Rafael Nadal ideal after outlasting David Ferrer

He is 0-5 against Nadal at the Roland Garros (2005 Semifinals, 2006 Finals, 2007 Finals, 2008 Finals, and 2011 Finals) and 2-1 at the Wimbledon Championships (2006 – 2008 Finals). “I won a very tough match”, Nadal said.

Nadal will play Novak Djokovic in the semifinals of the year-end championships, with Roger Federer a potential final-round opponent for the victor. I’m playing well, he’s playing well. For Federer getting to this stage of the Tour Finals is old hat.

Even though he was defeated, Murray can still progress if he defeats Swiss Stan Wawrinka on Friday, who is ranked fourth. But this week and actually a lot of the time when I’ve played here on this court, I’ve felt the same way.

With Wawrinka’s form rising Murray struggled to stay in the match and finally yielded.

Nadal certainly has plenty of motivation to drag one last effort from his aching limbs as he attempts to end the worst year of his career on a high.

Great Britain win the Davis Cup for the first time since 1936, Murray is now free to concentrate on next week’s final against Belgium in Ghent.

Forced to stave off two break points in the third game, Wawrinka weathered Murray’s early storm and overpowered him with a few ferocious groundstrokes to secure the first break in the eighth game. “The matches he has played showed that, he feels more confident, he’s starting to miss less, serve efficiently, use his forehand much better”.

And yet his biggest achievement this season may not come through any personal or financial accolade but the Davis Cup where he has nearly single-handedly dragged Great Britain into their first final since 1978.

“I didn’t find it hard not thinking about the Davis Cup Final, to be honest”, he said. It’s a stark contrast from Federer’s normal clean shaven look and it has definitely drawn plenty of comments.

I made too many errors.

The beard is 3-0 this week, so it doesn’t figure to be going anywhere soon. Unfortunately, their 2015 matches have been mostly disappointing.

But the Spaniard has no intention of letting his strong showing in London convince him to take it easy before the 2016 campaign gets underway, even if he wins the prestigious event for the first time. For the past four years, the French Open has been the site of an annual showdown between the world’s two best clay-courters.

Rojer and Tecau defeated sixth-seeded Frenchmen Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut 6-4, 7-5.

“I made far too many errors on important points in the tie-break”. The last meeting came at the U.S. Open in a total clunker.

“So that’s why I’m disappointed with the losses the last two days”. He will be joined by World No. 7 David Ferrer, former World No. 4 Tim Henman, and rising Briton Kyle Edmund in a six-man field for the event, which sees all matches settled on a first-to-10 tie-break.

The Swiss No. 2 looks the fresher of the two and more motivated right now. That could yield a slight advantage to Federer depending on which way this match goes.