Factfile: The players

c8f5e24a90458210VgnVCM200000e66411acRCRDapproved/thenational/Articles/Migration/2009-Q4Factfile: The playersb8f5e24a90458210VgnVCM200000e66411ac____Factfile: The players

Nationality: Swiss Ranked: 1st The 28-year-old created history this year by winning the French Open to complete a career Grand Slam and then regaining his Wimbledon title to break Pete Sampras's all-time record of 14 majors. The sublime Swiss is widely considered to be the best player his sport has ever seen. He became a father of twin girls shortly after his Wimbledon triumph and that may have been a contributory factor to his being deposed as US Open champion by Argentina's Juan Martin del Potro. His most recent ATP Tour title, the Cincinnati Masters was the 61st of a long and relatively injury-free career which has seen him amass more than US$50m (Dh1.84bn) in prize money. Nationality: Spanish Ranked: 2nd Nadal, 23, will be hoping another New Year in Abu Dhabi brings him a change of fortunes after a frustrating 2009 which saw him surrender his Roland Garros and Wimbledon crowns to Roger Federer after beating his Swiss rival in the final of the Australian Open. The Spaniard's dip in form was due to an attack of tendinitis in both knees which kept him off court for much of the current campaign and resulted in him losing his No 1ranking to Federer and being briefly overhauled as world No 2 by Britain's Andy Murray. Nadal, beaten in the semi-finals of last week's China Open, has not won a tournament since May and has been troubled of late by an abdominal strain. Nationality: French Ranked: 7th Tsonga, 24, who exploded on to the world stage by reaching the final of last year's Australian Open, raised his career haul of titles to five by winning last week's Japan Open. This powerfully built Frenchman, who hails from the famous sporting city of Le Mans and has strong family pedigree through his father, who was a leading exponent of handball, often displays a degree of finesse not expected from a 6ft 2ins frame. He possesses the all-court skills to trouble any of the leading players and it is a surprise to many that he has not enjoyed more success this year after rising to a career-high world ranking of six at the end of last season. Nationality: Russian Ranked: 8th Davydenko, 28, who played a supporting role to Nadal and Federer in Abu Dhabi last January, was regarded as being one of the fittest players on tour as he ground his way to 17 career titles and will scamper around the baseline to pursue even the most hopeless of causes. His career was blighted by an investigation into gambling irregularities concerning one of his matches and even though he was proved innocent he has declined steadily from a career-high ranking of three. Russia's best player since the fall from grace of Marat Safin, Davydenko has disappointed in the big tournaments. He has yet to win a grand slam and his only Masters Series title came three years ago. Nationality: Spanish Ranked: 9th Verdasco, 25, made his mark as a top 10 player at this year's Australian Open by defeating the pre-tournament favourite Andy Murray in an epic five-setter and then eliminating the previous year's runner-up Jo Wilfried Tsonga before losing in another marathon tussle to the eventual champion Rafael Nadal. The hard-hitting Spaniard was expected to go on from that Melbourne high point but has managed only one title this year (New Haven) to raise his career haul to three. A proud member of Spain's Davis Cup-winning team, he gained international acclaim by posing nude for a magazine in an attempt to raise cancer awareness. He is yet to reach a final at a grand slam or Masters tournament. Nationality: Swedish Ranked: 11th Soderling, 25, caused the biggest upset in many years at Roland Garros this year by dethroning the "King of Clay" Rafael Nadal on the way to reaching his first grand slam final, in which he lost to Roger Federer. Losing to Federer has become an irritating habit to the popular Swede. He made it an embarrassing 12 defeats in a row by following up his loss to the Swiss at Wimbledon with a quarter-final exit at the US Open. The 6ft 4ins Soderling has won four tournaments so far, the most recent in Bastad in July, and is one of the most improved players this year, having risen steadily to career-high ranking just outside the top 10. sports@thenational.ae

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