It seems that Novak Djokovic can spoil anyone’s party right now. Not content with defeating hometown favourite Roger Federer in the Basel ATP finals last week – the Serbian has added another title to his name, and ignored the wishes of the thousands of fans in attendance in the process.
Djokovic won the Paris Indoor Masters Series event, after defeating Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals, and then outlasting Gael Monfils – a Paris favourite himself - in the final. The Serb prevailed 6-2, 5-7, 7-6, and in doing so, won his first Masters title of the season.
Would anyone be surprised if Djokovic finishes the year by beating another local player for another indoor title? It would take a brave man to bet against the world number three right now, who is unlikely to be fazed by the prospect of ‘Murray-Mania’ as the tennis season reaches its climax in London for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. Indeed, Djokovic – the defending champion in London - seems to be thriving on such an occasion.
In a gruelling season, where the amount of tennis being played is being put under increased scrutiny, you feel Djokovic won’t want his season to end. In his 94th match of the season, the Serbian showed no signs of fatigue, and was quickly dominating from the baseline. He quickly raced into a 6-2 lead against Monfils, who, appearing in his first Masters final, had no answer to the world number three.
Djokovic was soon 3-0 up in the second set, sealing his second break with an unbelievable on the run passing shot. Sensing defeat, and faced with the prospect of disappointing the thousands of French fans in attendance, Monfils decided to make a game of it. He duly won three successive games to level the set, and with a second set tie-break looming, produced a crushing forehand of which Djokovic had no answer. One hold later, and it was Monfils forcing an unlikely final set - to the delight of the crowd.
The final set was predictably tight, with both players beginning to tire – helped in no small part thanks to an incredible 43 shot rally at the beginning of the set. In the end, it was a tiebreak that settled things, and that’s what did for Monfils. The number 15 seed hit a forehand long, handing Djokovic a 4-2 lead from which he never looked back. A double fault from the Frenchman ended the contest, causing Djokovic to let out a mighty roar, which he later attributed to “letting his emotions out.” Certainly, it wasn’t the behaviour of someone using this tournament as a warm up exercise for next Sunday’s climax in London. Such behaviour is blasphemy to the 22 year old, who, since the US Open, has lost only once to Russian Nikolay Davydenko.
The Serbian now has the chance to end the season as the world No 2, should he defend his title successfully in London. On such form, Djokovic is the man to beat, though, luckily for Britain’s Andy Murray, there is no chance of being randomly selected in the same group as the Serbian, since the world No 3 and the world No 4 are kept separate.
Then again, Djokovic may want to save such a scalp for the big occasion. Now that would really spoil the party.
Monday 16 November 2009
Thursday 12 November 2009
Nadal survives Paris thriller
Paris used to feel like a second home for Rafael Nadal. However, it’s clear to see that ever since that quarter final loss at Roland Garros to Robin Soderling five months ago, nothing has been quite the same in the Spaniard’s world.
Indeed, it’s been 28 weeks since Nadal last won a singles title – back in May at the Rome Masters. Injury has had a lot to do with that but, since coming back from his two and a half month layoff, it’s clear to see that Nadal is far from his imperious best.
Of course, traditionally, the Paris Masters is a tournament that can provide the odd shock, with the big players usually opting to rest up in preparation for the season-ending finale - the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which will be staged in London this year. It was Tim Henman who claimed the biggest win of his career six years ago by beating, among others, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Gustavo Kuerten and Nikolay Davydenko on his way to the title.
Nadal had long ago reserved his place in the elite eight-man field for the finals, which begin at the O2 Arena in 11 days' time. And he may have had one eye on that tournament yesterday. His match with fellow Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro lasted a grueling three hours and 15 minutes, and, after losing the first set, was a match that ultimately Nadal could count himself lucky to win.
In their previous four encounters, Almagro had failed to take a set. It came as a surprise, then, to see Nadal being bullied around the back of the court by his countryman, ranked 25 places below him, for the first set. There was no rhythm with Nadal’s serve, and it was a double-fault in the fifth game that set the tone for the rest of the set.
If Almagro was by far the better player in the first set, then the second set was a lot tighter. It was Nadal who had the first chance to win the set, at 4-5, but the Majorcan conspired to blow his three set points and allow the world number 27 a route back into the match at 5-5.
The usually reliable Nadal was rattled, and it was his serve that let him down again in the following game, giving Almagro the chance to serve for the biggest win of his career.
At 40-0, an unlikely win looked to be on the cards. Nadal is a fighter, though, if nothing else and it was his battling qualities that saw the world number two deny three successive match points, and force an unlikely tiebreaker, which Nadal won in some style.
With an immediate service break, the momentum looked to be with Nadal in the third set, but Almagro – showing some battling qualities of his own, broke straight back.
With the match level at 3-3 in the final set, Almagro was forced to take an injury timeout for thigh cramping. It would prove to be a pivotal moment in the match. An early hold of serve, followed by a break gave the world number 27 hope, but as the cramping continued to worsen, Nadal began to take a firm grip of the match.
He broke Almagro twice more, before serving out the match to deny his fellow countryman victory, who by this point, could hardly move.
Of course, falling foul of injury is something Nadal cannot help but sympathise with. Only five months ago his own knees finally gave away after a gruelling clay-court season, and with it, his aura of invincibility disappeared. Next Sunday could mark the first steps towards reclaiming it.
Indeed, it’s been 28 weeks since Nadal last won a singles title – back in May at the Rome Masters. Injury has had a lot to do with that but, since coming back from his two and a half month layoff, it’s clear to see that Nadal is far from his imperious best.
Of course, traditionally, the Paris Masters is a tournament that can provide the odd shock, with the big players usually opting to rest up in preparation for the season-ending finale - the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, which will be staged in London this year. It was Tim Henman who claimed the biggest win of his career six years ago by beating, among others, Roger Federer, Andy Roddick, Gustavo Kuerten and Nikolay Davydenko on his way to the title.
Nadal had long ago reserved his place in the elite eight-man field for the finals, which begin at the O2 Arena in 11 days' time. And he may have had one eye on that tournament yesterday. His match with fellow Spaniard, Nicolas Almagro lasted a grueling three hours and 15 minutes, and, after losing the first set, was a match that ultimately Nadal could count himself lucky to win.
In their previous four encounters, Almagro had failed to take a set. It came as a surprise, then, to see Nadal being bullied around the back of the court by his countryman, ranked 25 places below him, for the first set. There was no rhythm with Nadal’s serve, and it was a double-fault in the fifth game that set the tone for the rest of the set.
If Almagro was by far the better player in the first set, then the second set was a lot tighter. It was Nadal who had the first chance to win the set, at 4-5, but the Majorcan conspired to blow his three set points and allow the world number 27 a route back into the match at 5-5.
The usually reliable Nadal was rattled, and it was his serve that let him down again in the following game, giving Almagro the chance to serve for the biggest win of his career.
At 40-0, an unlikely win looked to be on the cards. Nadal is a fighter, though, if nothing else and it was his battling qualities that saw the world number two deny three successive match points, and force an unlikely tiebreaker, which Nadal won in some style.
With an immediate service break, the momentum looked to be with Nadal in the third set, but Almagro – showing some battling qualities of his own, broke straight back.
With the match level at 3-3 in the final set, Almagro was forced to take an injury timeout for thigh cramping. It would prove to be a pivotal moment in the match. An early hold of serve, followed by a break gave the world number 27 hope, but as the cramping continued to worsen, Nadal began to take a firm grip of the match.
He broke Almagro twice more, before serving out the match to deny his fellow countryman victory, who by this point, could hardly move.
Of course, falling foul of injury is something Nadal cannot help but sympathise with. Only five months ago his own knees finally gave away after a gruelling clay-court season, and with it, his aura of invincibility disappeared. Next Sunday could mark the first steps towards reclaiming it.
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