Federer Beats Davydenko To Win Doha Title

Nikolay Davydenko (l) and Roger Federer

For the 15th time in 17 meetings, Roger Federer defeated defending champion Nikolay Davydenko on the ATP Tour, this time to win the Doha, Qatar title for the 3rd time. Last year Davydenko had beaten Federer and Rafael Nadal on his way to the title. Federer got revenge by winning 6-3 6-4 in 79 minutes.

Nadal lost in straights sets to Davydenko in the semifinals and complained about a fever in his 6-3 6-2 loss.

Serbia Edges France 3-2 To Win 1st Davis Cup

The members of the Serbian team shaved their heads in celebration of their 3-2 win in the Davis Cup final over 9-time winner France. Viktor Troicki defeated Michael Llodra 6-2 6-2 6-3 and Novak Djokovic beat Gael Monfils 6-2 6-2 6-4 to achieve Serbia's come-from-behind win after the Llodra and Arnaud Clement won the doubles match on Saturday over Troicki and Nenad Zimonic to take a 2-1 lead.

ATP Tour Finals 2010: Federer Defeats Nadal 6-3 3-6 6-1

As predicted, Roger Federer of Switzerland won his 5th ATP Tour Final championships on Sunday in London  by defeating World #1 Rafael Nadal of Spain 6-3 3-6 6-1 in 97 minutes. Federer joined Ivan Lendl and Pete Sampras as the third man to win the tour-ending championship for the 5th time, which he had previously won in 2003 (d. Andre Agassi), 2004 (d. Lleyton Hewitt), 2006 (d. James Blake), and 2007 (d. David Ferrer). Interestingly, it was also the 4th time he won the Australian Open (the first tournament of the year) and the season-ending championship in the same year (2004, 2006, 2007 and 2010). (Novak Djokovic was able to achieve the same feat in 2008.)

Federer improved to a career record of 8 wins, 14 losses against his arch nemesis (with the clay court record of 2 wins and 10 losses), who is now regularly being called the greatest clay court player of all time. Federer won his 66th ATP tour title, placing him firmly in fourth position on the all-time list, a mere 11 titles behind John McEnroe at 77, Lendl at 94 and Jimmy Connors at 107.

Nadal is firmly ensconced at #1 and basically has no ranking points to defend until the clay court season. The earliest Federer could challenge for the #1 ranking again is probably Wimbledon 2011. It should be an exciting year!

ATP Tour Finals: Semifinal Review and Final Preview

World #1 Rafael Nadal will face World #2 Roger Federer in the final match of the 2010 ATP tennis season at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London today. As MadProfessah predicted on Friday, Federer was able to dismiss World #3 Novak Djokovic in straight sets while World #5 Andy Murray put up a stern challenge to prevent this 22nd meeting in the storied rivalry between the two greatest players of their generation.

Semifinals Review

The two semifinals were thrilling in their own way. Federer demolished the Serb in a 6-1 6-4 match which was not as close as the score reveals. Essentially, Federer won two 6-1 sets but went through "a bad patch" at the beginning of the second set where he lost 3 consecutive games. The Swiss quickly recovered and dispatched Djokovic to continue his preparation for next week's Davis Cup Final matchup versus France in Belgrade.

The Nadal-Murray match was one of the best matches of the year, with the Spaniard (barely) prevailing 7-6(5) 3-6 7-6(6). There were some incredible 27 and 36(!) stroke rallies in the first set, with  incredibly high quality tennis on both sides of the net. Murray basically lost the first set because after enjoying a hot serving streak for the majority of the set, in the tiebreaker he couldn't buy a first serve. If you can't serve well, it makes it very difficult to win  a tiebreaker where every point is effectively a breakpoint. Interestingly the second set was similar to the second set in the Federer-Djokovic match where after basically playing to a draw at 3-all suddenly Nadal went through a bad patch  and lost 3 games in a row. (Murray grew more aggressive and was able to break Nadal twice in ten minutes to win the set). In the third set Nadal got the early break and served for the match at 5-4 where, inexplicably, he was broken after holding a match point. Would he be able to prevail in the inevitable tiebreak? It didn't look like it when Murray won the first three points of the tiebreak and led 4-2 on the change over. However, as usual, Nadal did not give up and won the mini-break back to hold a second match point 5-6 on Murray's serve.Murray was able to defend that point with some incredible gets and at 6-6 went for a huge cross-court winner which flew a couple inches wide giving Nadal his third match point on his serve. The World #1 was able to win the match point with his patented inside-out cross-court forehand winner into the far corner of the court to reach the Tour Final for the first time in his storied career.

Finals Preview

This is the 22nd meeting between the 24-year-old 9-time grand slam champion and the 29-year-old 16-time grand slam champion. The younger player enjoys a 14-7 career head-to-head edge; all but 4 of their meetings have been in finals (where Nadal leads 12-5) but at the season-ending championships Federer leads 2-0 (but those wins came when Nadal was usually exhausted at the end of the season). In hard court finals, Nadal leads 2-1 (2009 Australian Open final, 2006 Dubai final). Nadal is also experiencing one of history's greatest seasons ever, having won every clay court match he played this year and winning the last three consecutive grand slam titles with a better than even shot of claiming the "Nadal slam" in Melbourne in a few months.

There are four possibilities for the match result (tabulated below with associated estimated probabilities)

Match Result              Probability
Federer wins in 2 sets        33% 
Nadal wins in 2 sets          17%
Federer wins in 3 sets        20%
Nadal wins in 3 sets          30%

This computes to a 53% chance for Federer to win with a 47% chance for Nadal, if there is an equally likelihood of a 2-set and 3-set match. Actually, looking at their 21 previous matches, only 8 of their matches have gone the distance. All that being said, the match should be close and exciting!

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer in 2 sets; Nadal in 3 sets with a distinct edge to whomever wins the first set.

ATP Tour Finals: Federer v Djokovic, Nadal v Murray Semifinals

The semifinals of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals are set: Roger Federer will play Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal will play Andy Murray. Federer and Nadal are undefeated through the first three round-robin rounds with Nadal only dropping his very first set of the tournament against Andy Roddick, although Djokovic should probably have won the first set in their match. Federer was pretty lucky not to lose the first set against Robin Soderling.

That being said, Nadal has a 8-4 career edge against Murray, a 14-7 lead against Federer and a 15-7 lead against Djokovic. He is, after all, the World's #1 player and the current holder of 3 of the 4 major title, having won 3 in a row in 2010. He has never won this tournament, because he's usually dead tired by this point in the season. He did not play in 2008 and lost all 3 round-robin matches last year. However, it's 2010 and I expect him to at least get to the final, where I suspect he will play Federer in a mouth-watering final. Although Nadal leads the Greatest Of All Time in their overall head-to-head and beat him once this year as well as the last time they met on a hard court (the inexplicable 2009 Australian Open final), their hard court record head-to-head is tied 3-3 with Federer beating Nadal twice in the semifinals of the year-ending championships in 2006 and 2007. However, in Finals one would have to give the edge to Nadal (12-5).

Can Novak and Andy stop another Fedal final? Possibly, since Murray sports a 2-1 lead over Nadal (4-4 career on hard courts) this year, both time winning on hard courts including the last time they played in the semifinals of Toronto (where Murray also beat Federer). His single loss to Nadal came in London earlier this year in the Wimbledon semis. For all intents and purposes that was the equivalent of a Tour final. Murray himself has been lowering expectations about his chances against Nadal (and Federer) in his press conferences this week. However, I think he probably has the best chance of the four of preventing Nadal from winning his first tour championships.

While Nadal faces the person most likely to beat him, Federer plays the person least likely to beat him. (He beat Murray this week in round-robin play but has an overall 5-8 losing record to the Scot.) Djkovic trails Federer 6-12 in their career match-up, including 1-3 for the year. Of course that one win was in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open where Federer held two match points and lost. One does feel if the match is close, Federer will likely lose it. Ever since then, Federer has beaten Novak relatively easily and I expect that will be the case tomorrow.

MadProfessah's predictions: Nadal defeats Murray in 3 sets; Federer defeats Djokovic in 2 sets.

AUS OPEN 2011: Serena Williams Won't Defend Title

Serena Williams tweeted this picture about 2 weeks ago but this week dashed the hopes of her fans hoping to see her add to her 13 major titles any time soon by announcing she would not defend her 2010 Australian Open title due to injury:

As I continue to rehabilitate my foot after the second surgery last month, it is with the utmost regret that I am withdrawing from the Hopman Cup and the 2011 Australian Open Championships. As I recently learned, pushing myself back into my intense training too early only caused me further injury and damage. While I desperately want to be back on the court and competing in the first Grand Slam tournament of the year, it is imperative for my health that I continue to work with my doctors to ensure my foot heals properly. This decision, though heavy on my heart, is the right one. I am praying for a healthy recovery and I promise my Aussie fans and my fans around the world that I will be back better than ever as soon as I can be.

In 2010, Serena won her 5th Australian Open by defeating Justine Henin in the final in 3 tense sets. By failing to defend her title Serena will probably fall out of the Top 10. In 2010 she only played in 6 tournaments, winning 2 majors (Australian and Wimbledon).

ATP Tour Finals: Federer Gets Revenge On Murray 6-4 6-2

 

World #1 Roger Federer defeated hometown favorite Andy Murray 6-4 6-2 to win his second round-robin match at the Barclay's ATP Tour Finals in London. Federer improved his win-loss career record to the young Scot to 6 wins out of 14 matches played. Murray had beaten Federer the last two times they met this year, both times in Masters finals (in Shanghai and in Toronto). Of course, Federer has beaten Murray in the two major finals they have competed in (2010 Australian Open and 2008 US Open ).

Murray beat Robin Soderling and so in order to make the semifinals of the ATP World Tour finals, Murray will need to beat David Ferrer in straight sets in order to reach the semifinals. Federer will just need to win a set off of Soderling to clinch a semifinal berth if Soderling does not beat Ferrer today.

The other half of the draw has Rafael Nadal, Andy Roddick, Tomas Berdych and Novak Djokovic. Djokovic and Nadal have wins over Berdych and Roddick, respectively so far.

Paris Masters: Soderling Easily Beats Monfils For 1st AMS Shield

Robin Soderling beat Gael Monfils in 77-minutes 6-1 7-6(1) to win the Paris Masters tournament, his first title at this elite level. For the second year in a row, the talented, athletic, 6'4" Frenchman lost in the finals before a large crowd in the Bercy section of Paris to a higher ranked opponent.

Then again, it can not be all disappointment for Monfils, who saved an amazing five match points to defeat World #2 Roger Federer for the first time in 6 attempts the day before 7-6(7), 6-7(1), 7-6(4), in one of the most exciting matches of the year.

Paris Masters: Federer v. Monfils, Soderling v. Llodra in Semifinals

Gael Monfils

Michael Llodra

It's the indoor hard-court ATP Masters tournament in the Bercy section of Paris and the French players Michael Llodra and Gael Monfils are playing some of their best tennis of the year. Monfils almost always does well before a French crowd, and lost in the finals of this tournament to Novak Djokovic last year in a 3-set thriller. This year he has already saved two match points against World Top 10 stalwart Fernando Verdasco and today beat World #4 Andy Murray 6-2 2-6 6-3 to reach the semifinals and face World #2 Roger Federer who is playing in his first semifinals at the Paris Masters.

In the other half of the draw is the amazing left-handed serve and volleyer Llodra who has been more well-known as a doubles player but who took out defending champion Djokovic in straight sets 7-6 6-2 and today defeated World #11 Nikolay Davydenko 7-5 6-1 to face World #5 Robin Soderling in the semifinals.

Could there be an all-French final on Sunday? Doubtful. I predict a Federer-Soderling final, with Federer winning his first Paris Masters title, and his 18th career Masters title overall.

The year's last ATP Tournament, the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, begin with the Top 8 players on Sunday November 21st in London where Rafael Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Soderling, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer and Andy Roddick have all qualified for the most prestigious and lucrative non-major tournament of the year.

Federer Beats Djokovic To Regain Basel Title

Roger Federer regained his hometown title in Basel, Switzerland by defeating defending champion Novak Djokovic in 3-sets (as I  predicted yesterday) 6-4 3-6 6-1. Federer has now won the tournament 4 times in the last 5 years, and Basel became the 9th tournament that the Swiss Great has won at least 4 times.

Federer improved to 12-6 career head-to-head versus Djokovic and with his 65th tournament win pulled out of a  tie with Pete Sampras at #4 on the list of all-time most tournaments won.

Federer-Djokovic Rematch For Basel Final

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic each won their semifinal matches, setting up a rematch of last year's final which was won by the Serbian, ending the Swiss's win streak of 3 consecutive Basel titles.

Federer leads Djokovic 11-6 in the career head-to-head match-up, as well as 2-1 this year. Djokovic, however, won their most important meeting this year, in the 2010 US Open semifinals, and is 2-1 in finals this year as compared to Federer's measly 3-4 record (although one of those 3 wins is the 2010 Australian Open).

MadProfessah's Prediction: Federer in 3 sets.

Federer To Face Roddick In Basel Semis; Djokovic in Other Semi

World #2 Roger Federer will face American Andy Roddick for the first time since they played their historic, classic Wimbledon final in July 2009 which Federer won 16-14 in the fifth set. Federer and Roddick will play in the semifinals of the Swiss Indoor tournament which is played in the 16-time major champion's home town of Basel, Switzerland where Federer once served as a ball boy and now owns part of the tournament. 

World #3 and Defending champion Novak Djokovic will play fellow Serbian Victor Troicki in the other semifinal. Last year, Djokovic defeated Federer before his hometown crowd in an exciting 3-set match.

The French Indoor ATP Masters series event begins in Paris on Monday and World #1 Rafael Nadal will not be playing, having withdrawn today due to medical reasons (injured shoulder).

Celebrity Friday: Elena Dementieva

Elena Dementieva, widely regarded as the most talented active player to not have won a major title, retired at the age of 29 on Friday Octobet 31 from competitive tennis.

Dementieva reached two major finals, the 2004 French Open (lost to Anastasia Myskina) and the 2004 U.S. Open (lost to Svetlana Kuznetsova), and won the Gold medal in Singles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics as well as 16 WTA Tour titles. Her career record was 576 wins and 273 losses.

In 2009, Dementieva played the best match of the year in the semifinals of the Wimbledon Championships, losing to Serena Williams despite holding a match point, who commented on Dementieva's retirement thusly:

Elena you will be missed. The matches we competed in were always so intense. You helped make me better both on and off the court...

All the best to you Love, and to all your endeavors.

Kye Allums: Openly Transgender NCAA Div. 1 Basketball Player

Kye Allums, is getting a lot of mainstream press coverage about his transition from female to male while continuing to play on the George Washington University female NCAA Division 1 Basketball team.

Official statements from GWU and Allums follow:

Statement from Robert Chernak, Senior Vice Provost and Senior Vice President for Student Academic and Support Services:

“Student-athlete Kye Allums has decided to live as a male student and be referred to as a male. The George Washington University supports Kye and his right to make this decision. Kye has informed the university that he will not begin any medical or drug protocols while a student-athlete. The University consulted the NCAA regarding his competitive status. Kye will continue to be a member of the women’s basketball team. Kye has informed his teammates, and the university, with Kye’s consent, has informed athletics staff and others, as appropriate.”

Statement from junior Kye Allums, male member of George Washington’s women’s basketball team:

“GW has been supportive during this transition. This means a lot. I didn’t choose to be born in this body and feel the way I do. I decided to transition, that is change my name and pronouns because it bothered me to hide who I am, and I am trying to help myself and others to be who they are. I told my teammates first, and they, including my coaches, have supported me. My teammates have embraced me as the big brother of the team. They have been my family, and I love them all.”

Thoughts about this modern example of gender expression and sports? For example, do you think that Kye should be unable to play on the men's team when he completes his transition from female to male? If that should happen then, then why not now?

Cross-posted from #CSP19: LGBT Rights in the Era of Obama and Google.

WTA Tour Championships Semifinals Set

The Womens Tennis Association has chosen a new logo (depicted above) and revealed it at the Tour championships in Doha this week.

The semifinals have now been set, as well as the year-end #1 and #2 positions (Caroline Wozniacki and Vera Zvonareva) who ill face off against each other, while Kim Clijsters and Samantha Stosur will face off in the other semifinal. 

Anand Regains World #1 Chess Rating

Despite finishing second in the latest super grandmaster tournament in Bilbao, Spain, world champion Viswanathan Anand has regained the World #1 ranking he had previously lost to Norweggian wunderkind Magnus Carlsen.


Former World Champion Vladimir Kramnik finished first, with Anand second, Carlsen 3rd and Shirov fourth, at the 2010 Bilbao Masters Final; the chess tournament had the highest average participant rating of all time.

Carlsen has had a bit of a dip lately, losing rating points to fall to 2802, while Anand's rating is now at 2803. They are the only active players to be above 2800 rating. A Super grandmaster (unofficial title) rating is considered to be around 2650.

Federer Wins 64th Tour Title; Tied With Sampras At 4th Most All-Time

Roger Federer won the 2010 Stockholm Open over Florian Mayer 6-4 6-3 to tie Pete Sampras for 4th on the all-time list of ATP tour titles won at 64. Jimmy Connors leads with 107, followed by Ivan Lendl at 94 and John McEnroe at 77.

Federer's career record is now 64 wins and 28 losses in finals, which is significantly better than his 2010 record in finals which is 3-4 (losses to Rafael Nadal in the Madrid Masters on clay, to Andy Murray in the Toronto and Shanghai Masters on hard courts and to Lleyton Hewitt in Halle, on grass).

Federer is now 29 years old but has promised to play through thw 2012 Olympics in London, which will be held on grass. He won the Gold medal in doubles but Nadal won the Gold in singles in Beijing in 2008.

I predict Federer will surpass McEnroe's total by the time he retires  but Lendl's total is safe. Another record Federer would dearly like to have, is the most weeks at #1, where he is exactly one week behind Sampras' record of 286.

Murray Beats Down Federer 6-3 6-2 To Win Shanghai Masters

World #4 Andy Murray beat down new World #2 Roger Federer 6-3 6-2 in the finals of the Shanghai Masters on Sunday, bringing his career edge over the 16-time major champion to 8 wins, 5 losses, including 2 wins, 1 loss in finals in 2010. It is Murray's 6th career Masters series title; Federer has 17 and World #1 Rafael Nadal has the most ever with 18.

The win was the Scot's second title of the year and in his second consecutive win over Federer this year after losing to him in the 2010 Australian Open final earlier this year. Federer regained his World # 2 ranking behind Nadal by dispatching Novak Djokovic in the semifinals, who had won last week's tour event in Beijing. Murray's win may signal a return to firm for the indoor hardcourt season which culminates in the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London November 21-28.

Federer Beats Djokovic; Faces Murray in Shanghai Masters final

World #3 Roger Federer beat World #2 Novak Djokovic 7-5 6-4 in the semifinals of the Shanghai Masters tournament to set up a final showdown with Andy Murray. Djokovic last beat Federer in the semifinals of the 2010 US Open after saving two match points, and went on to lose that final to World #1 Rafael Nadal last month.

Murray still sports a 7-5 head-to-head lead against Federer, and beat the 16-time major champion this summer to defend his Canadian Masters title but lost to him in this year's Australian Open final.

Neither Federer nor Murray have lost a set in Shanghai. If Federer wins it will be his 64th career title, tying him at 4th best overall with Pete Sampras, and his 3rd of the year. In 2009, Murray won a record 6 titles but if he wins on Sunday this would be his 2nd title of the year.

Shanghai: Melzer Upsets Nadal; Federer in Quarters Against Soderling

At the Shanghai Masters tournament World #1 Rafael Nadal was upset by Austrian lefty Jurgen Melzer 6-1 3-6 6-3 in the 3rd Round. Roger Federer beat Andreas Seppi while Robin Soderling defeated David Ferrer; the two winners will face each other in the quarter-finals.

Still in the tournament are Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.