ATP World Tour Finals: McEnroe backs Djokovic to beat Murray
John McEnroe says he is looking forward to a Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray final at the ATP World Tour Finals, but that history shows the Serbian will probably win.
John McEnroe says he is looking forward to a Novak Djokovic v Andy Murray final at the ATP World Tour Finals, but that history shows the Serbian will probably win.
Canadian rides his serve and forehand into the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals
Milos Raonic is not just a serve. Think of him much more along the lines of a “Serve +1”.
Raonic defeated Dominic Thiem 7-6(5), 6-3 on Thursday evening at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, dominating the short points and fusing together his two biggest weapons into one lethal package.
Serve +1 is a ruthless, doubling down strategy of purposefully following the serve with a forehand. Raonic’s primary pattern of play is to then typically match that combination up against a backhand return, and then a defensive backhand on the run.
The percentage breakdown below between hitting a forehand or backhand immediately behind either a first or second serve clearly shows the efficiency of Raonic’s strategy.
Raonic 1st Serves
Raonic 2nd Serves
Dominic Thiem was not quite as aggressive as Raonic pursing the Serve +1 forehand strategy, but it still delivered a higher winning percentage for him when he did employ it.
Thiem 1st Serves
Thiem 2nd Serves
Raw speed was used by both players to immediately control the beginning of the point, with Raonic’s first serve averaging 125mph, and Thiem’s not far behind at 116mph. This naturally produced a match dominated by short rallies, with greater than 70 per cent of all points requiring either player to hit a maximum of just two shots in a rally.
Rally Length
|
Rally Length |
Total Points |
Raonic Won |
Thiem Won |
|
0-4 Shots |
71% (96) |
57% (55) |
43% (41) |
|
5-9 Shots |
24% (32) |
47% (15) |
53% (17) |
|
10+ Shots |
5% (7) |
71% (5) |
29% (2) |
|
Totals |
100% (135) |
75 |
60 |
The biggest pool of points by far was in the 0-4 shot range at 71 per cent, with Raonic winning a very healthy 57 per cent (55) of them. Thiem slightly edged Raonic in the mid-length rallies of 5-9 shots 17-15, while the Canadian took the honours in the extended rallies of 10 shots or longer seven to two.
With all forehands in the match, Raonic hit 59 per cent of them cross-court, and 41 per cent down the line. Interestingly, Thiem’s average forehand speed was slightly higher than Raonic’s at 78mph to 77mph. Thiem also edged Raonic in backhand speed as well (excluding slice backhands) at 73mph to 72mph. Once you factor in the slice backhands, both players averaged 68mph, which is a substantial drop of around 10mph compared to forehands.
In the baseline rallies, Thiem felt the magnetism of the baseline more than Raonic did, hitting 25 per cent of shots inside the baseline, compared to just 20 per cent for the Canadian. Raonic made contact with 40 per cent of his shots in the “deep zone”, more than two metres behind the baseline, while Thiem was only back that far 35 per cent of the time.
Raonic’s serve strategy was to take the fastest way home, focusing right down the middle in both service boxes, which also helped provide no angle for Thiem to immediately find Raonic’s backhand with the first shot after the serve.
Raonic 1st Serve Direction
Deuce Court
Ad Court
Raonic now moves through to the semi-finals, where he will undoubtedly continue his Serve +1 onslaught. It’s a proven pattern of play that is almost impossible to stop.
Milos Raonic keeps the points short against Dominic Thiem at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares have clinched a Barclays ATP World Tour Finals semi-finals berth and boosted their chances of finishing as year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings after the second seeds defeated Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 6-3, 3-6, 10-6 on Thursday at The O2 arena.
Murray/Soares completed their Group Edberg/Jarryd campaign with a maximum three victories and can still overtake Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut as the World No. 1 pairing, depending on the outcome of the Frenchmen’s final round-robin match on Friday.
Herbert/Mahut, who will not qualify for the final four, must prevail in their final Group Fleming/McEnroe contest with Henri Kontinen and John Peers, otherwise the prestigious year-end top spot is in the hands of Murray/Soares.
Dodig’s perfectly curated lob clipped the right tramline in the opening game but Murray managed to hold with a heavy first serve in the deciding deuce point. Murray/Soares capitalised on two double faults to canvass the net and break Melo for a 3-1 lead. Crisp volleying and dominant serving kept them ahead to close out a comprehensive opener, a set which guaranteed them a ticket to play in the semi-finals.
However Dodig/Melo, playing in their final tournament as partners, built momentum on their own service games. Melo held to love for 4-3 and then the 2014 runners-up at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals forced the second seeds into uncharacteristic errors to level the match. Murray/Soares regrouped and struck 100 percent first serves in the match tie-break to command the points and edge to victory.
Heading into the semi-finals, the British-Brazilian duo will hope to cap their successful 2016 season in style. They have already accumulated 41 match wins this year, including the Apia International Sydney, Australian Open and US Open titles.
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Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares are into the doubles semi-finals of the ATP World Tour Finals and on course to end 2016 as the world number one pairing.
Briton Murray and Brazil’s Soares beat Croatia’s Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo of Brazil 6-3 3-6 10-6 to top the Edberg/Jarryd Group.
The win takes Murray and Soares above Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut in the rankings.
The French pair could regain top spot by winning their final group match.
However, Friday’s match is Herbert and Mahut’s last chance to accrue another 200 points because they lost their opening two matches and cannot qualify for the semi-finals.
Murray and Soares will play Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez or Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram in the last four on Saturday.
“All the guys can beat each other here, I didn’t really know what to expect,” said Murray.
“I knew if we could perform well we’d be a tough team to beat.
“We played great the first three matches and we’re really excited to be in the semi-finals for the first time.”
Soares can also end the year top of the individual doubles rankings if Mahut fails to win with Herbert on Friday.
“He’s been close the last few weeks and we keep blowing it,” said Murray, who was number one earlier in the year.
“Bruno’s obviously been doing a good job for me this year and it would be great for us if he can do it.”
Andy Murray hopes to recover from his epic win over Kei Nishikori in time to face Stan Wawrinka at the ATP World Tour Finals on Friday.
The Briton, 29, needed a tournament-record three hours and 20 minutes to see off Nishikori on Wednesday.
He returns to London’s O2 Arena 48 hours later knowing he must take a set off Wawrinka to ensure a semi-final place.
Murray will play the Swiss third seed at 14:00 GMT on Friday.
Nishikori takes on Marin Cilic in the evening session at 20:00, with the Japanese player also able to claim one of the two semi-final places from the John McEnroe Group.
Murray needs to qualify for the last four to maintain his hopes of ending 2016 as the world number one, ahead of Novak Djokovic.
The only way Murray can be eliminated after winning his opening two matches is with a straight-set defeat by Wawrinka, followed by a Nishikori win over Cilic.
To win the group and avoid playing Djokovic in the semi-finals, Murray must either win, or lose in three sets and hope Nishikori beats Cilic in three sets.
“Obviously it’s important to win matches to give yourself the best chance to go through, and 200 points for each match here is quite a lot as well,” said Murray.
Asked if he was optimistic he could recover from Wednesday’s lengthy match sufficiently to challenge Wawrinka, the Scot told BBC Sport: “I haven’t thought about that.
“I’m just getting up each day and trying to give the best of what I have on that day.
“I’ll just try to use a good rest day to recover. Hopefully I won’t be too stiff and sore come Friday, but it’s not ideal to play matches of that length at this stage of the season.”
Wawrinka played poorly in a swift defeat by Nishikori on Monday but improved dramatically to beat Cilic and resurrect his hopes on Wednesday.
The Swiss, 31, lost to Murray in their only meeting this year at the French Open but won last year’s group-stage contest at the O2 Arena.
And the US Open champion has no qualms about potentially knocking out the home favourite.
“I don’t care at all,” said Wawrinka. “All I know is if I want to have a chance to qualify, I need to win. That’s all I know. That’s all I’m trying to do.
“I’m going to try to play my best tennis, to beat the world number one.”
John McEnroe Group qualification scenarios
Watch Novak Djokovic’s angry exchange with umpire Fergus Murphy during his win against David Goffin at the ATP World Tour finals.
The BBC has extended its contract to broadcast Wimbledon for an additional four years, taking its partnership with the All England Club through to 2024.
The agreement means the Grand Slam remains free to air across BBC television, online and radio.
“Wimbledon is the pinnacle of the sport,” said BBC director general Tony Hall.
Earlier this year, a peak audience of 13.3 million watched Andy Murray win his second Wimbledon title on BBC One.
Next year, the longest partnership in sports broadcasting history celebrates 80 years of television and 90 years of radio coverage.
Wimbledon will continue to be broadcast across BBC One, BBC Two, BBC online and on BBC Radio 5 Live and 5 live sports extra.
“We greatly value the BBC’s commitment to delivering large national audiences for the championships across a multitude of high quality platforms,” said Philip Brook, chairman of the All England Club.
Hall added: “Wimbledon on the BBC will continue to unite the nation through must-see sporting moments, captivating audiences of all ages.”
Novak Djokovic kept up the pressure in the race for the year-end number one ranking with victory over Belgian David Goffin at the ATP World Tour Finals.
Djokovic had already qualified for the semi-finals, and completed the group stage with a 6-1 6-2 win.
Milos Raonic joined the Serb in the last four with a 7-6 (7-5) 6-3 win over Austria’s Dominic Thiem.
Murray won his first two group matches and plays Stan Wawrinka on Friday at 14:00 GMT.
Five-time champion Djokovic took his record at the O2 Arena to 21 wins in 22 matches with a straightforward dismissal of Goffin.
The Belgian, 25, was in London as the alternate, and making his tournament debut after Gael Monfils withdrew with a rib injury.
With £144,000 and 200 ranking points on offer for every group match victory, there was plenty to play for, but Goffin was outclassed by the champion.
Djokovic broke serve at the second attempt and the most significant drama came when he argued with umpire Fergus Murphy and tournament supervisor Tom Barnes over a time violation.
“One time!” the Serb said repeatedly, unhappy that he had not been given a warning he was getting close to breaking the 25-second rule.
It did nothing to interrupt the momentum on court as Djokovic eased to victory in just 69 minutes.
“Undoubtedly, I felt the most comfortable today from all three matches I’ve played this week,” said Djokovic.
“I felt like I increased the level and the quality of tennis, so that’s a good sign.”
Djokovic now has a rest day before he plays Murray, Wawrinka or Kei Nishikori in Saturday’s semi-final.
“No stress at all,” he added. “Why stress? We come here to play, to enjoy.
“This is one of the biggest tournaments in the world. I’m just having fun on the court.”