My ATP Player of the Year

After much consideration I've finally concluded who I think is the ATP Player of the Year. There were a lot of players to consider after a very exciting year on the tour. This year was difficult to pick because different players dominated different parts of the year. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal dominated the first six months of the year with some unbelievable tennis in Melbourne and Paris especially, but then injury took it's toll on Nadal and Djokovic couldn't sustain his form. Roger Federer took control of the early part of the Summer with victory at Wimbledon but then Andy Murray dominated the remainder of the Summer with an Olympic title and a first major at the US Open. Then Djokovic seemed to take over again in the final weeks of the season so the top four all had great claims to be Player of the Year but I went for someone outside the top four. Given his age, this man should be starting to decline in his career but it's been the complete opposite. This year was his best on tour by far and shows how hard work and the proper lifestyle can allow players to play at the highest level for years.
          Spaniard David Ferrer won an incredible 76 matches on the tour this year which was the best of any player this year. On top of that he won a tour best seven titles including his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Paris. In Grand Slams he reached two quarter finals and two semi finals which again shows he can compete with the best. Ferrer doesn't have the weapons that the top four have which means he has to compensate in other areas of the game. He works harder than anybody else and puts in more hours off the court than the rest of the tour. On the court he wears down opponents with his high intensity levels. His heavy topspin ground strokes take their toll on opponents and his willingness to chase down every ball make him the ultimate nightmare for every player.
          Ferrer started his year in Australia where he won the title in Auckland defeating Olivier Rochus in the final. That put him in good form heading into the Australian Open where he reached the quarter finals with a win over Richard Gasquet before he fell to Novak Djokovic. He didn't dwell on that loss though, and just two weeks later he went on to win his second title of the year in Buenos Aires on the clay where he beat Fernando Gonzalez, David Nalbandian and Nicolas Almagro in successive matches. His third title wasn't far away either as he won the title in Acapulco the week after defeating Fernando Verdasco in the final. This event was again on clay and outside of the top three (Nadal, Federer, Djokovic) Ferrer could consider himself a favourite against any player on the tour.
          His hard court campaign didn't get off to the best start as he lost in Indian Wells to Denis Istomin but in Miami he got back on track reaching the quarter finals with three good wins before Djokovic again stopped his progress. Austria came to Spain for a Davis Cup match Ferrer proved a formidable opponent as he won both singles rubbers to help his side progress to the semi finals. The week after the tour moved on to Monte Carlo where illness caused Ferrer to suffer a shock first round defeat to Thomaz Bellucci but once again it wasn't long before he was back to his usual self. Ferrer reached the final in Barcelona only for Rafael Nadal to stand in his way. I remember watching that final and Ferrer was playing some of the best tennis I had ever seen him play but Nadal was just sublime and was more dominant on the big points.
          The surface in Madrid caused bother for many of the top players and although Ferrer reached the quarter finals he never looked comfortable and lost to Federer. Ferrer beat three top twenty players in Rome before once again falling to Nadal, who has for years stopped Ferrer winning more titles on the clay. In the first four rounds of the French Open Ferrer was imperious. He barely lost games never mind sets. Andy Murray was a tougher task but one he dominantly overcame in four sets. However, once again he ran into Nadal and watching the form Nadal was in it's safe to say nobody would have beaten him. The week after playing on the clay Ferrer moved on to the grass courts in s-Hertogenbosch and won the title, making it four for the year. Wimbledon isn't his favourite Grand Slam but he did reach the quarter finals before Murray got revenge for their encounter in Paris.
         Ferrer, once again, showed his ability to change surfaces at will when he went back on to the clay to win the title in Bastad where he crushed Nicolas Almagro in the final. The Olympics didn't go to plan for the Spaniard as he fell to Kei Nishikori in the third round. It wasn't a strong start to his American hard court campaign either as Stanislas Wawrinka beat him comfortably in Cincinnati but he returned to form at the US Open where he beat players such as Anderson, Hewitt and Gasquet to reach yet another quarter final. In that quarter final he was involved in one of the matches of the year with Janko Tipsarevic. Tipsarevic played out of his skin but just couldn't get rid of Ferrer and the Spaniard won it 7-6 in the fifth. In the semi finals he was in complete control against Djokovic winning the first set 6-2 before play was suspended and the Serb came back firing the next day to win in four.
         He again played for Spain in Davis Cup when they entertained the USA and like a true leader he won both singles rubbers to guide them to another final. In Kuala Lumpur he was beaten in the semi finals by Julien Benneteau and lost early in Beijing to Yen-Hsun Lu in a rare run of bad form. That didn't last long though as he won the title in Valencia beating Dolgopolov in the final. He dedicated the win to his long time friend and compatriot Juan Carlos Ferrero who retired that week. His form continued into the final Masters 1000 event of the year as he finally won his first Master event beating giant-killer Jerzy Janowicz in the final. In the World Tour Finals he beat Juan Martin Del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic but Federer was his downfall and he failed to qualify from the group.
          His year finished in Prague where he was representing his country in the Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic. A win over Radek Stepanek put them in control but two losses on the trot by his team mates put them on the brink of losing.Ferrer gave them hope with a comfortable win over Thomas Berdych. It would have been the perfect ending to his year but Stepanek beat Almagro in the final rubber to give Czech Republic victory. Despite the loss Ferrer finished the year with a 100% Davis Cup record.
          It was an incredible year for Ferrer where he won a title on every surface. He won three clay court titles, two hard court titles and a single title on both grass and indoor. He won 83% of matches played this year including 80% of his Grand Slam matches. Of his 15 losses, nine of them came against top four players and outside of those he didn't lose to any top ten player. Ferrer is established as the fifth bets player in the world and although he might lack the firepower to challenge the top four in Grand Slams he is a step ahead of the chasing pack. If he produces the same performances next year who knows how far he can go. Can he win the elusive Grand Slam? Can he become the Spanish number one? Is the more Masters 1000 titles on the way? I don't think anybody in tennis would begrudge him any of that success.
          Since I started this blog at the start of this year I've watched every week of tennis and followed all the players and it gives me great pleasure to say that David Ferrer is my ATP Player of the Year.