Inside The O2: Final Sunday

© Getty ImagesPrincess Beatrice was among the many famous faces in the 17,500 sell-out crowd for Sunday's final.

Celebrity Spotting
 
With the prestige of a Rafael Nadal-Roger Federer final, royalty, A-list celebrities, and politicians arrived in droves at The O2 on Sunday.

Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice of York and Mayor of London Boris Johnson both enjoyed the tennis from the front row, as did former Arsenal footballer Thierry Henry, actresses January Jones and Rose Byrne, and 2008 X Factor winner Alexandra Burke.

Football legend Diego Maradona, who has been in attendance all week, returned courtside to watch the final and was joined in the star box by Ronnie Wood of the Rolling Stones, American actor Kevin Spacey, and Italian opera singer Jonas Kauffman.

Roger Federer was supported in his player box by Gavin Rossdale, guitarist of rock band Bush and husband of Gwen Stefani.

From Soweto To London

It takes many, many people to ensure the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament runs smoothly, not least the officiating team, and there is one among them with a special story. At the age of 34, Soweto native George Phiri has left South Africa for the first time to call the lines at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

George was identified by Chief of Officials, Gerry Armstrong, as the top official in the past two years at the SA Tennis Open in Johannesburg, and as such was invited to London to be one of the 10 international line judges. The South African Tennis Association and South African Airways, a platinum partner of the ATP, made the trip possible for George.

“When SATA first told me [I had been invited to London] my jaw dropped on the floor with excitement,” declared George, who quit coaching to become a full-time tennis official in 1998. “It was really great. The first match I did my heart was really beating, but as the days go on everything has sort of calmed down. It’s nice to be around guys like Federer and Nadal.

“It’s extremely exciting to be here; awesome stuff. The tennis is high level and I’ve never been to such a tournament before. It’s my first time and it’s a great experience,” added the South African, who would eventually like to become a chair umpire on the ATP World Tour.

There is a group of 20 line judges officiating at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, with officials from South Africa, Japan, USA, France, Germany, Netherlands, and Macedonia joining the 10 line umpires from the UK.

Nestor, Zimonjic Reflect

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic ended their hugely successful partnership in the best possible way Sunday when they were crowned champions of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the second time. There were many highlights for the duo, and they picked out their favourites in their post-match press conference.

“Any of the slams are special,” said Nestor, who won Wimbledon twice and Roland Garros this year with Zimonjic. “I think anytime you win a Grand Slam, it's an amazing achievement. Those are the toughest tournaments to win on our tour. We won three in three years. I think when looking back, those three are the highlights, and then the year end championships are a close second.”

Zimonjic added, “For me the biggest one probably, the biggest moment, was finishing No. 1 in the world playing a match against the Bryans in Shanghai [at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2008]. That was probably the nicest feeling, because all of them, they had this experience in the past to be No. 1. For me, that was the first time that it happened. Always when it's first, it's nice.”

Festive Nadal

In his final press conference of the year, Rafael Nadal bid farewell to the assembled media before wishing everyone a “Merry Christmas”. There won’t be much of a holiday for the Spaniard over the festive season, though. He is busy with sponsor activities every day next week before resuming practise a week on Monday.

Total Attendance

The total attendance for the 2010 Barclays ATP World Tour Finals was 253,123, with sell-out sessions of 17,500 on opening Sunday afternoon, all day Friday, all day Saturday and for the final.