Picking the Barclay Winners: The Semifinals
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You want, I want, the tennis fans of the world want it.
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You know, I was a bit skeptical about the Barclays, with this being my first year as a full-time pro tennis writer. I didn't really like the format or the generous helpings of awarded points at first, but after four days of round-robin play, I've genuinely enjoyed it, getting to see the best players in the world going head to head every day instead of waiting through the ho-hum first rounds for the occasional upset.
You really couldn't ask for a better semifinals than the one we've got shaping up Saturday with Roger Federer vs. Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal vs. Andy Murray.
Technically, Robin Soderling was the No. 4 seed, but Soderling's a snooze fest. In fact, the only interesting thing I can tell you about Soderling is the answer to a great trivia question next time you want to win a bar bet.
 What country has a player in the Top 10 and no other player in the top 300? It's Soderling's Sweden. After Rob-Sod (copyright pending), the next highest-ranked Swede is No. 302, Filip Prpic, who went a cool 1-3 this season.
But Murray is the hometown guy (sort of), Nadal the Spaniard sensation, Federer the GOAT and Djokovic the guy who just might be playing the best of all four of them. Enough jibber jabber, to the picks. Currently, I'm up to 12-2 on the week for a solid .857 winning percentage.
No. 1 Rafael Nadal vs. No. 5 Andy Murray: Murray's grown on me lately, and I don't think that's just holiday guilt for making fun of his magazine spread and his teeth. The guy has the weight of so much on him. England cares about three sports -- golf, football (soccer) and tennis. So, the Brits are super excited  because Lee Westwood is ranked No. 1 in the world on the links, they're extremely unexcited about their football team, which last won the World Cup in 1966, but Murray holds the hopes and dreams of a country that used to own the sport. But the problem is Nadal. He's not just having the best year of his career, he's bearing down on the best year of anybody's career in the Open Era. The guy is 72-7 entering Saturday, a .911 winning percentage, which puts him in the Top 20 all-time for a single season. He's like the Terminator at this point, he can't be stopped. Winner: NADAL
No.2 Roger Federer vs. No. 3 Novak Djokovic. This match-up doesn't have the same sex appeal as one involving Nadal because both these guys are consumate professionals. They  save the emotion for the end of the match and they beat you technically. Regardless, it's a great match-up to have and one I look forward to watching, particularly if they can emulate the semifinals of the US Open when it comes to top-level tennis. Like Murray, Djokovic has grown on me during the second half of the year, but the heart wants what it wants. Winner; FEDERER
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Posted by Nick on 11/26/2010 4:01:32 PM
Filed under: andy, atp, barclays, djokovic, federer, finals, london, murray, nadal, novak, rafael, roger, tour, world
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