Djokovic and del Porto are the real contenders for ATP crown

With two major wins at the French and US Open, Rafael Nadal punched the first ticket to London ahead of others. Novak Djokovic, the winner of the Australian Open in January, followed but then Wimbledon victor Andy Murray was forced to withdraw due to a back injury.

Spaniard David Ferrer, the 2007 runner-up, the resurgent Juan Martin del Potro, whose solid results lately (including wins in Tokyo and Basel) earned him a spot, and Tomas Berdych, who has yet to win a trophy this season, took the third to fifth spots.

While the first five secured their berths quite awhile ago, the battle for the last three places had been quite close and it took this week’s Paris Masters to find out who goes in and who goes out.

Despite an uneven year, Roger Federer eventually booked his slot at sixth, thanks to his second round win in the Paris Masters, which helped ease tensions and worries of his fans all over the world, who wish to see him in action in the season-ending event.

On Thursday morning, two remaining seats were up for grabs for the trio of Stanislas Wawrinka, Richard Gasguet and Thailand Open champion Milos Raonic, while another contender Jo-Wilfried Tsonga lost his chance with an upset defeat to Kei Nishikori in the second round of Paris Masters.

But later that evening the drama was over when Raonic was eliminated by Berdych in the third round, a sort of revenge for his loss in the Thailand Open final, sending Wawrinka and Gasquet to the finish line. Still Tsonga and Raonic need to catch a flight to London as reserved players in case anyone in the first line-up gets injured.

Anyway, it doesn’t matter anymore who took the last two spots in London as Tsonga and Raonic are more like two extras for the show. It’s Djokovic and del Porto who are at the top of their game and should be the real contenders for the crown.

After losing to Nadal on hard courts in Montreal and the US Open this year, Djokovic found his way to stamp his superiority over the Spaniard on the cement surface in the Beijing final. He also won back-to-back hardcourt titles in Beijing and Shanghai and is still in the run to become a winner in Paris. Win or loss in London, the Serbian will still finish the year second behind Nadal who had no points to defend this time last year.

Del Porto recovered quickly from the US Open second round defeat to Lleyton Hewitt by capturing two titles in Tokyo and Basel, beating Federer in the final of his home tournament. In fact the towering Argentine reached all three previous ATP finals including the Shanghai Masters where he lost to Djokovic in the title match. His thundering serves and heavy forehand will benefit him on the carpet.

Nadal may have reclaimed the No 1 position from Djokovic, but he is yet to win a tournament since then. Indoor carpet is never his best surface and even if he is lucky enough to make the final, he won’t have what it takes to outplay either Djokovic or del Porto.