TENNIS in DEPTH.

Robin Soderling of Sweden, who made it into the ATP Finals by replacing the injured Andy Roddick, has surged into a position of prominence at the top of Group B with two straight set wins over Nadal on Monday and over Djokovic today. After a gruelling first set that went the distance to a tie breaker that was won by Soderling, Djokovic wilted badly and decided to conserve his energy for a showdown with Nadal for what they both hope will be a position in the semi final. If Davydenko defeats Nadal in straight sets later today then Djokovic would have to win over Nadal in straight sets to qualify.

Soderling is through to the semi finals, and he has also risen to the #8 spot in the rankings. He has also pocketed $240,000 so far!

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“I was a ball kid on numerous occasions,” said the 27-year-old Texan. “I don’t know if I ever made the cut to a pro tournament but I certainly did a couple of bigger junior tournaments and a couple of college tournaments. I always had a good time; it was a better option than heading for a ticket!

“I’m amazed with this event and also the fan support that it’s received,” he added. “Every time, from Queen’s to Wimbledon to now this event, it just seems like the London tennis community really reacts. I’m envious of the guys who are here playing because it’s such a good atmosphere just to see.”

Andy Roddick was forced to withdraw from the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals due to a knee injury, but the American has been in town the past couple of days to soak up the fantastic atmosphere at The O2 and fulfill sponsor commitments.

On Tuesday, Roddick helped launch the Barclays Ball Kids Campaign – a nationwide search to find ball kids for the 2010 season finale. In excess of 600 children from the “Barclays Spaces For Sports” initiative came to watch the tennis on Tuesday – raucously cheering on their favourites – and 40 were invited to meet fan favourite Roddick at the launch.

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With or without Verdasco the Spanish Davis Cup team will enter the final as the odds on favourites. They are at home, on clay, and have 2 top ten players in their lineup, whereas the Czechs have none. Looks like an easy romp for the home team. But they might be over confident.

Rafa on clay, even at 75% of his norm is still the best clay court player and will win both his matches. The doubles I give to the Czechs, they are the best pair. So it all comes down to Spain’s #2 player, and whether it is Ferrer or Verdasco, Radel Stepanik will win his rubber. The score could be tied 2-2 going into the final match between Berdych and Verdasco/Ferrer……a toss up!

Fernando Verdasco will be hoping to shake off some niggly injuries to take his place in the Spanish team to face Czech Republic in next week’s Davis Cup by BNP Paribas Final in Barcelona.

Verdasco has been selected in the squad by Albert Costa, Spain’s captain, alongside Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez. It will be his 11th Davis Cup tie since making his debut against Slovak Republic in 2006.

“The foot is feeling good,” said Verdasco, who is competing at the ATP World Tour Finals in London this week. “Physically, I was with some problems in my knees but I took some days off.

“I hope that all the matches here at the Masters will be without pain and also I will arrive in Spain to play the Davis Cup feeling good. I need to see day-by-day how I will feel and then we will see if I am the best option to play.

“If not, I will not be angry. I just want to win the Final of the Davis Cup and if it’s me playing, and I’m the one, then of course I’ll be so happy.

“But if I’m not ready, or if I have pain, or I feel that Ferrer or another guy of my team is in better shape than me and can play better than me, then I will talk to the captain.

“I will not be selfish and think only about myself. I will think about the team and winning the Davis Cup, whoever plays the matches.”

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Serena Williams and Venus Williams will be joined by 2009 US Open Champion Kim Clijsters and 2009 French Open Champion Svetlana Kuznetsova at the 2010 BNP Paribas Showdown for the Billie Jean King Cup. The event takes place Monday night, March 1, 2010 at Madison Square Garden in New York City and will feature two, one-set semifinals followed by a best-of-three-set final for $1.2 million in prize money. Serena won the event in 2009.

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Hello everyone,

Many thanks for all your support messages. They are really important to me. Many of you might be wondering how do you feel after a defeat and not going back home.

Normally when you lose a match in a tennis tournament, you leave home or if you are in the middle of a tour far away from home, stay to rest one day and move to the next one.

Here it is different. I lost yesterday but you can say I am still alive. I have been practicing today hard and I am really looking forward to that match tomorrow. Davydenko is a very difficult player, who isn’t here, right? But he beat me the last time we played only a few weeks ago in Shanghai.

On a personal level, I took some time this evening and went to see the Champions League football match between Barca and Inter at a Sports Bar here in London with my team. Food? so, so…

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Roger Federer took a commanding 2-0 lead in Group A with  resounding victory over local boy Andy Murray, 3-6, 6-3, 6-1. After a warm-up match against Verdasco on Sunday, and a poorly played first set against Murray, Federer turned up the heat to take his game to another level and left Murray wondering what had hit him. Federer’s next match is with the man who beat him for the US Open title, and I’m sure he is looking forward to a rematch with Mr. Del Potro.

If Roger can continue to play at today’s level there is no one in the tournament who has the game to defeat him. It was a pleasure to watch the ‘best player ever’ on a day when he displayed why he has earned the title. He will probably meet Murray again before the tournament is over, and it will be interesting to see whether Murray’s team can figure out a way to beat Roger. There were eight Murray team members sitting in his box compared to just Mrs. Federer sitting in Roger’s box!

Federer clinched the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title by beating Andy Murray at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals tonight. Federer and rival Rafael Nadal, the 2008 ATP World Tour Champion, had entered the prestigious circuit finale at The O2 in London locked in a two-man battle to conclude the season atop the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings. Nadal lost his first match putting Federer in a position to gain the number one position if he won just one match, which he did.

“It means a lot to have returned to No. 1 and to finish the year again at No. 1,” said Federer. “It was an incredible year for me both on the court and off the court and to be able to break the all-time Grand Slam record and finish the year on top is amazing.”

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Third seeds Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles edged a tight encounter with Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 3-6, 6-3, 10-7 at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals Tuesday afternoon at The O2.

Having also defeated Frantisek Cermak and Michal Mertinak in their first match Sunday, they now top Group B with a 2-0 match record. The top two teams from Groups A and B advance to the semi-finals on Saturday.

“We’re excited, very excited,” said Knowles. “Especially because they were playing extremely well. They were serving at an incredible rate; very hard, but also high percentage. They were playing really, really well there in the first set. We just kind of rode them out, got a couple looks at a second serve in the second set, and were able to return well and turn the match around. We played really solid at the end and kind of raised our level.

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Serena was not looking very happy as she was caught on camera at a recent Chicago Bulls match with boyfriend Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr. Commonly known as Common, an abbreviation of his groups original name Common Sense, Lonnie is a popular rapper, writer and sometimes actor who has much in ‘common’ with Serena.

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