By: Chris Kermode*
The third Grand Slam of the season is now behind us and there is no question that Andy Murray should be hailed as this year’s grass court King after a series of stunning achievements over the past month, not only securing his second Wimbledon win, but in the process securing a place in the elite eight-man field for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.
Murray served notice that his grass court season would be one to savour when he produced a fighting three-set win over the big serving and fast rising Canadian Milos Raonic at the Aegon Championships at Queen’s Club in London. That hard fought match propelled both Murray and Raonic into Wimbledon in good form and with plenty of momentum and it was fitting that the two then met again in the final at the All England Club.
With John McEnroe joining Riccardo Piatti and Carlos Moya in the coaching box, Raonic showed new skills on the grass and has clearly marked himself as a potential Wimbledon champion in the future.
As at Queen’s, Murray had to use all his experience and his brilliant return game to deny Raonic his first Grand Slam title at his first attempt. With British Royalty watching on, Murray gave a performance for the ages as he limited Raonic to just eight aces for the entire three set match and secured his third Grand Slam victory, adding his two Wimbledon crowns to his 2012 break through Grand Slam win at the US Open.
That performance certainly gives Murray hope that he can now go on to become the first British player to secure the prestigious season ending Barclays ATP Tour World Finals to be played at The O2 in London from November 13 -20. Murray has made British history at the All England Club and now has a chance to do it again at The O2.
It’s the ninth straight year Murray has qualified for the elite field and so far he is just the second player to secure a spot, joining World Number 1 Novak Djokovic. He is already a three-time semi-finalist at the event (2008, ’10 and ’12) and the 29-year-old heads in this year hoping to claim the title to cap a stellar season.
The Barclays ATP World Tour has welcomed more than 1.8 million fans to The O2 arena over the past seven years and this year’s expected sell-out crowd would love to see a home grown Champion for the first time.
But it wasn’t all Murray and Raonic on the grass this year. There were a number of standout performances leading into Wimbledon and it is fitting they should be highlighted here.
Congratulations go to Nicolas Mahut, who at the age of 34, won his fourth career ATP World Tour title with victory at the Ricoh Open at ‘s-Hertogenbosch in the Netherlands. Dominic Thiem continued his amazing season claiming his fourth ATP title for the year with a brilliant win at the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart. The Austrian has now won titles on all surfaces this year.
At the Gerry Weber Open in Halle 32-year-old Florian Mayer showed he is back after battling through a series of injuries woes that have plagued him in recent times with a standout win over one of the #NextGen leaders and fellow German Alexander Zverev.
Roger Federer also deserves a mention after three semi-final performances during the grass court season, reaching the last four in Halle, Stuttgart and Wimbledon. Those efforts came despite a much interrupted season so far as the Swiss has struggled with injury issues. His five-set Wimbledon quarter-final win over an in form Marin Cilic was one of the highlights of the grass court season.
On the tournament front Hungary will host its first ATP World Tour event when the ATP World Tour tournament in Bucharest, Romania relocates to Budapest in Hungary from 2017. Hungary now joins the global footprint of the ATP Tour and we look forward to their inaugural ATP World Tour 250 event next year. Chengdu in China also joins the Tour when it hosts an ATP World Tour 250 event later this year.
Another exciting prospect is the progress being made in the ATP Under-21 event, which will showcase the up-and-coming stars of the game, the so-called #NextGen. Two cities are now in the final stages of the bidding process to host the event and we are aiming to have a decision by the US Open in New York. There is growing and significant interest in the concept of the tournament which will feature the exciting new prospects of men’s tennis.
Looking ahead from the grass, the Tour now heads to the last few European clay court events and the North American hard court swing culminating in the US Open. The inclusion of the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro makes for a crowded calendar this year with ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati tournaments anchoring the run to the US Open.
With six spots still left in the elite Barclays ATP World Tour Finals still up for grabs, the competition for qualifying points on the hard court swing will be intense as the next chapter of this exciting season unfolds over the next two months.
*Chris Kermode, ATP Executive Chairman and President.
