Federer confirms Monte Carlo 2014, enters as Wild Card

Not sure whats the reason behind Federer sudden acceptance as wild card in Monte Carlo, a tournament he traditionally skipped after being a losing finalist on 3 attempts to GOD of clay on his prime years.

Like I suspected that Nadal is not in the right frame of mind and looks mentally tired to defend all his clay points once again, Roger's team might have sensed it too and trying to make

There is also a word of mouth that Mirka is expecting another kid around July and hence he might skip some tournament like Rogers masters in Toronto [what a shame I get not to see him again ] so decided to play more right now.

Another common sentiment among RF fans is that he is in a good nick and wants to capitalize on it so that he is a top 4 for FO and Wimbledon.

Whatever be the reason, RF in Monte Carlo is an awesome news, and I want him to be drawn on Rafa's half to see the most famous greatest yet one sided rivalry.

Last but not least I am predicting him to win the tournament

From N0.10 to No.1 in a months time - Djokovic at Race to London 2014

I have always loved the concept "Race to London", for the first time I see too much anomaly at the start of the year, yes its just 2 month but lot of interesting things already, who expected Wawrinka to top the Race by the end of 2nd month and who expected Djoko to lie on 10th place. Even if Djoko wins the upcoming masters IW he might still find himself at 5th place in the race. Is the consistency of other players slowly catching up with him?

Great to see Grigor Dimitrov and Cilic in the list.

Had Federer won the last set tie breaker against Djoko he would have been the No.1 in race to London and Djoko would have been in No.6.

Updated List after Miami Masters [Federer and Djoko are the prime gainers]
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Rank Name (Nation) Points Week Change Tournaments PLayed
1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB) 2,690 3 5
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP) 2,595 1 6
3 Wawrinka, Stanislas (SUI) 2,470 -2 5
4 Federer, Roger (SUI) 2,190 -2 6
5 Berdych, Tomas (CZE) 2,045 0 7
6 Dolgopolov, Alexandr (UKR) 1,130 3 10
7 Ferrer, David (ESP) 1,080 0 8
8 Nishikori, Kei (JPN) 1,025 7 7
9 Dimitrov, Grigor (BUL) 1,015 -1 6
10 Cilic, Marin (CRO) 1,010 -4 8
11 Murray, Andy (GBR) 1,000 0 7
12 Fognini, Fabio (ITA) 930 -2 8
13 Anderson, Kevin (RSA) 855 -1 6
14 Gulbis, Ernests (LAT) 800 -1 7
14 Isner, John (USA) 800 0 7
16 Tsonga, Jo-Wilfried (FRA) 605 1 7
17 Gasquet, Richard (FRA) 570 1 8

Back to Back Masters win has propelled Djoko from No.10 in the race to No.1 in the race, for the first time in this year the race and the ranking has coincided with the Top 5 with Dolgopolov breaking the ice with No.6 spot in the Race ahead of Ferrer.

Nadal back from the brink, meets Tsonga in the Quarter finals of Paris Masters

One day after saving five match points in a marathon encounter against Nicolas Almagro, Rafael Nadal was once again taken the distance as he fought to secure a place in the BNP Paribas Masters quarter-finals.


Tommy Robredo served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set against his fellow Spaniard, but World No. 2 Nadal hit back to prevail 6-3, 3-6, 7-5 in two hours and 20 minutes Thursday at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament.

"The better new is I didn't play my best but I played much better than yesterday," said Nadal. "I felt the ball much better than yesterday. For moments, I felt I have the control of the ball. I have the chance to play big rallies without having mistakes. So that's very important for me."

Following the top-ranked Roger Federer’s shock exit to Julien Benneteau on Wednesday, Nadal could significantly close the gap on his rival at the top of the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings – setting the stage for a dramatic showdown at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals and the battle to be crowned 2009 ATP World Tour Champion.

Coming into the BNP Paribas Masters, World No. 1 Federer led his rival by 1,495 points in the South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings, but could see his lead cut to a mere 305 points should Nadal capture his sixth tour-level title of the season this week. An undefeated champion at the eight-player season finale, which begins 22 November in London, would gain 1,500 rankings points.

The 23-year-old Nadal is bidding to win his 16th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy, the same amount as Federer and just one less than all-time leader Andre Agassi. On his debut appearance in Paris (Bercy) two years ago, he advanced to the final where he lost to David Nalbandian. The Mallorcan is also chasing his 400th tour-level match win and currently stands on a 398-87 mark.

Nadal takes a 3-1 career lead into his quarter-final clash with Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who earlier defeated French compatriot Gilles Simon in straight sets. In their most recent clash at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in February, Nadal prevailed in three close sets.

"He's playing really well," Nadal said of the Frenchman. "Sure, he's playing at home in good conditions for him - indoor, fast court, France - so probably he's gonna be the favourite tomorrow. But that's the tennis. I'm gonna try to play better, to play my match."

World No. 4 Andy Murray was less fortunate as No. 14-ranked Radek Stepanek recovered from a disastrous start to defeat the fourth seed 1-6, 6-3, 6-4.

In a 23-minute first set, Murray broke serve twice as he raced out to a 5-0 score line and swiftly wrapped up a one-set lead. Stepanek was quick to respond though, attacking Murray at every opportunity and reaping the rewards with a service break in the second game of the second set.

The Czech took the initiative early in the deciding set, breaking to lead 2-0 and again later for a 5-2 advantage. Murray was able to recoup one of the breaks as Stepanek faltered in the eighth game, but the Karvina native made no such mistake at the second time of asking and served out victory after 97 minutes.

It was Stepanek’s first victory in four meetings with Murray, and puts the right-hander into his eighth ATP World Tour quarter-final of the season. The 30 year old, who will represent his country in the Davis Cup final against Spain next month, titled at the Brisbane International (d. Verdasco) and the SAP Open (d. Fish) in San Jose at the start of the year.

The 22-year-old Murray was coming off his 14th ATP World Tour title at last week’s Valencia Open 500 (d. Youzhny), following a six-week absence from the tour with a wrist injury. The Scot will now have nine days to prepare himself for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the elite eight-man season finale to be played at The O2 in London.

"Obviously to win a tournament after that long out was great," said Murray, reflecting on his win in Valencia. "I wanted to try and play as many matches as possible. I would have signed up for playing seven matches and winning six of them before these couple of tournaments, and it was kind of just what I needed before London. I get nine days' rest to get rid of all the niggles and stiffness. I'll be feeling good going in there, I'm sure; a lot better than I would have been if I had gone out early both weeks."

Nadal Has Not Beaten a Top 10 player over 6 months

For over half a year! after Madrid 2009 Nadal hasnt beaten a Top 10 player.

I was surprised at the way he struggled yesterday and had Almagro had a bit more composure, he would also have lost comprehensively again. So I checked the stats and the last time Nadal won a top 10 player was against Djoko in Madrid (tough match that was too).

London in 10 days time will certainly give us a better idea to where he stands amongst the top 8

Soderling keeps hopes alive to qualify for ATP World Tour finals

Ninth-seeded Swede Robin Soderling won a tense do-or-die third-round clash against sixth seed Nikolay Davydenko, a fellow Barclays ATP World Tour Finals contender, at the BNP Paribas Masters in Paris on Thursday to keep alive a five-way battle for the last two singles berths at the prestigious season climax.

Soderling avenged last month’s Proton Malaysian Open, Kuala Lumpur 2009 semi-final defeat against Davydenko with a 6-3, 3-6, 6-4 win in the pair’s fourth meeting this year. Despite hitting 11 aces and saving eight of 10 break points, Davydenko must now wait on other players results at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament if he is to qualify for the elite eight-man event at The O2 in London.

Soderling will next challenge either French wild card Arnaud Clement or ATP World Tour 2009 match-wins leader Novak Djokovic, the No. 3 seed from Serbia, in the quarter-finals.

The 25-year-old Soderling, who finished runner-up to Roger Federer at Roland Garros in June, improved to a 47-18 match record on the season. He added 90 South African Airways 2009 ATP Rankings points for 3,010 points overall and remains 290 points behind No. 8-ranked Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. Davydenko, a winner of four ATP World Tour titles this year, is currently No. 7 in the year-to-date rankings with 3,630 points.

Injury hits Soderling London bid

Robin Soderling saw his hopes of reaching the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals dealt a blow as injury forced him out of the Stockholm Open.

The world number 10 withdrew ahead of his semi-final against Marcos Baghdatis because of an elbow injury.

Soderling had an opportunity to make up ground on Fernando Verdasco by taking the title in Sweden.

The Spaniard currently occupies the eighth and final place for next month's season finale in London.

Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Andy Roddick have already qualified, with Nikolay Davydenko well placed to seal seventh spot.

"I felt so much pain when I played in Asia," said Soderling. "I had an MRI Tuesday and they told me that I have to rest two, three weeks to get well."

Soderling has not yet decided if he will play his remaining tournaments, in Valencia and Paris, ahead of London.

"I haven't withdrawn from any tournaments so far," he said. "I'll just wait and see and have more medical examinations."

Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Championships

As if this tournament wasn't unappealing enough already with most of the players out of form, Wozniacki's betting scandal etc., then the group selection is just indescribable. I'll explain more later

The players who qualified have been:

Dinara Safina
Serena Williams
Caroline Wozniacki
Elena Dementieva
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Victoria Azarenka
Venus Williams
Jelena Jankovic

Alts - Vera Zvonareva and Agnieszka Radwanska

So - the groups. For some reason, as if to add insult to the joke that has been the WTA Roadmap, the groups have been split as follows:

1st Group

Serena Williams
Svetlana Kuznetsova
Elena Dementieva
Venus Williams

2nd Group

Dinara Safina
Caroline Wozniacki
Victoria Azarenka
Jelena Jankovic

Big clap, organisers. Put the four best players in one group and the other four who have won about two matches since Wimbledon between them in the other.

Oh. My. God.

Impressive Davydenko outclasses Rafael Nadal

What a match it turned out to be, the finals covered for many poor results and retirements of the tournament.

Congrats Davydenko for an inspired spirited performance, the match against Djokovic would have made him realize that he cant still play a match at that high level consistently, and we witnessed what Davydenko could do if he plays his best.

Davy's Tactics:

1]Very similar one of Rafa's formula - hit to BH again and again till Rafa moonballs, and then to hit a winner

2]Hit the ball with power in Air when going for winner than letting it bounce. This really paid dividends to Davy, as he won so many points with it and completely left Nadal out of the game.

3]Go for winners down the line or curling mid- cross court.

Saying all this its very difficult to play that aggressive with control, but Davydenko did it with precision accuracy.

Only time he blinked was on 1st set leading 4-3 [with a break of serve], thats the only time he felt nerves to lose a serve.

Minus points of the match
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1]Very Poor Officiating by line referees , to many mistakes, both players lost faith on line calls. Davydenko was the most to suffer, some of his line shots which he didn't challenge were actually clean shots.

2]Nadal taking hell lot of time in between serves, twice it was clocked to be over 40 secs, the one precision clocking was displayed was on 1st set when the score line was 4-4 30-30 Nadal serving took too many seconds to serve. No idea when the chair umpire will have the guts to penalize him.

All in all a great match, and congrats Davydenko and Nadal for the impressive show.