A big congrats go out to our two year-end champions, Amelie Mauresmo and David Nalbandian.

Both players are well noted for having never won the big one - well, they still haven’t - but they did manage to win the next biggest thing in their sports, the year-end championships. And both did it in similar fashion overcoming a large deficit to claim victory in the finale.

Mauresmo topped countrywoman Mary Pierce to win perhaps the biggest title of her career at the WTA Championships, while today at the Tennis Masters Cup Nalbandian somehow managed to put an end to Roger Federer’s historic run shocking the Swiss in a fifth set tiebreak for his greatest pro moment.

As I said, both richly talented players can never seen to win the big match. But with the confidence gained from their conquests this month, perhaps these two will make major leaps towards Slam ownership next year. We shall see.

This entry was posted on Sunday, November 20th, 2005 at 5:09 pm and is filed under Year End.