One of the most prestigious tennis events in the ATP calendar, the tennis Masters Cup will soon take place at the Shanghai’s Qi Zhong Stadium during the second week of November. This is the last year the competition will be hosted in China as for 2009; the city of London will stage the event at the British multi-purpose O2 arena.
The elite tournament gathers the eight best tennis players in the world. The singles competition is played indoors and on hard courts and up to this moment four of the eight vacancies have been given to: the World number one player, the Spaniard Rafa Nadal, the Serbian Novak Djokovic winner of this year’s Australian Grand Slam, England’s first tennis player and US Open 2008 runner up Andy Murray and the four-time Masters Cup winner the Swiss Roger Federer.
The remaining four places have not yet been announced but there is a possibility that Davydenko, Roddick and Ferrer will also participate. The eighth place is still uncertain but the official list will shortly be announced.
The Swiss Roger Federer who is one of the favourites to win the tournament after his US Open Grand Slam victory, will be participating in the competition for the seventh year in a row and has up to this point won the title in 2003, 2004, 2006 and more recently in 2007 against the Spaniard David Ferrer in three sets 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.
Current world number four, the Scottish Andy Murray will be part of the competition for the first time. His latest performance at the last Grand Slam catapulted him to secure his participation. Murray stated "I am having my best season ever and qualifying for Shanghai is a great reward. It was one of my goals at the beginning of 2008 and I look forward to competing there for the first time."
Murray’s 2008 campaign has been very solid as he has claimed titles in Doha, Marseille, and Cincinnati. He holds a record of 41-14 overall. Finally, the 21-year-old was able to overcome his wrist injury and alongside with his training and fitness team of experts he has headed for the top places in the standings. Despite losing at this year’s US Open Grand Slam final against Roger Federer; Murray has been just impressive.
The Serbian Djokovic who recently lost in the Thailand Open final against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga will also participate in the event. He is currently in the third position but Novak has struggled to win a title since last May. The player has been hardly criticised by many due to his limps performances with fellow tennis players as Andy Roddick and Tommy Robredo. Nevertheless, Djokovic will end another season in the top three but with a wider knowledge of the game must do’s and must don’ts.
For the four consecutive year, world number one Rafa Nadal will be part of the competition and this time the young player will have the opportunity to clinch a new title for his long list collection which up to now does not include a Masters Cup victory.
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