Tennis News

​For the second time in as many months, Rafael Nadal leaves Germany with a trophy in his racket bag and a spring in his step. Well, almost. The Spaniard, who won on grass in Stuttgart seven weeks ago, came through a grueling final match against Fabio Fognini 7-5, 7-5 to win the bet-at-home Hamburg Open and seal his third title of the year.

The Spaniard improved to 67-29 in ATP World Tour finals as he exacted revenge on the Italian, who defeated him twice this year in Rio de Janeiro and Barcelona. Nadal also improved his Head-to-Head series against Fognini to 5-2.

“I lost the last two times against him, so I knew it was going to be a tough one,” said Nadal. “I think I had a great attitude the whole match, very positive, fighting for every ball. I had some tough moments on court, lost opportunities, but every time I came back and I kept fighting with the right mentality. I’m very happy for the victory. It is an important victory for me.”

A 12-minute opening game saw Fognini break Nadal’s serve for an early 1-0 lead. Four breaks of serve later, Nadal finally earned the first hold for 3-2. The top seed would claim the opening set with a forehand down-the-line return winner after 77 minutes. Nadal broke for a 3-1 lead in the second set, but Fognini maintained composure to break back. Later, three consecutive breaks of serve allowed Fognini the chance to serve for the second set. Nadal saved one set point and went on to break and level the set again at 5-all. As the Italian served to send the second set to a tie-break, Nadal capitalised on his first match point opportunity for victory in two hours and 34 minutes.

The 29-year-old Mallorcan extended his streak of having won at least one European ATP World Tour clay-court title each year since 2004 as he received €311,775 in prize money and 500 Emirates ATP Rankings points.

“Now the hard-court season is starting, it’s a different story,” said Nadal. “But at the same time, I’ll keep going with the same mentality and this title helps to be a little bit more calm and add some points to my [Emirates ATP] Ranking to try to finish the year in the Top 8 again.”

The eighth seed and 2013 Hamburg champion Fognini falls to 3-7 in ATP World Tour finals and earned €140,560 and 300 Rankings points.

“I’m happy with the way I played during the week,” said Fognini. “It was a great match. It was really tough.”

Rekindling memories of a press conference Rafa gave after beating David Nalbandian at the 2011 US Open, when he slid off his chair after suffering a sudden attack of cramp, Nadal then succumbed to cramp as he addressed the crowd during the trophy ceremony.

After a punishing contest in the afternoon sun that stretched to more than two hours and 34 minutes against an opponent who has become something of a clay-court nemesis this year, Nadal might have hoped that Michael Stich, the tournament director, would bring the formalities to a swift conclusion.

The former Wimbledon champion instead spoke at length and by the time Nadal got a turn at the microphone he had evidently begun to stiffen up. “It was a great final, up and down, so I hope that people enjoyed it,” said Nadal, who last won the ATP Tour 500 event in 2008, when it was still part of the Masters Series. “Coming back to Hamburg after seven years was a big challenge and excitement for me.”

Moments later, he announced he was cramping and began stretching his quadriceps. Standing on one leg, he added, to the crowd’s evident amusement: “OK, we continue like this.”

In truth, though, it was Fognini who did not have a leg to stand on. The Italian, who beat Nadal at the Rio Open in February and repeated the feat in Barcelona in April, becoming the only player other than Novak Djokovic to better the Spaniard more than once on clay in the same season, had plenty of chances. His challenge, however, was undermined by 60 unforced errors, the most damaging of which came towards the end of the second set, for which he served at 5-4.

Nadal struggled to match Fognini’s sporadic passages of brilliance but he was the steadier player and maintained his composure at the key moments, his focus relentless even when his form wavered.

The merits of beginning his preparations for the US hard-court swing on clay remain to be seen but – in a year when indifferent form has resulted in him losing his French Open crown, crashing out in the second round of Wimbledon to the qualifier Dustin Brown and sliding to 10th in the world rankings – confidence has been at a premium for Nadal.

STATSMETER – Rafa Nadal

• Nadal extended his run of having won at least one European clay-court title every year since 2004 when he took his maiden crown in Sopot, Poland.
• Nadal is 67-29 in tour finals (5^th on the all-time list). Jimmy Connors leads the way at 109 titles.
• Nadal now has 47 clay-court titles, second to Guillermo Vilas’ 49. It was Nadal’s second title on clay this year after Buenos Aires in February. The Spaniard has 67 career titles overall. Nadal won in Hamburg in 2008.
• Break-up of Nadal clay-court titles: 9 Roland Garros, 19 Masters, 19 ATP 500 & 250. Nadal is 47-8 in ATP clay finals (85%). Only Novak (4), Roger (2), Andy and Zeballos have defeated him the clay finals.
• Nadal tied long-time nemesis Roger Federer for the most titles won at the ATP 500 level at 16 apiece. Nadal’s ATP 500 break-up: 8 Barcelona, 2 Stuttgart, 2 Acapulco, 1 Dubai, 1 Tokyo, 1 Rio de Janiero, 1 Hamburg.
• Rafa and Roger are also tied for the most outdoor titles won in the Open-Era at 65.
• Fognini was trying to become the first player to beat Nadal three times on clay in a year. With six losses this year, Nadal has as many defeats on clay as in three previous years combined (26-6 (81%) on clay this season as compared to 87-6 (94%) on clay from 2012-2014).
• Nadal is 39-12 (76%) this season with 3 titles (Buenos Aires, Stuttgart & Hamburg). 3-1 in finals (Lost to Andy Murray – Madrid Masters Final).
• Rafa at Hamburg: Nadal is now 16-2 at Am Rothenbaum (2 titles, 2008 & 2015). He’s played 2 significant matches in Hamburg. In 2007 Finals, Roger Federer defeated Nadal to end the Spaniard’s record 81 match win-streak on clay (Vilas has the 2nd best streak at 53 consecutive wins on clay). In 2008 SF, Rafael Nadal came out on top in the battle for the No. 2 position in the ATP Rankings with a victory over Novak Djokovic in a colossal battle which lasted over three hours and three minutes.
• King of Clay: Nadal is 5^th in the all-time list for match wins on clay; Vilas is the leader at 660. Nadal win % on clay is 92% (344-30) which is the best record in the Open-Era (Borg 2^nd at 86%).

Rankings Update: Nadal gained one spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings moving to 9^th in the rankings released on Monday. Milos Raonic dropped to 10^th. Nadal also moved to 6^th in the Emirates ATP Race to London gaining 2 spots (So far only Novak Djokovic has qualified for the 2015 ATP World Tour Finals).

How much were the tournament organizers willing to pay to secure Nadal’s presence in Hamburg after seven years? According to LiveTennis, Nadal was offered a total of €500,000 to participate in Hamburg.

He will head to North America in better spirits & richer than he might have done.

​

​Roger Federer pulled out of next month’s Rogers Cup hard-court tournament on Wednesday. A spokeswoman for Tennis Canada, Valerie Tetreault, wrote in an email to The Associated Press that Federer “wants to make sure he will be (in) top shape for” the U.S. Open, the year’s last Grand Slam tournament, which begins Aug. 31.

“I am disappointed that I won’t be playing in Montreal, because it’s a tournament and a city that I really enjoy and has incredible fans,” Federer said in a statement released by Tennis Canada. “I hope to be back in the future.”

Federer, owner of a record 17 major championships, has not competed since losing to Novak Djokovic in the Wimbledon final on July 12.

Federer, who turns 34 on Aug. 8, won the Rogers Cup twice, in 2004 and 2006, and he was the runner-up a year ago.

“We are obviously disappointed to have Roger withdraw as it is always a privilege to watch him play,” tournament director Eugene Lapierre said in a statement. “We also understand his decision because, above all, he has always been very loyal to our event, and we would love to see him play tennis for many more years to come.”

Play begins Aug. 10 in Montreal. Federer will be replaced in the main draw by World no. 51 Jerzy Janowicz, a semifinalist at Wimbledon in 2013.

Impact of not playing the Rogers Cup (ATP 1000 Masters)

With the withdrawal, Federer will be dropping 600 points from his total ranking points. He was the runner-up at the Rogers Cup in Toronto last year losing to Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the final. Tsonga defeated all three members of the Big Four that were in the tournament (Rafael Nadal withdrew due to a wrist injury) defeating Novak Djokovic with ease while Andy Murray and Federer gave him a battle. Ultimately, only the Brit was able to capture a set off of him.

With Murray set to play at the Citi Open, a strong showing there and both Masters (Cincinnati being the other), will vault him past Federer for world number two. The Swiss is only defending his Western and Southern Open title before he heads to Flushing Meadows while Murray is only defending quarterfinal points in both Masters events.

Federer’s American and Asian hard court swing

After it was found out that the 17-time Grand Slam champion would not be playing in Montreal, the rest of his 2015 playing schedule was released. After both Cincinnati and the US Open, he will be playing in the Davis Cup playoff against the Netherlands. Both Stan Wawrinka and himself will be returning for that tie.

After that, he will take a month off from match play before playing one tournament on the Asian swing which will be the Shanghai Rolex Masters. He is the defending champion at Shanghai defeating Gilles Simon in two tiebreakers in the final and defeated Novak Djokovic in the semifinals.

The European Indoor Swing

He will head home to Switzerland to kick-off his indoor hard court season at the Swiss Indoors Basel. He is also the defending champion there, defeating Belgian David Goffin in the final.

The next week he heads to Paris-Bercy for the BNP Paribas Masters. This is the last tournament before the ATP World Tour Finals held in the O2 Arena in London. Federer lost in the quarterfinals in Paris-Bercy last year to Milos Raonic.

Finally for Federer, it is a week off before the ATP World Tour Finals in London. Last year, he had a rather impressive display going undefeated in round robin play (Raonic, Kei Nishikori, and Murray were grouped with him) with the highlight being an absolute destruction of Andy Murray by a scoreline of 6-0, 6-1 (some say he let Murray win a game out of respect but that’s a different story for a different time). He beat countryman Stan Wawrinka in a three-set thriller in the semifinal before withdrawing in the final due to a back injury giving Novak Djokovic a third consecutive World Tour Finals victory. But these strong performances at the O2 setup his first Davis Cup winners’ medal (with Swiss winning the title for the 1^st time).

Federer still has the capability of winning Grand Slam titles. It’s been evident since his coaching switch from Paul Annacone to Stefan Edberg, that even at 33 (almost 34), he’s still at top of his game. However, the withdrawal of the Rogers Cup is an interesting one. With Nadal not having played any of the American hard court tournaments last year due to injury and Murray having subpar showings, those two have the most to gain here as a ranking increase will see their confidence increase.

If Murray does indeed pass Federer for world number two, Federer will be in danger of potentially clashing with Nadal and Djokovic to get to the US Open final. Given his track record against Nadal and recent Grand Slam track record against the world number one, that task may be a bit too arduous for the Swiss maestro.