2019 ATP YEC: Tsitsipas Wins Biggest Title Of His Young Career

Surprising many, Stefanos Tsitsipas finished his breakout 2019 season by coming from behind to win his first ATP Tour Finals title over Dominic Thiem 6-7(6) 6-2 7-6(4). The 21-year-old Greek player is the youngest player to win the  year-end tour championship since Lleyton Hewitt in 2001 and the seventh player to win it in his tournament debut (Grigor Dimitrov did that in 2017).

Tisitsipas finished the year with wins over every member of the top 10, including the big 3: Nadal, Djokovic and Federer.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Laver Cup Goes To Europe Again; Osaka Impresses In Japan; Thiem Wins On 3rd Surface; Nadal Out Until London

LAVER CUP PART DEUX: EUROPE BEATS THE WORLD AGAIN
The second edition of the Laver Cup took place in Chicago last weekend and the result was the same as the first year in Prague. Led by Roger Federer (who has an ownership stake in the event), Team Europe defeated Team World. This time Team Europe featured two of the BIg 4: Federer and Novak Djokovic, who played doubles together (but lost) to the inspired team of Jack Sock and John Isner. Sock showed why he is considered the best doubles player in the world by winning all 3 doubles matches he played for Team World.

OSAKA IMPRESSES BY CONTINUING WIN STREAK  AFTER MAJOR WIN
2018 US Open champion Naomi Osaka continued her win streak to 10 matches, getting to the final of the Toray Pan Pacific Open before losing to Karolina Pliskova 6-4 6-4.

DOMINIC THIEM WINS INDOOR HARDCOURT TITLE
World #8 Dominic Thiem of Austria won his first indoor hardcourt title in St. Petersburg over the weekend, by defeating Martin Klizan 6-3 6-1. It was Thiem's third title of 2018, in a year in which he reached his first major final in Paris (losing to Rafael Nadal).

NADAL PULLS THE CORD ON THE ASIAN SWING
World #1 Nadal put his top ranking in jeopardy by announcing he would miss the fall indoor swing through Asia, presumably nursing his body to try and make a run at the World Tour Finals in London

TENNIS TUESDAY: Federer, Lopez, Kvitova, Win On Grass; Djokovic-Agassi Duo Set For Wimby; McEnroe Puts Foot In Mouth (Again)

GRASS COURT SEASON CONTINUES WITH FEDERER, KVITOVA, LOPEZ WINNING TITLES
The 2017 grass court season (all 3 weeks of it!) continued into its 2nd week and ended with some people with strong grass court credentials doing quite well. 7-time Wimbledon champion Roger Federer reached his 11th final at Halle and won his 9th title, defeating Sacha Zverev in two humiliating sets 6-1 6-3. A 2-time Wimbledon champion, Petra Kvitova, playing in only her second tournament after suffering a violent home invasion which led to her left hand being stabbed with a knife and a 6-month hiatus from tennis. Kvitova defeated Ash Barty in the finals of Birmingham 4-6 6-3, 6-2. However, the performance of the week was provided by 35-year-old Spanish hunk Feliciano Lopez, who saved match points in not one but two different contests on the way to  winning the Queen's Club tournament. The best was saved for last, with Lopez beating 2014 US Open champion Marin Cilic 4-6, 7-6(2), 7-6(8) in dramatic fashion. 3 year ago, Lopez had lost the final to Grigor Dimitrov after holding a match point.

AGASSI TO RETURN TO COACH DJOKOVIC AGAIN, THIS TIME AT WIMBLEDON
And they said it wouldn't last. 8-time major champion Andre Agassi will return to the coaching box for the second consecutive major tournament to provide advice and support to Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, it was announced this week. And this time Agassi will be able to be in attendance for all 7 matches, if the 3-time Wimbledon champion gets that far. (Djokovic lost in the 3rd round against Sam Querrey last year, signalling a sharp change of fortune for someone who at the time was the reigning champion of all 4 major tournaments.)

MCENROE ATTEMPTS TO SELL BOOKS BY DENIGRATING SERENA WILLIAMS
John Mcenroe has a new edition of his memoir coming out and is doing a media tour. Unfortunately, he was asked about Serena Williams by NPR and while he acknowledged that she is "no question" the "best female player ever" he also raised hackles by saying this: "Well because if she was in, if she played the men’s circuit she’d be like 700 in the world." Lots of Serena fans thought this was disrespectful, although Serena herself has said that men's tennis and women's tennis are completely different sports, she hit back at McEnrroe by saying "Dear John, I adore and respect you but please please keep me out of your statements that are not factually based." I think htat's the equivalent of saying "Bless your heart" in the South!

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.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Djokovic Clinches Year End #1 For 4th Time

Novak Djokovic has clinched the World #1 ranking after winning his 3rd major title of the year on Sunday night. Djokovic previously had earned the year-end ranking in 2011, 2012 and 2014. He becomes the sixth man in history to have been able to be ranked #1 at the end of the year at least four times. The others are Ivan Lendl (4 times), John McEnroe (4 times), Roger Federer (5 times), Jimmy Connors (5 times) and Pete Sampras (6 times),

2015 AUS OPEN: Djokovic Beats Murray For 8th Major; 5th In Melbourne

Somewhat surprisingly, Novak Djokovic demonstrated (again) his dominance over his friend and rival Andy Murray with a four-set 7-6(5) 6-7(4) 6-3 6-0 win in the men's final of the 2015 Australian Open. Djokovic, 27, has now won 8 majors, tying him with other all-time greats like Andre Agassi, Ivan Lendl and Jimmy Connors and moving ahead of John McEnroe. Murray, also 27, has lost 4 finals in Melbourne and 3 overall to Djokovic. The Serbian becomes the first player n the modern era to win 5 Australian Open titles, although he is still one behind Roy Emerson's overall haul of 6.

The first two tiebreak sets took over two-and-a-half hours and featured extended rallies and brilliant shotmaking from both sides of the court. Djokovic struggled with a finger and ankle injury and when Murray went up 2-0 to begin the third set it looked like things might be going his way at last. But Djokovic found another gear and Murray unraveled, losing 12 of the next 13 games, including the last 9, to lose the 3rd and 4th sets 6-3 6-0.

The question for me now is where will both players go from here? Murray is now 2-6 in Major finals and Djokovic is 8-6. They are approximately the same age. Can Djokovic complete the career slam, can Murray win another? I believe the answer to both these questions is yes.

2014 DUBAI: Federer Wins 78th Career ATP Title

As I predicted, Roger Federer won the 2014 Dubai title by defeating Tomas Berdych 3-6 6-4 6-3.
It was Federer's 78th ATP career title, placing him in sole possession of the 3rd all-time position, surpassing John McEnroe at 77 and behind Ivan Lendl at 94 and Jimmy Connors at 109. It was also Federer's first title since winning in Halle for the 6th time in June 2013, which was his only title last year. Dubai is good stomping grounds for Federer, he has now won the title there six times (2003-05, 2007, 2012, 2014); he spends a lot of his off-season there, since he owns a house in the emirate and trains in the extreme heat in order to be ready for any conditions. The only tournament he has won more times is Wimbledon, which he has won 7 times (2003-2007, 2009, 2012).

Federer was down a set and break (3-6, 2-3 when he was suddenly able to break back and hold his own serve to go up 4-3 in the second set. The tennis was of a high quality, with both players hitting winners from all over the court. Berdych served especially well, while Federer did not (his serving percentage did go up as the match went on though, which is the preferred direction!). Federer was able to win the second set by breaking Berdych during a streak of  9 consecutive points won and in the deciding set he was able to get the first break and although he faced break points himself, he was able to consolidate the break and serve out the title.

It's clear the 17-time major champion is playing much better than he did in 2013. Last year he lost in the semifinals to Berdych despite having 3 match points, today he beat Berdych (improving to 12-6 lifetime). With his win today, he has 4 top 10 wins (Murray, Tsonga, Djokovic and Berdych) which is the same number he managed all of last year (4-10 for 2013 compared to 4-1 for 2014). With Indian Wells and Key Biscayne coming up, things are looking up for Federer fans!

2013 US OPEN: Men's Final Preview

Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] vs. Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2]

This is my prediction post for the men's final at the 2013 US Open. This year I correctly predicted that Serena Williams would defeat Victoria Azarenka in the women's final. I also correctly predicted 2 of 2 women's semifinals, 2 of 2 men's semifinals, 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and 2 of 4 men's quarterfinals this year. Last year I correctly predicted Serena Williams would defeat Victoria Azarenka in the women's final and that Andy Murray would defeat Novak Djokovic in the men's final.

How They Got Here: Men's Semifinals Review.
Novak Djokovic (SRB) [1] d. Stanislas Wawrinka (SUI) [9], 2-6 7-6(4) 3-6 6-3 6-4. Although this is not the reprise of last year's men's final that everyone was expecting when the draw came out Wawrinka was able to make quite a match out of this match-up. Taking confidence from his previous two rounds where he bounced defending champion Andy Murray from the tournament and outlasted hard-hitting and big serving from World #5 Tomas Berdych, Wawrinka came out firing from the first ball and quickly ran away with the first set. He was up a break relatively late in the second set and threatening to take an impressive 2-0 set lead when the World #1 emerged from his slumber and was able to break back to force a tiebreaker and win it. Having re-set the match into a three-set match, one would have expected Djokovic to dominate the match from that point but instead it was Wawrinka who continued blasting forehands and (one-handed) backhands on to the lines and redlining on his serve. That enabled Wawrinka to win the third set. The fourth set featured an incredible 19 minute game on Wawrinka's second service game where Djokovic had 5 breakpoints and failed to convert them. There was an expectation at that point whomever won that game (which was almost the length of some sets in the tournament) would go on to win the match. But when Wawrinka finally won that third game of the fourth set with an unreturnable serve and roared as he walked to his chair Djokovic just squared his shoulders, proceeded to hold his serve relatively easily in under 3 minutes and put the pressure right back on his opponent and this time he broke. He nursed that service break to win the fourth set and after an injury time-out following a spill to the court Wawrinka's timing was off and shots that were winners earlier in the match became unforced errors and Djokovic pulled through with a win in the 5th set and took the match. Even though Wawrinka lost the match he has to be proud that in both hard court majors played in 2013 he took the #1 hard-court player of the last five years to five sets. He should use these results to build on his confidence for the future.

Rafael Nadal (ESP) [2] d. Richard Gasquet (FRA) [8], 6-4 7-6(1) 6-2. Nadal increased his unbeaten streak on hard courts in 2013 to twenty one by defeating a player who he has beaten ten times before (6 times on clay and 4 on hard courts). Although the demise of the one-handed backhand in the men's game has been prematurely and repeatedly predicted there is no question that a right-handed player with a one-handed backhand has some strategic disadvantages when playing a powerful left-handed player like Nadal. However, half of this year's US Open male semifinalists and four of this year's US Open male quarterfinalists had one-handed backhands, which is somewhat surprising since only 3 out of the Top 10 (and 7 of the Top 20) players on the ATP World Tour rankings play with one-handed backhands. Gasquet demonstrated that he does deserve to be in the top echelon of the men's game by breaking Nadal's serve (for the first time in the tournament!) but also that there is a difference between a legitimate Top 10 player and a contended for World #1.

Who Will Win: Men's Final Preview
The men's final will be Djokovic-Nadal XXXVII, the 37th entry in what is now officially the longest men's rivalry of the Open era, surpassing the 36 times that Jimmy Connors and John McEnroe played. Nadal leads the rivalry 21-15 but Djokovic leads 11-6 on hard courts. The last time they played was on a hard court and Nadal won in a 3rd set tiebreak in the semifinals of the Rogers Cup in Montreal. The two have played in five major finals and Djokovic leads 3-2, including 2-1 in hard court finals. In ATP tour finals the two are tied at 8-all, and in the three times they have played this year Nadal leads 2-1.

Nadal is unbeaten for the year on hard courts, having won 21 consecutive matches, and if there is any time when he should be able to beat Djokovic in a hard court final, it is this year. Although the World #1 ranking is not at stake, Nadal's record of reaching the final of 12 of the 13 tournament's he has played this year (winning an astonishing ten titles in 2013 so far) means that he will almost certainly end the year as #1 regardless of who win this match today. However, it is incredibly important for their places in history. If Nadal wins he will advance to 13 major titles, almost certainly moving to within striking distance of Roger Federer's record 17 titles and the 2013 Roland Garros champion will pick up the 2013 US Open title. If Djokovic wins then the 2013 Australian Open champion will have won both hard court majors in the year and will have a significant ammunition to back up his argument that he is the world's top player, despite what the computer says, having reached 3 major finals and won two of them.

Nadal is playing his most aggressive tennis I have ever seen him exhibit on a hard court. It's his serve and his willingness to come to net to finish off the point that is doing the damage. He has been broken only once in the tournament and has only lost a set once (a tiebreaker against Philip Kohlschreiber in the 4th round). He is playing better than Djokovic so far this tournament, but it should not be forgotten that for a string of 7 finals from 2011 to 2012 Nadal lost 7 times in a row to Djokovic, including their 6-hour titanic battle at the 2012 Australian Open, which was clearly the best men's tennis match of last year.

By looking at the X's and O's Nadal should win this match (as others have predicted) but I am convinced by the hard court head-to-head advantage that Djokovic has and the knowledge that he could have (and should have) won their Roland Garros semifinal this year. Djokovic knows what he needs to do to beat Nadal, and Nadal knows that Djokovic can beat him. I would be very surprised if the match does not go to five sets. Really this is a title that will be decided by a handful of points and very brief moments, but that being said I think that Djokovic will win his 7th major title to cement his status as Nadal's chief rival.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

2013 FRENCH OPEN: Rafa Wins Record 8th Title; 12th Major

As expected,  Rafael Nadal won his 8th French Open title at Roland Garros, beating David Ferrer 6-3 6-2 6-3 to win his 12th career major. Amazingly, since Nadal is repeating as champion he is not gaining any ATP points so he will actually lose the World #4 ranking to Ferrer when the new rankings come out on Monday.

Nadal has played 60 matches in his career at Roland Garros and won 59 of them (the sole loss to Robin Soderling in 2009), claiming 8 titles. No male player has ever won 8 titles at one of the major championships. Roger Federer has played in 8 Wimbledon finals but he has 7 titles, losing the 2008 men's final to Nadal in what some people call the greatest match of all time (and definitely the greatest match on grass). Nadal was also part of the greatest match at the Australian Open, last year's final win by Djokovic which lasted nearly 6 hours.

Speaking of incredible matches, John McEnroe and other commentators are already calling Friday's semifinal match between Nadal and Novak Djokovic won in 4 hours and 37 minutes by Nadal "the best clay court match of all time."

The result in today's final match was never really in doubt. This year I correctly predicted both finals, 0 of 2 men's semifinal matches and 3 of 4 men's quarterfinal matches. On the women's side I correctly predicted 2 of 2 semifinals and 3 of 4 quarterfinals.

The next major (Wimbledon) starts on Monday June 24th. Nadal did not play any tennis after losing in the 2nd round there last year so he has a very good chance of ending the year as #1 unless Djokovic has a stronger year in the last two majors of the year then he did last year.

Djokovic Earns Record $12,619,803 In 2011

Novak Djokovic won a record $12.6 million in 2011, as a result of winning 70 ATP tour matches (and losing only 6 times all year) along with 10 titles including 3 majors (2011 Australian Open, 2011 Wimbledon and 2011 U.S. Open) and a record 5 Masters Series shields (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, and Montreal). He beat former World #1 Rafael Nadal in 4 of those 5 Masters series finals, beating Mardy Fish in the other and losing to World #4 Andy Murray in the finals of Cincinnati. He also beat Nadal in two of those major finals, beating Murray in the Australian Open final.

Djokovic's financial haul in 2011 moved him up to #4 on the all-time career list, with career earning of $32.4 million, eclipsing Andre Agassi's $31.1 million. Roger Federer still tops the list with $67.4 million, with Nadal second at $45 million and Pete Sampras now at #3 with $43.2 million. Djokovic's 2011 was the 3rd time in history a player had won more than $10 million in a year, following Federer's $10.13 million in 2007 and Nadal's $10.17 million in 2010.

ATP World Tour Finals: Federer vs Tsonga

AP Photo/Sang Tan

Roger Federer defeated David Ferrer in straight sets 7-5 6-3 to reach his 7th year-end championship final of his career, his 100th career tournament final (69-30 record). A few hours later Jo-Wilfried Tsonga outlasted Tomas Berdych 6-3 7-5 to join Federer in the final, which will be a reprise of the very first match of the tournament where Federer beat Tsonga in a tight 3-set match 6-2 2-6 6-4 .

I had predicted Federer would face Berdych and Ferrer would face Tsonga, since Ferrer won 5 sets and lost 3 while Berdych won 5 sets and lost 4 but I guess on game percentage Berdych ended up being the #1 player in Group A so he played the #2 player in Group B (Tsonga) while the #2 player in Group A ( Ferrer) was stuck playing the undefeated #1 player from Group B (Federer). The result was Federer improved to 12-0 lifetime against Ferrer while Tsonga won his first career match against Berdych (now 1-1).

By winning today Federer assures he will end the year at #3, behind World #1 Novak Djokovic and World#2 Rafael Nadal. Federer becomes the 5th player in ATP history to reach 100 tour finals, behind Jimmy Connors (163), Ivan Lendl (146), John McEnroe (108) and Guillermo Vilas (104).

Federer is trying to become the only person to win the year-end championship 6 times, which I believe he will do, in a very tough 3-set match on Sunday.