It may be the start of the new year, but tennis has made a roaring start with three tournaments just concluding, plus an exhibition in the Hopman Cup.  The tournament with the most star power is in Doha, Qatar, which featured Federer, Nadal, Monfils, and Tsonga,  Brisbane was the only men’s tournament in Australia.  The top seed was Andy Murray changing up his routine from last year where he played Hopman Cup.  Finally, Chennai (India) had the weakest field, but had an interesting final.

Chennai

Last year, Janko Tipsarevic was trying to win his first title.  Chennai looked promising as he reached the finals, but lost to Stan Wawrinka.  With a top ten ranking in hand, he was hoping to start the new year with a new title.  But the Canadian sensation from last year, Milos Raonic, had other ideas.  Raonic began the year with a bang reaching the fourth round of the Australian Open where he bowed out to David Ferrer.  He then won San Jose and reached the finals of Memphis where he lost to Andy Roddick on a dive passing shot.

Since then, Raonic suffered an injury and has been trying to regain the form that lead him to his first title.  It looks like he’s managed to do this.  As might be expected, Raonic relied on his big serve and forehand.  Tipsarevic is no slouch when it comes to power.  In the end, despite break point opportunities, neither could break each other, so this match went three tiebreaks.  Raonic won 67, 76, 76.

Don’t feel bad for Tipsarevic.  He was also in the doubles final with Leander Paes and won the title.

Doha

This wasn’t the final that organizers had hoped for.  With Federer and Nadal in the field, organizers certainly wanted Fed and Nadal.  However, Fed dropped out of a tournament for the second time in his career.due to a back spasm.  Fed believes a few days of rest and he’ll be ready for the Australian Open.  Rafael Nadal didn’t fare much better.  He lost to Gael Monfils who used a mix of retrieving (perhaps no one outside of Nadal retrieves as well) and a newfound aggression where he went for big shots and came to net to end points.

The final pitted the two top Frenchman against each other.  Although fans of Monfils might have hoped that the play that lead to his victory against Tsonga would be enough, they forgot one thing.  Tsonga can serve.  Nadal may be among the most competitive men to ever play tennis, with speed and a huge forehand to boot, but one place he remains only above average is his serve.  The spin may be tricky, but players can at least stay in points because Nadal isn’t likely to ace much.

On the other hand, Tsonga has a very tough serve and plays more aggressive off the ground.  He’s also beaten Monfils more recently.  All this was enough for Tsonga to overcome the fog that made the court humid and Monfils to a straight set win over countryman, Monfils.

Brisbane

Earlier in the week, Andy Murray announced that Ivan Lendl would be his coach.  Initially, the concern was whether Murray could win an easy match.  In the first two rounds, Murray lost the first set before coming back to win in three sets.  However, his game went up a notch against Marcos Baghdatis, who he had partnered in doubles in this tournament.  Murray broke four times to win handily.   Murray then played the tricky Bernard Tomic.

Tomic likes to play slices then use his flat shots to attack the corners, typically behind his opponents.  Murray’s strategy was to serve big and move the ball around to make it tough for the slow Tomic to set up.  Murray got a break in the first set, then two in the second set.

Murray then played a similar player in the final in Alexandr Dolgopolov.  Dolgo hits with more topspin than Tomic and is a quicker player as well, but can be erratic, like Tomic.  He also had an injury he suffered against Simon in the semifinals.  Dolgo struggled with his movement and Murray was sharp and serving well.  Murray had two breaks in the first set.  He got up a break before Dolgo made a small challenge and broke back.  However, Murray was able to win in front of his new coach (“Mr Lendl”).

Murray has historically played well at the start of the year (he’s won Doha twice in previous years).  The question is whether he can translate this to a good Slam bid.  The positive aspect for Murray is that he played more aggressive than usual trying to end points a bit quicker and not to get into long rallies just to be in a rally.

This Week

Most top players are taking this week off.  Some are playing that didn’t play this past week.  There are two tournaments being played: Sydney and Auckland (in New Zealand).  There are some exhibitions for those that want to get a hit in with no pressure.  In particular, Andy Murray will play David Nalbandian.

Surprisingly, Djokovic is only using the Abu Dhabi exhibition as his only preparation.  Nonetheless, he was able to beat Federer and Ferrer to win the title and appears to be back to his winning ways.  The question is whether he’s back to top form or not.