The good thing about the World Tour Finals is that win or lose we're guraranteed at least three Rafa matches next week. (Assuming no injuries - appropriate anti-jinxing measures have been taken.) The players in Rafa's round robin group are Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick. Rafa has positive head-to-head records against all of them.

I am no expert (not even close) so I won't try and make predictions about the outcome of any of these matches. Instead I'm just going to show some of the head-to-head information (focused on hard court) and leave you to draw your own conclusions.

Novak Djokovic
Played 22 times, won 15, lost 7

Rafa has played Djokovic more times than he has played any other player on the tour although, surprisingly, they have only met once this year. Eleven of those meetings have been on hard courts where Djokovic has a 7 to 4 advantage - i.e. all of Rafa's losses to him have been on a hard court. He lost all three of their matches on hard court last year but came storming back this year to beat him in the US Open final in four sets. Here are the scores.

2007 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells Final - Won 6-2 7-5

2007 ATP Masters Series Miami QF - Lost 3-6 4-6

2007 ATP Masters Series Montreal SF - Lost 5-7 3-6

2007 ATP Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai RR - Won 6-4 6-4

2008 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells Hard SF - Lost 3-6 2-6

2008 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati SF - Lost 1-6 5-7

2008 Olympic Games Beijing SF - Won 6-4 1-6 6-4

2009 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati SF - Lost 1-6 4-6

2009 ATP Masters Series Paris SF - Lost 2-6 3-6

2009 ATP World Tour Finals RR - Lost 6-7(5) 3-6

2010 US Open Final - Won 6-4 5-7 6-4 6-2
Tomas Berdych
Played 11 times, won 8, lost 3

Again, all Rafa's losses to Berdych come on hard courts. After three in a row (in 2005 -2006) we had some concerns but Rafa has won their last seven encounters - three of which were on hard courts. Most recently he beat him in the Wimbledon final. Here are the hard court scores.

2005 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati R64 - Lost 7-6(4) 2-6 6-7(3)

2006 ATP Masters Series Toronto R16 - Lost 1-6 6-3 2-6

2006 ATP Masters Series Madrid QF - Lost 3-6 6-7(6)

2008 ATP Masters Series Miami SF - Won 7-6(6) 6-2

2009 ATP Masters Series Cincinnati QF - Won 6-4 7-5

2010 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells QF - Won 6-4 7-6(4)
Andy Roddick
Played 8 times, won 5, lost 3

Their head-to-head dates back to 2004 so it's surprisingly few times that they've met. Rafa's three losses were also on hard courts, the most recent in Miami earlier this year. Here are the hard court scores.

2004 US Open R64 - Lost 0-6 3-6 4-6

2007 ATP Masters Series Indian Well SF - Won 6-4 6-3

2008 Dubai QF - Lost 6-7(5) 2-6

2009 ATP Masters Series Indian Wells SF - Won 6-4 7-6(4)

2010 ATP Masters Series Miami SF - Lost 6-4 3-6 3-6

What the above shows is that Rafa is capable of beating any of these players on a hard court. We hear that the surface at the O2 is not that fast but that the balls do not bounce very high. This is not ideal for Rafa but, as he has proved this year, he can continue to surprise us.

Good luck, Rafa
We'll all be watching and cheering you on.