TENNIS TUESDAY: Murray Gunning For ATP #1; Kerber Ends Year As WTA #1; Domi Dazzles

DOMI CIBULKOVA RELISHES HER WTA TOUR FINALS WIN
Dominka Cibulkova won the biggest title of her career by blowing out World #1 Angie Kerber in straight sets in the finals of the WTA Tour Finals in Singapore. The result brought her to a career-high ranking of World #5, which was a significant increase from her start at the beginning of the year at #38. The 6-3 6-4 win brought her more prize money in one match than she had won for the rest of the  year. And she looked fabulous afterwards!

ANDY MURRAY KEEPS RACE FOR #1 ALIVE WITH VIENNA TITLE WIN
Andy Murray now has a plausible way of finally reaching the World #1 ranking before the end of the year. Because current World #1 Novak Djokovic has not had his typically excellent fall tennis season while Murray is currently on a 14-match winning streak, and has reached 10 finals in the last 11 matches. If Murray wnis the Paris Masters this week and Djokovic fails to get to the final then Murray will have more ranking points as the ATP World Tour finals begin on November 13.

ANGIE KERBER ENDS 2016 AS SINGLES #1; MIRZA ENDS YEAR AS DOUBLES #1
After Serena Williams decided not to compete in the WTA Tour Finals, Angelique Kerber was essentially ceded the year-end #1 ranking. The #1 doubles ranking for 2016 ended up going to Sania Mirza who earned it despite not defending her 2015 WTA Finals doubles title with Martina Hingis. If American Bethanie Mattek-Sands could have reached #1 if she and Lucie Safarova  had not lost the final agaist the Elenas (Makarova and Vesnina) who added to the 2016 Olympic Gold Medal with the 2016 WTA Tour final title.

RAFA NADAL CUT CORD ON 2016 SEASON AND OPENS UP HIS TENNIS ACADEMY
Rafael Nadal announced on October 20th that he would not play again this year. The 30-year-old, 14-time major champion had a 39-14 record in 2016 and won two titles. Rafa opened his official tennis academy in his hometown of Manacor, Mallorca the day before. Roger Federer, his great rival, who cut the cord on his 2016 season in July, was also present at the grand opening of the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar.