Stockholm/Moscow Wrap-Up

After the Asian swing of the tour which concluded in Shanghai, the men’s tour made a shift to Europe where two tournaments, both ATP 250, were being held.  One was held in Moscow, the other in Stockholm.

Nikolay Davydenko, who beat Nadal to win Shanghai, was the top seed in Moscow, but given his victory in Shanghai, one could understand if Davydenko wasn’t ready to give it his all.  He promptly lost in the first round to Marat Safin, 4-6, 6-4, 6-2.

For smaller tournament such as these, it’s common to get players from that country to play.  Thus, Moscow produced a lot of Russian players and Stockholm got Robin Soderling as there are few top-ranked Swedes outside of Soderling.

Stockholm had some news outside of the tournament.  Ernests Gulbis and one other player were accused of soliciting services from prostitutes.  Sweden, it seems, does not make it illegal for prostitutes to do business, but does make it illegal to accost the services of a prostitute thus placing the plan on those seeking some pre-tournament warm-up.

The top seeds were, not unexpectedly, missing.  This lead to finals that few perhaps cared about.  In Stockholm, Marco Baghdatis won his 3rd career tournament, his first in two years, by beating friend Olivier Rochus of Belgium: 6-1, 7-5.  Soderling retired in the semifinals against Baghdatis.

Meanwhile, Mikhail Youzhny beat Serb Janko Tipsarevic: 6-7 (5-7), 6-0, 6-4.  Youzhny has been playing well recently, so it must be nice for him to win a tournament in his home country.

Next week, three ATP 250 events are played the same week: Lyon, Vienna, and St. Petersburg.  Murray is the defending champ at St. Petersburg.

The following week, two ATP 500 events are played at the same time: Valencia and Basel.  Federer is expected to mark his return to the tour in Basel.

The following week is the Paris Indoors, then a week off, then the Barclay ATP Finals where the top 8 point getters play in the year’s last tournament.

Shanghai Masters – Final

On the surface, this was the kind of match you’d give to Rafael Nadal.  Davydenko is the kind of player that generally doesn’t get his due respect.  He doesn’t have a big serve.  He doesn’t have huge shots, at least, not in the conventional way.  He’s never reached a Slam final and often fails to reach the later rounds of Slams.

Earlier this year, Nikolay Davydenko suffered a heel injury that took him off the tour for two months.  Due to missing tournaments, Davydenko eventually fell out of the top 10 for the first time in four years.  Since then, he’s worked hard to get his ranking back solidly in the top ten.

Davydenko played the role of spoiler, eliminating Djokovic in the semifinals, preventing perhaps the most intriguing rivalry in tennis today: Nadal-Djokovic.  Yet, because of the way he played Djokovic, I felt Davydenko would give Nadal a good challenge, and this could be a very interesting final.

Why did I pick Davydenko to win over Nadal?  The main reason was Nadal’s close matches in Shanghai.  Admittedly, players like Ljubicic and Blake are tough players, but neither are playing spectacularly well, and yet Nadal was pushed to three sets with both of them (Ljubicic did retire once they reached the third set, however).

Because Davydenko tends to lose early in Slams, I had seen very little of his play.  I couldn’t quite tell you how he wins matches, since it seems he lacks weapons.  But after watching him play Djokovic and Nadal, I have a much better sense of what makes Davydenko a tough guy to play.

For a while, it seemed the way to beat Nadal was to overpower him which is a tall order.  Gael Monfils tried to bludgeon Nadal at the US Open and found Nadal to be a formidable retriever.  Juan Martin del Potro used straight-ahead power to make Nadal look like a beginner in his semifinal encounter with Nadal.  Marin Cilic took a page from the del Potro book and used a similar hard hitting strategy to take out Nadal in Beijing last week.

The one commonality between del Potro and Cilic is their height.  Both men are a rangy 6’6″.  Their height allows them to serve well and to take the high balls that Nadal feeds in their strike zone.

So how could a guy like Davydenko, only 5’10″, beat Nadal.  In tennis, you can often trade angle for power.  Few players try to trade angles with Nadal.  Federer used to do this, but Nadal’s ability to retrieve made this strategy dangerous, even for Federer, and Federer has avoided this strategy.  If you want to win with angle, like Davydenko, you need to do three things well.  You need to take the ball off the rise well.  You need to be speedy.  You need to hit accurately.

Davydenko is almost a successor to Andre Agassi.  Agassi once said that there were players that hit hard and there were players that hit off the rise, but he was the first player that could do both well.  Of course, he forgot that Connors could also do that.  In a sense, Agassi was a modern Connors.  Great returns, great power, and hitting off the rise.

Davydenko has great control over his shots.  He is very accurate hitting crosscourt angles, and very sharp ones at that.  Few players find the angle to hit a ball repeatedly to the point where the service line meets sideline.  Even when Davydenko is pulled out wide, he can hit that angle in trouble, on both forehands and backhands.  Time and again, Davydenko would hit his wide angled forehand to the Nadal backhand.  Nadal would be forced to hit slice backhands from that angle.

Davydenko took an early break in the first set, but was soon broken back when his forehand was losing control, especially hitting down the line.  The two played tight games to hold serve and push the match into a tiebreak.  Like yesterday, Davydenko took an early lead in the tiebreak and won it handily at 7-3.

As well as Nadal hits, Nadal doesn’t like to take too many chances.  He is a topspinny version of Murray.  He prefers to keep the ball in play and wait for openings.  Rarely do you see Nadal see a shot and just go for it.  He’d prefer to loop another shot back and force you to play another shot.  For many players, this is too tough to handle.  Players like Murray stand as far back from the baseline and have to exchange with less angle because of that distance.

Meanwhile, Davydenko tries to crowd the baseline, and was often taking groundstrokes in no-man’s land, especially on short shots.  Twenty shot rallies were not uncommon in this match.  Davydenko showed you could beat Nadal playing angles and waiting for openings to hit down-the-line shots.  Nadal worked hard getting the balls back in play.

At 5-2 down, Nadal decided to be more aggressive.  Often, Nadal likes to hit a series of inside-in shots up the line.  He did not do much of this because of the Davydenko angle that made such strategy nearly useless.  That aggression finally translated to a 5-3 hold for Nadal.  However, Davydenko came back in the next game to hold.  On match point, Nadal hit a shot very close to the baseline that was called out late, and on replay, the call was upheld and Davydenko had his win.

How was Nadal playing?  Movement-wise, he seemed very good.  Nadal’s generally struggled moving to his left, primarily because he cheats over to his right.  Davydenko repeatedly pushed Nadal wide to his right (his backhand) yet Nadal recovered time and again.  However, Nadal seems a bit passive.  He was basically trading shots with Davydenko, and Davydenko was able to move the ball around a lot more, taking chances with down-the-line shots on both forehand and backhand, where Nadal took fewer chances, which is more in keeping with his style.

Davydenko’s formula for winning is highly unusual in this day and age.  He doesn’t use the inside out shots that much (not like Federer does) and trusts his backhand more.  Because of his precise strokes that never seem to land too close to the lines, Davydenko can make his opponents work.  Perhaps Davydenko’s weakness is dealing with power, which makes Nadal a good opponent for him to play especially on hardcourts.  Davydenko showed that you don’t need pure power to beat Nadal.  If you are quick, and you can take the ball off the rise, you can use angles to make Nadal’s life tough.

Davydenko wins the Shanghai Masters, 7-6(3), 6-3.  And no one retired this match.

Shanghai Masters – Semifinals

People forget that Nikolay Davydenko used to be number 4 in the world.  That means the guy can play tennis.  The viewing public only cares about finalists.  How important was it for Andy Roddick’s reputation to make it to the finals of Wimbledon?

Very important.  Most players are remembered for winning multiple Slams.  If not that, then perhaps one or two Slams will at least tickle a few neurons.  But if you’ve never made a final (and Cedric Pioline made two), few are going to think of you as a particularly great player.

Nikolay Davydenko has made the semifinals four times, but players like Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, and so on, make his life tough.  He’s often struggled to get to the quarterfinals.  He plays poorly at Wimbledon, for example, presumably because the ball bounces too low for his liking.  Even the French Open hasn’t been that kind to Davydenko.

But Davydenko has speed, he has consistency, he can produce angles.  And those angles can create headaches for his opponents.  Remember when folks that Fernando Verdasco would knock him out of the French Open, but Davydenko rolled over him easily.  Davydenko struggles with the big servers and big hitters, so he can lose to a player like Robin Soderling.

Davydenko played the roll of spoiler.  With Federer and Murray taking time off nursing injuries, we have a repeat of the clay court season that pitted Nadal vs. Djokovic.  There’s only one problem.  Neither seem to make the final.  Last week, it was Marin Cilic who overpowered Nadal in Beijing.  This week, Djokovic played a guy that plays a similar game to his, one that involves a lot of running and a lot of angles.  Both know how to keep a rally going, navigating sharp angled exchanges like few others in the world.  Djokovic lacks a huge booming serve that allows him to win cheap points.

The match between the two was very close.  Djokovic took the first set, 6-4.  Davydenko took the second by the same score.  Davydenko had chances to break Djokovic in the third set with Djokovic having to dig deep to get out of the mess.  The third set went to a tiebreak.  When Davydenko took the first point from Djokovic, then held his own two points, then took two more from Djokovic, to take a 5-0 lead, it was too much to overcome.  Davydenko would win 7-1 in the tiebreak

Nadal got a second “break” in a row.  Yesterday, he played Ljubicic who retired before the start of the third set.  Today, he played countryman, Feliciano Lopez.  Lopez was struggling a bit with ankle injuries, and so after losing the first set, 6-1, and going down 3-0 in the second, Lopez retired, making him the sixth player to retire in the tournament (Roddick, del Potro, Haas, Wawrinka, and Monfils being the other five).

Thus, Nadal faces Davydenko in the finals.  Early in their career, they would play close matches. Nadal leads the series 4-2, but one of Davydenko’s wins came when Nadal retired.  Davydenko’s other win came on hard courts.  This could be a pretty evenly fought match, provided both can stay healthy.  Davydenko isn’t the kind of guy that’s going to blow Nadal off the court like del Potro.  He’ll play him a bit more like Djokovic.  However, I don’t believe Nadal is 100%, so I think Davydenko can take him.

Slight edge to Davydenko, but only because Nadal isn’t quite playing his best.

Shanghai Masters – Quarterfinals

For a change, Rafael Nadal is the one who has stayed healthy at Shanghai while a slew of players have retired.  Add one more to that list.  Ivan Ljubicic retired after splitting sets with Rafa.  Ljubicic took the first set 6-3, and Rafa returned the favor taking the second set, 6-3.

This result is still somewhat disturbing.  Rafa has been pushed to three sets several times by players you wouldn’t expect to give him trouble.  More than likely his knee was never 100% (and may never be).

In case you don’t recognize the guy in the picture, that’s the new look for Feliciano Lopez.  Wearing his hair longer up top with a head band and a faint whisper of a beard, Lopez is nearly unrecognizable from his looks a few months ago.

Lopez is among the older Spaniards playing on tour.  Possessing a big forehand and serve, Lopez’s backhand has always been a bit subpart, often relying on his slice and getting to net.  However, he cofounded Robin Soderling enough to win 7-6(4), 6-3 leading to an all-Spanish semifinals with number 1, Rafael Nadal.

Nikolay Davydenko played a touch and go match with Radek Stepanek.  Stepanek also likes to mix up slices and come to net, but found Davydenko passing well as the match progressed.  The two have split their six meetings so far.  Indeed, prior to their last encounter, which Davydenko won, Stepanek had won three in a row.  The two meet about once a year, though this is the first year they’ve met twice.  Davydenko wins 6-1, 4-6, 6-1.

The resurgent Gilles Simon finally hit a roadblock that he couldn’t overcome.  Finally playing better in the Asian hardcourt season after a year of subpar results, Simon pushed Djokovic to three sets, but was unable to make an impression on the Serb who is playing the best tennis of this section of the year.  Djokovic beats the Frenchman, 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 and faces Davydenko in the semifinals.

Djokovic and Davydenko have met 3 times, all in 2008.  Davydenko won their first encounter in Davis Cup.  Djokovic then played him twice at the year end championships in Shanghai, beating Davydenko in the round robin, then again in the finals.  Davydenko had beaten Andy Murray in the semifinals.

Meanwhile Nadal leads Lopez head-to-head 4-1 with the sole loss back in 2003.  Since then, Nadal has won every encounter in straight sets.

So far, there’s still hope for yet another number 1 seed vs. number 2 seed.  The last time Nadal played Djokovic was prior to the US Open, which Djokovic won.  Although Nadal is playing well, there’s still concern with how he struggles against lower ranked players.  Djokovic would be favored to win on a faster surface, should the two meet.

Shanghai Masters (Thursday Results)

Shortly after both Rafael Nadal and Andy Roddick complained that the season was too long, Andy Roddick retired from his match, as did Juan Martin del Potro and Tommy Haas.

You can add two more names to that list: Gel Monfils retired after going down 6-2, 3-0 to Croat, Ivan Ljubicic.  Similarly, Stanislas Wawrinka also retired to Radek Stepanek, although the two got deep into a third set.  Stepanek was up 3-6, 7-6(5), 4-2.

The two top seeds are still cruising on.  Rafael Nadal beat Tommy Robredo 6-1, 6-4.  Robredo was up 2-0 with chances to hold and make it 3-0, but was unable to take advantage and lost serve.  This drained Robredo of motivation.  He tried the unusual tactic of playing angles with Nadal, a generally unwise strategy, hoping to use his fitness against Nadal, but that didn’t work out.

Meanwhile, number 2 seed, Novak Djokovic had an easy win over Rainer Schuettler 6-4, 6-2.  Djokovic seems to finally have found his stride, though it is tainted by the absence of two of the top 3 players in the world.  Even so, it’s good to see Djokovic regaining some form this late in the year.

Another player that has had a so-so 2009 is Gilles Simon (and to be fair, outside of the Slams, Djokovic has had a rock solid year).  Despite his relatively poor performances, Simon has clung to the top 10, though barely.  After a win in Bangkok, Simon seems rejuvenated playing on his favorite surface (hard courts/indoors).  He beat the guy that took out Safin and Cilic, Czech, Tomas Berdych.

Robin Soderling had an easy win over Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  This match had a very peculiar point late in the first set.  At 30-all, Tsonga hit what he thought was a good pass up the line, on the line.  He failed to hear the call was out.  The announcers noted that if he had challenged, it would have been overruled.  When Tsonga won the next point, he thought he had won the game and was about to sit down.  The chair umpire told him that it was deuce, that 40-30 was called (on Soderling’s serve) and now it was deuce, not game.  Tsonga looked dejected.  He had failed to pay attention to a critical point in the match.  Soderling then cruised to a 6-3, 6-3 win.

Nikolay Davydenko showed his master of Fernando Gonzalez, beating him 6-3, 7-5.  Gonzalez has a poor record against Davydenko and tried to play steadier, mixing in slices with his usual topspin.  However, Davydenko played to the Gonzalez forehand, normally a dangerous strategy, but which opened up the court to attack his backhand.

Lopez also won his match over Melzer.

This event is heading to the interesting part where all the best players will begin to encounter one another.

Shanghai Masters 1000 (mid-week update)

Once the US Open concludes, all but the most ardent fans stop paying attention to tennis.  American fans begin to pay attention to American football, either of the college or pro variety.  Indeed, one barely knows there’s tennis still being played.

Shanghai is the first Masters 1000 event after the US Open and as such, it brings with it a stellar draw.  Or at least, it should have.  Two of the top seeds, including world number 1 Roger Federer and world number 3 Andy Murray, didn’t even show up citing injury and/or fatigue.

Complaints were the order of the week.  Both Andy Roddick and Rafael Nadal complained about the length of the tennis season that requires players to play in 14 tournaments (9 Masters 1000, 4 Grand Slams, and the year-end World Tour finals).  Players need another 2 more tournaments to fill out their required schedule.  Of course, many players choose to play exhibitions and special event tournaments.  Nadal chose to play in Barcelona, which he won, but which wasn’t so necessary except out of obligation to his home country.

Shortly after the complaint, Andy Roddick retired in his match against the other Swiss, Stanislas Wawrinka.  Then, Juan Martin del Potro retired against Jurgen Melzer.  Finally, Tommy Haas retired against Rainier Schuettler, both 30-something German players.

Last week’s finalist in Beijing, Marin Cilic, fell in three sets to Tomas Berdych.  Cilic should have been riding high from his defeat of Rafael Nadal even despite his loss to Novak Djokovic.  It looked for all the world that he’d beat Berdych.  Berdych was down 2-4, 0-40 in the third set, but held.  He broke then was down 15-40 in his next serve, but held, then broke again, and served out the match.  Cilic is probably still wondering how he lost that one.

Berdych then followed up that victory by defeating Marat Safin in his final last hurrah tour.  Safin had been playing pretty good tennis in Shanghai, and again, had opportunities to win. At 4-all in the third, Safin got broken and then Berdych served out the match.  Afterwards, they made Safin hang around so they could show a video tribute with much to “Wild Thing” to a sparse Chinese crowd, who were nonetheless vocal about the retiring champ.  Safin seems almost relieved to be finally done with tennis.

Rafael Nadal, who took two breaks due to injury still had to work to win his match over James Blake, in three sets: 6-2, 6-7 (4-7), 6-4.  Djokovic, meanwhile seems to be having an easier time, winning easily over Italian, Fabio Fognini, 6-3, 6-1.  Djokovic finally seems a bit relaxed.  With Nadal still struggling, Federer and Murray taking time off, and del Potro having losses late in the season, Djokovic is trying to make a statement at the end of the year.

Gilles Simon is playing well again, beating Victor Troicki, twice in the last few weeks (once en route to winning Bangkok in the finals).  Soderling, Monfils, and Robredo also won.

After Shanghai, the tour moves back to Europe, which will eventually lead to the Paris Masters and the year-end championships in London.

China and Japan Open Wrap-Up

Two ATP 500 events just concluded this past Sunday.  One was held in Tokyo, Japan where Juan Martin del Potro was the top seed when both Roger Federer and Andy Murray skipped to recover from injuries and fatigue.

Since del Potro lost early, this left the talented Frenchman, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga as the highest seed remaining and he used it to full effect to reach the finals and beat Russian, Mikhail Youzhny, in straight sets, 6-3, 6-3.

The other tournament was held in Beijing, China in what appeared to be the Olympic tennis stadium.  Novak Djokovic was the second seed as well.  Rafael Nadal reached the semifinals in his first tournament back since his abdominal injury at the US Open.  Much like the US Open, where Rafa was drummed out by the hard hitting del Potro, Rafa again ran into a tall player who bludgeoned the ball.  Except instead of playing del Potro, Rafa had his hands full with the young Croat, Marin Cilic, who was up 5-0 in the first set before Rafa could even win a game.

Taking a page out of del Potro’s book, Cilic played a hard hitting semifinal and knocked out the world number 2 in straight sets, 6-1, 6-3.

However, playing Rafa is not the same as playing Novak Djokovic.  Although Djokovic reached his 8th final of the year, he’s only won 3 titles (Dubai, Belgrade, and Beijing) and no Slam final.  Djokovic played, at times, brilliant tennis, keeping up the ping pong match between he and Cilic showing that while he’s no longer in the top 3, he can still play a good game.  Djokovic won the finals in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(4).

The Asian tour continues for its third week with a Masters 1000 tournament held in Shanghai.  This tournament is new to the Masters 1000.  Since there are 9 events, one event was dropped, namely, Hamburg.  Madrid went from being an indoors tournament (held roughly when Shanghai was being held) to a clay tournament (replacing Hamburg).  Hamburg was converted to an ATP 500 event and played after Wimbledon.

Nadal, Djokovic, del Potro, Roddick, and Tsonga are the top 5 seeds in Shanghai.  Notably missing are #1 Roger Federer and #3 Andy Murray.

Currently, the top 8 point getters in the race are: Federer, Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, del Potro, Roddick, Tsonga and Davydenko.  The top 5 have already qualified for the event, with Roddick, Tsonga, and Davydenko still in doubt.  The year end tournament will be held November 22-29 in London.

What’s up with Rafa?

Rafael Nadal’s become a bit of an enigma.  Twice he’s returned from injury and looked good or at least won against lower ranked opponents.

Nadal returned after Wimbledon to Montreal where he got to the quarterfinals and lost to Juan Martin del Potro.  del Potro is an up-and-comer, and by some measures, he’s arrived, especially with his US Open win.

Shortly after the US Open, where Nadal went down in flames to Juan Martin del Potro, Nadal again took a break, this time citing an abdominal strain that had him playing less than his best, although you’d be hard-pressed to tell especially with strong wins over players like Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez.

Even a rusty Nadal can beat almost anyone.  And when he does, it seems like he’s back.

Something was puzzling this week in China.  Rafael Nadal struggled against Marcos Baghdatis and James Blake winning both matches in three sets.  Neither player are slouches, but neither are playing the kind of tennis that put both in the top 10.  A healthy Nadal should win handily in straight sets.  Nadal did beat Marat Safin in straight sets.  Safin had had a pretty good tournament in this, his retirement year.

But then came Marin Cilic.  Cilic is a good young player, but of the tall players, the class of the field is clearly Juan Martin del Potro who has a bazooka of a forehand and a monster serve.  Cilic, meanwhile, is a steadier player, not as flashy or as powerful.  But you wouldn’t have thought that by the 6-1, 6-3 drubbing he gave Nadal.  Nadal generally doesn’t lose this bad, and yet here’s two matches, the one against Cilic and the one against del Potro at the Open (and the second set of Montreal too) where Nadal has looked vulnerable.

Has Nadal gotten timid?  Has his serve speed gone down?  What’s happened to Rafael Nadal?  To be fair, Rafa was rusty when he came back from his long break at Montreal.  And to be fair, Rafa did make the semifinals.  That’s a pretty good accomplishment.  But it’s one thing to lose, and one thing to lose this badly.  Is he afraid of playing Djokovic?  Once upon a time you’d never put “afraid” and Nadal in a sentence together.  His bulldog style of play meant he feared no one and he played tough against anyone.

Normally, Rafa has done well when he’s come back.  Remember at the end of 2008.  Rafa was out hurt and people wondered whether this was the beginning of the end for him.  Yet, he came out storming, getting to the finals of the Australian Open and beating a (admittedly flailing) Roger Federer in fives sets.  Rafa continued to play pretty well up through the French Open including a very solid clay court season.

But since then, he’s struggled against some players, so now the question is: can he recover?  What is up with Rafael Nadal?

China Open (Wednesday Results)

There are two ATP 500 events being run at the same time.  One is being held in Beijing, China, the other in Tokyo Japan.

These are the results of Wednesday’s play

[2] N Djokovic (SRB) d Troicki (SRB) 63 60
[4] N Davydenko (RUS) d P Kohlschreiber (GER) 61 60
[5] F Verdasco (ESP) d J Ferrero (ESP) 75 64
[8] [WC] M Cilic (CRO) d J Benneteau (FRA) 62 26 60

Djokovic had an easy win over fellow Serb, Viktor Troicki, who was a finalist in last week’s event in Bangkok.  Davydenko continues to play well against players that aren’t in the top 5.

Nadal is still in the tournament, but apparently didn’t play today which means he should be scheduled for play on Thursday.

Japan has the weaker field especially with Roger Federer and Andy Murray dropping out prior to the start of the tournament.

Today’s results:

Monfils d. Chiudinelli 7-6(5), 6-3

Wawrinka d. Gruel 6-3, 6-2

Next week, play commences in Shanghai China with an ATP 1000 event.  Roger Federer is also planning to skip this tournament.  However, this should attract the top ranked players.

Simon and Davydenko Win

What a difference a year makes.  Last year, Gilles Simon won 3 tournaments and played very solid tennis starting just before the US Open until the end of the year.  His ranking went up to the top 10 and he managed to get into the year-end Masters championships in Shanghai when an injured Rafael Nadal did not play.

2009 was not so kind to Simon.  Simon did not reach a single final this year until Bangkok.  Simon’s best surface is hard courts and indoors.  He managed to cling to a top 10 ranking all year despite indifferent results.  However, in Bangkok, Simon beat Kim, Korolev, Melzer, and Troicki.  Not exactly world-beaters, but certainly a confidence boost for the Frenchman.

The tour is in an Asian swing.  In addition to the tournament in Bangkok, there was also a tournament held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.  Nikolay Davydenko won over a considerably more challenging field, beating Taylor Dent, Gael Monfils, Robin Soderling and Fernando Gonzalez along the way.

This is Davydenko’s third title.  His other titles were on clay in Hamburg and Umag.

This week, the men play in Beijing and in Tokyo.  Both events are ATP 500 events, which are one notch under the Masters 1000 events, but big enough to draw the top players in the world.  Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic are playing in Beijing while Juan Martin del Potro, and the French trio of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Gael Monfils, and Gilles Simon are playing in Tokyo.

Roger Federer and Andy Murray were expected to play in Japan, but both begged out.  Federer claimed fatigue and plans to skip the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai next week.  Murray cited his left wrist injury and chose to skip Tokyo as well.

There are two more Masters 1000 tournaments, one in Shanghai (next week) and one in Paris.  There is also the year end championships which is held in London this year.