Nadal and Murray all were upset by lower-seeded players. Murray got injured and replaced, Djokovic admittedly ran out of gas after having such a successful season, and Rafa has seemingly misplaced his explosive on-court nature. I feel for him. I hope he has a good showing at the David Cup Finals and that it inspires him to find that mental match toughness in 2012. I still love you, Rafa!

Looking ahead, Ferrer will face Federer in Saturday’s first semifinal, and then Berdych will take on Tsonga in the late match. This will be interesting! It's a really great opportunity for all these guys. Federer has to be the favorite to take the title at this point, but Ferrer should provide a great challenge before he gets there. And for the other three guys, they have a chance to take the year end title for the first time! I'm hoping the tourney winner is whoever wins the Federer-Ferrer match. Should be fun! Vamos (Ferrer)!