Monday, November 16th, 2009
Novak
Djokovic certainly had a good week anyway. Beating Nadal and then taking a masters series title by beating a french man Monfils in his home tournament is definetly not an easy task, especially so late in the year. Could Djokovic so well at the year end masters yet again? Hmmmmmm. Probably, but there is a huge amount at steak for the top two.
The way I see it is that its all gonna be about Federer and Nadal. The number 1 ranking could change but it is all hugely dependent on how other players do so it is quiet unlikely. There’s a few different ways Nadal could become number one but just taking the title doesn’t guarantee anything. This from the official atp site kind of explains it, kinda confusing but sher!
1. If Nadal is an undefeated champion at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals (winning all-three round-robin matches, a semi-final and final) he will earn the maximum 1,500 points. If that happens, Federer would need to either win all three round-robin matches OR reach the final to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.
2. If Nadal goes 2-1 in round-robin play and wins the title he will earn 1,300 points. If that happens, Federer would need to either win two round-robin matches OR win one round-robin match and reach the final to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.
3. If Nadal goes 3-0 in round-robin play, wins his semi-final but loses the final he will earn 1,000 points. If that happens, Federer would need only to win one round-robin match to beat out Nadal for the 2009 ATP World Tour Champion title.
Anyway. Well done Novak and I actually cant wait for the finals in London. Should be a great week of tennis.
Tags: 2009, djokovic, london, masters, monfils, paris, Tennis, world tour finals
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Friday, November 13th, 2009
So ya, Del Potro beat Gonzalez in the end last night, saving 7 match points! Then Gonzalez decided to retire after such a marathon two sets. Silly decision in my opinion. Surely he was playing well enough to still possibly pull off the upset in a final set? Guess we’ll never know now!
Tags: bercy, fer, fernan, fernando gonzalez, Juan Martin Del Potro, paris, Tennis
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Friday, November 13th, 2009
Freshly Qualified
Even more top seeds drop out early. Murray loses in 3 sets to the love him or hate him Radek Stepanek. The equally unpopular Robin Sodeling beat Davydenko (who qualified for the year end masters with his loss) in similar fashion.
You can’t help but think there was a slight lack of effort on their part, considering historically Federer and Nadal haven’t done well in both Paris and the year end masters. Murray also pretty much confirmed in his interview he was happy with the matches he got the last two weeks and got a good workout this week regardless.
Smiles all around it seems.
Watch out tomorrow for
- Nadal v Tsonga
- Djokovic v Soderling
- Stepanek v Gonzalez or Del Potro and
- Monfils v Cilic
Tags: 2009, bercy, Davydenko, masters, murray, nadal, paris, Tennis
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Thursday, November 12th, 2009
Julien
Can’t believe Federer lost to Benneteau. I actually can’t. Del Potro in the US Open final, yes. Djokovic in the Basel final, yes. But Benneteau? C’mon like! He’s barely in the top 50 and has never even got into the top 30 of the rankings. All the top seeds have had unnecessary struggles in their first round matches but a loss to a top-50′er with no great achievments to his name is a bit unforgivable.
Federer was leading by a set and really shouldn’t have had any difficulty in the tiebreak. Another silly loss that is reminiscent of last year. Still, I’m confident he will win the year ending finals, dare I say without losing a match? Yes, I dared!
Tags: 2009, benneteau, federer, first round, julien, loss, masters, paris, Tennis
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Wednesday, November 11th, 2009
Marat 
Two big stars will have left the game come this weekend. Two time grand slam winner Marat Safin, aged only 29 will play his last tournament this week in Paris. It will mark the end to a frustrating career for the Russian whom has notoriously underachieved on the tennis court. A brilliant player with immense talent, especially on the backhand side, was the subject of a special presentation today on the center court of the Paris masters after his 2nd round loss to Juan Martin Del Potro.
“Today I will put all my memories, all my wins and losses in a small box” said Safin, being optomistic about his future and hopes to stay somewhere in the tennis world.
Even though Safin didn’t make the most of his talents, he still achieved the kind of things most of the players on the tour can only dream of.
- Reached world number one
- Won the US Open, beating Sampras in the final
- Famously beat Federer in the 2005 Australian Open semi-final and went on to take the title.
- Holder of 5 Masters series titles
- Winner of 15 tour singles titles in total
- Has wins over Federer, Nadal and Nalbandian.
Final score : 4-6 7-5 -4-6
Tags: bercy, career, del, Del potro, federer, marat, paris, potro, retire, safin, santoro, Tennis
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
The man himself
Nothing shocking today in Paris. All the seeded important seeded players are through so far and defending champion Tsonga has just beaten Montanes . The only kind of odd result is Wawrinka losing to a qualifier called David Guez, ranked nearly 150 places below the Swiss player. What ever happened the days when Wawrinka was reaching master series finals? Such a shame, he should be back in the top 10.
Bring on Federer tomorow night! He opens up against Benneteau. I’m not expecting much of a match though. Still, tis a long time since Ive been able to watch a full Fed match!
Tags: 1000, federer, masters, nadal, paris, Tennis, tsonga
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Tuesday, November 10th, 2009
Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy, what an amazing stadium
Ok, so maybe I wasn’t actually at the Paris masters, but last year I was pretty close! I was in Paris for badminton and was literally one foot away from Gael Monfils who was getting something to eat after one of his matches! Anywayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy…
The Paris Masters is one of the top level tournaments after the grand slams. I always think of it of the one the big players miss because the first couple of years I watched it, Federer and Nadal were missing because of their long seasons and match wins. I guess I still kind of have that impression of it, almost like it isnt that important, but it is equally as important as any of the other masters 1000’s!
The order of play for Tuesday is promising. My pick of the day is definitely Juan Martin Del Potro v Mario Ancic. I haven’t seen much of Ancic lately and Del Potro hasn’t regained the form that won him the US Open title yet. Other good matches include
- Tursunov v Djokovic (who is just off winning a title Sunday in Basal, beating Mr. Federer)
- Kohlschreiber v the inform Youzhny (reached the final in last week)
- Nadal playing either Mahut or Mathieu (Im already picking Nadal to beat Monaco first, naturally enough like) oh and
- Also have a look out for Nalbandian, he’s been out with injurty and surgery most of the year.
Live scores are here
Enjoy
Tags: 1000, ATP, bercy, bnp, djokovic, federer, masters, murray, nadal, nalbandian, paribas, paris, Tennis, youzhny
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