Right well it has been a long time since I've updated this blog so I thought I would finally get to it and have a quick update on what's been happening in the ATP/WTA tour.
OK so starting with the lasses, we had in recent weeks the Asian swing of the ladies tour, which started with the China open in Beijing, which was the last Premier mandatory event of the season, for which there was a 1000 points up for grabs for the winner. And the eventual winner turned out to be none other than Serena Williams, the world No.1, who won the 10th title of the year against Jelena Jankovic in the final as she won with an emphatic 6-2, 6-2 scoreline. Serena's achievement in Beijing was in itself remarkable purely because she had been suffering from back pain and the fact that she was able to pull through shows just how good she is even when she isn't playing her best. And it also sees her taken an emphatic lead over any of her competitors and the current world no.2, Victoria Azarenka who trails an increidble 5000 points behind her! So with the WTA Championships next up for Serena in Istanbul, where she is the defending champion, it will be difficult to see anyone get near her or knock her off the top spot anytime soon.
In other tournament events on the ladies we had some good results such as in the HP Open in Osaka, where Sam Stosur in the final battled from a set down against Eugenie Bouchard to win her 2nd title of the year with a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory. It was great to see Sam Stosur win another title again as she has suffered a real drought in her career and it was two years between her US Open title and her first title of the season in Carlsbad in California earlier this year, so it will see her finish her year in fine form, which isn't quite over yet as she will next play the Kremlin cup in Moscow, where she was last year's finalist losing out to Caroline Wozniacki in a closely fought contest, so maybe she could do a hattrick, but we will see.
Also last week in Austria we had the Generali Ladies in Linz in which Angelique Kerber had a great as she not only walked away with the title but she also secured her place in the WTA Championships as she nabbed the last place in the top eight to play in Istanbul. Its also good to see that Kerber is back on form as she had taken a dip in form this year after her stellar rise last season up the rankings. And in the final Kerber was given a stern test from the former Linz champion, Ana Ivanovic as she was pushed hard by the Serb but eventually came through in 6-4, 7-6(6). Kerber was set to play in Moscow this week but she was forced to pull out with abdominal injury so no doubt she will saving herself for the big finale in Istanbul, where we will just need to wait and see what impact she can make on the other seven players.
So now onto the men's starting with the bad news for Andy Murray who decide shortly after his Davis cup triumph for Great Britain in securing their team a place back in the world group, to undergo back surgery to correct a disc problem in his lower back, which had aggravated his back injury for nearly two years. This decision was undoubtedly the right one for Andy as he has to consider his careeer for the long term and in undergoing the surgery it will hopefully ensure it will stay corrected. And as a result of his surgery and rehab recovery time, Andy has been forced to withdraw from the events for the rest of the season, which includes the ATP world tour finals at the o2 arena in London, which is pity, but undoubtedly the right decision. But Andy however has said he will hope to be ready again for an exhibition event in Barbados, the dream cup at the end of November, which will be a four man event including Juan Martin Del Potro, Richard Gasquet and Nicolas Almagro as well as the Abu Dhabi exhbition event at the end of the year in December. So let's hope the Muzza will recover real soon for those events.
Now for the men's atp tour events, starting with the China open at which Novak Djokovic, now the former World No.1, lost the top spot to Rafa afer the Spaniard managed to reach the final of the event, as did Nole. And given Rafa's hot form in 2013 you would expect with having reached 13 finals out of the 14 tournaments that he has played in this year that he would emerge victorious here. However Nole had other ideas as he has been unbeaten in China since 2010 (he didn't play in 2011 where Tomas Berdych won) and he managed to continue that run as he put in a superb display of serving, as Rafa for the first time in quite a while faltered badly and before we knew it Nole served it out to win in 6-3, 6-4. This was Nole's 4th title of the year and it saw him get back on form after suffering a dip in form since losing to Rafa at the French Open earlier this year in their epic semi final.
And Nole managed to continue his fine form in Shanghai at the Rolex Masters where he was also the defending champion after he defeated Andy Murray last year in an amazing final. And in the final this year we were treated to a real cracker, as Novak reached the final again and despite Rafa being the odds on favourite opponent for him, it was big Juan Martin Del Potro that put in a stunning performance which knocked out Rafa in straight sets to reach the final. And in the final Nole as expected came out firing as he blasted past Delpo as tore him up to nab a double break to close out the first set. In the 2nd set however Nole literally started to wobble on serve as he played a bizarre service game which gave Delpo the chance he needed to get himself back in the match as he broke to move ahead with a 3-0 lead. After this Delpo managed to consolidate his break and he ended up serving out the second set with relative ease to level the match and take it to a decider. And the decider proved to be a thrilling contest between both men with not much in at all, and even Delpo defied the odds as he managed to rescue his serve at 4-5 down being 15-40 own on his serve, giving Djoko two championship points. However in the end as play was pushed to a final set tiebreak it was Djokovic that took the initative and he ended Delpo's hopes of winning his first Masters title for a third time with a superb 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) victory.
This really was a terrific match between two great players, and it shows along with Stan Wawrinka that Del Potro also poses a serious threat to the Serb. And Del Potro himself deserves a great deal of credit for his performance in this final as he gave it his absolute all and I was pretty gutted for him myself that he came up short in the end, especially as he has been fighting so hard in his career to win that elusive Masters title. And in a way seems a bit funny that as Delpo has already won a grand slam, it almost feels like winning a Masters is more important to him. But I'm sure Del Potro will have many more chances ahead of him to win his first Masters title and with the last one of the season ahead in Paris, he might just end up taking it. Del Potro also in having reached the final of Shanghai has secured his place in the ATP world tour finals at the o2 in London so it will be great to see how he will do there as well, and given his current form he is sure to do some real damage there.
As for Nole well his victory in Shanghai contines to show he is back on form, just like he did last year as he regrouped toward the end of the season, and so far he has defending two out of the three title he has played at so far in this part of the tour, and all he needs to do is defend at the o2. And in between that is the Paris Masters where Novak suffered an early exit last year but this year he has chance to make some extra points which might help him in his quest to regain the No.1 spot but that will still all depend on how Rafa will do. And it has to be said in the last two tournaments Rafa has taken a slight dip in form, so just maybe the effects of his hugely successful season are starting to catch up with him, so time will tell how well he will respond for the reaminder of the year in Basel, Paris and London.
And lastly for Roger Federer well its safe to say that he is having the worst season of his career in the last ten years or so, as this year alone he has failed to win a major and has suffered a worrying lapse in form in the majors at Wimbledon and the US Open where he went out early on. This has also affected him in the tour events as well as this week alone he suffered another early exit at the hands of Gael Monfils, who beat him in three sets. And Roger has also announced his split with his coach Paul Annaconne, whom he has worked with for the last three years, as I'd imagine he felt he needed a change of direction, however whether or not that will make any difference to his game or not seems doubtful. Perhaps at this point in his career Roger just has to face up to the fact that his best days are behind him and while its impossible to write him off, it will be tough to see him make another strong comeback like he did last year.
Anywayyyy that's it for now, more to follow on the WTA championships which are not far away now as they start next week in Istanbul, which sees the full line up of Serena Williams, Victoria Azarenka, Agnieszka Radwanska, Petra Kvitova, Sara Errani, Jelena Jankovic, Li Na and Angelique Kerber. Now that is quite a line up to look forward to!
So until then bye for now.
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