Juan Martin del Potro beat Michael Russel (4 sets)
Big Losers
Maria Sharapova lost to Russian Maria Kirilenko
Radek Stepanek lost to Karlovic in 5 silly sets.
Mardy Fish also lost, although it’s hardley an upset.
Matches to look forward to later on
Federer v Andreev
Sorensen v Yen-Hsun Lu (this match was supposed to be on yesterday but was postponed to first match on court 14 today, live scoring is at the top right of this page and via this link)
“The wonderful world of tennis” is a phrase I’ve seen used in the 2005 Australian Open, when I first started watching tennis properly and also the inspiration behind my domain name!
Well its the official start to the grand slam calendar and where better to start it than in Australia! I always thought it was a little strange how soon in the year the AO started, but players don’t really seem to be complaining and most will have played a couple of warm up tournaments prior. Melbourne is always a popular destination on the calendar with all the players as it offers so much more than just tennis. Famous for insane temperatures on court and epic night matches often lasting well into the morning, it should be a fantastic two weeks, filled with great encounters.
Take a look at this video from a charity exhibition some of the players put on to help Haiti earthquake victims. Its really entertaining and a great way to help raise money.
Nadal already had to suffer an historic loss at the French Open earlier this year to Soderling and now has a shot at some revenge as he takes him on here in the first round robin match. They don’t exactly have a history of having friendly off-court chats and sitting together for lunch. In fact, Nadal probably hates nobody more on the tour after the Wimbledon incident a couple of years ago.
If Nadal doesn’t get a great start in the match its easy to see Soderling causing lots of problems. He serves big, can hit amazing forehands when he gets going and indoors is by far his best surface. The crowd will hopefully get their moneys worth outta this match but Nadal has never won this title and will want to prove himself as the year ends. Play should start at about 2.15, depending on the doubles.
Other matches today
Djokovic v Davydenko
Bryan/Bryan v Mirnyi/Ram
Dlouhy/Paes v Kubot/March (never seen the last pair play before, I’ll be looking out)
Federer didn’t get off to a great start and was outplayed by Verdasco to lose the first set 6-4. It was close up until the latter part of the second set when, like so so many player before him, Verdasco got close to winning and wasn’t able to handle the pressure. It was a good effort for Verdasco and there is no reason he cant get a win over somebody else in the group. Federer was too good in the end.
Andy Murray also won against Del Potro earlier in 3 tight sets.Federer now stands on top of Group A with a higher games winning percentage than Murray.
Tomorrow is all about Group B and Nadal will open the singles play.
After all the stress of the floods in Cork, I think it’s only fair that I get the week off to watch tennis at home :p (I wish) But the fun all starts today at the o2 arena where Andy Murray (never saw that one coming…) opens up in the singles against Juan Martin Del Potro. I’m only surprised he wasn’t first on court before the doubles….
Order of play:
Nestor/Zimonjic v. Frystenberg/Matkowski
Murray v Del Potro 2.15
Bhuphati/Knowles v Cermak/Mertinak 7.00
Federer v Verdasco 8.45
Obviously any match that features Federer would be considered match of the day, but I cant see him having any problems.
Murray and Del Potro however….I don’t think anybody would argue that it could very easily turn into a 3 set dog fight. I’d expect nothing more.
The tournament we’ve all been waiting for is finally almost here. With so much at stake be it prizemoney, ranking points or just the pride of it. The draw has been made in the London eye (was there only days ago!) and these are the groups
Group A
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
Juan Martin Del Potro
Fernando Verdasco
Group B
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Nikolay Davydenko
Robin Soderling
Some amazing round-robin matches in the making here. Here’s to the start of play!
(Oh, and the doubles draw, incase anyone is interested)
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.
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.
Roger Federer decided to pull out of the next couple of tournaments including next weeks masters 1000 in Shanghai. When he first said it I thought he was mad as he was jeopardising his number 1 ranking which I’m sure he wants to end the year with. Since he dropped out, Murray also followed suit citing an injury. It’s not very surprising as he would more than likely go deep at the tournament and maybe he wants to be rested enough so he will have a good shot at the year end finals in London. Coincidence? I think not.
Big news as Marat Safins tennis career is quickly coming to a close this year. Luckily he is doing well in Beijing and faces none other than Rafa Nadal in the semifinals. Marat is playing surprisingly well this week and Nadal is nowhere near his best. Wouldn’t an upset be amazing? You know how Marat gets, a win against Nadal could inspire him onto achieving great things before he ends his career.
As usual I save this kind of news till the end.
The bitch is back to number 1 on the womens tour. I share the same opinion with alot of people over at tennis-x. Hopefully she will shut up complaining and belittling other players.
