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The Hit List, Nov. 4, 2009

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Looking into the Open: Analyzing Agassi's Book

At first glance, Andre Agassi's new autobiography, Open, is a fascinating account of a boy morphing from a psychologically beaten-down prodigy of an emotionally disturbed ex-boxer of a father into an intelligent, big-hearted sporting guru, until one gets into the meat of what the eight-time major champion is attempting to portray about his life. MORE

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TUESDAY, NOV. 17 - It’s official: Andy Roddick and his bum knee won't be able to make it to the ATP World Finals next week and he'll be replaced by Robin Soderling, who will make his debut. It’s the first time since 1986 that no American male has taken part in the season-ending tournament and now Wimbledon finalist Roddick has zero chance to end the year in the top 5.
With Soderling’s elevation, Jo Tsonga becomes the first-alternate. The rest of the eight man field includes Roger Federer, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro, Nikolay Davydenko and Fernando Verdasco.
The doubles field comprises Nestor/Zimonjic, Bryan/Bryan, Bhupathi/Knowles, Dlouhy/Paes, Kubot/Marach, Mirnyi/Ram, Cermak/Mertinak and Fyrstenberg/Matkowski.

Djokovic Looks Like London Favorite After Gutsy Title Win Over Monfils


SUNDAY, NOV. 15 - If he can manage to recover in the next week, Serbia's Novak Djokovic has to be called the favorite at the season-ending Nov. 22-29 ATP World Tour Finals in London.
In yet another outstanding performance by the 2008 Aussie Open champ, Djokovic won his first Masters shield of the year by out-gutting, out-thinking and out-stroking crowd favorite Gael Monfils 6-2, 5-7, 7-6 (3) at Bercy on Sunday.
The more aggressive and competent Djokovic has had quite a last two weeks, besting Roger Federer for the Basel title and then thrashing Rafael Nadal in the Paris semis and facing down a raucous crowd against Monfils. While the young Frenchman fought bravely, it was the Serbians’ ability to mix it up in the third set tiebreaker that won him the match. Not only is hitting his forehand harder, but he appears much more secure around the net now.
"It was incredibly tough," said Djokovic, who nailed 33 winners to 25 from Monfils and converted 20 of 29 net approaches. "Gael is very unpredictable. He was hitting the ball well and he's got a strong serve. I had to [dig deep], because in the last four finals that I've played this year in 1000 events I lost, so it was kind of in my head. I was thinking about it, and it wasn't a pleasant feeling, especially when I saw Gael getting into the rhythm more. Of course [the] big support of the crowd gave him even more motivation and more energy towards the end of the match. So I was kind of fighting him and fighting the big pressure of the crowd. I was trying to hold all my nerves. At the end of the match, I threw all my emotions out and was happy."
Monfils was playing his first Masters final and acquitted himself nicely, but still needs to be a bit more creative and focused when the big points come. "I managed to fight my way back into it and I nearly made it," he said. "It's a pity, really.”
The third ranked Djokovic will head to London with 7,910 points, well ahead of Andy Murray, who has 6 830 and will likely have to win the title to regain the No. 3 spot.
"I'm very happy that I managed to win a big tournament just two tournaments before the end of the season," said Djokovic. "Now I'm coming with a lot of confidence in London, and the only question is if I'm able to physically rest and get energy for that event."


Djokovic Crushes Rafa, to Meet Monfils

SATURDAY, NOV. 14 - It’s been a good year and a half since Novak Djokovic looked like he could seriously threaten for No.1, but after scalding Roger Federer for the Basel title and then wasting Rafael Nadal 6-2, 6-3 for a place in the Bercy Masters final, the Serbian appears to be a primetime contender once again.
Although he’s had a mediocre year at the Slams, the 22-year-old advanced to his fifth ATP final of the year with a 77-minute victory over Nadal. He leads the tour for match wins in 2009, with a 75-18 and has a 4-5 record in title matches. Some credit must go to his part-time coach Todd Martin, as Djokovic’s level and confidence has really improved since they began working together in the summer.
"There's not much to say about today's performance, except it was perfect," said Djokovic, who nailed 31 winners. "[It was] exactly the way I wanted it. I have done, tactically-wise, everything that I imagined to do and planned to do before the match. I was very aggressive. I was hitting winners from all over the court and really trying to keep that momentum going throughout the whole match. I didn't give him many chances to come back into the match."

Djokovic will face French favortite Gael Monfils, who took a delicious 6-4, 5-7, 6-4 win over Radek Stepanek. Monfils could put a sizeable cherry on his year by winning the title.

Djokovic is now 6-14 against Nadal, but doesn’t shy away from the Spaniard on hardcourts. Nadal has not won a title since May at Rome and is 945 points behind Roger Federer in the battle to be crowned year-end No. 1, meaning that he’ll likely have to win London. "He played very well," said Nadal. "He played unbelievable, in my opinion. I didn't play bad. That's the truth. But with this level of Novak’s, [it] is very difficult to play at this level, especially [on] this surface.”


Verdadco Qualifies for London as Tsonga, Soderling Fall; Rafa v. Djokovic

FRIDAY, NOV. 13 - Fernando Verdasco couldn’t have asked for two more competent players than Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic to secure him the final spot in the ATP World Tour Finals in London, Nov. 22-29.
On Friday at the Bercy Masters, Nadal played his most impressive match of the fall in knocking out local and defending champ Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-5, 7-5 by winning 12 out of the last 13 points of the second set.
Prior to that, Djokovic survived Soderling’s inside the baseline blitz with a 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory. Combined with Fernando Gonzalez’s retirement to Juan Martin Del Potro on Thursday night, Verdasco now joins the eight-player field that includes Roger Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Andy Murray, del Potro, Andy Roddick and Nikolay Davydenko.
However, Roddick, who has been troubled by a knee injury and just began light jogging a few days ago and can’t be considered definitive for the competition, which means that Soderling, who is in ninth place in the points race, and Tsonga, who finished 10th, still have a chance to compete as they will head to London as alternates.
Nadal, who still has an outside chance of finishing the year as No. 1, broke the on-rushing Tsonga to win the match in a beautiful return game. While Tsonga competed hard this year, he really didn’t show much improvement overall.
"I played a lot better today," said Nadal, who struggled in his previous two long matches. "I was really focused all the time and played well at important moments. This is positive and gives me a lot of confidence." Nadal will play a tired Djokovic in the semis. The Serbian took out Federer at Basel last week.

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