Ricky Dimon

• World Tour Finals profile: No. 8 Fernando Verdasco

  2009-11-15 07:32:45
  

  In the eight days leading up to the 2009 World Tour Finals, Ricky will individually preview this year’s eight qualifiers, starting with No. 8 and progressing toward No. 1. Up first is Fernando Verdasco.

   

  For most players, each year’s journey to the World Tour Finals begins the moment they strike the first ball at their first tournament of the season. Not so for Fernando Verdasco.

  
  Verdasco’s trip to London began on November 23, 2008 in Mar Del Plata, Argentina. That was the setting for what proved to be the turning point of his entire career. With his country leading the host Argentines 2-1 in the Davis Cup final, Verdasco came back from two sets to one down to defeat Jose Acasuso 6-3, 6-7(3), 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 and clinch the cup for Spain.

  
  He has never been the same since. The victory—and ensuing offseason workout regimen in Las Vegas—transformed the talented Spaniard from a relative journeyman into a bona fide star. Verdasco promptly reached his first Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open in January of this year and it has been full speed ahead for him ever since.

   

  How He Got Here

   

  2009 record: 52-22
  
  Grand Slam performances: Australian Open SF, French Open R4, Wimbledon R4, U.S. Open QF

   

  Titles: New Haven

   

  Runner-Ups: Brisbane, Kuala Lumpur

   

  Key Wins

   

  Australian Open R4: d. Andy Murray 2-6, 6-1, 1-6, 6-3, 6-4

  Australian Open QF: d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(2), 3-6, 6-3, 6-2

  New Haven F: d. Sam Querrey 6-4, 7-6(6)

  U.S. Open R3: d. Tommy Haas 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(8), 1-6, 6-4

   

  Head-to-Head vs. other WTF participants

   

  vs. Roger Federer: 0-3 (0-1 on hard courts)

  vs. Rafael Nadal: 0-9 (0-4 on hard courts)

  vs. Novak Djokovic: 2-5 (1-3 on hard courts)

  vs. Andy Murray: 1-7 (1-6 on hard courts)

  vs. Juan Martin Del Potro: 0-0 (0-1 at the Challenger level)

  vs. Andy Roddick: 2-9 (1-8 on hard courts)

  vs. Nikolay Davydenko: 1-6 (0-3 on hard courts)

   

  Outlook

   

  Verdasco was the eighth and final player to clinch his place in London, and he did not exactly do it on his own accord. The 26-year-old lost to Marin Cilic in the third round of the Paris Masters, but he received help from Djokovic (d. Robin Soderling in the quarterfinals) and Nadal (d. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarterfinals). While Verdasco enjoyed by far his best season on the ATP Tour, he was never again quite as on fire as he was at the Australian Open.

  
  Furthermore, Verdasco’s head-to-head record against fellow WTF competitors brings a different kind of “WTF” question to mind. I mean, seriously. How is he that bad against the best players in the world? For those who did not add it up after seeing the above list, Verdasco is a combined 6-39 against the top seven players in the world.

   

  Nonetheless, there is good news yet for Verdasco: he is not among the walking wounded heading into the final event of a grueling 2009 season. Of course, it says a whole lot about the state of the men’s game that a guy facing offseason foot surgery is considered one of the healthiest players!

   

  Verdasco needed help to get into the World Tour Finals, and he will almost certainly need some more in order to advance out of round-robin group play. He has a chance if he lands in a group with the injured contingent (Roddick and Del Potro), but that glaring record against the rest of the field suggests Verdasco will be one of the first participants eliminated.

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