“Public wants to see Nadal, Federer, Murray, Stan. Not guys who have won their places by winning ATP 250,” Marc Rosset not happy with the poor field at ATP Finals
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The 2021 ATP Finals have commenced in Turin, Italy. This will be the 52nd singles/47th doubles edition of the tournament. The famous year-end event is reserved for the elites of the tennis world i.e, participation is granted only to the top 8 singles and doubles ATP players.
Over the last many years, alongside Novak Djokovic, players like Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, and Stanislas Wawrinka have been regular fixtures at the ATP Finals. However, owing to a variety of reasons, none of those players, barring Djokovic, have qualified.
The 8 qualifying players are divided into 2 groups of 4. This year’s group are:
- Green Group: Novak Djokovic, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andy Rublev, Casper Rudd.
- Red Group: Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev, Matteo Berrettini, Hubert Hurkacz.
While many people have admired the fresh qualifiers and expect them to herald in a new era in tennis, veteran tennis player Marc Rosset has expressed his disappointment in the elite 8.
Marc Rosset: “We are far from the great and exciting competition that has been played in London in recent years”
Marc Rosset is Swiss former tennis player. He won the singles gold medal at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. In singles, he reached a career-high ranking of 9 in the world. In doubles, he won the French Open in 1992, and was ranked as high as 8th in the world.
“There are new faces, and it is true that it could be nice, but if we except the half of Hurkacz at Wimbledon, these 2 players did not shine in Grand Slam. Have you seen it, you, Ruud, in the Majors? The general public wants to see Nadal, Federer, Murray, Stan. Not guys who have won their places by winning ATP 250 tournaments. We are far from the great and exciting competition that has been played in London in recent years” said the ex-Olympian.
This is the first time the ATP Finals feature only 2 players who have won grand slams. To this, Rosset said “To be frank, I don’t remember a Masters with such a weak plateau! Remember the time when there could be Lendl, Edberg, Cash, Becker, Connors … Then Sampras, Agassi, Becker, Edberg, Courier“.
“The field used to be set heavy” Marc Rosset
The Genevan continued by saying “To qualify with titles in ATP 250, without having flamed in Grand Slam and/or Masters 1000 events, it’s really skinny. Even Rublev, for example, is not transcendent in Majors. It is difficult to pack with this wine, knowing that.. the time when Berdych was regularly present at the Masters, everyone fell on him, while he was often in the quarter-finals of the grand slams, or better. And the rest of the field was ‘set heavy’. There, we saw a time of transition…”
Rosset is hopeful that younger players will start winning grand slams next year, which would restore the importance of the ATP Finals. “Zverev would have to win a Grand Slam next year, Tsitsipas would have to take one too. That would give the next Masters more credit” he said.
“It is monstrous” Marc Rosset on Novak Djokovic’s win at the Paris Masters
Praising the world no. 1, Marc Rosset said “What he achieved by coming back to win Bercy is monstrous. But each tournament is a new adventure. The Masters is still complicated to manage.”
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Aradhana Nayak
(189 Articles Published)