TENNIS TUESDAY: Europe (Barely) Wins Laver Cup; Osaka Wins Osaka; Halep-Cahill Reunion

EUROPE WINS LAVER CUP FOR 3RD CONSECUTIVE YEAR
The Lave Cup is a new team competition (begun in 2017) dreamed up by Roger Federer and his agent Tony Godsick a few years ago modeled on the very successful Ryder Cup in golf. Two teams (World and Europe) compete in singles and doubles over a weekend in host cities that move around the world. This year the competition was in Geneva, Switzerland (next year it will be in Boston, Massachusetts and last year it was in Chicago, Illinois). One of the key delights of the Laver Cup is the ability to see legends like Rafael Nadal and Federer interacting together and combining to coach younger players who they are usually rivals with (like Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev and Dominic Thiem). Federer is still undefeated in three years in singles. This year World came the closest to winning the Laver Cup when Jack Sock stunned himself (and everyone else) by beating Fabio Fognini. The American then teamed up with John Isner and defeated the Federer/Tsitsipas to give World its first-ever lead in Laver Cup. However, Federer beat Isner in singles and Zverev (for the second consecutive year) won the deciding match, this time in a Super Breaker 10-7 over Milos Raonic.

NAOMI OSAKA FROM OSAKA WINS OSAKA WTA TOURNAMENT
Naomi Osaka, World #4 and reigning Australian Open champion, won her second title of the year in her birthplace of Osaka, Japan. Osaka ended her title drought by defeating Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova in straight sets.

HALEP ANNOUNCES COACHING REUNION WITH DARREN CAHILL FOR 2020
After winning her second major title at Wimbledon 2019 without his (official) assistance, Simona Halep has announced that she will be reuniting with her coach  Darren Cahill for the 2020 season. Presumably her focus will be to win one of the two hard court majors (and perhaps an Olympic medal?) in 2020.

2018 BASEL: Federer Wins 99th Career ATP Title

Roger Federer won his 99th career ATP title at the Swiss Indoors Championships held in his hometown of Basel, Switzerland. Federer defeated Romanian qualifier Marcus Copil 6-4 7-6(5) in his 14th final in Basel to win his 9th title. The only male player who has won more titles is Jimmy Connors, who won 109 titles. I had previously thought that this total was out of range for Federer, but now I'm not so sure.

2017 INDIAN WELLS: Federer-Wawrinka, Kuznetsova-Vesnina Finals

The finals of the 2017 BNP Paribas Open are now set. On the men's side it will be an all-Swiss affair, with Stan Wawrinka and Roger Federer. The two last met in the semifinals of the 2017 Australian Open, where Federer defeated the higher ranked Wawrinka in 5 tough sets on his way to winning his long-sought 18th major title. Federer is playing in his 43rd Masters final (now tied with Novak Djokovic) while Wawrinka is playing in his 4th. The two compatriots have played 22 times before and Federer has only lost 3 times, all on clay. I expect Federer will win this match tomorrow.

On the women's side the WTA tour has been devastated with World #1 Serena Williams' withdrawal from the Indian Wells and Miami tournaments. New World #1 Angelique Kerber lost early to Elena Vesnina, and although Venus Williams took the momentum from her first-round escape against Jelena Jankovic to reach the quarterfinals, she lost against Vesnina who is now playing the best tennis of her careers in her first Premier Mandatory final. The Russian will face another compatriot, 2-time major champion Sveta Kuznetsova, who last reached the final here twice before (2007 l. Daniela Hantuchova and 2008 l. Ana Ivanovic). For the second time this year, a final will be contested between two female players over age 30. Kuznetova is 31 and Vesnina is 30. The two are tied 1-all in their head-to-head. I'm rooting for Kuznetsova to win!

2016 US OPEN: Wawrinka Defeats Djokovic To Win 3rd Major Title

As I predicted, Stan Wawrinka won his 3rd major title on Sunday, by defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic 6-7(1) 6-4 7-5 6-3. Wawrinka is now undefeated in major finals (3-0); in fact he has won his last 11(!) finals played in the last three years. Djokovic has now played in 21 major finals and has a 12W-9L record. As many commentators have stated, Wawrinka is just one Wimbledon away from completing the career slam. He has won one major each year for the last three years. Look out Wimbledon 2017!

TENNIS TUESDAY: WTA Awards Announced, Fedberg Ends, Swiss Sweep Doubles In Rio?

WTA AWARDS ANNOUNCED AND WILLIAMS SISTERS WIN BIG
The WTA Awards were announced today and for the seventh time in her career Serena Williams was named the WTA Player of the Year. Other big awards announced were Doubles Team of the Year (Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza), Most Improved Player of the Year (Timea Bacsinszky), Newcomer of the Year (Daria Gavrilova) and Comeback Player of the Year (Venus Williams).

ROGER FEDERER ENDS COACHING RELATIONSHIP WITH STEFAN EDBERG
Roger Federer announced that Stefan Edberg will not be part of his coaching staff in 2016. Former ATP pro (and Federer friend) Ivan Ljubicic will join the team, with Severin Luthi remaining as head coach of Team Federer. Ljubicic had been coaching Milos Raonic for the last two years,

DOUBLES PAIRINGS FOR 2016 RIO OLYMPICS COMING INTO FOCUS
Federer has agreed to play Mixed Doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics with Martina Hingis, who is part of the current Best Doubles Team of the Year. Federer famously won the Men's Doubles With Stan Wawrinka at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, so one would think that they would have a good chance in 2016 now that the team has 19 major singles titles between them. Additionally, the Women's Doubles team of Belinda Bencic (or Bacsinsky) with Hingis would be hard to beat. Could Switzerland sweep the doubles medals next year?

BASEL 2015: Roger Wins Federer-Nadal XXXIV 6-3 5-7 6-3 To Claim 88th ATP Title

As I predicted yesterday, Roger Federer was able to beat Rafael Nadal in their 34th career meeting. The match was actually quite close, with one break of serve deciding each set, as the final score of 6-3 5-7 6-3 demonstrates. Play lasted just over 2 hours and the rallies were often long and intense.

Federer's win stopped a three and a half-year drought of success against his most famous rival (he had lost the last 5 matches he played against Nadal). However, this match was literally played on Federer's turf (indoor hardcourt in his home town of Basel). The Swiss Great was playing in his twelfth final in Basel, and with the win earned his seventh title here and 88th career ATP title. He now improves to 11-23 against Nadal and 88-46 in career finals while Nadal falls to 67-31 in career finals.

By reaching the final (and beating Richard Gasquet) to do so Nadal set the field for the ATP Year-Ending Championship in two weeks in London will have the same eight players it did last year and made the result of whoever wins the ATP Paris Masters this week irrelevant to that race. (Novak Djokovic clinched the Year-End #1 earlier in the season when he won his 3rd major of the year at the U.S. Open.) However, Nadal's improved play on one of his worst surfaces (indoor hard courts) may augur good things for an upside in his fortunes in 2016.

Federer-Nadal XXXIV: Raja and Rafa In Basel Final

For the thirty-fourth time in their careers, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal will meet on the ATP Tour. Nadal, 29, has won 70% (23) of those meetings while Federer, 34, has won only 10. In fact, Nadal has won the last five times they played, including all four matches they played in 2013 (which was the first year that the Swiss great failed to reach a major final and the year Nadal won almost every hard court tournament he entered after returning to the tour after losing early at Wimbledon). Significantly, the two have not played since Federer's game recovered in mid-2014 and he ascended to the World #2 ranking. This year, Nadal is on the comeback trail, since he failed to reach a major final for the first time in his career and his ranking almost fell out of the Top 10.

While the Federer-Nadal rivalry is compelling because they have met in 8 major finals (Rafa leads 6-2) and the two are the current all-time leaders of major singles titles won (Federer 18, Nadal 14). However, the Nadal-Djokovic rivalry is longer (45 matches, with Nadal holding a slim 23-22 edge) and the Federer-Djokovic rivalry is more exciting (42 matches, currently tied at 21-all with Djokovic winning three major finals in the last 18 months against Federer). It's conceivable that the 28-year-old Djokovic could end his career with head-to-head leads over both Federer and Djokovic, although it;s hard to believe he will end with more major titles since he currently has 10.

This is Federer-Nadal's 5th hard court final (currently even at 2-all). Federer is playing in his record 12th final in his hometown tournament, and if he wins on Sunday he will have won the tournament 7 times.

MadProfessah's pick: Federer.

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Stan Wawrinka Wins 2nd Major, Denies Djokovic Career Slam

Defying expectations, Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland outplayed World #1 Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the finals of the French Open on Sunday, winning 4-6 6-4 6-3 6-4. Wawrinka, 30, becomes the first former Boys Champion of Roland Garros to win the title. Wawrinka upended a 3-17 deficit in meetings with Djokovic to win this most important match and is now 2-0 in major finals while Djokovic falls to 8-8 and his long wait to complete the career grand slam continues.

Amazingly, for the second time in seven years, the person who beat the King of Clay Rafael Nadal at Roland Garros did not win the tournament. Robin Soderling beat Nadal in 2009 but Roger Federer won the title and this year Djokovic beat Nadal in the quarterfinals relatively easily but ended up losing to Wawrinka!

2015 FRENCH OPEN: Men's Semifinals Preview

Here are my predictions for the 2015 men's quarterfinals at the French Open. Last year I correctly predicted 2 of 2 men's semifinals and 2 of 2 women's semifinals. This year I correctly predicted 4 of 4 women's quarterfinals and correctly predicted 3 of 4 men's quarterfinals. I  have also written a post to predict the women's semifinals in a separate post.

Novak Djokovic [1] vs Andy Murray [3]. Of course the reason why this match is occurring is because Djokovic spoiled 9-time French Open champion Rafael Nadal's 29th birthday  by defeating him in straight sets in the most anticipated quarterfinal of the century.

As I predicted beforehand, Djokovic was able to do something that no one else had been able to accomplish in 95 five-set matches on clay against the Spanish King of Clay: winning not just one set, not two sets but three sets in a row. Nadal had previously beaten Djokovic 6 consecutive times at Roland Garros. Murray also did well to earn his first clay-court win against another Spaniard clay expert, 2013 French Open finalist Davd Ferrer in four sets to reach his 3rd Roland Garros semifinal. Excitingly, both players are playing some of the best tennis of their careers right now. Djokovic is currently on a 27-match winning streak while Murray is undefeated in all 16 matches he has played in since he got married in mid-April. Head-to-head, Djokovic has dominated their rivalry, currently leading it 18-8. These two were famously born just a week apart (Murray is older) and have faced each other in five major finals, with the two alternating victories in a way that gives Djokovic a 3-2 lead, including the 2015 Australian Open. Bizarrely, only two of their 26 meetings to date have been on clay and both have been won by Djokovic but they were also way back in 2008 and 2011, well before Murray had become a major champion. I think this match will be closer than the Djokovic-Nadal match, but in the end I don't think the Serb's date with destiny on Sunday can be denied. Mad Professah's pick: Murray.

Roger Federer [2] Stan Wawrinka [8] vs Jo-Wilfried Tsonga [14]. Before I talk about the semifinal I must say something about the quarterfinal results which got us to this point. I did not expect Wawrinka to beat Federer considering their historic head-to-head which has been dominated by Federer. However, Wawrinka completely flipped the script and simply overpowered his celebrated countryman in a straight sets shellacking.

There really was not much that Federer could have done; Wawrinkka won nearly half of his points on direct winners. It was the first time since 2002 that Roger Federer had failed to break serve in a Grand Slam match! If he continues to play that kind of tennis I completely believe that Wawrinka could win this tournament regardless of who is on the other side of the net. However, it's doubtful that he can maintain such a high level for two more rounds. Then again, all he needs to do is take it one match at a time.  Wawrinka and Tsonga have only played six times in their careers (5 times on clay) including twice at Roland Garros. They are tied 3-all overall and have split their French Open matches 1-all with Wawrinka holding a slight 3-2 in their clay court matches. Wawrinka is playing in his first semifinal at Roland Garros and his fourth overall of his career while Tsonga is playing in his 2nd semifinal at Roland Garros and fifth career semifinal overall. Mad Professah's pick: Tsonga.

2014 DAVIS CUP: Federer Clinches Final for Switzerland By Defeating Gasquet

World #2 Roger Federer was able to recover from his straights sets loss to Gael Monfils on Friday to partner with World #4 Stan Wawrinka on Saturday to win the all-important doubles match in straight sets over Richard Gasquet and Julien Benneteau. Then on Sunday, Federer clinched his country's first Davis Cup with a straight sets singles win over Gasquet, 6-4 6-2 6-2. Gasquet was substituted for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who lost to Wawrinka in 4 sets on Friday.

Federer gave props to his countryman Wawrinka and the rest of the Swiss team:

"I'm happy I was able to stay calm and play a good match, and I'm really happy for the guys in the team, everybody worked incredibly hard to get me match ready," Federer said. "Stan has put in so much effort over the years and played an unbelievable weekend that gave me the opportunity today. I'm very much aware of that, this one is for the boys."

The 17-time major champion first competed in the Davis Cup in 1999 so it has taken 15 years to win this prestigious title for the player many people feel is the Greatest Of All Time.

2014 ATP YEC: Federer-Djokovic XXXVII In Championship Match

Roger Federer saved an astonishing 4 match points in his semifinal match with countryman Stan Wawrinka, winning 3-6 7-5 7-6(6) to reach the ATP World Tour Final championship match where (as I predicted) he will face Novak Djokovic. Djokovic defeated Kei Nishikori in three sets 6-1 3-6 6-0.

Federer leads Djokovic 19-17 in their career head-to-head and has won 3 of their 5 matches played in 2014. However, Djokovic beat Federer in the 2012 ATP World Tour finals in two very close sets. The World #1 ranking for 2014 is not at stake in this match because Djokovic has already sealed the year-end ranking.

MadProfessah's prediction: Djokovic in 3 sets.

Nadal Loses To 17-Year-Old Coric; Ends Season; Will Miss Paris and London

Well, well, well! We first mentioned 17-year-old Croatian Borna Coric's name here a few weeks ago as a potential heir to the throne of "hottest guy on ATP Tour" but I had no idea we would be discussing him again so soon. With his stunning defeat of Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals of the Swiss Indoors in Basel, Coric gave Nadal the final push out the door to end his injury-plagued season. Nadal lost 6-2 7-6(4) and then announced he had scheduled his delayed appendicitis surgery for November 3rd and would be skipping the ATP Paris Masters and the ATP World Tour Finals in London.

'It's the day to say goodbye to the season,'' Nadal said. ''It's been a very hard year for me, mentally and physically. I'm not going to play Paris and London, I'm not competitive enough for that. I need to do the surgery for my appendix and I need to work on my back.''I need five weeks of rest and I want to have one month to try to work as much as I can to be ready for 2015. The only way to work on being fit is to be healthy. I need to fix all the things in my body first.''

Although 2014 was a mediocre year overall for Nadal he still won a major (his record 9th French Open) so there's no reason to shed any tears for him! Nadal's departure from the tour should turn the focus on the battle between father of four Roger Federer and brand-new dad Novak Djokovic for the year-end #1 ranking. If Federer beats David Goffin tomorrow in the finals of Basel he will be a mere 500 points behind the World #1 as they both play the Paris and London tournaments.  Nadal's departure also means that it is more likely Andy Murray will qualify for the big show in London, and possible re-enter the conversation at the top of men's tennis.

Things could get interesting down the final stretch of the tennis season!

TENNIS TUESDAY: Li Na Retires, Ivanovic Wins 4th 2014 Title, Davis Cup Final Set For Lille

Li Na Retires

The big news this week (confirms the rumors from last week) is the official retirement of China's Li Na, which somewhat bizarrely, happened on the eve of the WTA holding a  $2-million tournament in her hometown of Wuhan with almost the entirety of the Top 20 making an appearance, including both Williams sisters, Maria Sharapova and many more top WTA stars.

Ivanovic Keeps Winning
Ana Ivanovic won her biggest (and fourth)  title of the year by defeating 2014 US Open finalist Caroline Wozniacki 6-2 7-6(2) to win the Toray Pan Pacific Open in Tokyo. Ivanovic has now won 52 matches in 2014, the most of her career and one of the best records on tour this year.

Location Of Davis Cup Final
The location of the Davis Cup Final showdown between Switzerland (featuring ATP Top 5 players Roger Federer and Stan Wawrinka) and France (featuring Gael Monfils, J-Wilfried Tsonga Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon) will happen in Lille, France November 21-23 in a stadium that holds 27,000 fans. The record for a Davis Cup match is the 2004 final between Spain and United States in 2004 (27,200). I suspect that record may fall!

2014 DAVIS CUP: Switzerland Versus France In Final Nov 21-23

For the first time in 22 years, Switzerland will be competing to take the Davis Cup home. They will face France, who is competing for its 10th Davis Cup. Switzerland has World #3 Roger Federer and World #4 Stan Wawrinka while France has 4 former (and future) Top 10 players at its disposal: Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Richard Gasquet and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. France beat defending champions Czech Republic 4-1 this weekend while Switzerland beat Italy 3-2 with Federer contributing two singles victories while sitting out the doubles.

The final will be played November 21-23.

2014 MONTE CARLO: Wawrinka Beats Federer in 3 Sets To Win 1st Masters Title

World #3 Stanislas Wawrinka confirmed his ascendancy into the elite of men's tennis by defeating Roger Federer 4-6 7-6(5) 6-2 in the finals of the 2014 ATP Monte Carlo Masters, becoming the first player on the ATP Tour to win 3 titles this year (Chennai and Melbourne). It was Wawrinka's 1st Masters 1000 title in 3 finals, and more importantly, his 2nd win in 15 meetings against Federer, both of which have occurred in Monte Carlo. To put this win in perspective, Wawrinka has only won 7 ATP tour titles (and is 7-9 in finals overall). Federer has won 78 (and is now 78-39 in tour finals).

Because he won (somewhat surprisingly, but Wawrinka has been surprising everyone all year) Wawrinka will retain the World #3 ranking and is actually at #1 in the ATP Emirates race to London at this moment. In other words, if he maintains this level of play all year long, he could become #1 at the end of the year. He is 6-0 against fellow Top 10 opponents this year, and 17-3 in matches played for the year.

Federer has now lost in the final of Monte Carlo four times (2006-2008 to Rafael Nadal) and has yet to win this title. He will remain at World #4 and leads the tour in number of match wins in 2004 (24-5 record).

Federer started well breaking serve in the 5th game and managing to nurse the break to a 6-4 first set win. In the second set he was broken in his first service game but broke back and held serve until a tiebreak. He fell behind 1-4 in the tiebreak and 3-6 but saved two set points before losing the tiebreaker 7-5. The third set was a disaster for Federer as his level dropped and Wawrinka's went up, going up 4-0 and 5-1 before closing out the third set 6-2. The stats tell the story.

The next big clay court Master's title is in Madrid, starting next weekend.

2014 MONTE CARLO: Federer Beats Injured Djokovic, Joins Wawrinka In Final

Roger Federer won his 34th meeting with Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-2 in the semifinals of the Monte Carlo Masters tournament, to reach the final of this tournament for the 4th time in his career. Djokovic was clearly hampered by his wrist injury and has said he will not be playing tennis for awhile:“How long, I don’t know. It’s really not in my hands anymore. I’m going to rest and see when it can heal 100 percent, then I will be back on the court."

Federer ended Djokovic's 15-match winning streak by defeating the defending Monte Carlo champion. Djokovic had two consecutive set points at 4-5 in the first set but after losing those chances the Serb never had another chance in the match again. Federer has never won this ATP Masters shield because Nadal defeated him in three consecutive finals from 2006-2008. However, Nadal suffered a shock defeat at the hands of David Ferrer in the quarterfinals. Stanislas Wawrinka destroyed Ferrer in the semifinal 6-1 7-6(3) and looks sharp.

Wawrinka is actually higher ranked than Federer right now, but he is 1-13 lifetime against his Swiss compatriot, with his sole winning result coming in Monte Carlo in 2009. Whomever wins their 15th match on Sunday will become the new World #3 and Swiss #1.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer (in 3 sets)

TENNIS TUESDAY: Davis Cup Semifinals Set: Switzerland v Italy, France v Czech Republic

The big news in the tennis world this weekend was the result of the Davis Cup quarterfinal ties which for the most part proceeded as I predicted when it was announced: Switzerland beat Kazakhstan 3-2 (a close result even though the Swiss team had two Top 5 players and the Kazakh team has no one in the Top 50), Italy (surprisingly) beat Great Britain 3-2, defending champion Czech Republic beat Japan 5-0 and France beat Germany 3-2.

Switzerland will face Italy and France will face the Czech Republic. I predict a Switzerland versus France showdown if Richard Gasquet, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Gael Monfils remain healthy.

Tennis Tuesday: Federer Back To World #4, Murray Down To #8

The new ATP rankings have continued good news for Roger Federer, who rejoined the Top 4 even though he lost in the quarterfinals of the Miami masters 1000 tournament to Kei Nishikori, who rose to #18. Tomas Berdych is up to a career-high World #5 and John Isner is up to World #9 now that Richard Gasquet has fallen out of the Top 10. Milos Raonic is now in the Top 10 and close behind him is Grigor Dimitrov at World #15. Raonic, Dimitrov and Nishikori are all part of the next generation of tennis players who are expected to dominate in the next 3-5 years after the Federer-Nadal-Djokovic era ends. Andy Murray falls to World #8 in the latest ratings.

On the women's side Maria Sharapova falls to #9 and has a lot of points to defend in the upcoming clay court season. My two favorite lefties, Petra Kvitova and Angie Kerber rose 2 spots each to World #6 and #7 respectively. Amazingly, Vika Azarenka is still at World #4 despite an injury which would have her out for a few more weeks.

Federer-Djokovic XXXII: Federer Wins in 3; Faces Berdych in Dubai Final

Roger Federer won his first clash with Novak Djokovic in over 18 months, by coming back from a set down to prevail 3-6 6-3 6-2 and claim his 3rd Top 10 win of 2014 (having beaten Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Andy Murray in Australia), one less than he had for all of last year. And the first to months of the year are not done yet! Djokovic is 0-2 against Top 10 players, both from Switerland (having lost to 2014 Austrailan Open champion Stanislas Wawrinka in the quarterfinals).

Federer improved to a 17-15 head-to-head versus Djokovic and  13-12 in hard court matches. The 4-time Dubai champion from serbia has yet to win a title in 2014 and Indian Wells starts next week. That's the first time that has happened since 2006. Either Federer or Djokovic has won 9 of the last 11 Dubai tournaments. Last year Berdych beat Federer in the semifinals and then lost to Djokovic in the final. Federer has a lifetime 11-6 record against Berdych but has lost their last two meetings.

TENNIS TUESDAY: Davis Cup Quarters Set Without Usual Suspects

This weekend the first round of Davis Cup occurred and there was a historic meeting between the United Kingdom and the United States featuring Andy Murray.

The usual suspects of Serbia, Spain and Argentina did not feature their top players (World #1 Rafael Nadal,World #2 Novak Djokovic and World #4 Juan Martin del Potro were no-shows this round.) 2-time defending champion Czech Republic defeated the Netherlands and will face Japan who is into the final 8 on the strength of one player: Kei Nishikori and the fact that Canada did not feature Milos Raonic.

In the Davis Cup quarterfinals the weekend of April 4th, Japan will face the Czechs, Switzerland will face Kazakhstan, France will face Germany and Great Britain will face Italy. Switzerland is the only country featuring two grand slam champions, even though both France and Spain have two top 10 players. Roger Federer has already committed to playing Davis Cup this year and if they win that round they would face the winner of the Great Britain-Italy match-up in the semifinals. Switzerland has never won the Davis Cup, although they made the final round way back in 1992.