2011 London Tennis

BARCLAYS ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS 2011

London, England

London holds good memories for Novak Djokovic, who took home the Wimbledon net as a souvenir of his last visit. That time around, he fulfilled two lifelong dreams, winning The Championships and ascending to No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings.

“I was thinking of going to Wimbledon to have a cup of tea as a member, ” the 24-year-old Serbian shared Saturday, upon his return to the English capital for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The first item of business, however, will be his bid to cap off his incredible year with the title this coming week. Djokovic, who will be officially crowned the ATP World Tour No. 1 in an on-court ceremony this week, is making his fifth straight appearance at the circuit finale. He won the title in 2008 (d. Davydenko) when the tournament was held in Shanghai.

“Obviously everybody agrees that this tournament is a crown for all the achievements of the year, ” said Djokovic, who secured his berth back in May. “Every match that you’re playing is at probably the highest level in our sport, then you have to be on top of your game to win it. Everyone wants to finish the season in great style, that’s what makes this event even more competitive.”

For the second straight year, he will face Czech Tomas Berdych in his first round robin match. He defeated Berdych in straight sets last year, but anticipated a challenging match against the World No. 7 Monday evening at The O2.

“Tomas had some great results in the last couple of weeks, especially last week in Paris, he won against Andy Murray to reach the semi-finals, so he’s in great form, ” assessed Djokovic. “He’s somebody that has been around the Top 10 players of the world for the last five or six years. He’s been winning a lot of indoor events, so he likes playing indoors. We’ll see, it’s going to be a tough one.”

Djokovic enters the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals with a 69-4 season match record, but has been hampered by injuries since winning his 10th title of the season at the US Open.

He addressed concerns of his recent right shoulder injury, expressing Saturday that he did not expect it to affect his chances this week in London. “I have been serving almost 100 per cent in the last two or three days, so for me the shoulder’s fine at this moment and I can say it’s recovered and ready to compete.”