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Matkowski/Zimonjic London-Bound

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

As of Monday, just one spot remains open in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race to London, Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic having booked a trip to the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Matkowski/Zimonjic became the seventh team to qualify for the Nov. 15-22 event when Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea fell in the first round at the Swiss Indoors Basel. Despite the loss, Bopanna/Mergea are still in contention for the final doubles spot.

“We both started the year with different partners,” Zimonjic observed. “Indian Wells was our first tournament. It wasn’t an easy draw, but we managed to get to the semis. From then on, we’ve played pretty solid. We’ve had some good success. I think it’s an achievement to qualify for the [Barclays] ATP World Tour Finals after only starting in March.”

Zimonjic, 39, is a two-time Barclays ATP World Tour Finals titlist, having won the event with Canadian Daniel Nestor in 2008 and 2010. The Serbian was also runner-up with Leander Paes in 2005. He is still seeking his first title of 2015, but with Matkowski posted quarter-final showings at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open, in addition to reaching finals in Madrid, London and Cincinnati.

“It’s always amazing to qualify for the ATP World Tour Finals,” said Zimonjic. “This is the eighth time for me, with five different partners. It’s great for Marcin, too. It’s going to be his first time with somebody other than his longtime partner Mariusz Fyrstenberg. It’s really something that I look forward to every year. It’s a pleasure for the players to play there. I just hope that before the end of the year, we’ll get one trophy. It would be perfect to win the tournament in London.”

Matkowski/Fyrstenberg reached the title match at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in 2011, falling to Max Mirnyi/Daniel Nestor 7-5, 6-3.

Rojer/Tecau Eyeing Year-End Top Spot

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

They won their first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon and now Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau are looking to crown their career-best season by finishing the year as the World No. 1 pairing in the Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings.

Rojer and Tecau start the week just 245 points behind Bob and Mike Bryan, who aren’t playing at the moment while Bob is at home awaiting the birth of his third child with wife, Michelle. The Dutch-Romanian duo are the top seeds at the Swiss Indoors Basel, where 500 ranking points are awarded to the winning team.

“Because we had such a great Grand Slam year, we put ourselves in a situation to be close to No. 1,” said Tecau. “Now that we won our first Grand Slam, we’re looking for the next goal and the next motivation. This is a big one.

“We’re in this position because we managed to win Wimbledon. We’re looking forward to the next few weeks. We have three more events this year and there are a lot of points in play; we have a shot.”

It would be quite the feat by Rojer and Tecau. Since 2003, only two teams have interrupted the Bryans’ reign atop the team rankings – Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor in 2004 and Nestor again with Nenad Zimonjic in 2008.

But with the Bryans going win-less in the Grand Slams this season, other teams have taken their opportunities. None more so that Rojer and Tecau, who can count victory in Rotterdam and semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros among their achievements in 2015.

“[Finishing No. 1] would be another great accomplishment,” added Rojer. “We know that the Bryans have had a stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking for a lot of years now and they’ve been the best team out there.

“So it would be definitely something to remember and it’s quickly turned into a goal of ours.”

The Barclays ATP World Tour Finals is likely to play a pivotal role in determining the year-end standings. However, between them, Rojer and Tecau have registered just two wins in 18 matches at The O2 and on their team debut last year, lost all three matches.

But both believe this year could be more successful. Having qualified earlier than normal, Rojer and Tecau are hoping that a less hectic run-in, without chasing points at every turn, will benefit them.

“Personally I haven’t played my best tennis there,” said Rojer. “It’s always been bittersweet because you’re happy to have made it there, it means you’ve done something well throughout the year. But you want to showcase your best tennis in that moment as well. It’s going to be a great event again.

“We’re going to prepare a little bit differently than we have in the past. Luckily we qualified earlier so we don’t have the pressure going into the event. I think that will pay dividends in the end. The last few years we’ve had to play every week to make it, so we haven’t had the freedom of controlling practices and schedule as we would like. It’s a really nice accomplishment and it’s one of the goals we had at the beginning of the year. That we can tick that one off also feels really nice.”

Tecau added, “In previous years it was always a fight till the end to get to London. Now we managed to qualify fairly early. Going into these last few weeks of the year, our main goal is to do well and win in London. We’re going to try and schedule our practice and tournament weeks to peak in London. This year, just like we did with the slams, we want to put the emphasis on London and give our best tennis there.”

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Cilic Overcomes Bautista Agut In Moscow 2015 Final

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

Watch highlights of the 2015 Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow final, which saw Marin Cilic beat Roberto Bautista Agut.

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Basel 2015 Monday Highlights

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

Watch highlights as Rafael Nadal survives. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

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Nadal Fights Past Rosol In Basel

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

Rafael Nadal rallied to defeat old foe Lukas Rosol in the first round.

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Monroe/Sock Capture Stockholm Title

Posted: Oct 26, 2015

The No. 2-seeded American duo of Nicholas Monroe and Jack Sock stormed to the If Stockholm Open title on Sunday with a 7-5, 6-2 win over the Croatian/New Zealander combo of Mate Pavic and Michael Venus.

Monroe/Sock, playing their second ATP World Tour event, earned 250 ATP Emirates Rankings points, and will split €29,680 in prize money.

“It always helps when you can have a partner like Jack on your side,” said Monroe.

“He can carry me a little bit to get over the hump.”

Will the compatriots team up again in the future?

“When we can,” explained Sock. “I play with Vasek [Pospisil] a lot of the year. Next year I’m not going to play as much doubles, I don’t think. I pick some pretty specific tournaments. If Vasek isn’t available that week, [Nicholas] is usually the first guy I call.”

Pavic/Venus, playing their third ATP World Tour final as a team, fell to 15-10 lifetime. They won the Nice title earlier this year (d. Rojer/Tecau), and finished as runners-up in Bogota (l. to Roger-Vasselin/Stepanek).

Sock was appearing in his 10th ATP World Tour doubles final (6-4), highlighted by the 2013 Wimbledon title (w/Pospisil). Monroe is 3-4 in ATP World Tour doubles finals, with all three titles coming in Sweden.

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Federer Back Home In Basel

Posted: Oct 25, 2015

Race to London Home Stretch – The final multiple tournament week of the season on the ATP World Tour takes place with the 500–level Swiss Indoors in Basel and the 250–level Valencia Open. There are two spots available for the season finale and 13 of the Top 20 in the Emirates ATP Race To London are in action.

Emirates ATP Race to London Update: With 15 days remaining in the Emirates ATP Race To London, two spots are still up for grabs at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals from Nov. 15-22. The Top 8 players in the race on Nov. 9 will compete at the year-end championships. Six players have qualified so far: Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Stan Wawrinka, Rafael Nadal and Tomas Berdych. Marin Cilic was eliminated from London contention when David Ferrer won the Vienna title on Sunday. A maximum of 1,500 race points are on the line after the Kremlin Cup at an ATP World Tour 250 event in Valencia (Oct. 26-Nov. 1); an ATP World Tour 500 event in Basel (Oct. 26-Nov. 1); and ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris (Nov. 2-8).

Race	Player	Points	Sunday Final	Title	This Week
1	Novak Djokovic*	14,285	——-	——-	——-
2	Andy Murray*	7,870	——-	——-	——-
3	Roger Federer*	6,750	——-	——-	Basel
4	Stan Wawrinka*	6,140	——-	——-	Basel
5	Tomas Berdych*	4,340	Stockholm	4,440	——-
6	Rafael Nadal*	4,330	——-	——-	Basel
7	Kei Nishikori	3,945	——-	——-	——-
8	David Ferrer	3,745	Vienna	3,945	Valencia
9	Jo-Wilfried Tsonga	2,545	——-	——-	——-
10	Richard Gasquet	2,535	——-	——-	Basel
11	Kevin Anderson	2,385	——-	——-	Basel
12	John Isner	2,315	——-	——-	Basel
13	Marin Cilic	2,295	Moscow	2,395	Basel
14	Milos Raonic	2,170	——-	——-	——-
15	Gilles Simon	2,055	——-	——-	——-
16	Feliciano Lopez	1,680	——-	——-	Valencia
17	David Goffin	1,670	——-	——-	Basel
18	Bernard Tomic	1,630	——-	——-	Valencia
19	Dominic Thiem	1,555	——-	——-	Basel
20	Benoit Paire	1,508	Brest Challenger	1,558	Valencia

* Qualified

Swiss Indoors (Basel) – Six-time Basel winner Roger Federer will be making his 16^th appearance in his hometown tournament (56-9 record). Countryman Stan Wawrinka, who is appearing in the tournament for the 12^th time (9-11 record), is the No. 2 seed. No. 3 seed Rafael Nadal returns to Basel for the second straight year and he is playing back-to-back years for the first time since 2003-04.The other seeds are: No. 4 Kevin Anderson, No. 5 Richard Gasquet, No. 6 John Isner, No. 7 Marin Cilic and No. 8/last year’s runner-up David Goffin. Federer is the only former champion in the field. He is 6-5 in finals, reaching the title match in each of the last nine years (6-3).In last year’s final, Federer defeated first-time Basel participant Goffin 62 62.

Roger Reigning Champ – Federer enters with a 53-9 match record on the season, including nine finals (5-4), second only to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s 13 finals (9-4). Among Federer’s five titles, he won for the seventh time in Dubai and ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati where he beat the Top-2 players back-to-back (Murray, Djokovic) without getting broken. He also won for the eighth time in Halle. All four of his runner-up losses have come to Djokovic, including at ATP Masters 1000 Indian Wells and Rome and Grand Slam events at Wimbledon and US Open. Federer is 56-9 lifetime in Basel and the last time he failed to reach the final in Basel came in 2003 when he lost to Ivan Ljubicic in the second round. He did not play in Basel in 2004-05 but he’s reached the final every year since 2006 when he won the title for the first time (d. F. Gonzalez). He began with a 14-6 record in Basel but over the last nine years is 42-3.

Roger as Top Seed – This is the eighth time Federer comes into Basel as the top seed and the previous seven times he reached the final, winning five times. He is 33-2 as the No. 1 seed in Basel. Here is a look at his results:

2014 – Winner (d. Goffin)

2012– Runner-up (l. to del Potro)

2010 – Winner (d. Djokovic)

2009 – Runner-up (l. to Djokovic)

2008 – Winner (d. Nalbandian)

2007 – Winner (d. Nieminen)

2006 – Winner (d. Gonzalez)

Stan the Man – Wawrinka comes in as the No. 2 seed, the highest in his 12^th Basel appearance (9-11 record). The 30-year-old Swiss is 4-0 in finals this season, winning his second Grand Slam crown a Roland Garros. Wawrinka’s best results in Basel came in 2006 and ’11 when he advanced to the semi-finals. He brings a 5-1 head-to-head record against big-serving Croat Ivo Karlovic in the first round.

1,000 Aces Club – For the first time going into an ATP World Tour tournament, three players with at least 1,000 aces are in the main draw. The trio of Ivo Karlovic (1,321), John Isner (1,162) and Kevin Anderson (1,003) have surpassed 1,000 aces this season, with Anderson the latest to accomplish the feat in Vienna where he hit 23 in his quarter-final loss to Steve Johnson.

Rafa Returns –Nadal is back in Basel for the second consecutive year after reaching the quarter-finals last year (l. to Coric). This is the first time he’s played back-to-back years in Basel since 2003-04 when he lost in the first round both years. Nadal is coming off a strong performance in China where he reached the final in Beijing (l. to Djokovic) and followed with a semi-final at ATP Masters 1000 Shanghai (l. to Tsonga). Nadal has won two career indoor ATP World Tour titles, at 2005 ATP Masters 1000 Madrid and 2013 Sao Paulo (on clay).

Nestor Eyes Milestone – Daniel Nestor is closing in on a historic doubles milestone. The 43-year-old Canadian is three match wins away from becoming the first player in the Open Era to register 1,000 career match wins. Nestor is playing with Edouard Roger-Vasselin. Since teaming up with the Frenchman in Montreal for the first time, they have compiled a 16-4 match record together.

Valencia Open (Valencia) – The Valencia Open, one of three tournaments in Spain, is led by top seed David Ferrer, who is a three-time champion (2008, ’10, ’12). This is the seventh consecutive year the tournament is being played at the Ciudad de las Artes y las Ciencias, one of the most unique places in Valencia. The tournament was played on clay up until 2008. The other seeds are: No. 2 Feliciano Lopez, No. 3 Bernard Tomic, No. 4 Fabio Fognini, No. 5 Benoit Paire, No. 6 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, No. 7 Roberto Bautista Agut and No. 8 Jeremy Chardy. There are three other former champions in the field: Marcel Granollers (2011), Nicolas Almagro (2006-07) and Fernando Verdasco (2004).

Spaniards Lead the Way – There are nine Spaniards in the main draw (not including potential qualifiers). Since the tournament moved to hard courts in 2009, there have been three Spanish winners, Ferrer in 2010 and ’12 and Granollers in 2011. There are two all-Spanish first-round matches: Bautista Agut vs. (WC) Almagro and Garcia-Lopez vs. Verdasco.

Ferrer Top Seed Again – This is the fifth straight year Ferrer is the top seed in Valencia. The 33-year-old Spaniard won the title on clay in 2008 and on hard courts in 2010 (d. Granollers) and 2012 (d. Dolgopolov). He has a 32-7 career record since making his tournament debut in 2003. He also was runner-up in 2005 (l. to Andreev) and in 2013 (l. to Youzhny). He is 5-0 in ATP World Tour finals after winning Vienna (d. Johnson). Earlier this month, he captured his 25^th career title in Kuala Lumpur (d. Lopez). He has won at least one title every year since 2010 (and nine of last 10 years). He is trying to qualify for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the fifth time in six years (seventh overall). Last year he was an alternate, playing one match in place of Milos Raonic.

Lopez Looks to Rebound – No. 2 seed Lopez has never won back-to-back matches in 10 previous appearances in Valencia. The 34-year-old Madrid native has a 3-10 career record, reaching the second round in 2004, ’09 and last year. Lopez, who is ranked No. 17 after reaching a career-high No. 12 in March, comes in with a 32-24 match record on the season. His best results are runner-up showings in Quito (l. to Estrella Burgos) and Kuala Lumpur (l. to Ferrer).

Teenager to Watch – Wild card Andrey Rublev, who is the youngest player in the draw at 18 (birthday last Tuesday) and youngest in the Top 200 Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 179. Rublev won his first career ATP World Tour doubles final in Moscow (w/Tursunov). He has a 7-12 record in ATP World Tour level matches this season with two Top 50 wins over Spaniards No. 37 Fernando Verdasco in Barcelona and No. 32 Pablo Andujar in Davis Cup fifth and decisive match. He plays wild card Marcel Granollers, who won the 2011 title. Granollers, who has a 14-6 tournament record, also reached the final in 2010.

Bernie Eyes Top 20 – No. 1 Aussie Bernard Tomic, who reached a career-high No. 18 in the Emirates ATP Rankings last Monday, is trying to finish in the Top 20 for the first time in his young career. Tomic has posted a personal-best 39 match wins and repeated his title in Bogota (d. Mannarino). In the last ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai, he beat No. 8 Ferrer and No. 11 Gasquet en route to the quarter-finals (l. to Djokovic).

Paire Makes Comeback – One of the leading candidates for ATP Comeback Player of the Year is Frenchman Benoit Paire, who has won titles at the Futures, Challenger and ATP World Tour level this year. Last year Paire was bothered by a left knee injury and he finished at No. 118 with his last tournament at the US Open. He has jumped to a career-high No. 23 and in July he won his maiden ATP World Tour title in Bastad, defeating the top three seeds along the way without dropping a set.

Race Movers

Marin Cilic 13 (+1 spot)

Benoit Paire 21 (+2 spots)

Roberto Bautista Agut 24 (+3 spots)

Jack Sock 29 (+3 spots)

Steve Johnson 33 (+14 spots)

Marcos Baghdatis 41 (+8 spots)

Potential Milestones

Basel – Singles

Marco Chiudinelli – 47 wins

Jerzy Janowicz – 95 wins

Ivo Karlovic – 297 wins

Lukas Rosol – 97 wins

Basel – Doubles

Marcin Matkowski – 397 wins

Daniel Nestor – 997 wins

Valencia – Singles

Guillermo Garcia-Lopez – 246 wins

Santiago Giraldo – 147 wins

Valencia – Doubles

Eric Butorac – 249 wins

Mate Pavic – 47 wins

In Case You Missed It

David Ferrer improved to 5-0 in finals this year with a win over Steve Johnson in Vienna. Read

Marin Cilic defeated Roberto Bautista-Agut in a rematch of the 2014 Moscow final. Read

Tomas Berdych upended Jack Sock to claim his third Stockholm title. Read

Birthdays

26 October – Alexander Kudryavtsev (30)

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Ferrer Tracks Down Hot Shot

Posted: Oct 25, 2015

Watch Hot Shot as David Ferrer runs down a Steve Johnson drop shot. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

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Federer The Game Changer

Posted: Oct 25, 2015

No doubt about it, Roger Federer has been a game changer.

With so many players now peaking later in their careers and continuing to play their best tennis into their 30s, the 34-year-old Swiss believes it is down to a change in professionalism and attitude, sparked by his own and others’ commitment to the tour.

Speaking at the Swiss Indoors Basel on Sunday, Federer explained how the norm in tennis has shifted, with players now contesting a full calendar and allowing no let-up as the season draws to a close. The lure of the prestigious Barclays ATP World Tour Finals has players chasing points until the end in a bid to land one of the coveted eight places in London.

Indeed, while other players are still fighting for the two remaining spots at this year’s Final Showdown, Federer is also hoping for a big finish to end the year above Andy Murray as No. 2 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“We were a good generation,” said World No. 3 Federer. “We were in the transition of becoming really professional, understanding that we need to change our life around to become more physical.

“The end of the season was always a grind, you just felt tired thinking about it. A lot of players would check out. I don’t feel that’s the case anymore.

“So a lot has happened and now it will be interesting to see the next two-three years. I think there’s a good wave of players coming through and that will be a true test for our generation to see how we’re going to handle it.”

Federer is preparing to make his 16^th appearance at his hometown tournament in Basel. The right-hander has a 56-9 record at the ATP World Tour 500 indoor hard court tournament, lifting the trophy six times, most recently triumphing last year with victory over David Goffin.

Casting his mind back to his first appearance in 1998, when he lost in the first round to Andre Agassi, Federer reminisced about a vast change in expectations over the course of the past 18 years.

“[At first], let’s say winning maybe five or six games in the first round was going to be a good result,” said Federer. “Then it was maybe if you win a set, it would be great. Winning a round would be great. Next thing you know, I was defending titles. It would be nice [to do that] again. That’s changed obviously a lot in the approach and with experience, I’m less nervous and less anxious.

“I still enjoy it as much as ever. It’s true that the routines now are easier. I know how to handle ticketing. I know how to handle having friends here and family. In the beginning there was just so much going on that it was kind of crazy, but in a good way. I remember I was always very nervous on court because I always wanted to do so well here.

“I grew up here. I played soccer just behind the stadium. I came here on my bike as a ball boy. It feels like it was yesterday. This is what makes the tournament so special.”

Federer is due to open his bid against Mikhail Kukushkin, whom he leads 2-0 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. The Basel native is looking claim his 1050^th match win and is chasing his sixth ATP World Tour title of the season this week.

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Rublev/Tursunov Triumph On Home Turf

Posted: Oct 25, 2015

The first-time pairing of Andrey Rublev and Dmitry Tursunov became the fourth all-Russian team to capture the doubles title at the Kremlin Cup by Bank of Moscow. The wild cards defeated Radu Albot and Frantisek Cermak on Sunday 2-6, 6-1, 10-6 in 67 minutes.

Rublev, appearing in his first ATP World Tour final, joined Tursunov in earning 250 Emirates ATP Doubles Team Rankings points. The duo will split the prize money of $38,600. Tursunov also lifted the trophy with Marat Safin in 2007 and Igor Kunitsyn in 2010. Igor Andreev and Nikolay Davydenko were also Russian winners in 2004. Tursunov was appearing in his first tournament since the 2014 US Open. He has now secured seven doubles titles.

“It’s a very good start for my first tournament back,” said Tursunov. “I’m very happy. It’s going to be a long way back in singles, but it’s definitely good to get a few matches under my belt — especially matches where there’s a lot of seesaw action. It gives you a good taste of that nervousness. That’s going to translate into the singles matches as well.”

Albot/Cermak surged into a 4-0 lead in the first set, but in a reversal of fortunes Rublev/Tursunov took a 5-0 lead in the second set. They maintained the momentum in the Match Tie-break, winning six of the first seven points before Albot/Cermak recovered to 6-7.

“Dimitry can do everything well,” said the 18-year-old Rublev. “He returned and served perfectly. If I play a bad point, I know he will make a good shot. This is what it’s all about. In the important moments, he plays so good.”

Albot partnered with Dusan Lajovic to win the Istanbul title earlier this year. Cermak dropped to 3-3 in Moscow finals, including titles in 2011 (w/Filip Polasek), 2012 (w/Michal Mertinak) and 2014 (w/Jiri Vesely). It was his 32nd tour-level doubles final.