With only the Davis Cup final between Spain and Argentina left to play, the tennis year came to an end with Novak Djokovic's victory over Nikolai Davydenko in the final of the Tennis Master's Cup in Shanghai. Djokovic won the Australian Open in January, so the season has come full circle with the Serb winning the first and last big tournaments of the year, regardless of my thoughts on the relevance of the end-of-season championships.
Djokovic's form had been patchy in the weeks building up to the tournament, and he was far from convincing in Shanghai but produced an excellent display against Davydenko in the final. The Russian makes very few errors and makes his opponents win matches, instead of him losing them. And that's exactly what Djokovic did, his forehand packing the punch of the beginning of the year.
That Djokovic's form had been inconsistent may have helped his fitness in Shanghai. Roger Federer looked in need of a rest and a boost in confidence, and Andy Murray looked very tired against Davydenko in their semi-final.
As for my pre-tournament thoughts, Roddick pulled out after one match, but Gilles Simon made the last four and Davydenko the final and none of the form players reaching the final- Rafa Nadal failed to make the starting line. Possibly a little too predictable in that case because I have seen this happen before in the Master's Cup with strange finalists in particular. Some of the matches- Federer against Murray as I blogged on in particular- did bring the tournament alive however.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Too much talk of tennis, not enough of wrestling. Now that is a real sport
OH YEAHHHHHHHH
Post a Comment