Dimitrov Wins Maiden Title in Stockholm

Well I'm back from my week long hiatus to update you on what has transpired the last week in the tennis world. The biggest news is that promising upcoming youngster Grigor Dimitrov won his first ATP title in Stockholm. There has always been a lot of hype surrounding him because he is no doubt a very talented player, and perhaps to some extent he has not quite delivered on that promise. I personally thought his relationship with Sharapova is not necessarily helping his tennis.

Especially since there is a rumor about Sharapova being pregnant currently running around. But surely him and Sharapova are not stupid enough to let that happen at this point. They both still have too much tennis ahead in their lives to have to deal with a kid right now, especially Dimitrov. I hope it's not true because I'd like to see Dimitrov fulfill his potential, whatever that is. But maybe I have been a bit too hard on Dimitrov as well. After today I have a lot more hope for his tennis.

I thought he would make a bigger breakthrough this year after some good results, but then he kind of disappointed me. His results at slams was mostly the thing that bothered me because his best result was a 3rd round at Roland Garros. But in beating world #3 Ferrer 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 today my hopes have been restored. I didn't think he could pull it off especially after losing the 1st set, but to his credit he proved me wrong.

It was an impressive fightback and I enjoyed this match. It was a good contrast of styles between a grinder and a gifted shot maker. Even after losing the 2nd set I thought Ferrer would still prevail, so I am very impressed and happy with this performance from Dimitrov. Getting that first title under the belt is always a big deal. Maybe Dimitrov is not progressing as fast as I had hoped for, but those are unnecessary expectations anyway.

Dimitrov has not progressed as fast as the hype made you believe he would, and maybe he also felt overwhelmed by all that hype. The important thing is that he is slowly but surely moving up. Sure he is 22 now and not like Federer who had already won 3 slams at that age, but who says he is the next Federer anyway? Again those are unnecessary expectations that was thrust upon him. As long as he gradually improves like he has been for the last few years I still think he can be very good.

Who knows exactly how good but from what I've seen I'd say he certainly has the potential to win multiple slams. As a Fedfan I find him great to watch and in a game that is dominated by base line grinders and serve bots, someone like Dimitrov is a breath of fresh air. Lets just hope Sharapova is not pregnant because that can really interfere with his progress. And there is still plenty of time. Players seem to peak later these days anyway.

As for the other two events Gasquet won Moscow as he should have, while Haas won his second title of the year in Vienna. Nice to see that all the tournament winners this week had one-handed backhands. Who said the one-hander was dead? Gasquet was expected to win Moscow and he needed to in order to keep his hopes alive in qualifying for London, but in the end he was lucky to win the title 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 against Kukushkin. He looked nervous from the start and dropped the 1st set.

In the 3rd set he was a break down at 3-4 before Kukushkin missed a sitter overhead to get broken back. Kukushkin dropped serve again serving to stay in the match, clearly choking at the thought of his first ATP title. So I thought Gaquet was lucky and really didn't do anything special to win the title. I also think if it is close between him and Tsonga or Federer in qualifying for London he will find a way to choke. Tsonga lost in the semis of Vienna though and had his knee strapped again.

So he may not even be healthy for London. Raonic lost in the quarters of Stockholm as well which didn't help his chances of qualifying, and has subsequently withdrawn from Basel. So it looks like a 4-man race for the last 3 spots in London now. Stan and Fed looks pretty good to qualify I think and they will of course be in action in Basel this week. So will Gasquet. You can view the Basel draw here. I think Fed and Stan will probably qualify for London while Tsonga or Gasquet will fill up the remaining spot.

But of course anything can still happen. The last event this week which was played in Vienna was won 6-3, 4-6, 6-4 by Haas against Haase in the final. I thought Haas was lucky to get by Rosol in the semis because Rosol looked like the better player the whole match, but then in the final tie break he went down 0-6, broke his racquet, and received a point penalty to get bageled in the breaker. Really strange that. But credit to Haas for winning despite not playing his best this week.

They all count and Haas now has more titles than Federer this year. Fed will hope to win his second title of the year in Basel this week after having won his home title 5 times already. He has also lost in the final there twice in the last 7 years. So it has been a successful hunting ground for him and as good a place as any to win another title in a year that he has struggled a lot. I wouldn't bet any money on it though. I think Federer will be happy if he can just get a couple of wins under his belt.

And if he can do that while Dimitrov does the same, we will have our first Dimitrov/Fed encounter. I can easily see either player lose before the quarters though, so don't hold your breath. It should be a very interesting event anyway and will tell us more about who will fill the final spots in London. Paris will ultimately decide that though. The other event this week which is also an ATP 500 is in Valencia where Ferrer will be top seed again.

There is more news like Nadal's withdrawal from Basel and him and Djokovic's battle for the year end #1, but this post as already gotten too long. I will try to keep you updated throughout the week and focus most of my attention on Basel. Take care.

Full Dimitrov/Ferrer match:

 

Dimitrov Interview: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2013/10/42/Stockholm-Final-Ferrer-Dimitrov.aspx#ooid=9yNG40Zzo9CDR1ZZTzbwvwNuehE6yUUg

Djokovic Denies Del Potro, Wins 2nd Shanghai Title

Well it's a shame Del Potro could not finally win a Masters Series title, but he came as close as he's ever been. Also congrats to Djokovic who won 6-1, 3-6, 7-6(3) and continues to impress post US Open with a second consecutive Shanghai title. It's ironic that Nadal dominated until he became #1 and then lost in consecutive tournaments for the first time this year. Djokovic on the other hand seems to have gotten motivation from being displaced at the top of the rankings.

Djokovic is 400 points behind Nadal which is not that much but of course Nadal has nothing to defend until after the Australian Open next year, while Djokovic can't gain any points in Melbourne. From then on Nadal will have loads of points to defend and probably it won't be too long before Djokovic passes him again. I don't see Nadal making an awful lot of points in the indoor season either. He has Basel, Paris, and London left.

The question is whether he will play both Basel and Paris. I don't think he wants to pull out of either, but playing three weeks in a row will be tough and he would want to give it his best shot in London for his first Masters Cup title. He will probably give it his all in Basel and lose around quarters in Paris. The surface there doesn't suit him and the last time he played there was in 2009. I'm not sure he can win any more titles this year.

He is not great indoors and in Basel the field is pretty strong. As far as London goes Murray is not playing and Federer may not even qualify. Even if he does qualify he is not the player he was in previous years. So there is an outside chance for Nadal but it's a long shot. He'd have to avoid Djokovic for one. Then there is Del Potro as well. In fact anyone can be a danger to Nadal indoors. As for the Australian Open next year that should reveal a lot.

But let me get back to today. I think Del Potro was still hung over from his match against Nadal and was a bit flat in the first set, while Djokovic came out in blistering form. Del Potro came alive in the 2nd set and broke Djokovic in his opening service game. He consolidated on serve and held on to his serve for the rest of the set to take it 6-3, even though he faced two break points at 4-2 and 15-40. On to the decider and it was a classic between these two heavy weights.

There were some tremendous rallies and I was reminded of their Wimbledon semi-final which was the best match I saw this year. Del Potro saved two set points at 4-5 and 15-40 and they headed into the breaker where Djokovic just edged it. As was the case at Wimbledon Djokovic just had the slightest of edges, while Del Potro was playing catch up from the start. Hardly anything to choose between the two though and it was a great final.

On a side note Djokovic was acting very weird today and looked very unstable on his feet. No idea what that was all about but it was funny as hell anyway. He has annoyed me a bit of late with his attitude but he remains a character, and the game at 0-1 in the 2nd set with Djokovic serving was pure entertainment. I posted it below so take a look. Just hilarious. Well this coming week is the 250 events in Moscow, Vienna, and Stockholm.

I made a mistake in my last post when I said Wawrinka is playing three more events. He withdrew from Moscow so that leaves only two events for him. That makes the race even more interesting and Gasquet, Raonic, and Tsonga all have chances to improve their probability of qualifying for London this coming week in Moscow, Stockholm, and Vienna respectively. I will try to follow the action and keep you updated. Exciting month of tennis ahead!

Highlights:

Del Potro Smashes Nadal for Place in Shanghai Final

Well I have missed some posts but I am back to update you on the semi-final action in Shanghai today, as well as a preview for the final between Djokovic and Del Potro. But first let me get back to a few of the most important results in the two days that I missed. Federer lost to Monfils in the 3rd round which hurt his chances to qualify for London. Luckily for him his friend Stan beat Raonic which means that Raonic doesn't get closer to Federer in the race, even though Stan is now 5 points ahead of Fed in the race.

Stan lost in the next round to Nadal so he didn't open up more space between him and Fed, and even though he took Nadal to 12-10 in the 1st set tie break, he was bread sticked in the next set which means he still hasn't won a set against Nadal in 10 meetings. Gasquet also lost in the 1st round which was more help to Federer in qualifying for London, and it doesn't look like Federer is going to play Vienna after there were rumors that he would.

I would have thought that it would be a good idea because it would certainly increase his chances of qualifying for London, which he himself admitted is extremely important to him. But who knows what is going on with Fed right now. His tennis as well as his decisions have been somewhat confusing of late. Monfils also lost 6-4 in the 3rd to Djokovic after beating Federer, and he once again showed what an underachiever he is. I mean it was a great tournament for him, but it reminded me of how much better he can be.

Anyway the same goes for all French players so it's not anything new. The last Frenchman who was left in the draw is Tsonga, who lost 6-2, 7-5 to Djokovic today. Djokovic has now not lost to a French player since 2010. Tsonga's run to the semi-finals puts him right back in touch with Stan, Fed, and Gasquet for the race to London. In fact he passes Gasquet and these four players are now all clumped very closely together in the race, with Raonic just a little further back.

Murray announced his withdrawal from London as well which leaves three places for London after Del Potro and Berdych. Anyone of Stan, Fed, Tsonga, Gasquet, and Raonic can still fill those places. It is going to be really close. Stan looks good for a place because he is in good form and has three events left. Fed and Tsonga are the only guys with two events left. Tsonga is in better form but he has Vienna and Paris left, while Fed has Basel and Paris left.

Basel has historically been one of Federer's better events and there are more points on offer than in Vienna. On the other hand Paris has been one of Tsonga's best events. Gasquet is playing Moscow this week where he is top seed and could win the title. Raonic is playing Stockholm which has a stronger field but he could win the title there as well. Probably in the end Raonic will miss out and any one of Federer, Tsonga, and Gasquet. But like I say it's going to be extremely close.

Well I spent all this time talking about the race and didn't talk about the title of my post yet. It's been a very good two weeks from Del Potro, which is good to see because consistency is something he struggles with. Last week he won Tokyo of course and today he blasted Nadal off the court 6-2, 6-4 with vicious serving and ground strokes. His first serve percentage was as high as it gets at 80% and he was absolutely drilling his ground strokes, especially that massive forehand.

And of course he has the balls to close it out against Nadal when the opportunity presents itself. It takes a special player and performance to beat Nadal like this, especially with the way he has been playing of late. It wasn't a bad performance from Nadal at all. He won 6/8 points at the net and made 70% 1st serves. He also served 5 double faults and hit 0 aces, but that is because Del Potro put a lot of pressure on him and he has such a long reach.

You only play as well as your opponent allows you to, and today Nadal was utterly outplayed by the better player. It is as simple as that. It has not been the greatest of ways for Nadal to return to #1, has it? He first got routined by Djokovic in the Beijing final and now by Del Potro in Shanghai. I guess he was never meant to be #1, not for extended periods of time anyway. He is not the dominant type because he is a defensive counter puncher who waits for the mistakes of his opponents.

Federer and Sampras were attacking #1's who took the initiative and players were not able to dominate them the way Del Potro dominated Nadal today. Of course it is not the first time it has happened either. Del Potro plays Djokovic in the final like I said and Djokovic holds a 9-3 advantage in the head-to-head. I won't be particularly surprised if Del Potro wins this however. It was an incredible performance against Nadal today and he may just be due for his first Masters Series title.

He certainly deserves it. He already deserved it in Indian Wells where he beat Murray and Djokovic and then just ran out of steam against Nadal in the final set. The guy is just to good not to have won a Masters Series title. I like Del Potro a lot and hope he can win more slams in the future as well. Anyway it looks like Nadal is fading towards the end of the year like I predicted and it will be interesting to see how he fares in the rest of the indoor season.

Ill be back after the final tomorrow!

Live race rankings: http://live-tennis.eu/race

Highlights: