The Last Word returns, and each weekday, starting on Monday, December 5, we'll give you our year-end thoughts about tennis' best players—this time focusing on the ATP and WTA Top 10. We'll alternate tours each day; here's who we've looked at so far.
Best of 2011
Ferrer has scant few bad losses, but he also has few resounding wins. He tends to know his place in the pecking order and doesn’t make waves. Given the importance of Davis Cup to Spain, I can’t imagine Ferrer feeling better after any match in 2011 than he did after beating Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish in back-to-back matches to eliminate the U.S. in the quarters—on an indoor hard court in the States.
Worst of 2011
Nothing. David Ferrer doesn’t do “bad” matches. Okay, he occasionally lost to guys ranked below him, like Fish or Ivo Karlovic, on fast courts, but the head scratchers are as few and far between for Ferrer as any man. Even that first-round loss at Rotterdam to No. 43 Jarkko Nieminen is understandable, given that Ferrer was coming off a great run on outdoor hard courts.
Year in Review
Ferrer came out of the gates with a bang, once again kindling hopes that this might be the year when this gritty and consistent competitor makes the big breakthrough to Grand Slam champion. It didn’t work out that way in the end, but he had a hail of a season anyway.
Ferrer won at his first tournament of the year, Auckland (d. David Nalbandian for title), and he made the semis at the Australian Open (l. to Andy Murray). After taking that fast-court loss in Rotterdam, he won Acapulco and then, after losing to Karlovic and Fish at the two big American hard-court events, Ferrer tore up the Euroclay, reaching the finals of Monte Carlo and Barcelona (losing to Rafael Nadal both times). He yielded in the quarterfinals of Madrid to Novak Djokovic, then had a disappointing French Open, falling in the fourth round to the always-beatable Gael Monfils.
After making the clay-court final at Bastad (l. to Robin Soderling), Ferrer was merely solid during the U.S. hard-court circuit, and was ushered out of the U.S. Open in the fourth round by Andy Roddick. He made up for what ground he may have lost with an exceptional fall hard-court season, making the semis or better at three events, and a quarterfinal in a fourth. The highlight: A final at the Shanghai Masters (l. to Murray).
Ferrer ended his year as big as he started it, qualifying for the final four at the ATP World Tour Finals (l. to Roger Federer in the semis) and he all but dashed the hopes of Argentina in the Davis Cup final when he survived a gritty five-set war with Juan Martin del Potro on the first day of play. He never had to play his second rubber.
See for Yourself
Who can forget that fourth-round five-setter at the 2010 U.S. Open between Ferrer and Fernando Verdasco? Although Verdasco won it 7-6 in the fifth with a wrap-around-the-netpost winner, the highlights will show you Ferrer at his dogged, retrieving best. And if you compare how the men fared over the ensuing year, you’ll understand that Ferrer’s consistency is a rare talent.