Since bursting into the spotlight at the end of 2012 when he made the finals of the Paris Masters beating Andy Murray, Janko Tipsarevic, Gilles Simon and Marin Cilic along the way Jerzy Janowicz’s ranking has skyrocketed to number 26 in the world.
Jerzy, who didn’t play the 2012 Australian Open because he couldn’t afford the flight, now says he’s enjoying a much more comfortable life since Paris. Read more
Roger Federer has won his first Paris title defeating Jo Wilfried Tsonga 6-1, 7-6. The only hiccup for Federer on his way to his second title in as many weeks was the night time activity of one of his twin daughters.
“It happened many times that she wakes me up in the night this year, but I was not 25 times in the final. I was hoping that during the night it would go well, but suddenly I was running with Mirka in the room to see if everything was okay. And she said, ‘Let’s take her in our bed.’ I said, ‘Okay, let’s do that.’ I didn’t even question this. I just said okay. I can’t have a fight at 4:00 in the morning with her.” Read more
Roger Federer has had a phenomenal career. Overnight Federer notched up his 799th career win by defeating Richard Gasquet in Paris 6-2, 6-4. If he wins his next match on Friday he will be just the seventh player in history to reach 800+ wins.
To give you an idea about how difficult it is to acrew 799 wins, Novak Djokovic has won anything and everything this season and coming into Paris he was 67-4. So even if you won 10 titles in a year, as Djokovic has done, it would still take almost 12 years to get 800 wins. Federer turned pro in 1998 so you do the maths – it’s bloody impressive. Read more
Posted in Juan Monaco, Media, Novak Djokovic, Paris Bercy, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer
There was some questions about if Novak Djokovic’s shoulder would be able to recover enough to allow him to play in Paris. There were even more questions wondering if the Serbian star would put in a serve, or maybe even risk further damage to his shoulder for $1.6 million. Novak has already won $10 million in prize money this year but stood to receive the hefty bonus-pool payout if he showed up in Paris.
As Djokovic was having an injury time out during the recent Shanghai Masters $400,000 was deducted from the initial $2 million offer. Read more
Posted in Injury, Ivan Dodig, Kei Nishikori, Novak Djokovic, Paris Bercy
Roger Federer has defeated Kei Nishikori in Basel 6-1, 6-3 to win his second title of the season and fifth Basel title. It is Federer’s first title since he won Doha at the beginning of the season and ends a long tour drought for the Swiss Maestro.
Nishikori was disappointing with his performance but delighted to have his first opportunity to play the former world number one. “I tried to fight but Roger would not let me into the match. I’m very glad to have played the final. It’s always been one of my goals to play Roger.” Read more
Posted in Basel, Doha, Kei Nishikori, Paris Bercy, Roger Federer, World Tour Finals
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After Gael Monfils defeated Roger Federer in the Paris semi finals in three tie break sets he was unable to claim the title on home ground, losing to Robin Soderling 6-1, 7-6. The title was Soderlings first Masters 1000 title, his 6th ATP title and the second time in as many years that Gael Monfils has been pipped at the post in Paris.
The win means that Soderling will overtake Andy Murray in the rankings and claim a career high place of number 4.
Soderling also trumped Monfils just recently in Valencia and was in fine form as he took on the home crowd favourite, Monfils unable to disrupt the Swedes rhythm. Compared to the semi finals however, the match was lacking the intensity to make it a truly great final. In the semi’s both players were pushed to the edge, being forced to save eight match points between them.
“This is great. I think I played very good last week, and this week, too, on a surface that’s pretty similar to what it’s going to be in London. And of course I played a lot of good players this week. It gives me a lot of confidence. I think playing in any Masters, when you play the top players of the world, every match can be a Grand Slam final.
I think you need to believe in yourself, and I think that can make a big change. I’m feeling really good right now, and I’m going to have one or two days of rest and prepare for London. I mean, it’s a great feeling, because now I really feel like I can do well on every surface. That’s what you have to be able to do if you want to be on top of this game. All the top players, all the Top 10 guys can play well on every surface. I think if you look at Rafa, he’s an unbelievably good player, but maybe a couple years ago he was much better on clay; now he plays so well on every surface. That’s why he’s No. 1. I’m really happy that I can handle every surface.
No. 5 is not bad. I think No. 4 is a little bit better. It’s going the right way. Of course, now my goal is to be No. 3, and then we’ll see. But it’s not easy. I have to keep on playing really well. But I think if I can play like this, I think I have a good chance to stay in the top. I’m glad I didn’t know this was going to happen before the match. I didn’t sleep very well last night anyway, very nervous. But now my goal is to be No 3. I think I can handle every surface now.”
Posted in Andy Murray, Gael Monfils, Paris Bercy, Robin Soderling, Roger Federer
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Andy Roddick has successfully booked a place in the quarterfinals in Paris after defeating Ernests Gulbis 6-3, 7-6.
Roddick got off to a flying start, breaking Gulbis in his opening service game as the Latvian made numerous careless errors. Roddick then stumbled on his own serve before a perfect lob got him back into the game, allowing him to take a 3-0 lead. At 4-2 Roddick pushed a put-away volley into the net giving Gulbis a break back point, however and wayward forehand from Gulbis gave Roddick a 5-2 lead. It wasn’t long before Roddick took the first set 6-3.
Gulbis produced some flashes of colourful brilliance, flattening balls out and hitting with incredible pace to surprise Roddick with the change up, but ultimately Roddick wanted it more and Gulbis looked to lack inspiration. Both players made some spectacular net play, with Andy charging down numerous drop shots and placing them with precision depth cross court.
With the advantage of serving first Gulbis managed to force Roddick to continually play catch up as his service percentages improve. However, Roddick was up to the challenge forcing a tiebreak.
A poorly timed double fault, and numerous bad challenges gave Roddick an early lead in the tiebreak before he lost his first match point after a long teasing rally. Andy then stepped up and recovered from being set point down, once again saved by his big serving, showing no fear on the big points. Roddick again chased down another drop shot from Gulbis, only just managing to get it for a 9-8 lead, Gulbis receiving a code violation for launching another ball into the crowd in frustration.
Before long a fist pumping Roddick was through to the quarter finals and another step closer to the year end finals in London.
Posted in Andy Roddick, Ernests Gulbis, Paris Bercy
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Andy Roddick has has a great start in the final Masters 1000 in Paris, thumping Jarrko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4 in just over an hour.
Roddick got off to an incredible start, with Nieminen only able to return five of Roddick serves in the first set. In fact, Roddick served so well that he didn’t face a break point, didn’t serve any double faults and produced 9 aces. Andy also broke his opponent in his opening game, quickly finding his way to a 3-0 lead.
Roddick continued to dominate throughout the second set. Nieminen was slightly more competitive in the second set, being aided by his improved first serve percentage.
Roddick was happy with his dominating performance. “Every match I win is significant at this point. It puts more pressure on the guys behind me. I have a pretty good shot no matter how I do here this week. But I think the last thing you want to do is be in that position where you’re at home cheering against somebody hoping that something bad happens to them. You’d like to win it, do it on your own terms, and that’s something that I’d certainly like to do.”
Roddick will now play Ernest Gulbis in a third round match that has the potential to be great.
Posted in Andy Roddick, Ernests Gulbis, Jarkko Nieminen, Paris Bercy
After receiving an award recently from the Real Madrid Foundation for his charitable work, Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from the finals Masters of the year, Paris, citing tendinitis in his shoulder as his reason. Read more
Posted in Charity, Injury, Paris Bercy, Rafael Nadal
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Juan Martin del Potro has announced that he will not defend his US Open title. Del Potro has not played a professional match since the Australian Open where he fell in the fourth round, in five sets, to Marin Cilic. He had been complaining of writs pain at the end of the 2009 season and withdrew from the Kooyong Classic in an attempt to preserve himself for the AO.
When conservative management failed, del Potro underwent wrist surgery in the States recently before returning to Argentina to continue his rehab.
“If all goes well, I’d return after the U.S. Open. The tournament is and always will be very special for me, all my life but I don’t want to rush things. If I have to return next year or at Paris Bercy, I will. Thankfully, I’ve already undergone the operation and everything went well. Now I just have to recover. I don’t want to get desperate in rehab and I’m comfortable with the fact that if I do my time I’ll be playing again on the circuit.”
Posted in Australian Open, Injury, Juan Martin Del Potro, Kooyong Classic, Marin Cilic, Paris Bercy
