Events / Maxliu / 25 November 2009 /

Tennis virgin Max Liu reflects on a great night at the O2 and explains why the World ATP Finals are a great thing for British players and fans alike...

In the dark days to come, when people snap out of their political amnesia and, some time around two years from now, remember what hell life is under the Tories, the O2 Arena might be regarded as a jewel in New Labour's legacy.

Derided as the Millenium Dome when it opened in 2000, the giant white structure, which dominates the Greenwich peninsula with its 365 metre diameter, is regarded by the likes of Leonard Cohen and Led Zeppelin as the best concert venue in the world. This week it established itself as a premier sporting venue as eight of the world's best tennis players competed under the canopy in the ATP World Finals.

Monday night's Group B clash between Novak Djokovic and Nikolay Davydenko was my first experience of live tennis but it was not my first trip to the O2. I visited the venue 18 months ago to watch American outsider rocker Daniel Johnston perform. It was a great gig but, washing down rubbery noodles with streaky lager in the curving, soulless mall beforehand, I couldn't help feel I was living in the end days. The O2 was like an airport where the only flights were going out, none coming in, and the anemia of the place, aided by Chop Chop Stir Fry's muzak, struck me as an elegy for the false optimism of late 90s/early noughties New Britannia.

How different things were at the tennis. Sure, the arena was stained with a bank's advertising and yes, I could have done without point-by-point commentary from the spoilt brats in the row behind, who filled the air with the stench of hot-dogs, but the atmosphere was electric and reverent all at once. It was cool and opulent. Even the hospitality areas exuded class and character - they looked from the outside like boxes at a 19th century Russian opera and I fantasised that inside an Anna Karenina might be peering through a pair of gilded binoculars. It was... Ace.

The 02 is a vertiginous arena but there isn't a bad seat in the house. I loved the silence during points - the only sounds the player's exhalations, the squeak of their shoes, the pock and pack of their shots. Belting the ball, Djokovic and Davydenko were super-men, masters of the universe. How hard these modern gladiators work to win a point, let alone a game, a set, a match, a tournament, wealth, immortality....

This was all of stark contrast to my recent experiences at Premier League football matches where it seems that fans are increasingly infantilized by their clubs. I suspect that tennis fans are treated like adults because they come from the middle-classes and upwards; after all, only poor people need to be treated like children. We should boycott football matches until clubs treat us with as much respect as the tennis powers grant the rich, attractive, international folk at the O2. It wouldn't cost them a penny.

Unlike Wimbleon, the court at the O2 could have been anywhere in the world and from what I overheard, as well as the array of flags being waved, the audience was thoroughly global. I relished the international ambiguity of the occasion. Tim Henman has said how great it is to have a tournament of this magnitude in London in November. I couldn't agree more but I also wonder if Tiger Tim might have fared better at the O2 than he did at Wimbledon. Who knows, but British players might feel less pressure, away from the one dimensional patriotism of SW19.

Despite his defeat to Roger Federer, Andy Murray still boasts a 6-4 head to head record over the world number one. Some of Andy's best performances have come on indoor courts and he may yet give a strong account of himself this week. I can see him avenging Tuesday's defeat by beating Federer in Sunday's final.

Back Andy Murray to reach the final at [1.76], have a small wager on him winning the tournament at [4.7] and be sure to get yourself to the O2 when the 2010 ATP Finals roll around.

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