Djokovic Wins Shanghai, Annacone Says Goodbye

By Mason Walling

Arguably the biggest headline of the week that was in tennis was the down to the wire finish at the finals of the Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, China.

           

On Sunday, Djokovic won the Shanghai Rolex Masters by a score of 6-1, 3-6, 7-6 (3) over Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina.  As the score line shows, this was a very strange final in which momentum shifted back and forth between both players.

Matthew Stockman/Getty Images

In the beginning, it looked like Djokovic may take the title by a landslide, as he won the first five games of the match and took the first set 6-1.  However, del Potro regrouped quickly and broke Djokovic on his first service game of the second set.  One break was all the Argentine would need to finish out the set and level the match.

In the deciding third set, del Potro saved two match points on his own serve down 4-5.  The two would go the distance in a final set tiebreaker to crown the champion.  Djokovic controlled the breaker from the beginning, and he closed out the match with one of his signature down the line backhand winners.

Del Potro had to defeat Rafael Nadal, the worlds’ newly appointed number one player, in the semifinals just to get to the championship match.  He has climbed his way back up to number five in the world rankings, which is his highest ranking since severely injuring his wrist three years ago.

For Djokovic, this win increases his streak of success in the country of China to 20 consecutive matches.  This marks the second straight year that Djokovic has taken both the Shanghai Masters and the China Open, held just one week prior in Beijing.

Another bit of important news from the weekend was the announcement of the split of Roger Federer and his coach of three and a half seasons, Paul Annacone.

“After numerous conversations culminating at the end of our most recent training block, we felt like this was the best time and path for both of us,” Federer said via a post on his website on Saturday.  Federer has had a rough year in 2013, failing to reach any of the Grand Slam finals and dropping to number seven in the world rankings, two things that he had not done since 2002.

Federer was bounced by Gael Monfils in the third round at Shanghai, which puts him right on the cusp of qualifying for the ATP Tour finals, a year-end tournament for worlds’ top eight players.  Despite the recent struggles, Annacone and Federer mutually leave each other on good terms.  New candidates have yet to emerge to replace Annacone as Federer’s head coach.