Defending champ Djokovic books ATP Finals spot
Originally published on: 26/02/10 11:42
And then there were four – defending champion Novak Djokovic joins Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray as confirmed qualifiers for the year-ending Barclays ATP World Tour finals following his run to the US Open semi-finals.
The Serbian, who won the invitational event in Shanghai last year, leads the tour for most wins this season after victory No.58 against Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals which guaranteed his spot in November’s showpiece at the O2 Arena in London.
He may have only claimed titles in Dubai and Belgrade to date this season, but the world No.4 has reached four Masters 1000 Series finals as well as quarter-final appearances at the Australian Open and Wimbledon.
Its only eight players and I think all the tennis world and tennis attention is directed to this event,” said Djokovic, set for his third successive appearance at the event. “The role of defending champion has quite a lot of expectation. Yet again its a big challenge and hopefully I can repeat the success from last year.
US Open doubles finalists Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes have also clinched two of the eight doubles team berths – the second straight appearance for both duos at the season finale.
The Bryan brothers and defending champions Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic have already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the worlds biggest-ever indoor tennis event, will feature the eight top-ranked singles players and doubles teams competing in round-robin groups to determine the semi-finals who will play to crown the 2009 ATP World Tour champions.
Less than 20,000 of the 250,000 tickets remain on sale to tennis fans across the group sessions at the O2 Arena, which will host the eight-day singles and doubles tournament.
Tickets are available online or by calling 0844 847 2495 (UK) or +44 161 372 0025 (International).
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