Novak Djokovic isn't the only one on a streak. A player that once trained at the same academy as the number 1 player is also on a streak, namely, Ernests Gulbis. Gulbis is certainly a mercurial player. Think Safin, Ivanisevic, or perhaps McEnroe from days of old. His career looks like the recovery parts of
Before we get to Federer, let's hit some of the upsets of the day. The biggest upset of the day was David Ferrer losing to Kevin Anderson, 36 64 63. Ferrer had chances to break in the second set, but didn't while Anderson did break. The match was a combination of Anderson being aggressive off
Janko Tipsarevic was thrilled to be back in London. Sure, he needed Rafa to not appear at London, which Rafa guaranteed would not happen a few weeks ago. But this time, he is eligible to play all his matches. Alas, his first match was against Roger Federer, who is the top seed in Group B.
The odds-on favorite to win London has to be Novak Djokovic. Unlike last year, where the brutal final between him and Nadal resulted in Djokovic getting hurt, and then not having much to give the rest of the year, Djokovic has been a lot fresher. Perhaps the sting of not winning any Olympic medal or
Surely, David Ferrer had to wonder if this day would ever come. At 30 years of age, Ferrer has been toiling on the tour for some time. Ferrer's career started its upward trend back in 2010 when he won two titles but reached three additional finals. Ferrer has been an incredibly solid top 5 player
This was the first real match that I've seen Janowicz play. My first mental note was: this guy hits a lot of drop shots for a big guy. Janowicz stands at 6'8" in the rare air of Isner, Karlovic, and Anderson. I amended that note: this guy hits a lot of drop shots for anyone.
Ah, puns. When the ATP Tour decided that pros needed more rest in the off season, they removed the week between Paris (Indoors) and London (World Tour Finals). Surely, organizers had to realize that such a move would create a bit of havoc with the schedule--and it has. Djokovic lost in his opening round. Murray
Male players had been clamoring for a longer off-season. The women just had their championship conclude the past week, so they are, for the most part, done (oddly enough, they run additional tournaments after the year-end championship). The ATP has to placate many tournament organizers who like hosting a world-class event. While tennis pundits (looking
When they decided to remove the week between Paris and London, you knew that odds were that the top 8 players would not be completely motivated to win Paris, especially, the top 4. Of course, Nadal has already decided to take the rest of the year off to recover, so he was a no-show regardless.
Novak Djokovic opened up his second round (he had a first round) ready for Halloween. He dressed up in a Darth Vader mask, perhaps aware that Disney had spent billions acquiring the Star Wars franchise, or maybe it was just coincidence. He stepped on court knowing that he would end the year at number 1
