2019 ATP YEC: Federer-Tsitsipas, Thiem-Zverev Are Semis As Djokovic and Nadal Are Eliminated

The semifinals at the Nitto ATP Finals are now set: Roger Federer will face Stefanos Tsitsipas while Dominic Thiem versus 2018 champion Alexander Zverev. Both the World #1 Rafael Nadal and World #2 Novak Djokovic were eliminated via different paths in the last two days.
In a blockbuster showdown between Federer and Djokovic (their 49th career meeting) for the semifinal slot, Federer shocked Djokovic by defeating his rival in straight sets 6-4 6-3 to bring their head to head of 23-26 in favor of Djokovic. Interestingly, the result of this match also decided the World #1 race for 2019. Nadal claimed his 5th yearly World #1 (2019, 2017, 2013, 2010, 2008), matching the other members of the trivalry: Djokovic (2018, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011) and Federer (2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004). The significance of the Federer-Djokovic match was set up after Dominic Thiem beat Djokovic in one of the best matches of the year: 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(5). Thiem's victory meant that Djokovic wouldn't gain undefeated ranking points in the ATP Finals, thus making his task to reach the #1 spot that much more difficult.

In fact this year's ATP Finals was one of the most thrilling in years. In addition to Thiem-Djokovic and Federer-Djokovic there was another notable match in Medvedev-Nadal. Medvedev was up in the third set 1-5 3-40 on Nadal's serve and the Russian twice served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 but eventually he lost in a third set tiebreak. Other important wins were Zverev's first win over Nadal and Tsitsipas's first win over Medvedev. In the end, despite winning two matches in the round robin round (both 3 set victories, against Medvedev and Tsitsipas) Nadal was eliminated when Zverev defeated Medvedev in straight sets, claiming the final semifinal slot to join Thiem, Federer and Tsitsipas.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer d. Tsitsipas and Thiem d. Zverev.

2019 WIMBLEDON: Djokovic Outlasts Federer in 5-hour, 5-set Thriller to Win 16th Major

In one of the most exciting matches since the classic 2008 Wimbledon final, Novak Djokovic outlasted 8-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) in a match which lasted nearly five hours ad featured the very first ever 5th set deciding tiebreaker (at 12-all). For the 3rd time in a major grand slam match (following the 2010 US Open semifinal and 2011 US Open semifinal) Djokovic saved double match point and went on to win. Federer broke Djokovic at 8-all and was serving 9-8, 40-15 but was unable to win either of the points thanks to Djokovic's excellent serving (and Federer's own nervousness). This was particularly curious because the Swiss great had an amazing serving day with 25 aces (including one at 30-15 in that all important 18th game of the 5th set). Even though my prediction that Federer would win did not pan out, I feel good that my belief that Federer would confound critics (who gave Djokovic the edge) was very nearly correct.

In fact, in most aspects Federer was the better player for most of the match. He broke Djokovic twice in both of the sets he won while his serve was only broken three times: up 5-2 in the fourth set, early in the fifth set and up 9-8 in the fifth set (but two of those times were when he was serving to close out the set). Federer had 40 more winners (94 to 54) and only 10 more errors (62 to 52) than Djokovic. Often times Federer has difficukty converting breakpoint chances in big matches, but he won 7 out of 13 while Djokovic only won 3 of 8. The big problem was the 3 tioebreaks they played where every point is essentially a breakpoint. There Federer played his riskiest tennis and it generally did not pay off. That basically was the match. The third set tiebreak Federer was up 5-3 when he made some uncharacteristic forehand errors and ended up losing four points in a row and the pivotal 3rd set.

Significance of Today's Result

With his win, Djokovic improves to 26-22 over Federer head-to-head and is now only 2 majors behind Nadal's 18  who is only 2 behind Federer's 20. He has now beaten the best grass-court player of all time in three  Wimbledon finals (2014, 2015 and 2019). Federer's major final record falls to 20-11 while Djokovic's record improves to 16-9. Federer has now played 12 Wimbledon finals and won 8.

2019 WIMBLEDON: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

This is my prediction post for the 2019 Wimbledon men's final. Last year I did predict that Novak Djokovic would defeat Kevin Anderson. This year I correctly predicted the results of  2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals. 

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) [23]  6-2 4-6 6-3 6-2. Roberto Bautista Agut had beaten World #1 Novak Djokovic two times this year but as expected the Serb was able to get through this match relatively unscathed, with the loss of one set. The problem with "Robbie Bats" as some call him is that there's nothing that he does on the court that Djokovic does not do better. The Spaniard is having an excellent year, having won  the title in Doha (beating Djokovic along the way).

Roger Federer (SUI) [2] d. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] 7-6(3) 1-6 6-3 6-4. 11 years  after Federer and Nadal played the greatest match of all time, the two rivals faced each other on the grass courts of Wimbledon again this year. Many observers believed that Nadal would win this match due to the fact that Nadal had dismissed Federer in the semifinals of Roland Garros less than a month before and the fact that the Wimbledon grass courts are playing more like clay courts than hard courts. However, Federer has now managed to win 6 of their last 7 meeting, and the head-to-head is now a mere 24-16, which means that on non-clay court Federer leads 14-10 since Nadal leads on clay 2-14. This match was generally of a very high quality, except for the second set, where after losing his serve and failing to break back within 2 service games Federer basically ceded the set and marshaled his energy to make a push in the third set where he was rewarded with an early break. The ending of the match was incredibly stress , with Federer needing 5 match points in the last two games of the match to close it out. At that stage of the match both players were at their peak, playing their best tennis simultaneously. It was awesome!

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

For the 48th time Roger Federer will face Novak Djokovic. Djokovic leads the head-to-head 25-22 and has a pretty surprising 2-1 head-to-head against the 8-time Wimbledon champion at Wimbledon, having beaten him in the 2014 and 2015 finals while Federer won their 2012 semifinal matchup. The two have not played in a major since the 2015 US Open final (also won by Djokovic) and last year's 2018 Paris Masters was viewed by many as the best 3-set match of the year (and won by Djokovic).

All the stats and history predict a Djokovic win on Sunday. (Federer is the only one of the big 3 who have never beaten the other two back-to-back to win a tournament) but I believe that Federer will take great confidence from his win over Nadal and the fact that he has been tested by playing the #3 (Nadal), #8 (Kei Nishikori), #17 (Matteo Berrettini) and #27 (Lucas Pouille) seeds in the tournament while Djokovic has only faced the #21 (David Goffin) and #23 (Roberto Bautista Agut) to reach this level. Of course I am also a huge Federer fan and would love to see him win a 9th Wimbledon and record 21st major. Federer is 20-10 in major finals while Djokovic is 15-9. However, Federer now has the most match wins on tour in 2019 and maybe this will lead him to a surprise victory. MadProfessah's prediction: Federer.

2019 WIMBLEDON: Analysis of Men's and Women's Draw

The draw for 2019 Wimbledon is out! On the men's side World #1 and defending champion Novak Djokovic is seeded #1. On the women's side, the (brand new) World #1 is Ash Barty, who is also seeded #1 but the defending champion is Angie Kerber.

The projected women's quarterfinals by seedings are:

• Ashleigh Barty (AUS) [1] v Angelique Kerber (GER) [5]
• Kiki Bertens (NED) [4] v Petra Kvitova (CZE) [6]
• Naomi Osaka (JPN) [2] v Simona Halep (ROU) [7]
• Karolina Plisova (CZE) [3] v 8 Elina Svitolina (UKR) [8] 

The projected men's quarterfinals by seedings are:

• Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] v Stefanos Tsitsipas(GRE) [7]
• Kevin Anderson (RSA) [4] v Alexander Zverev (GER) [6]
• Roger Federer (SUI) [2] v Kei Nishikori (JPN) [8]
• Rafael Nadal (ESP) [3] v Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5]

First Round Matches To Watch:

• Coco Gauff (USA) versus Venus Williams (USA)
• Alison Riske (USA) versus Donna Vekic (CRO) [23]
• Samantha Stosur  (AUS) versus Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP) [30]
• Dominic Thiem (AUT) [5] versus Sam Querrey (USA)
• Frances Tiafoe (USA) versus Fabio Fognini (ITA)[12]
• Lucas Pouille (FRA) [27]  versus Richard Gasquet (FRA)

Serena Williams is seeded #11 on the women's side while some people are complaining that 2017 champion Roger Federer was moved up to the #2 seed, but he also drew Nadal into his semifinal bracket, while Djokovic gets last year's finalist Kevin Anderson who has been hampered with an injury all year. The last time Federer and Nadal met at Wimbledon was in the 2008 final, now called the "Greatest Match of the Century."  Can history repeat itself?

TENNIS TUESDAY: Big 3 Are All Top 3; Tsitsipas Beats Nadal; Djokovic Wins Madrid; Kiki Beats Halep

THE BIG THREE (DJOKOVIC, NADAL, FEDERER) ARE ATOP THE ATP RANKINGS AGAIN
The big 3 first occupied the Top 3 spots at the top of the rankings on July 9, 2007 (when Djokovic joined Nadal and Federer). Last week, Federer returned to the Top 3 where Djokovic and Nadal were holding down the two top spots. Together the three players account for an astonishing 792 weeks at #1, with Federer owning the record 310 weeks, followed by Djokovic with 251 and Nadal with 196.

TSITSIPAS BEATS NADAL IN MADRID SF, OWNS WINS OVER BIG 3 AT AGE 20!
The Madrid Masters ended with Rafael Nadal suffering his 3rd consecutive semifinal loss in a clay court tournament in 2019. He lost to Fabio Fognini (in straight sets) in Barcelona, to Dominic Thiem in Monte Carlo and he lost to Stefanos Tsitsipas in Madrid! This is the first time since 2004 that Nadal has reached this point in the season without having won a title. His last chance at a clay title will be Rome, where both World #1 Djokovic and (surprisingly!)  World #3 Federer are also playing. The key take-away from Madrid though is despite being just 20-years-old Tsitsipas already has wins over all of the members of the trivalry and is up to World #7 in the rankings. He beat Federer in the 4th round of the 2019 Australian Open, he beat Nadal in Madrid and he beat Djokovic in Montreal last summer.

KIKI BEATS SIMO TO WIN MADRID; RISES TO WORLD #4
Surprisingly, Kiki Bertens became the first player to ever win the Madrid Open without dropping a set when she defeated 2-time champion (2016 & 2017) Simona Halep 6-4 6-4. Bertens had lost the final last year to Petra Kvitova but she has had some of her best results in her career in the last year, including a win over Venus Williams at Wimbledon. With the biggest title of her career she becomes the highest ranked Dutch player ever, rising to World #4 this week!

DJOKOVIC RETURNS TO FORM WITH WINS OVER THIEM & TSITSIPAS TO WIN MADRID MASTERS
For the first time this year, the person who beat Nadal on clay did not win the tournament. Less than 24 hours after beating Nadal, Tsitsipas had to face Djokovic in the final, and was fairly easily dismissed, 6-3 6-4. Djokokic had more trouble in the semifinals against Dominic Thiem, whome he defeated in two tiebreak sets despite being down a service break in both sets! With his win, the World #1 cements his place at the top of the rankings, especially considering he has won the last three major tournaments in a row and now has tied Nadal with 33 Masters shields. Federer lags behind with 28.

FEDERER HITS 1200 WIN MILESTONE; DECIDES TO PLAY ROME
Roger Federer hit another career milestone by winning his 1200 match in Madrid (by coming from behind to beat Gael Monfils). After losing a tight 3-set match to Dominic Thiem (despite holding two match points) he decided to play Rome for the first time since 2016.

2019 AUS OPEN: Djokovic Wins 15th Major, Record 7th Aussie Title

As expected, World #1 Novak Djokovic defeated World #2 Rafael Nadal to win his record 7th Australian Open title, his 15th major and 3rd consecutive. This was the pair's 53rd meeting 8th in a major final and Nadal's first straight sets loss 6-3 6-2 6-3 ever in a major final. Djokovic had an astonishing 9 unforced errors in 3 sets (26 games) to Nadal's 28. Djokovic is now 7-0 in Australian Open finals and 15-9 in major finals, compared to Roger Federer's 20-10 and Nadal's 17-8 records.

Many people had predicted Djokovic would win, but no one predicted that he would demolish his rival so completely. The last time they played in the Australian Open finals, 7 years ago in 2012, the match was a 5-set classic that lasted nearly 6 hours! The win places Djokovic just two behind Nadal and now 5 behind Federer, and gives him another chance at the Nole Slam if he wins the French Open this year, which is very possible, if not likely.

TENNIS NEWS: Djokovic Returns To #1, Khachanov Breaks Through, ATP YEC Field Set (Isner, Nishikori IN, Nadal, Delpo OUT)

DJOKOVIC RETURNS TO WORLD #1 AFTER  NADAL WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS MASTERS
Because Nadal cut his entire season short (he ended up not playing the rest of the year after retiring with an injury against Del Potro in the US Open semifinals) Djokovic was assured to  return to World #1 last Monday when the Paris Masters points dropped off the calendar. This was a historic changeabout for Djojkovic who started 2018  with 6 losses and 6 wins but then had a 20-match winning streak which resulted in 3 titles (2018 Wimbledon and 2018 US Open).

FEDERER LOSES TIGHT 3-SET SEMIFINAL TO DJOKOVIC WITHOUT LOSING SERVE
The highlight of the Paris Masters was the 47th match between Federer and Djokovic, which the Serbian was able to win the 3-hour semifinal showdown 7-6(6) 5-7 7-6(3) despite never breaking Federer's serve.

DJOKOVIC ENDS YEAR-END #1 FOR FIFTH TIME IN CAREER
By Nadal being unable to compete in the ATP World Tour Finals, Djokovic will end up as the year-end #1 since World #3 Roger Federer will be unable to get enough points to surpass the Serb by the end of the year. This is the fifth time Djokovic has ended the year at #1 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018).

KHACHANOV WINS FIRST ATP MASTERS TITLE
Karen Khachanov defeated Djokovic in the final of the ATP Paris Masters in straight sets 7-5 6-4 to win the biggest match of his career. The 6-foot-6 Russian reached a career high of World #11 and seized the ATP World Tour Finals first alternate spot with the win.

ATP YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP SET WITHOUT NADAL, DEL POTRO
The Elite Eight is set with the field consisting of Djokovic, Federer, Sascha Zverev, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Marin Cilic, John Isner and Kei Nshikori. The two alternates are Borna Coric and Karen Khachanov. The draw is set, with Djokovic, Zverev, Isner and Cilic in the Guga Kuerten group and Federer, Thiem,  Nishikori and Anderson in the Lleyton Hewitt group.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Osaka Reaches World #4; Kiki Hits Top 10, Sabalenka at 11; Fed/Nole/Delpo Battle For #2 In Shanghai; Woz Wins Title #30

OSAKA, BERTENS, SABALENKA REACH CAREER HIGHS
2018 US Open champion Naomi Osaka reached World #4 in the rankings, matching the highest ever ranking by a Japanese female player (Kimiko Date). Osaka has played very well since becoming a major champion, reaching a final and semifinal in consecutive tournaments. Kiki Bertens cemented her career-best year by reaching the Top 10 for the first time on the back of winning 3 titles in 2018. She becomes the first Dutch woman to reach this height since Brenda Shultz-McCarthy. Bertens just edged out Aryna Sabalenka, who is at #11 in the rankings and clearly poised to go higher. Sabalenka was the only player to take a set off of Osaka in New York and won the Wuhan Open and followed that up by defeating Garbine Muguruza in Beijing, where she reached the quarterfinals. Sabalenka first reached the Top 100 for the first time almost exactly a year ago.

FEDERER, DJOKOVIC AND DEL POTRO IN RACE FOR WORLD #2.
The 2018 US Open finalists Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro are in the hunt to replace Roger Federer at the World #2 spot. Federer is the defending champion at the Shanghai Masters (which has one of the fastest court speeds on the ATP Tour). All Djokovic reaches the final in Shanghai he will be the new world #2, and has a chance to end the year at World #1 by doing well at the year-end championships in London, which he as won 5 times already. Del Potro has to hope the Serbian loses before the semifinals and that he wins the title to reach world #2. In the unlikely event that happens, a streak of 13 years where the top 2 spots have been held by members of the big 4  (Federer, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) will come to a close.

HALEP LIKELY TO END 2018 AS YEAR-END #1
Since Angie Kerber lost early in Beijing, Simona Halep should be able to maintain her lead at the top spot through the Year-End Tour Championships in Singapore. Wozniacki is the defending champion so she can't increase her points total to challenge Halep at the top of the WTA rankings, despite winning her 30th career title in Beijing last weekend.

2018 US OPEN: Djokovic Wins 14th Major (defeating del Potro)

Surprising some, Novak Djokovic won the 2018 U.S. Open men's singles title by defeating Juan Martin del Potro 6-3 7-6(4) 6-3. With this win Djokovic has jump started hisyear by winning two majors, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open, and brought his career total to 14 majors, tying Pete Sampras at #3 on the all-time list, behind Rafael Nadal at 17 and Roger Federer at 20. Since he is 31, Nadal is 32 and Federer is 37 the Serb has a reasonable chance of ending his career with more majors than the Spaniard, and may even catch the Swiss's total. His partisans note that, right now, he has a head-to-head advantage of 24-22 over Federer, 27-25 over Nadal and 25-11 over Andy Murray and 19-5 over Stan Wawrinka.

Could these two consecutive major title wins be the first half of a second Nole slam (to be completed in 2019)?

2018 CINCY: Djokovic Beats Federer To Complete Masters Set, Bertens Saves MP To Beat Halep

Novak Djokovic won his first ATP Cincinnati Masters title in his 6th final, beating Roger Federer 6-4 6-4 on Sunday. It means that the 13-time major champion has now won all of the biggest tournaments in tennis (all 4 majors, the World Tour final and all 9 ATP Masters shields) at least once, something Rafael Nadal and Federer have not done. The fact that the 2018 Wimbledon champion won this important US Open series event means that Djokovic is one of the favorites for the 2018 US Open, which starts on Monday August 27. Also, with Djokovic's return to firm and his head-to-head leads (27-25 versus Nadal, 24-22 versus Federer and 25-11 versus Andy Murray) against all his rivals in the Big Four is rekindling the G.O.A.T discussion. Djokovic is back to World #6.

On the women's side Simona Halep was playing for history as well on Sunday, trying to become the first woman to pull off the Canada-Cincinnati double. However, despite having a match point against Kiki Bertens, the World #1 lost 2-6 7-6(6) 6-2. She is still the #1 seed for the upcoming US Open, while Bertens reached her career high ranking of World #13 after the biggest win of her career.

Sadly, I went 0-for-2 in my predictions of the Cincinnati men's and women's finals. Hopefully I have a return to form at the US Open!

2018 CINCY: Finals are Halep-Bertens, Federer-Djokovic XLVI

The finals of the 2018 Western and Southern Financial Open in Cincinnati are set. The ATP Masters  tournament has two players remaining: 2018 Wimbledon champion Novak Djokovic and 2018 Australian Open champion Roger Federer. This is an epic showdown that is occurring for the 46th time in their careers (with Djokovic leading their head-to-head 23-22) and for the fourth time in the Cincy final. Federer won the three previous meetings which have occurred like clockwork every 3 years since 2009. Djokovic has won all of the other 8 ATP Masters tournaments and would become the first man to win all 9 ATP Masters shields in his career (Miami, Indian Wells, Monte Carlo, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Paris, Shanghai). Both Nadal and Federer have only won 7 of the 9. Nadal is 0-5 in Miami finals and Djokovic is 0-5 at Cincinnati finals. Nadal has the record for the most ATP Masters shields with 33 (Djokovic has 32), and won one last week when he defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in the finals of Canada's Rogers Cup in Toronto.

On the women's side, Simona Halep is facing Kiki Bertens in the Cincy Open final, one week after she outlasted Sloane Stephens in a thrilling 3-set reprise of the 2018 French Open final. If Halep wins today, then the 2018 French Open champion would become the first woman to win the Canada/Cincinnati double. She is currently on a 9 match winning streak. Bertens is having a remarkable 2018, having already beaten 9 Top 10 players, including Venus Williams at Wimbledon and Petra Kvitova yesterday in Cincinnati and last week in Montreal, Canada. The Dutch player had been known as a "clay court specialist" but has been having remarkable results on grass and hard courts this year.

MADPROFESSAH'S PREDICTIONS

Federer d. Djokovic.
Halep d. Bertens.

2018 WIMBLEDON: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [12] vs Kevin Anderson (RSA) [8]

Here are my predictions for the women's final at the Wimbledon Championships for 2018. This year I correctly predicted 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals, correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 1 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. Last year I incorrectly predicted Venus Williams would defeat Garbine Muguruza. 

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW

Kevin Anderson (RSA) [8] d. John Isner (USA) [9] 7-6(6) 6-7(5) 6-7(9) 6-4 26-24. At 6 hours 36 minutes, this was the longest match ever played on Wimbledon's Centre Court and the second longest grand slam match of all time, exceeded only by the ridiculous 11-hour, 3-day ordeal Isner survived against Nicolas Mahut back in 2010 (winning 70-68 in the 5th set). After outlasting 8-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer 13-11 in the fifth set Anderson maintained his composure for the second round in a row and this time won 26-24! This was quite an amazing mental performance because most players who have beaten Federer at Wimbledon have gone on to lose their next match. (In fact, this is one reason why I picked Isner to win.) One must spare a thought for John Isner who was trying to reach his first major final, and now in addition to the infamous 70-68 win he will be known for the 26-24 loss. Maybe he will be responsible for the implementation of the Isner rule, which leads to some kind of terminating mechanism for decisive sets in the majors, especially Wimbledon. I would endorse some kind of tiebreak (I would suggest it should be a 10-point match tiebreak) that would occur qt either 6-all or 9-all or even 12-all. But there must be a rule change to prevent 3 hour final sets.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [12] d. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] 6-4 3-6 7-6(9) 3-6 10-8. This was a very high quality match that lasted 5 hours 15 minutes played over 2 days. Since it was the second match one after the Isner-Anderson marathon there was no way that it could be completed on men's semifinal Friday. The competitors showed why the 52-match Nadal-Djokovic rivalry is even more compelling than the Federer-Nadal and Federer-Djokovic rivalries. Djokovic extends his lead to 27-25 against Nadal, one of the very few players on tour who have a head-to-head lead against Nadal after more than 4 meetings. One of the key moments of this match was the 3rd set tiebreaker. Winning the 3rd set is always important in  a 5-set match but in this match the player who won the 3rd set would know they would be able to go to sleep with a lead until the match resumed the next day. Djokovic had to save 3 set points in that tiebreaker before he was able to close it out 11-9. The fifth set was an amazing, tension-filled, high-quality affair. Djokovic had to save five breakpoints during the course of the deciding set. With the advantage of serving first, those breakpoints were not match points. It was not until the 16th game that Nadal finally was forced to save a match/break point which he did with an astonishingly gutsy drop shot winner. He had previously escaped two  or three 0-30 deficits but then in the 18th game of the 5th set he was unable to do it again and slipped (literally) to go down 0-40 and lose his serve and the match. 

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

Djokovic can exult that it appears as if he has returned to his old form, as evinced by his ability to defeat Nadal in a tough 5-set match. His reward is that he has an excellent opportunity to continue to add to his haul of major titles. From 2011-2016 Djokovic won 11 of 22 majors but he had not even reached a final since. If he beats Anderson in the championship match (where he is the prohibitive favorite after the South African survived two consecutive ultra-long matches in the last 4 days) Djokovic will get to 13 major titles, which is only 4 behind Nadal and 7 behind Federer. There's still a possibility that if he returns to the level which earned him 4 the Nole slam in June 2016 he could exceed Federer's major total before his retirement. Most people are not giving Anderson any chance to win but I am not one of them. I think it will be closer than people think, and I would not be surprised if Anderson wins a single set, probably because I think there will be a tiebreaker or two. Anderson will be surprised by the number of his serves that are returned into play, and its hard to imagine his movement will be even 50% of its usual level as a result of the extended time he has spent on court this fortnight, which should be dispositive.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

COPYCAT! Exactly 1 Year After Federer Did It, Djokovic Ends Season Early

Exactly one year (to the day) after Roger Federer announced the end of his 2016 season on July 26 to recover from a knee injury, Novak Djokovic has repeated the action by announcing today he will not play again in 2017.

He announced his decision on his website and Facebook:

“All the doctors I’ve consulted, and all the specialists I have visited, in Serbia and all over the world, have agreed that this injury requires rest. A prolonged break from the sport is inevitable. I’ll do whatever it takes to recover. I will use the upcoming period to strengthen my body and also to improve certain tennis elements that I have not been able to work on over the past years, due to a demanding schedule. Five months may seem long from this point, but I’m sure they will pass quickly because there is so much I want to do. Another important moment is coming, we will become parents for a second time. My wife Jelena and I are expecting our second child, and we are preparing to welcome a new family member. These are things that fill me with greatest happiness and delight. I’m confident I will be ready for start of the new season."

This means that Djokovic's streak of 51-consecutive majors played will end and he will miss the 2017 US Open where he has played in the final 6 of the last 7 years (winning twice: in 2015 d. Federer and 2011 d. Nadal).

World #1 Andy Murray is also expected to possibly curtail his season (presumably after the US Open) and cede the race to the ear-end #1 to a thrilling battle between Federer and Nadal. It also means that Federer is now probably the prohibitive favorite for the 2017 US Open, and the chances of a Federer-Nadal match at that tournament (which has never happened) increase.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Djokovic Wins 12th Major, Achieves Career Slam & Nole Slam At Same Time

As I predicted, Novak Djokovic won the 2016 Roland Garros men's singles title by defeating Andy Murray 3-6 6-1 6-2 6-4. Djokovic's win was historic: he finally won his first French Open title in his fourth appearance in the Roland Garros final, becoming the eighth man in history to achieve the career slam. In fact, he has now won the last four consecutive majors, becoming the first man in 47 years to simultaneously hold all four major titles, sometimes called the Nole slam.

MEN'S FINAL REVIEW
The final was of relatively high quality, although both players started off nervously, trading breaks at the very beginning. Murray settled down first and was able to nurse his break advantage to take the first set 6-3. Djokovic settled down almost immediately once the second set began and broke Murray immediately and ran away with the first set 6-1. It was clear by the time the third set was half over that Murray's moment had passed and it was only a matter of time before Djokovic would be achieving his longterm goal of the career slam.

Djokovic is now fourth on the all-time list of major singles titles, behind Roger Federer (17), Rafael Nadal and Pete Sampras (14). He increased his head-to-head  to 24-10 against Murray and is  now 5-2 in major finals against Murray and 12-8 in major finals overall. Murray falls to 2-8 in major finals.

2016 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs Andy Murray (GBR) [2]

This is my prediction post for the men's final at the 2016 French Open. Last year I did not predict that Stan Wawrinka would defeat Novak Djokovic to win his 2nd major title. This year I have correctly predicted 4 of 4 men's quarterfinals, 3 of 4 women's quarterfinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. (This year also I incorrectly predicted that Serena Williams would beat Garbine Muguruza in the women's final.

In this post I will review the mens semifinals and preview the men's final.

MEN'S SEMIFINALS REVIEW Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Dominic Thiem (AUT) [13] 6-2 6-1 6-4. The 22-year-old Thiem has just broken into the elite of men's tennis by reaching his first major semifinal and is now a bonafide Top 10 player. However,  the World #1 gave him a stern lesson on the distance the Austrian needs to travel if he wants to challenge the man at the top of the rankings.  The result was basically never in doubt, despite Thiem playing quite well Djokovic just demonstrated just how much better he is than the entire rest of the field.

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] d. Stan Wawrinka (SUI) [3] 6-4 6-2 4-6 6-2. Murray had the much more difficult task, drawn in the same half as the defending champion Stan Wawrinka. Despite only having a slight 8-7 edge over the hard-hitting Swiss champion and having lost the last three meetings (including no wins on clay) I predicted that Murray would win this match. From watching the clay court season it was clear to me that Murray is now (at least) the second best clay-court player in the world, and he demonstrated that with his 4-set dismissal of Wawrinka. Murray becomes the 10th player to reach the finals of all four majors tournaments and becomes the first male British player since Fred Perry in 1938 to play in the final of Roland Garros.

MEN'S FINAL PREVIEW

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Andy Murray (GBR) [2]. We have seen this match-up many times before. In fact, the Djokovic-Murray rivalry now includes 7 meetings in major finals, which is just one ahead of the all-time record of the eight Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal meetings in finals (Rafa leads 6-2). Djokovic leads their major finals (4-2) and their overall career head-to-head 23-10 and 3-1 on clay. It should be noted that these two met last year in the French Open semifinals and Djokovic won 6-1 in the fifth. In fact, in their recent history their matches have been long but the final set is often a blowout in favor of Djokovic.

Mentally, all the pressure should be on Djokovic. Not only is he trying to finally complete the career grand slam so that he can bolster his claim to the Greatest of all time title in the future, he is also trying to do something which has not been done since Rod Laver did it in1969: be the defending champion in all four majors simultaneously, i.e. complete the Nole slam. Last year, Serena completed her second Serena slam and it should be noted that Djokovic was one win away from completing a calendar slam. If he wins he will also move to 4th on the all-time list with 12, only behind  Federer's 17 and 2 behind Nadal and Laver's 14.

Murray would love to win a 3rd major title and I think it is definitely possible that he could do that. Can he somehow come out and play a mentally tough and tactically fearless match tomorrow and blow Djokovic off the court like Wawrinka did last year? Yes, it's possible but also unlikely. Instead I think that it is Djokovic's moment and he will deliver a win to take his place in the pantheon of the greats.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

Novak Djokovic Will Soon Have The Highest Win-Loss Percentage Of All Time In Tennis

Novak Djokovic is poised to reach another milestone, just days after he notched his 700th ATP win. He is currently tied with Bjorn Borg with the highest win-loss percentage of all time (82.74%). Borg finished his career with 609 wins and 127 losses (due to retiring early) but Djokovic is currently at 700W-146L, his coach Boris Becker coyly pointed out on Instagram today. (Becker himself is #10 on the all0-time list with a 713W-127L record which is 76.91%).

Novak is currently tied with Borg in another important metric (11 career major titles won) but since the current World #1 is 12-0 for 2016 he is almost certainly going to exceed Borg in both win-loss percentage and total majors won very soon.

If Djokovic does make significant progress toward's Federer's total of 17 majors then the discussion of Greatest of al time will most definitely have to include the Serbian.

2016 AUS OPEN: Men's Final Preview (and Semifinals Review)

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] vs Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1]

This is my prediction post for the men's singles final at the 2016 Australian Open. Last year, I incorrectly predicted Andy Murray would beat Novak Djokovic in the men's final but correctly predicted Serena Williams would beat Maria Sharapova in the women's final. This year, I predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I have also written a preview of this year's Women's singles final.

Men's Semifinals Review: How The Finalists Got Here
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Roger Federer (SUI) [3] 6-1 6-2 3-6 6-3.  With this win (that I predicted), Djokovic nudges ahead 23-22 in his career head-to-head with Roger Federer and with the trajectory of their careers in reverse directions it is hard to see that  there will be turning point in the Swiss Great's favor anytime in the near future. The first two sets were simply tennis at a level that we have not seen before. Djokovic was simply unbeatable, and Federer was lucky to come out of that first 54 minutes of this match with his dignity intact, despite managing to barely eke out 3 games to his opponent's 12. Federer did well to stay strong mentally on the court and when Novak's level dropped he was able to take advantage and snatch the third set. However, just a few errant shots in a service game in the fourth set and the World #1 was able to break and hold serve to close out the match and reach his 6th Australian Open final, where he is undefeated in his five previous appearances.

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] d. Milos Raonic (CAN) [13] 4-6 7-5 6-7(4) 6-4 6-2.  Murray showed why he is currently the #2 player in the world by dismissing a energetic and energized Milos Raonic who served impeccably to gain a 2-1 sets advantage over him in the semifinal. Murray refused to panic and Raonic's large (6-foot-5) body let him down as he suffered a hip injury which hampered his movement midway through the fourth set and made the result not in doubt for much of the fifth set. (Murray raced out to a 5-0 lead but Raonic stiffened his resistance but still succumbed in the end). Raonic has nothing to be ashamed of and he has more information about what he needs to do to breakthrough to compete in the ultimate test against the very top echelon of men's tennis. I would be very surprised if we don't see him there within the next year or two.

Men's Final Preview: Who The Champion Will Be

Djokovic is playing in his 6th major final here in Melbourne, and he is currently undefeated at this stage of the tournament having beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008, Rafael Nadal in 2012 and Murray in 2011, 2013 and 2015. Last year's final was particularly rough, because despite playing much better tennis than his opponent for most of the first three sets, Murray managed to lose two of them and then lost the last set 6-0. In fact, with Djokovic posting a 21-9 head-to-head lead over Murray, including 10 of 11 matches since Murray's 2013 Wimbledon final win, the final set in their most competitive matches have often been blow-out victories for the Serb.

Surprisingly, in major finals, Djokovic only has a 3-2 edge, with a 3-0 lead in non-final grand slam matches (2015 French Open semifinal, 2014 US Open quarterfinal and 2012 Australian Open semifinal). Most people expect that Djokovic will simply run away with this match in 3-sets but I actually think it will be much closer than that. I think it will be an epic war of attrition, and there is a possibility (a small one, but the opening is there, as a result of Djokovic's shockingly bad performance in his 5-set win over Gilles Simon in the fourth round) that Djokovic could go off. Everyone expects him to win this match, he expects to win this match, and he probably will win this match. But if things don't go as planned (like he loses the first set), then I think it is very possible this men's final could be as surprising (and entertaining) as the women's final. That being said, Djokovic is 10-8 in major finals while Murray is 2-6 in major finals for a reason.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

2016 AUS OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

The men's semifinals are now set at the 2016 Australian Open. Last year, I correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. This year, I predicted 2 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals correctly. I have also written a preview of the 2016 Australian Open Women's semifinals.

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs  Roger Federer (SUI) [3].  This will be the 45th meeting between these two champions and the two are currently evenly matched at 22-all. However, a more significant feature of their recent rivalry is that in 5-set matches, Djokovic has prevailed three consecutive times (2015 US Open, 2015 Wimbledon and 2014 Wimbledon). Federer-Djokovic XLV is occurring on turf where Djokovic is the most comfortable, since he has won a record 5 Australian Open titles in Melbourne, and he has played in the final here every year since 2011 except for 2014 where he lost in the quarterfinals to eventual champion Stan Wawrinka. If Federer has lost to Djokovic twice in two consecutive Wimbledon finals where he ostensibly plays his best tennis how can he possibly win on a slow hard court at night in Melbourne where Djokovic has been most successful? Additionally, Federer has lost in the semifinals of Australia the last four times he was here, losing to Djokovic (2011), Nadal (2012 and 2014), and Murray (2013). I'm a huge Federer fan and would love him to win this match with all my heart, but my head says that today is not the day that will happen (and I do think he will win his 18th before he retires). Mad Professah's pick: Djokovic in 5 sets.

Andy Murray (GBR) [2] vs Milos Raonic (CAN) [13].  Interestingly, both semifinal matches are between competitors who have completely even head-to-head records. Raonic and Murray are playing for only the 7th time (although they have been scheduled two other times they have each ceded a walkover to the other player). Raonic is playing in only his second ever major semifinal, while Murray is playing in his 6th major semifinal here (in the last seven years) and the 18th of his career, the most ever for a British male player. Raonic actually has a slight advantage 3-2 in hard-courts but the one time they played at the US Open in 2012 Murray dismissed the Canadian youngster  on his way to winning his very first major. Raonic has definitely improved and I am rather bullish on his chances of (eventually) reaching a major final. However, I just don't think that he has the mobility or fitness to outlast Murray in a 5-set match at this stage of his career. He did incredibly well serving and volleying to upset World #4 Stan Wawrinka in the 4th round but I just don't believe that will be an effective against one of the best service-returners in the game. Mad Professah's pick: Murray in 4 sets.