The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) World Tour is the elite professional tennis circuit organised by the ATP. The 2009 ATP World Tour calendar comprises the Grand Slam tournaments (supervised by the International Tennis Federation (ITF)), the ATP World Tour Masters 1000, the ATP World Tour 500 series, the ATP World Tour 250 series, the ATP World Team Championship, the Davis Cup (organized by the ITF), and the ATP World Tour Finals. Also included in the 2009 calendar is the Hopman Cup, which does not distribute ranking points, and is organised by the ITF.
Tour changes The ATP reinstated the world tour to its name as the organisation rebranded itself as the ATP World Tour. ATP World Tour tournaments in 2009 are classified as ATP World Tour Masters 1000, ATP World Tour 500, and ATP World Tour 250. Broadly speaking the Tennis Masters Series tournaments became the new Masters 1000 level and ATP International Series Gold and ATP International Series events became ATP 500 level and 250 level events.
The World Tour Masters 1000 includes tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid, Toronto/Montreal, Cincinnati, Shanghai, and Paris. The end-of-year event, the Tour Finals, moved to London. Hamburg has been displaced by the new clay court event at Madrid, which is a new combined men's and women's tournament, and the indoor hard court event in Madrid was replaced by an outdoor hard court Masters tournament in Shanghai. From 2011, Rome and Cincinnati will also be combined tournaments. Severe sanctions will be placed on top players skipping the Masters 1000 series events, unless medical proof is presented.ATPtennis.com – ATP Unveils New Top Tier Of Events For 2009 Plans to eliminate Monte Carlo and Hamburg as Masters Series events led to controversy and protests from players as well as organisers. Hamburg and Monte Carlo filed lawsuits against the ATP, and as a concession it was decided that Monte Carlo remains a Masters 1000 level event, with more prize money and 1000 ranking points, but it would no longer be a compulsory tournament for top-ranked players. Monte Carlo later dropped its suit. Hamburg was "reserved" to become a 500 level event in the summer. Hamburg did not accept this concession, but later lost its suit.
The World Tour 500 level includes tournaments at Rotterdam, Dubai, Acapulco, Memphis, Barcelona, Hamburg, Washington, Beijing, Tokyo, Basel, and Valencia.
The ATP & ITF declared that 2009 Davis Cup World Group and World Group Playoffs award a total of up to 500 points. Players accumulate points over the four rounds and the playoffs and these are counted as one of a player's four best results from the 500 level events. An additional 125 points are given to a player who wins all eight live rubbers and wins the Davis Cup. ATPtennis.com – ITF and ATP Announce Dates and Ranking Points for Davis Cup by BNP Paribas
Otherwise, the domain name of their website was changed to "www.atpworldtour.com".New Era Dawns For ATP World Tour ATP World Tour, 15 December 2008
Season summary The 2009 ATP World Tour season saw Roger Federer break Pete Sampras's Grand Slam record of 14 men's singles titles, capturing his first French Open title and his sixth Wimbledon title in the process, marking 15 Grand Slam tournament victories to his name. This success came after losing to his main rival, Rafael Nadal, in the Australian Open final 7–5, 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–2 in what has been lauded as one of the greatest Australian Open finals of all-time. This victory gave Nadal his first Grand Slam title on hard court, his sixth major title overall and put an end to Federer’s 8–0 record in slam finals on hard court.
This defeat for Federer came at his first opportunity in a slam final to tie Sampras’s record of most Grand Slams won in men’s singles and came on the back of consecutive defeats to Nadal at the previous years French Open and Wimbledon. It also marked the first and only time in Nadal’s career that he’d win a slam having come through 5 set matches in both the semifinals and final, beating fellow Spaniard Fernando Verdasco in an epic that lasted 5 hours, 14 minutes in the semis. Nadal would continue his dominance of the tour by winning titles in Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Barcelona and Rome before falling to Federer in the final of Madrid. This was Federer's first Masters Series title since winning Cincinnati in 2007 and his first win over Nadal since the 2007 Tennis Masters cup, having lost the previous 5 matches they played.
Nadal was shocked in the fourth round of the French Open by big hitting Swede Robin Söderling, marking the first ever defeat Nadal had endured at the French Open. This has been described as one of the biggest upsets in tennis history. Federer came through tough tests earlier in the French Open, coming from 2 sets down to defeat Tommy Haas in the fourth round and beating Juan Martín del Potro in a 5-setter in the semis to advance to his fourth French Open final. Söderling himself would come through a 5-setter in the semis against Fernando González, only to lose to Federer in the final in straight sets 6–1, 7–6(7–1), 6–4. With this win, Federer captured his first and only French Open title, equalling Pete Sampras’s then record of 14 Grand Slam titles and in the process becoming the sixth man in singles history to complete the Career Grand Slam.
Federer then captured his sixth Wimbledon and 15th slam overall by defeating Andy Roddick in the final 5–7, 7–6(8–6), 7–6(7–5), 3–6, 16–14 in the longest men’s singles major final in history (in terms of games played). This was the third and final time the two would play in a Wimbledon final with Federer winning all three encounters. By winning this, Federer became the first player to win 15 men’s singles Grand Slam titles passing Pete Sampras’s prior record of 14. By winning the French Open and Wimbledon back to back, Federer became the eighth man of all time to complete the channel slam and the fourth man of the open era (along with Rod Laver, Björn Borg and Rafael Nadal). This win also saw Federer regain the No. 1 position at the top of the ATP rankings and would later end the season ranked No. 1. Later in the summer, Federer would win his third Cincinnati Masters title beating Novak Djokovic in the final.
At the US Open, 20 year old Argentine Juan Martín del Potro captured his first and only major title and in doing so became the first man to defeat both Nadal and Federer back to back in a Grand Slam tournament. This came in a period in time when both Federer and Nadal had dominated the game for the past 5 seasons, winning 17 of the past 18 slams from the 2005 French Open onwards, with the exception being Novak Djokovic’s first slam victory at the 2008 Australian Open. Djokovic also became the only other man that would later be able to defeat both Nadal and Federer back to back to win a slam title. Del Potro defeated Federer in a 5 set epic 3–6, 7–6(7–5), 4–6, 7–6(7–4), 6–2, thus ending Federer’s 40-match winning streak at the US Open.
After the US Open, Nikolay Davydenko would win his third career Masters Series title by beating Nadal in the finals of Shanghai and would go on to achieve his biggest career achievement by winning the ATP World Tour Finals. Davydenko successfully defeated Nadal, Söderling, Federer and del Potro en route and became the inaugural winner of the Year-End Championships during its stretch held in London (2009–2020). Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray were two other competitors who also had good success during the 2009 season, with Djokovic winning the Paris Masters, 3 500 Series tournaments in Dubai, Beijing and Basel, and the inaugural Serbia Open in Djokovic’s home city of Belgrade. Murray won 2 Masters 1000 titles in Miami and Montreal and also won 4 other titles in Doha, Rotterdam, London and Valencia.
Spain successfully defended their Davis Cup title by defeating Czech Republic 5–0 in the final with the help of Rafael Nadal, David Ferrer, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano López on clay in Barcelona. In doubles, Lukáš Dlouhý and Leander Paes won 2 Grand Slam titles in 2009, winning both the French Open and the US Open. However, Bob and Mike Bryan successfully captured the Australian Open and ATP World Tour Finals titles, ending the season both ranked No. 1. Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjić were victorious at Wimbledon.
Schedule This is the complete schedule of events on the 2009 calendar, with player progression documented from the quarterfinals stage.
Key Grand Slam ATP World Tour Finals ATP World Tour Masters 1000 ATP World Tour 500 ATP World Tour 250 Team Events
January WeekTournamentChampionsRunners-upSemifinalistsQuarterfinalists5 Jan Hyundai Hopman Cup Perth, AustraliaHopman CupHard (i) – A$1,000,000 – 8 teams (RR) 2–0 Brisbane International Brisbane, AustraliaATP World Tour 250Hard – $484,750 – 32S/16DSingles – Doubles Radek Štěpánek3–6, 6–3, 6–4 Fernando Verdasco Paul-Henri Mathieu Richard Gasquet Kei Nishikori Florent Serra Robin Söderling Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Marc Gicquel Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6–4, 6–3 Fernando Verdasco Mischa Zverev Qatar ExxonMobil OpenDoha, QatarATP World Tour 250Hard – $1,110,250 – 32S/16DSingles – Doubles Andy Murray6–4, 6–2 Andy Roddick Gaël Monfils Roger Federer Rafael Nadal Victor Hănescu Sergiy Stakhovsky Philipp Kohlschreiber Marc López Rafael Nadal4–6, 6–4, [10–8] Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić Chennai Open Chennai, IndiaATP World Tour 250Hard – $450,000 – 32S/16DSingles – Doubles Marin Čilić6–4, 7–6(7–3) Somdev Devvarman Marcel Granollers Rainer Schüttler Lukáš Dlouhý Janko Tipsarević Ivo Karlović Björn Phau Eric Butorac Rajeev Ram6–3, 6–4 Jean-Claude Scherrer Stanislas Wawrinka12 Jan Heineken Open Auckland, New ZealandATP World Tour 250Hard – $480,750 – 28S/16DSingles – Doubles Juan Martín del Potro 6–4, 6–4 Sam Querrey Robin Söderling David Ferrer Viktor Troicki John Isner Nicolás Almagro Philipp Kohlschreiber Martin Damm Robert Lindstedt7–5, 6–4 Scott Lipsky Leander Paes Medibank International Sydney Sydney, AustraliaATP World Tour 250Hard – $484,750 – 28S/16DSingles – Doubles David Nalbandian 6–3, 6–7(9–11), 6–2 Jarkko Nieminen Novak Djokovic Richard Gasquet Mario Ančić Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Lleyton Hewitt Jérémy Chardy Bob Bryan Mike Bryan6–1, 7–6(7–3) Daniel Nestor Nenad Zimonjić19 Jan26 Jan Australian Open Melbourne, AustraliaGrand SlamHard – A$10,712,240128S/128Q/64D/32XSingles – Doubles – Mixed doubles Rafael Nadal 7–5, 3–6, 7–6(7–3), 3–6, 6–2 Roger Federer Fernando Verdasco Andy Roddick Gilles Simon Jo-Wilfried Tsonga Novak Djokovic Juan Martín del Potro Bob Bryan Mike Bryan2–6, 7–5, 6–0 Mahesh Bhupathi Mark Knowles Mahesh Bhupathi Sania Mirza6–3, 6–1 Andy Ram Nathalie Dechy
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