Can the ATP top 5 stay there?

POLL RESULTS
Milos Raonic 41%
Grigor Dimitrov 39%
Marin Cilic 9%
Ernests Gulbis 6
Gael Monfils 5%

Cilic, Raonic, Dimitrov, Gulbis and Monfils all are ready to move up

At some point in the future, say the next two years (2017 to start), the Big 4 of Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray will no longer be dominating and another group will push them out of the elite group. Eventually, things change and the Big 4 won’t be easily sitting in the top 5.

This year, the season ended between No 1 Djokovic, No. 2 Federer, No. 3 Nadal, No. 4 Stan Wawrinka and No. 5 Kei Nishikori. Murray is No. 6, who was way down and struggling seriously big time until he was rose up in the fall — until he faced against Federer in London and collapsed. Can he reconstruct his purpose quickly? That we do not know but we do know the two-time Slam champion believes he can beat anyone, except for the rest of the Big 4, whom he did not beat him during the 2014 season. Even if he loses to the Big 3 during 2015, he still could finish in No. 4.

But the big question remains: Is the new bread ready to pounce and finish in the top 5 at the end in 2015?

Not everyone has a serious chance, but there are enough who are encouraged and ready to make it very close to the top 5. Will they stay for more than brief moments or will they stay? Here are a few who have yet to end 2015 in the top 5:

cilic goran 14

US Open champ Cilic has the potential to grab a 2015 slam.

Marin Cilic: The Croatian finally broke out, smashing with serves, forehands, backhands and at the net, winning the US Open. He is tall and he’s in great shape, but he gets hurt and can become depressive. He has to steady his nerves and, if he does, he will have another Slam in his pocket.

Milos Raonic: The Canadian is consistently better year after year. His backhand has improved in 2014 — which is mandatory – and he is looking why he should be thinking about his better point construction. He is very aggressive, but he has to begin to best the top guys or he will never make it.

Grigor Dimitrov: The Bulgarian is a very colorful person and when he on fire, he can actually beat just about anyone, including the Big 4. But even though he can dance and react to size of the back, he can also grow at impatient and lose games before he wakes up. The top men have lasted so long because they don’t think about messy calls. They yell, they glare, but then they move onto their next point. Dimitrov must go the same, because if he does, he will look as pretty as Federer does by dipping wicking slices with their one-handed backhands, or he can be stuck in their mud outside of the top 10 forever.

Ernests Gulbis: The 26-year-old came a long way from outside  the top 100 and now is ranked No. 13, but the talkative Latvian started fast and then slowed down fast. He is a very flashy opponent who isn’t afraid to go for his shots. Many fans discovered who he is when he took down Federer and Tomas Berdych to reach the Roland Garros semis, before he went down to Novak Djokovic. He looked like he was ready to really break out, but after Paris, he did nothing after July, losing everywhere and everyone on grass and hard courts in the fall. He likes to talk about how good he is, but to ever reach the top 5, he has to commit to playing hard for an entire season and he’s never really been close for that.

Monfils IW 10 MALT6324

Monfils has the talent to return to top 10 but can he break into the elite circle? Photo: Mal Taam/MALTphoto

Gael  Monfils: Can the Frenchman looked as good as he ever was when he stunned Federer in the Davis Cup final, or will the world No. 19 stay healthy enough and make the top 5 for the first time? The quick-footed Monfils once reached No. 7 in 2011, but he began to slip. The 28-year-old has been consistently hurt due to his sore knees, but he can play for hours and loves his crowds. He lives for long points, but he can swing away from his first serve and his gigantic forehands. He looks like he will make one last push, but staying in the top 5 for more than a week or so? This time, why not?

What does Murray do after Federer’s demolition?

Andy Murray

Murray must start beating the other “Big 4” to stay in the elite group. Mal Taam/MALT Photo

LONDON – Everyone can have bad days. Every person has experienced one or another. But if you look at the greats in tennis, all of them have admitted that they had a lousy match and learned from it. Or forgot about it. Or just threw it in the trash.

But exactly what will happen to Andy Murray mindset after he went down 6-0, 6-1 to Roger Federer on Thursday in a packed house? Everyone wanted to see their countryman win. He was back and ready to knock down the other best players? But he was not even close. He wasn’t in the ballpark or, in this case, The O2.

Murray has been unable to beat the big guys again. Yes, he has played well enough to beat anyone outside of the Big 4 and he looked pretty well during the fall. He scratched up to No. 5, largely because he outworked David Ferrer in October and early November. But against Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Federer during the season, that was another story this year. Murray entered the ATP Finals knowing that he had gone 0-8 of the three guys this year.

That hurt, but a chance to taking down Federer and Djokovic, and that would have made the season.

Somehow he went all wrong and quickly. Murray whacked the ball in the first four points, but after that, he could not find his rhythm. He was never there. Federer played very well, but he never had to play great, even though it seemed he couldn’t miss his forehands, backhands, slices, rushing into the net, digging in, smashing, and pocketing balls deep.

It did not really matter because Murray couldn’t get anything going. It was impossible to tell what his plans were, because he did not have anything at all. He was so out of it that the fans were shaking and were afraid. Down 6-0, 5-0, somehow Federer made a couple of errors and Murray won a game. One single game to 6-0, 6-1. The fans cheered and laughed. Andy didn’t smile for a second. Federer found it odd, shook his hand and did not to celebrate 6-0, 6-1. So much for classic contests.

“Not so cool because I wouldn’t want to be in that position,” Federer said. “I was happy to get it done. At the end I was happy I didn’t win the second to last game to be quite honest. Yeah, it’s uncomfortable. I don’t know. I don’t like it.”

Murray admitted that he did not play well at all – obviously – and that Federer was quite good. But what has his show for it this season? He won three tournaments, which is fine, but they were not Slams or ATP Masters Series. At a few times in 2014 he looked as though he would return to his normal self. But, as he said, it has been very hard to come back easily after his back surgery.

“The first three, four months were tough,” he said. “It was hard. Going through surgery isn’t easy. Maybe I didn’t appreciate that so much at the time. I found it quite frustrating at the beginning of the year. But then once I accepted that it’s a hard thing to go through, and obviously in the middle of that period I switched ‑‑ obviously stopped working with Ivan [Lendl].

“The French Open [Rafa Nadal] and Wimbledon [Grigor Dimitrov], I played well, but when I got to the semis of the French and the quarters of Wimbledon, I didn’t feel like I played well.

“Obviously tonight,I’m disappointed with those matches. I don’t want to play matches like that obviously.”

Murray is hearted of the fall as he did win Shenzhen (over Tommy Robredo), Vienne (over David Ferrer) and Valencia (over Robredo), but if he is going to have any chance in Australia, he is going to have to change it up. If Murray wants to remain his “Big 4,” he is going to have to start beating them on occasion, especially as the younger players like Kei Nishikori and and Milos Raonic become more formidable foes. Right now, he has to figure out exactly why and what will his answers be. At the very least, he has to work harder than before.

“It’s not a nice way to finish the year,” said Murray. “But I know there’s obviously a lot for me to work on now. I didn’t feel like I was playing that badly going into the match. I’d had some good wins the last few weeks. Had played decent against Milos. So obviously in that respect I know I’m going to have to put in a lot of work on the tennis court, a lot of work in on my game. If I want to start the season, with an opportunity to win in Australia, I’m going to have to put in a lot of work, that’s for sure.”

Nadal’s Pain is Rivals Gain

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With 11-time Grand Slam champion Rafael Nadal absent from another Grand Slam, all eyes will be on the top three in the Australian Open odds.

Nadal