Djoker Gets the Last Laugh

Your Weekly Tennis Update

By Mason Walling 

Photo Courtesy of stevegtennis.com

Yes, Rafael Nadal finished the 2013 season as the No. 1-ranked player in the world, but Novak Djokovic is the one who went out with a bang.

On Monday, Djokovic defeated Nadal 6-3, 6-4 in the finals of the Barclays ATP World Tour year-end tournament.  In fact, after losing to Nadal in the championship match of the U.S. Open this year, Djokovic went on a 22-match hot streak without losing to finish out the season. 

Going into this matchup of already historic proportions, Djokovic and Nadal had met in the finals of tournaments a total of 18 times, and interestingly enough, the series was all tied up. Djokovic became the seventh man ever to hoist the Barclays Trophy in London three times over the course of his career.

Nadal was only able to hit a total of nine winners in this match, and he was broken an uncharacteristic three times.  Djokovic was able to utilize his serve to generate aces or jump ahead early in points by putting Nadal on the defensive.  On hard courts, Djokovic seems to be the heavy favorite at the moment, as he has won 13-of-20 over Nadal head-to-head.

This is the only final of great significance that Nadal has failed to capture in his career, as he has won all four Grand Slams, Olympic Gold, and the Davis Cup.  The only man to win all of these events and the Barclays ATP World Tour is Andre Agassi.

Djokovic will try to continue his late-year dominance later this week in his native land of Belgrade, as Serbia will take on the defending champion Czech Republic in the Davis Cup finals.  The Serbs, however, will have to do so without key members Janko Tipsarevic, who is battling a heel injury, and Victor Troicki, who is currently serving a 12-month suspension for doping.

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.

Rafa Reigns Supreme

Your Weekly Tennis Update

Peter Parks AFP/Getty Images

By Mason Walling

It is believed that the phrase “all good things must come to an end,” was first said by Geoffrey Chaucer, the father of English literature, in 1374.

For Novak Djokovic, 101 weeks’ worth of “good things” came to an end on Monday as he lost his world number-one ranking at the hands of Rafael Nadal.

Djokovic hovered at the top of the rankings since July of 2011, except for a four-month span where he was overtaken by Roger Federer.  He is the ninth player to hold the number-one ranking for 100 total weeks.

Djokovic did, however, impose some revenge on the newly crowned world number-one by beating Nadal 6-3, 6-4 to win the China Open in Beijing.  Fortunately for Nadal, he was close enough behind Djokovic in the ranking that he would earn enough points to pass him by reaching the finals.  Djokovic has won the China Open title four out of the last five years. 

This loss was Nadal’s first on a hard court all season.  He boasts a 65-4 record in 2013, and he has already amassed 10 singles titles, including this year’s French Open and U.S. Open Championships. 

Both men are currently competing at the Shanghai Masters tournament and have advanced to the third round.  If Nadal takes the title in Shanghai, he will become the first man to ever win six Master’s 1000 events in a single season.  Next up, Djokovic will take on Fabio Fognini of Italy, and Nadal will battle Carlos Berlocq of Argentina. 

On the women’s side, Serena Williams won the China Open and remained the world’s undisputed number-one by defeating Jelena Jankovic by a score of 6-2, 6-2.

Williams is not participating in the WTA events that are currently underway in Linz, Austria, and in Osaka, Japan.  Those still competing in Japan include American Madison Keys, Canadian Eugenie Bouchard and Australian Samantha Stosur.  The top contenders in Austria are Angelique Kerber, Ana Ivanovic, Sloane Stephens, Dominika Cibulkova, Carla Suarez-Navarro and Kristen Flipkens.