Novak Djokovic Is Still Perfect in Beijing - Mondays with Bob Greene

Mondays with Bob Greene

STARS

Maria Sharapova beat Petra Kvitova 6-4 2-6 6-3 to win the China Open women’s singles in Beijing, China

Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych 6-0 6-2 to win the China Open men’s singles in Beijing, China

Kei Nishikori beat Milos Raonic 7-6 (5) 4-6 6-4 to win the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships in Tokyo, Japan

David Goffin beat Steve Darcis 6-3 6-3 to win the Ethias Trophy in Mons, Belgium

Sam Querrey beat Stefan Kozlov 6-3 6-4 to win the Sacramento Challenger in Sacramento, California, USA

SAYING

“It was incredible. Incredible. Especially against Tomas, w3ho has a big game and is already an experienced player. It was 6-0 560 in under an hour. Everything I tried worked. To be proud of the performance is the least I can say of how I played tonight.” – Novak Djokovic, following his rout of Tomas Berdych to win his fifth China Open title.

“I met somebody in the final who I’ve never seen before. The way that he performed today was really outstanding. There is really not much I can add to that because, really, I was just swept off the court.” – Tomas Berdych, after losing to Novak Djokovic in the China Open men’s final.

“It’s never easy playing against Petra. You don’t always quite get a good rhythm. She goes for a lot of shots, very deep, and she’s a very good, confident player. … It’s probably the toughest opponent you can face in a final, that’s had that success, yet you just want to focus on your side, what you do best.” – Maria Sharapova, after beating Petra Kvitova to win the China Open.

“Yeah, I was tired, but it was a final, and every time I’m playing a final I’m giving everything I have inside.” – Petra Kvitova, following her China Open final loss to Maria Sharapova.

“If I had lost the tiebreak, I might have screwed up the whole match. He started aggressively and I think it was one of my toughest games against Milos.” – Kei Nishikori, after beating Milos Raonic in the Japan Open final for the second time in three years.

“It is disappointing to lose in my third straight final. To be honest with you, other than the first year (2012), I felt I created my opportunities.” – Milos Raonic, after losing in the Japan Open final for the third straight years.

“Always when you are outside for a few months, as I said the other day, is not the same as if you are coming back the next season that everybody starts from zero. You are coming back now, and the other players are on the road, are in rhythm. Physically you feel more tired.” – Rafael Nadal, after being upset in the China Open quarterfinals.

“It’s really frustrating, especially from here. This is a really big tournament for me. I’m defending champ.” – Serena Williams, after pulling out of the China Open quarterfinals because of a left knee injury.

SERBIAN MASTER

Novak Djokovic continues to be perfect in Beijing. The Serb raced through the entire week without dropping a set, then completely outclassed Tomas Berdych in the final to win his fifth consecutive Beijing title. The 6-0 6-2 score doesn’t reflect how one-sided it was. Djokovic led 6-0 5-0 before Berdych regained a little pride to go along with his awe. “I just said to my coach now that I probably played over 700 matches in my career, and I met guys like Andre, Roger, all those probably in their best times. But I have never ever experienced anything like that,” Berdych said. Djokovic added this year’s trophy to his previous Beijing titles in 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013. Even Djokovic was impressed with his latest victory, saying it was “probably the best performance of any final in my career.” It was Djokovic’s ATP World Tour-best fifth tour-level title of the year and 46^th of his career. And the 27-year-old has never been in finer form. “It was incredible,” he said. “I have played some great finals, had some convincing wins, some straight-set wins against top rivals. But with this kind of performance and with this domination result-wise, I mean it’s never happened.” Less than an hour after they began playing, Djokovic served for the match at 6-0 5-0. Berdych, who had already offered his racquet to a ball boy in desperation, captured the next two games before succumbing. Even in losing to the top-ranked Djokovic, Berdych moved up to seventh in the world rankings.

SINO SUCCESS

For the second time in three years, Kei Nishikori has captured the Japan Open, proving to his home fans that his US Open runner-up finish was no fluke. On the other hand, Milos Raonic is still seeking his first Japan Open crown after being in his third straight Tokyo final. “After the US Open it was hard to maintain the motivation,” Nishikori admitted. “Being the first final of a Grand Slam was my dream, so it was tough to change mentally. Since the 24-year-old became the first Asian-born man to reach a Grand Slam singles final, he has now won two titles, capturing the Malaysian Open the week before his Japan Open success. “It has been incredible and I think this is the first time I have won two weeks in a row,” said Nishikori, who played through hip and lower back problems to win in Tokyo. With rain from Typhoon Phanfone lashing the area, the final was played under the closed roof of the Ariake Coliseum. Nishikori has now beaten Raonic in three of their four meetings this year, including the US Open semifinals.

SHARAPOVA PREVAILS

Maria Sharapova prevailed in a battle of 2014 Grand Slam tournament champions to win the China Open women’s singles and move up to number two in the WTA world rankings. The reigning French Open winner lost her serve to begin the match, but finally prevailed in the 2-hour, 28-minute battle. “It was a bit of an up-and-down match, I’d say, maybe not the best out of the tournament,” Sharapova said of the three-set win. The Russian right-hander broke Kvitova twice to claim the first set, before the Wimbledon winner captured the second, forcing the decisive third set. “She became the more aggressive player in the second set,” Sharapova said of her Czech opponent. “I think I took a few too many steps back and let her play that way.” Sharapova raised her game to take a 5-3 lead before capturing her fourth title this year when Kvitova buried a return into the net. The four WTA titles this year ties Sharapova with Ana Ivanovic for second-most, behind US Open champion Serena William, who leads the tour with six. “What I did today was a great battle,” Kvitova said. “It was small things and small points that made the difference in the end. I had some chances, but Maria just didn’t let them go.”

SHOCKED

True, it was Rafael Nadal’s first tournament since missing three months with an injury. But the left-handed Spaniard wasn’t supposed to lose to qualifier Martin Klizan in the China Open quarterfinals. Showing signs of tiredness, Nadal won just two points in the last four games of his 6-7 (7) 6-4 6-3 loss to the world’s 56^th-ranked player. Seeded second, Nadal had won the tiebreak and was leading 4-3 in the second set before Klizan won took the next three games to force a decider. Again it was Nadal who broke serve in the third set to lead 3-2. That was when Klizan won nine consecutive points and the final four games to close out the victory. “It will not be easy after what happened,” Nadal said when asked when he felt his game would be back to the form that had taken him to number one in the world. Before Beijing, Nadal had not played competitively since he was beaten at Wimbledon by 19-year-old Nick Kyrgios of Australia. He then hurt his right wrist during training, missed the US Open and didn’t return to the ATP World Tour until Beijing, where he won his first two matches in straight sets.

SINGAPORE BOUND

The final four spots in the WTA Finals in Singapore have been set by results at the China Open. The year-ending event featuring the world’s top eight players was filled by Eugenie Bouchard, Agnieszka Radwanska, Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic. They join a field that includes Serena Williams, Simona Halep, Maria Sharapova and Petra Kvitova. “It’s been my big goal since the beginning of the year,” Ivanovic said of qualifying for Singapore. “Everyone really earns a spot there, and I feel like I’ve been playing so well the whole year. I was working really hard towards this.” Bouchard will be making her debut in the elite tournament. “I’m excited to compete in my first WTA Finals,” said Bouchard, who was a finalist at Wimbledon where she lost to Kvitova. “I have worked hard all year on and off the court to qualify for the WTA Finals in Singapore.” Williams won last year’s WTA Finals, beating Li Na in the title match. Li recently retired from the sport and Williams pulled out of the China Open with a left knee injury.

SISTERS HURTING

Both top-ranked Serena Williams and her sister, Venus, ran into problems at the China Open. Serena, the defending champion of the Beijing event, withdrew before her quarterfinal match with a left knee injury. Venus pulled out of the tournament shortly before her third-round match against Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova. China Open officials, in announcing her withdrawal, said the elder Williams sister was suffering from a viral illness.

For the second straight week Serena Williams pulled out of a tournament. The world’s top-ranked woman withdrew from a tournament in Wuhan, China, because of a virus. She pulled out of the China Open in Beijing because of a left knee injury. “I started to feel pain this week. It didn’t feel really well last night at all.” Serena said. “I almost didn’t go on the court – I did at the last minute. I think it made it a little worse, to be honest. It throbs just sitting, standing. I felt it mostly serving because I’m landing on my left knee. That was really killer for me.” Her withdrawal sent Australia’s Samantha Stosur to the semifinals, where she lost to Petra Kvitova. “I’ve done well here,” Serena said of the Beijing tournament. “This is my title. So more than anything, it’s just extremely frustrating. To come all this way and not take the title, it’s just a waste.”

Simona Halep, who was seeded second in Beijing, also withdrew from the tournament, suffering from a hip injury. Kvitova, ranked third in the world, said many of the players are tired after a long season. “I think it’s a lot of injuries,” Kvitova said. “It’s a long season. It’s the end of the season. Still Singapore is one to go. It’s really difficult. I mean, I’m not feeling … full of energy. I’m tired.”

SURGE

Spanish qualifier Silvia Soler-Espinosa was close to handing top-ranked Serena Williams a bagel in their first-round match at the China Open. Then Williams woke up. Looking lethargic and flat-footed, Williams fell behind 5-0 just 15 minutes after the match had started, losing her serve three times. “I didn’t want to lose 6-love,” Williams said of her turnaround. “I just started fighting. I was like, just let me at least try to break here.” In the sixth game, Williams staved off a set point. After that, the tournament’s top seed was in full control. Soler-Espinosa had another set point on Williams’ serve in the seventh game, but the American saved it with a cross-court backhand winner at the net and cruised the rest of the way to win 7-5 6-2.

SPANISH IRE

Rafael Nadal had a problem with the tennis balls used at the China Open. “The ball is so bad here,” Nadal said following a victory over German qualifier Peter Gojowczyk. “If you throw the ball on the floor, the bounce goes everywhere. It is not a question of winning or losing. I won in Rio (earlier this year) with this ball. It’s just that we’re competing at the top level of our sport, tennis and the ball is an important thing.” Nadal also complained about having to play with different balls from tournament to tournament, saying it could result in injuries. “This week we are playing with one ball. Next week we are playing with a different ball,” he said. “That’s dangerous for the shoulder, dangerous for the elbow.” Andy Murray agreed with Nadal about the difficult of adjusting to a new ball each week. “If you want to see consistently high level tennis, it’s very difficult when you’re changing balls from week to week – because they all react differently,” Murray said. “I’m sure if you gave golfers a different ball to play with each week, it would take them time to adjust to that, as well.”

SET FOR LEAGUES

What off-season! Two leagues will play during the time players said they needed to rest. Instead, some of the top stars have signed to play in two inter-city tennis leagues, the International Tennis Premier League (IPTL), which will be played in four Asian cities, and the Champions Tennis League (CTL), which will be played in six cities in India. The CTL was developed by former ATP player Vijay Amritraj with cooperation from the All Indian Tennis Association. Matches will be played over a 10-day period in November. The ITPL will hold matches over a two-week period.

Cities where CTL matches will be played, along with their top players, include: Mumbai – Tommy Robredo, Alizé Cornet and Sergi Bruguera; Pune: Agnieszka Radwanska, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Pat Cash; Bangalore: Venus Williams, Feliciano Lopez, Thomas Enqvist; Delhi: Jelena Jankovic, Kevin Anderson, Juan Carlos Ferrero; Chennai: Mikhail Youzhny, Martina Hingis, Mark Philippoussis; and Chandigarh: David Ferrer, Garbiñe Muguruza, Greg Rusedski and Somdev Devverman. Each team must have one Indian player and one local junior boy and girl, bringing the rosters to six players each. The retired “legend” on each team will also serve as captain. The winning team will receive about USD $150,000 with matches to be televised nationally.

The ITPL will feature several big names, including Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams.

SENTENCE UPHELD

The Court of Arbitration for Sport has agreed that Guillermo Olaso of Spain should serve a five-year ban for match-fixing. CAS said the punishment was “proportionate and appropriate in the circumstances.” Last year the Tennis Integrity Unit found Olaso guilty of three corruption offenses dating back to 2010, including directly or indirectly seeking to “contrive the outcome or any other aspect of any event.” Olaso was also found guilty of two counts of failing to report approaches to provide inside information or influence the outcome of any aspect of a match.

SHARED PERFORMANCES

Beijing (men): Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau beat Julien Benneteau and Vasek Pospisil 6-7 (6) 7-5 10-5 (match tiebreak)

Beijing (women): Andrea Hlavackova and Peng Shuai beat Cara Black and Sania Mirza 6-4 6-4

Mons: Marc Gicquel and Nicolas Mahut beat Andrew Begemann and Julian Knowle 6-3 6-4

Sacramento: Adam Hubble and John-Patrick Smith beat Peter Polansky and Adil Shamasdin 6-3 6-2

Tokyo: Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Michal Przysiezny beat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo 6-3 6-7 (3) 10-5 (match tiebreak)

SURFING

Shanghai: www.shanghairolexmasters.com

Rennes: www.openderennes.org

Tashkent: www.tennis.uz/

Tiburon: http://tiburonchallenger.com

Linz: www.generali-ladiefs.at