“Roger let’s go, Roger!”

Yes! I can’t believe I am right here, at 9:00 pm in Nitto ATP Final, in O2 London.

About ATP Final

ATP (Association of Tennis Profession) holds the ATP Final annually, which is a 7-day event for men’s tennis tournament on November at the O2 Arena in London. And this year it starts from 11th November and ends in 18th. Only the top eight singles players and the doubles team of the ATP ranking are allowed to attend. The first tournament was in 1970. Therefore, the ATP Final following the four Grand Slam tournaments is the second important tier of professional men’s tennis.

About O2

The O2 Arena, Millennium Dome in the past, is a multi-purpose indoor stadium located on the Greenwich Peninsula in the south-east London. The name is from its primary sponsor, the telecommunications company O2. It has the second highest seating capacity following Manchester Arena among all indoor venues in the UK.  As a famous venue for concerts, The O2 took the crown of the world’s busiest music arena in 2008 (Dominic White, 2008).

North Greenwich station on Jubilee line is the closest underground station.

Roger Federer vs Kei Nishikori

This is the second group match on the first day of 2018 ATP Finals.

Almost 80% audience is here for Roger, they keep singing “Roger let’s go Roger” and exclaimed for his arrival and burst into warm applause for every nice shot. Thanks to Roger, the accommodation of O2 is 17800. Guess how many people entered today? 17800 exactly.

I love the exciting atmosphere on the spot so much and the watching experience in O2 is amazing. You couldn’t help dancing with the music at the interval.

Let’s quickly conclude the process of this game–

There was a quite even situation on both sides for most of the time. But Japanese seized the opportunity 6 games leading 5. Although Federer survived by turning the situation at 6-6, Nishikori successfully achieved his set point with 7-4 in the tie-break.

During the second set, Federer’s serve mistakes were increasing while Nishikori showed his strong ability to control. Quickly, Roger ended his first game in O2 with the game scores staying at 3-6. Japanese deserved this victory by virtue of more stable performance.  The total match spent 1 hour and 27 minutes.

What a lovely night in O2!

After the match, my friends and I were reluctant to leave. How close I am to Roger, the superstar had stood out when I was only in primary school. Till now, 20 years passed. He has got his 20th Grand Slam in 2018 Australia Open and achieved the 99th champion in Selby. The thing is that his legendary continues and there is no stop in the near future. On the other hand, Nishikori is the only hope of Asian men’s tennis at the moment representing the highest level of Asian players. Congratulation to him!

See you guys in 2019! Good luck!

 

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All pictures are taken by myself.