Sunday, 26 February 2012

Who can Break into the Men's Top 4?

The question that every tennis fan is thinking right now is who will be able to break the continued dominance of the worlds top 4, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer & Andy Murray. In this article, i will be examining the possible candidates to the feat that many people are thinking currently impossible.

David Ferrer


Ferrer is a player who many people seem to underrate, he is a player who is a veteran on the tour, he has won masters events and hes represented his country in the Davis Cup. He is currently ranked world number 5 and he has been there for a significant amount of time. Many people class David Ferrer as only having one game plan, to always chase down the ball and get it back into play. It will work against the lower ranked players, however it wont be as effective against the better players. We saw this in the 2011 us open, when he was knocked out by Andy Roddick. Andy Roddick isn't someone you associate as being a fast player with a lot of stamina but he was able to overcome Ferrer. How does this link to Ferrer's ambitions of being a top 4 player i hear you say?  Well, Roddick used to be the world number one and he has grand slams under his belt, and if Ferrer cannot defeat someone like Roddick, who has been top of the rankings, how will he expect to challenge the top 4, the answer is he wont. David Ferrer is a really great player who is the best at doing what he does, but in terms of winning a grand slam and challenging the top 4, he doesn't possess enough weapons to do this.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

Tsonga is a crowdpleaser, he possesses a plethora of weapons in his game and he has previously proven that he can go toe to toe with the best of the best. We saw this at Wimbledon in 2011 where he because the first player to come from 2 sets down again Federer and win. We also saw this very early in his career at the Australian Open semi final in 2008, where he absolutely demolished Rafael Nadal in straight sets. I believe Tsonga will break into the top 4, but the only thing that could hinder him is his consistency, he couldve earned extra ranking points against a player that many people thought he could beat at this years Australian open, Kei Nishikori. If Tsonga can perform at Roland Garros and then hold on to his ranking points at Wimbledon, then I'm sure he will be borderline top 4.

Tomas Berdych

Berdych is another player like Tsonga, he has proven he can lock horns with the likes of Federer & Djokovic. We saw this at the 2010 Wimbledon Championships, when he beat federer in straight sets in the quarters and then he knocked out Djokovic in the semis en route to his first grandslam final. If Berdych can maintain his form, and brush up his second serve, then i am sure he will be challenging for a top 4 place in the near future. I



Juan Martin Del Potro

Finally, Del Potro is the only player out of the four who currently has a grandslam to his name. He is also the only player outside the top 3 to have lifted a grandslam in the past 4 years. Del Potro has the serve, he has the forehand and the height to intimidate even the best of players.  He's had a good start to 2012, he's won Marseille (d, Llodra), he reached the Aussie Open Quarters (l, Federer) and he reached the Rotterdam finals (l, Federer). I think Del Potro is a dead cert to be challenging for a top 4 place by the end of the year. If you are wondering why he hasn't improved since his 2009 Us Open Triumph, it's because he has been very unlucky with injuries. This time last year, he was playing challengers in places you've never heard of, so in a way he is still getting all his ranking points back.

4 comments:

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  1. Anonymous2 March 2012 at 09:09:00 GMT

    Andy Roddick has not won Grand Slams. He has won a grand slam. Ferrer leads Roddick in head to head 6-4, five of which are on hard. Although Ferrer may never win a Grand Slam, he does play more aggressively than Andy Murray who is overhyped to win Grand Slams but merely pushes the ball back in play 99.9% of the time, preying on opponents errors like a vulture on a corpse.

    Yes, David is a veteran, but he has already obtained a career high ranking of 4. Not impossible for him to get it back if Murray persists with pushing. Of course Murray's opponents should desist with choking against him.

    If either Berdych or Del Potro can keep their heads, health and consistency, in my opinion, they will be current favourites to usurp 4 position in the near future. After that ???

    NB: Murray got a major stroke of luck when Soderling was missing with injuries then contracted mono after Soderling claimed the 4 position. Soderling was on fire and would have held the ranking place of four at the very least.

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  2. Unknown2 March 2012 at 16:43:00 GMT

    Fair enough, David Ferrer has beaten Andy Roddick many times, but those times were only in the lower 3 set tourneys. When it came to 5 sets, Andy Roddick won it quite confortably. But then again Ferrer did overcome Roddick in a davis cup rubber. But it was on clay, so that's a no-brainer.

    I think Ferrer has reached his peak, theres no way he's going to get back into the top 5 let alone knock Andy Murray of the 4th spot.

    I think Del Potro will be top 4 in the future, and after that? I think he has the potential to be top 2. If he can avoid getting a major injury for the next 3 years, im sure he'll win a few more grandslams. Bear in mind, he was only 20 when he won the Us Open.

    I didnt include Robin Soderling on purpose. Robin has had a few scalps in his career (most notably, the victory at roland garros against Nadal), but i doubt he is really that much of a good player. He lacks consistency.

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  3. Anonymous4 March 2012 at 10:57:00 GMT

    David Ferrer d Roddick on hardcourt in USA - straight sets in front of Roddick's adopted home crowd, Texas. David is now 4 in the race - all it takes is Ferrer keeping his results above Murray's and year end 4 is his. Will he do it? Who knows. The year is still young, maybe someone else will step up. Ferrer has a great attitude.

    You should do some basic research before you publish your articles.

    You obviously have not followed tennis for long or else you would realise how many talented players there are and have been in the history of the sport - and talent is no guarantee of slams.

    Robin is very talented. He had also come a long way mentally which enabled him to gain consistency and reach his career high ranking and had he not been injured and then ill he would have been a contender for sure. Great attitude.

    Del po has been one of my faves since his junior years. His shots are there, he needs to get the self belief back which he had prior to winning the US Open where he went on a tear or even a tear a-la 2008 which was confidence building.

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  4. Unknown4 March 2012 at 11:37:00 GMT

    I can see where you're coming from, Ferrer "could" be top 4 by the end of the year. But i think it's unlikely he will be. David is 4 in the race, but he has been obtaining most his ranking points from the Latin American tournaments & there hasn't been anyone ranked higher than him to challenge him. I understand he's had the likes of Verdasco & Almagro to fend off, but Ferrer is expected to beat those sort of players. When it comes to the tournaments that all the top players will be playing in i.e. Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, I doubt Ferrer will still be getting the amounts of points he is getting now.

    Also, the article isn't meant to represent what everyone thinks. It's my views & my views only. I am not stating facts so i don't understand why you are saying I should do research before I publish an article. The article just represents what I think.

    To Admit, I have only been following the tour for 3 years, however my knowledge of the game is quite vast. I do realise that talent is no guarantee of slams. Look at Ljubicic, Gonzalez, or Robredo. They were all really talented players. Don't use my age as a basis for my knowledge of tennis, because i know a LOT.

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