Foot Fault!

Today in London, the eight qualifiers for the ATP World Tour Finals were drawn into their groups for the very last time in 2011, and we were finally given a glimpse into what the final week of the ATP tour will in store for us. Check out the draw below.

Sunday & Monday OOP

1) Federer-Djokovic and Murray-Nadal who?
It seems like the World Tour Finals is pretty much the only tournament on the planet in which Djokovic-Federer and Murray-Nadal don’t have an invisible magnet drawing them to each other. And thus, we will see an intriguing pair of Round Robin match-ups between Federer-Nadal and Djokovic-Murray instead of the same ol’ match-ups. Of course, that means that the semifinals could well be exactly the same as the four projected Grand Slam semifinal line-ups of this year, but that’s okay.

2) Watch out for the two dark horses.
2011 has been unprecedented in the domination of four players on the rest of the field. But exciting as it has been to sit back and watch these four great players, the lack of consistent competition from the vast pool of talent immediately underneath the four has been a disappointing lowlight of this season. However, both Tsonga and Berdych impressed last week in Paris and are perfectly poised in their groups to create some noise, take out a bigger name or two and possibly even make it out of their groups. And I think they just might do it.

3) Doubles? Love it… but only in moderation.
Ever since I attended the WTFs as a spectator in its inaugural year, it’s hard not to get a bitter taste in my mouth every time when looking at the order of play. Just as only four doubles teams eligible for the WTA year-end event makes the event pointless and uninteresting, eight just feels like too much. The only real purpose it serves is allowing the already extortionate WTFs the chance to create more revenue by enforcing a day and night session with only one singles match per session. A complete waste of money.