Seamlessly switching from shorts to suits – The Top 8 in the ATP World Tour Finals 2012

Yesterday the superstars of the ATP enjoyed the traditional photo shoot and Gala on Saturday evening. They all looked suave in their matching suits, cracking jokes and sharing laughs but all burning inside with an intense desire to win.

The draw for the ATP World Tour Finals in London came out also came out earlier that day. Roger Federer is in Group B with David Ferrer, Juan Martin del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic. Group A includes Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Tipsarevic is in the top 8 by virtue of Nadal (who had qualified and would have been seeded 4) pulling out with the knee injury that has plagued him all year. On Monday, Roger loses his #1 ranking (which he has now held for a total of 302 weeks!) to Novak, and as such, he is seeded #2 at the event. Group A seems to be all the odd numbered seeds with Group B taking in all the evens.

The schedule for the first 2 days is as follows:

Monday, November 5^th Day Session: Murray vs. Berdych

Monday, November 5^th Night Session: Djokovic vs. Tsonga

Monday, November 6^th Day Session: Federer vs. Tipsarevic

Monday, November 6^th Night Session: Ferrer vs. del Potro

These Group Sessions will continue till the SFs on Sunday, November 11^th with the event culminating in the finals on November 12^th.

Roger of course pulled out of Bercy and his fellow top 8 seeds soon crashed out of Paris and joined him in London. The only seed still in Paris is Ferrer who just won his first ever ATP Masters 1000 trophy. What this means for Ferrer and the World Tour Finals is that he will get only Monday off before facing del Potro in his first match at the Finals on Tuesday. He is bound to be tired and drained and as such I would pick del Potro to win this one. Delpo’s only loss indoors this year came at Rotterdam against Federer and since then he’s won multiple titles, most recently back to back at Vienna and Basel; he is one of the in-form indoor players at the moment. An exhausted Ferrer shouldn’t give him too much trouble. Especially since he has now won at Bercy, I feel he will just play as much as he can without straining himself too much. He would also want to save his energy for the Davis Cup Finals later in the year.

Moving away from Ferrer onto the rest of the top 8, Roger really, really should win his match with Tipsarevic. He has a 5-0 record against him and this should technically be the easiest of his 3 group matches. We shall see if he is still rusty and exhausted like he was in Shanghai and Basel or whether skipping Bercy was worth it. In the other group, Nole should win against Tsonga in 2 tight sets but Andy might have problems with Berdych, given he has a 3-4 losing record against the Czech.

Looking ahead, I think the only stumbling block for Roger at the round robin stages could be del Potro. I expect both him and Delpo to make it to the SFs. The other group is tighter to call. Whether Nole is fine despite his father’s illness is a question that will hang in the air till he can show otherwise. Murray has not been able to convert match points in 3 tournaments in a row and might face problems from both Nole and Berdych. I nonetheless predict Nole and Murray reaching the SFs. That is unless Berdych finds his on-again off-again brilliance long enough to make it through, or Tsonga gets inspired by his previous year’s performance, although I don’t feel as if that will happen; Tsonga doesn’t seem to be his usual effusive self these days.

In the finals I can see it being Federer v. Delpo or Federer v. Djokovic. Who wins that day is difficult to call but going by Roger’s past performance and his drive to win this favorite trophy outside the grandslams a record 7^th time, I shall cautiously tip this for Roger. I’ve seen some of his practice photos and there is an intensity in his eyes that I feel will drive him straight through till the end. And if Andy isn’t in the final, the crowd will be very pro Federer, as it always is. He will feed off of that to propel himself to another victory.

I just made quite a few strong predictions so either I will come off as wise and a tennis guru, or we could look back on this post 8 days from now and laugh at how delusional and deranged I was. And let’s face it, I’ve been horribly wrong in the past, especially regarding Paris Bercy (but then who hasn’t?) But if you are a Roger Federer fan you know that our faith in Roger to win, especially at a World Tour Final, never falters. Besides, he’s Roger Federer, how could you not be delirious each time you see him fly across the court, poetry in motion, creating silhouettes with each shot? Other than grass, indoors is where he excels. With no outside elements to disturb his play, he can fully unleash his weapons with lethal accuracy, and produce shots you might have read about in a book, but never actually seen. If you ever wanted to know what perfect tennis looks like, watch Roger play at the O2… he’s peRFection personified.

Roger flying practicing at the O2 arena in London

Paris Bercy Final Preview

Paris Bercy this year has been a graveyard for seeds, especially those in the top 8. Roger Federer had withdrawn from the tournament right before it started. The Swiss maestro traveled to London a few days ago and was seen practicing a few days ago. But his fellow ATP stars soon followed him to London. Nole crashed out in his first match at Bercy in the 2nd round. Andy and Delpo soon followed with exits in the 3rd round. And in the QFs, 3 of the remaining 4 members of the top 8 also packed their bags. Berdych, Tipsarevic and Tsonga all boarded the next Eurostar out of Paris. Whether they all took this event lightly once they qualified for the World Tour Finals is a matter of debate. Perhaps they wanted to keep themselves fresh for the illustrious event in London. Or perhaps they all had horrible form in the span of 2 days, all at once. You be the judge.

Jerzy Janowicz © Reuters

With all 7 of the Top 8 in London by November 3rd, 4th seed David Ferrer was the only top 8 player who reached the Bercy SFs. The other semi-finalists were a wildcard entry, Frenchman Llodra, an unseeded French player, Simon and a qualifier that seemingly came out of nowhere (well actually he came from Poland). 6’8” Janowicz is having the run of his life. He was ranked 69th in the world before Bercy and should he win the event he will be ranked 22nd. This runaway train wasn’t stopped by Simon in the SFs who he beat in straight sets to reach the finals. On the other side of the draw, Ferrer defeated Llodra in straight sets and reached the finals as well. The Spaniard has (incredulously) never won a Masters 1000 title and in my opinion should be the favorite, given the year he has had and the wealth of talent and experience he brings to the court.

Considering there is a hole in Ferrer’s already sparkling resume by never having won a Masters 1000, it makes sense why he has been fully committed to this tournament. He was perhaps the only one out of the top 8 to do so. Hence, while his fellow stars donned sleek suits at the London Gala and celebrated reaching the pinnacle of tennis, Ferrer the ironman, was still in Paris, preparing to be the first Spaniard to win at Bercy. He will have a tough fight on his hands if red-hot Janowicz starts hitting those cross court forehands and angled dropshots with accuracy. But Ferrer is no pushover as many have found out. Just ask his most recent victim, Llodra. The man is having his best year on the ATP tour. He is tied with Federer at 6 titles already and has 71 wins compared to only 14 losses, the most wins by any player in 2012. He is here to win it and Janowicz may be in for a rude awakening when they clash in a few hours from now.

Regardless of the result however, one must wonder if the ATP will change the calendar next year. Had all the top players performed according to their seedings, 4 of them would have been missing from the ATP World Tour Final Gala held yesterday. Bercy has been relegated to almost an exhibition match despite being an ATP 1000 event. If Bercy wishes to return to its glamorous ATP 1000 status it needs to move (or London could be moved a week later). Unless of course Bercy wants to become the one Masters event every year that will give the rest of the ATP a chance to shine when the brightest stars in the galaxy temporarily go on hiatus for a week. Bercy has been interesting this year to say the least, you must give it that. Perhaps that’s not such a bad notion for the future.

Topsy Turvy Paris Bercy

What is going on in Paris Bercy? Just because Roger Federer chose to skip the tournament doesn’t mean everyone else should too! Either that or the water for the seeded players has been spiked. How else to explain Djokovic losing his 2^nd round match (after receiving a 1^st round bye)? He came on court wearing a Darth Vader mask for Halloween but it turned into a nightmare for Nole as he crashed out against Sam Querrey. Along with Novak, Gasquet seeded 12, Cilic seeded 13 and 10^th seed Isner were also defeated in this round.

The Novak loss would have to be the third biggest shock exit of the year; obviously it doesn’t beat Nadal’s exit at Wimbledon but I would say there is another exit that ranks second and it came in the 3^rd round at Bercy. Andy Murray, the # 3 seed lost his match against Jerzy Janowicz after wasting match point in the 2^nd set. Janowicz, aged 21 and ranked 69 in the world had already taken down Kohlschreiber in the 1^st round and 12^th seed Marin Cilic in the 2^nd before hanging tough to ultimately end Murray’s hope of winning his first Masters title this year. An emotional Janowicz said in the press conference,

“It’s not easy for me to talk about this week because I had really tough moments in my life and this is really like a movie for me.I have always had problems with sponsors. “I didn’t have money for my career; all the time my parents were helping me. They were selling their shops, they were selling the few apartments, so they decided to go all in to help me as much as possible. I was fighting my whole life with money, so this week is really important for me to get some sponsors, to get some help.”

© Getty Images
Jerzy Janowicz celebrates his win over Andy Murray with coach Kim Tiilikainen.

What struck as the harsh truth is that for most players not in the top 10 or 20, this is the reality. Most have a hard time making ends meet for such an expensive sport. Janowicz’s comments make it clear that the ATP Players council is on the right path advocating for greater prize money for the lower ranked players who have to make a choice to not enter a tournament if the plane tickets are too expensive. The struggle to find sponsors, to fly to remote corners of the world and the fight to move up the rankings can all overwhelm a player. At that point they are playing for their sheer love, passion and dedication to tennis. And perhaps that makes it imperative that such upsets happen once in while to give extra motivation to the rest of the ATP; to prove that they are playing for a reason and hard work does pay off.

Coming back to the topic at hand, the 3^rd round at Bercy wasn’t done with its surprises. After Murray crashed out, it was del Potro’s turn and he lost in straight sets to French veteran Michael Llodra. Sam Querry wasn’t done either as he dashed the hopes of another seed Milos Raonic (seed # 14) in straight sets. In the meantime, Kei Nishikori, seeded 15, pulled out due to injury leaving Gilles Simon as the luckiest player in tournament. Simon faced lucky loser Victor Hanescu in the 2^nd round instead of Roger Federer. He then didn’t have to play the 3^rd round because Nishikori pulled out. And now he’s in the quarterfinals against Tomas Berdych. Will he be 3^rd time lucky and beat Berdych to guarantee a Frenchman in the semi finals?

Speaking of the quarterfinals, there ARE some seeds still left to make plenty of history on their own. Simon v. Berdych is up first followed by Janowicz v Tipsarevic. The 3^rd match is the big one with Ferrer and Tsonga squaring off and the day ends with Querry v. Llodra. At this point my predictions are Berdych, Tipsarevic, Tsonga and Llodra to come through, though my heart would make the opposite choices for at least the first 2 matches. But I must admit I am not feeling confident in ANY of my picks. This tournament has had so many surprises I just don’t know what to expect, which is also why it’s one of the most interesting Masters in recent memory. Such has been the domination by  the top players, especially the trio of Roger, Rafa and Nole that the last time none of them was in the 3^rd round of a Masters 1000 was in Paris in 2006, 53 tournaments ago.

This is the last stretch before we head off to the World Tour Finals. But in the meantime, it does bode well for us that we are guaranteed some good tennis from players that don’t often get the spotlight. It will be a nice change seeing what the ATP tour has to offer when its stars are not there. That is, before we head off to London to see ATP’s crowning jewels fighting it out amongst each other for that last piece of glory to end a remarkable year of tennis.

Off court happenings

It’s a week without Roger Federer activity and I have two choices, write about Paris Bercy anyway, or whole lot of tid bits that have been in my mind but haven’t been able to put it down. Since Bercy will still be around tomorrow I figure I’ll just get those other pieces of information out of my head first, in no particular order and following no rhyme or reason.

#1. Rafael Nadal: He hasn’t played on tour since his 2nd round loss to Rosol in Wimbledon this year. Now he has officially pulled out of Paris Bercy AND the World Tour Finals. Meaning Tipsarevic is thrilled that he’s going to be included in the top 8 for London again this year by virtue of injury. Only this time he gets to know in advance and will be able to play the entire round robin stage as opposed to last year when Murray pulled out only after he played the first match. The tennis scene without Rafa has a hole the size of his left arm bicep and it will indeed be a welcome sight when he returns to the circuit. He plans on coming back at the end of the year in the Abu Dhabi Mubadala World Tennis Championship exhibition tournament in December ahead of the Australian Open in 2013. The other players included in the tournament are Nole, Andy, Ferrer, Berdych and Tipsarevic.

#2. Conspicuous by his absence in the Abu Dhabi exhibition lineup is Roger Federer: Initially there were mixed messages as to the reasoning behind this. A few thought it was because Federer has the Gillette Federer Tour in Brazil from Dec 6-8 with Maria Sharapova, Serena Williams, Caroline Wozniacki, Victoria Azarenka, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Thomaz Bellucci, Bruno Soares, Marcelo Melo, Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan. Then he will go to Argentina to play an exhibition against Juan Martin del Potro in December 12-13 before playing against Tsonga again in Colombia in Dec 15. This seemed like a reasonable explanation till the Mubadala organizers gave a different version.

Greg Sproule, IMG’s Managing Director for the Middle East and North Africa insists Federer’s absence is due to the organisers’ desire to “celebrate past champions and the youth of the ATP”.

“The principle reason is that we are celebrating past champions and Roger, unfortunately, hasn’t won the event. The Championship adores Roger and we cherish that friendship very much, but we are sticking to the theme of past champions. That was a very definitive, clearly cut decision. Roger will always be a friend of the Mubadala World Tennis Championships and we were very grateful of the first four years of his participation. He is very dear to us, and I mean that very seriously. But the celebration of champions and the youth of the ATP, which we have in spades here with arguably the six hottest young players in the game, was our aim from the outset. These guys have more Grand Slam victories ahead of them rather than behind them.”

Asked whether the door remains open for Federer to return in the future, Sproule added: “(Its) Never closed for anyone, Roger included.”

It all sounds quite shady to me. First, if only champions are being invited, clearly Ferrer, Berdych and Tisparevic don’t fit the bill. The second is the focus on the ‘youth of the ATP’ ‘the six hottest young players in the game’. Ferrer will be a month away from turning 31 at the time of the exhibition. Tipsarevic will be 28 and Berdych 27. The youngest players will be Novak and Andy at 25. If they really wanted young they should have easily gone for del Potro, the youngest top 10 player, aged 24. Or Milos Raonic or Kei Nishikori aged 21 and 22 and in the ATP top 20. In other words, his logic doesn’t make sense and it’s obvious there is another reason here. Oh did I also mention that Roger used to be managed by IMG Worldwide Inc. but left once his agent of 6 years, Tony Godsick left IMG earlier this year? And now the IMG organized exhibition has left Federer out of the mix, coincidence? I think not. Just a shame that all this ugliness spilled out in such a manner. As a Fed Fan all I will say is more time for Roger to recover from his December exhibitions and prepare for the Australian Open in 2013!

#3. And speaking of Australia, it seems Roger’s popularity spans across oceans and continents: The Swiss maestro has been selected as the most popular athlete amongst sports fans in Australia. In fact, he has topped the list for the third year running over all other sports icons in a gemba Asset Study (gES) which surveys Australians’ attitudes and opinions towards more than 200 Australian and international sporting icons. This is even more amazing considering the past 3 years haven’t been as successful for Roger as his previous years. He won the Australian Open just once in that period and hasn’t reached the finals since. But this study goes to show, it’s not what you win but how you win.

“Australians are very attracted to athletes who are seen as competitive and humble and Roger embodies these attributes, Roger has consistently tracked well in Australia over the past three years,” gemba director Rob Mills said.

Interesting to note, Rafa, often the other side of the Roger tennis coin, was ranked 3rd while Sam Stosur was the first female at 7th and Kim Clijsters ranked 10th despite retiring earlier this year. Now here’s hoping that all those Australian fans went to the ATP website and voted for Roger as their Fan Favourite Player. With a whole continent behind Roger he’s bound to win right?

#4. Swiss ballboys and ballgirls still got their pizza party: Even after the gut-wrenching tie break loss to del Potro, the maestro celebrated with his traditional pizza party for his ‘fellow’ ballboys and ballgirls at the Swiss Indoors in Basel. It is well known that Federer himself was a ballboy at the Swiss Indoors and ever since he won his first Basel crown in 2006, he has been hosting pizza parties for the boys and girls and this year was no different despite the loss. Look at Roger and the kids looking happy and cheerful! Can you really blame Australians for liking him the most?

Hope Roger is enjoying a much needed break and will be rearing to go for the World Tour Finals in London in less than a week. Allez Roger!

Swiss Indoors recap and the weeks ahead

*Phew*

Ok it has taken me a whole day to process everything but there is a lot to wade through so let’s dive right in.

#1. Roger Federer failed to defend his Basel Crown against del Potro… and also failed to break/tie a few records:

Roger Federer reacts during the final against Juan Martin Del Potro in Basel Source: AFP

The match was tough to watch not just because you could tell how much Roger wanted it but also how frustrated he got when he missed some simple shots and even more so because of HOW CLOSE he was to actually winning the match. Roger only offered two break points in the entire match. He failed to save the first one which led to Delpo taking the first set 6-4. Throughout the second set, Roger found it tough to hold but managed each and every time and saved the only other break point. Del Potro however was at break point once in the 2^nd set but Fed couldn’t convert. When Roger finally got the mini break on the 2^nd set tie break and turned it around for a deciding 3^rd set, I felt as if Roger would now win this. Soon in the third set Delpo gave him 4 more break point opportunities but he just couldn’t convert them. And so we headed to the 3^rd set tie breaker where Delpo got a mini break. Before I had time to digest the possibility of Fed losing the tie break, Delpo won the match amidst stunned silence, 6-4, 6(5)-7, 7-6(3).

The Argentine played superb all throughout the match. Federer however fluctuated and had a few too many unforced errors compared to winners. Given his aggressive playing style his errors are usually higher than the defensive players but yesterday he just didn’t produce enough winners to compensate. I was also wrong when I said that if he served well his game will follow, for yesterday he served very well, best I have seen him serve compared to Shanghai and earlier in this tournament I thought. He got in 68% of his first serves, but he won points at 76% compared to Juan Martin’s 87%. At least he fought down to the wire for this one, something I felt was missing in Shanghai. I believe he had the boost of the home crowd to give him that extra energy, he didn’t just roll over and give up.

Both men were gracious at the trophy ceremony with Juan Martin saying

“This is a great win for me, a dream,…It’s an honour to be on the court with Roger, who is the greatest of all time. It’s great to share this moment with him.”

Delpo also mentioned how he is looking forward to their exhibition match in Argentina later this year. Federer had warm words for Delpo as well,

“You deserved it. You had a couple of tough losses against me this year and I’m really happy for you.”

Roger Federer, the Runner Up and Juan Martin del Potro, the Champion of Swiss Indoors Basel, sharing a laugh at the trophy ceremony

The match lasted for 2 hours and 44 minutes. But at the end, the Swiss maestro lost the chance to equal McEnroe for a record tying 77 singles titles as he remains 4^th on the list with 76. He is tied with McEnroe at 4^th place for most match wins at 875 but has moved beyond him to 3^rd position by reaching his 109^th final. He is also tied with his childhood hero Stefan Edberg in 6^th place at 1,071 matches played.

#2. Federer pulls out of Paris Bercy… and loses the #1 ranking from next week:

I haven’t seen Federer this agitated or animated in a match in quite a while. And his footwork at times was quite sluggish. I think the year has taken its toll on Federer, both physically and mentally. I feel that had he done well at the USO, even if that meant reaching the finals, his motivation would have been higher at this point in the year. He would have had the year end #1 ranking all sewn up by now but after the unexpected loss at the QFs he became deflated like a pricked balloon. I think since then mentally he has not wanted to compete and played only because he had to not because he wanted to. He HAD to play the Davis Cup, he HAD to play Shanghai, for the 300 weeks, for his sponsors, and then he HAD to play Basel, his hometown tournament where he was a ball boy once upon a time. Of course this is all conjecture on my part, I am just going by how I have interpreted his body language both on and off the court.

With regards to Paris Bercy I outlined in my earlier post about his tough draw there and why he should skip it. It is now pretty much a fact that he will lose the #1 ranking regardless of how he performs at Bercy. Given these factors I was hoping he would pull out of Paris and we received news from him after the Basel loss that indeed, he has pulled out of the Paris Masters (much to my relief!). The way he looks and sounds now, unless he finds something quick to kick his motivation into overdrive, I fear he might not even do that well in London. It should be noted however, that even though he will lose his #1 ranking on November 5^th, as of today he still gets to enjoy one more week as #1, week number 302. And Fedfans will all hold onto that as they recover from the Basel loss.

#3. Looking towards the World Tour Finals in London:

Regarding Paris Bercy pullout, Federer said the following:

“I’m not going to Paris, it’s too much for me,…I’ve already told (tournament director) Guy Forget. I have some niggling stuff that I want to heal, I don’t want to take a chance for London.”

This comment confirms two of my thoughts, one that he IS sluggish and slow and therefore could use the Bercy week to heal and two, how much he cares for the World Tour Finals. I just hope that the motivation is strong enough to get him out of the rut he seems to be in. Even when not at his best, he can still win most matches as we have seen in the early rounds of USO, Shanghai and Basel. But his current level will not be enough against the other top 7 players in the world especially since every match feels like a final. However, I have faith in Roger and I believe that despite a tougher finish to the year so far, he DOES want to sign off on a high note and will refocus on London. Hopefully he will be able to turn it around for a perfect finish to an already fantastic year.

Overall, I do have a feeling that he will restart in 2013 with a fresh outlook. There is a ton of talk going on about the ATP crunching 3 events back to back, giving players no chance to rest up, especially for London. But they did it for a reason, to give the players an extra long holiday and I think this will benefit Roger greatly. He will be going to South America to play exhibitions with Tsonga in Colombia, Delpo in Argentina and the big Gillette Federer Tour in Brazil. In contrast to his homeland, it will be hot and sunny in that part of the world in December. He can tour with his family, enjoy the weather and rediscover his love for this sport. And once he finds that passion, he will realize that tennis loves him back even more and will be anxiously waiting for its king to come home.

The year is almost over but where have all the seeds gone?

Now that we are at the half way mark of the Swiss Indoors at Basel, a quick glance at the draw shows half the seeds are MIA. Seeds 4 (Wawrinka), 5 (Seppi), 7 (Mayer) and 8 (Troicki) were all eliminated in round 1 by much fresher and eager lower ranked players. A lot of tennis had been played this year especially with the Olympics thrown in and mental and physical fatigue can be seen across the board in both the Basel tournament as well as the Valencia Open in Spain. In Valencia, Tsonga, Tipsarevic, Monaco, Isner and Raonic have dropped by the wayside with only Ferrer, Almagro and Cilic left to fight it out.

The early exit of the seeded players have however, allowed for new and interesting match-ups for the QF round at Basel. Two of the 4 matches feature new combinations; the French wildcard Paul-Henri Mathieu faces Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov, also nicknamed Baby Fed for the first time in their careers. And Roger Federer squares off against yet another Frenchman, Benoit Paire for the very first time as well.

Seeds 1, 2 and 3 are still intact however, a testament to not only their skills and talents but unbelievable stamina and athleticism for they have also played a lot more this year, going deep into each tournament. The Swiss Maestro at 31 years of age has already played 75 matches this year, winning 66 of them while his opponent Paire, aged 23, has played only 47 matches and won 23 of them. Those extra matches add tremendous milage on the body, mind and soul, many of them also being at the end of tournaments and thus adding extra pressure. The ability to handle the rigours of being on tour 11 months out of the year is crucial to maintaining a level of play that will win championship points at the tail end of the last grueling season.

Federer has been a master of managing his time and schedule over the past 15 years he has been on tour. He knows to listen to his body and apply the brakes when needed. He did so last year after the 2011 US Open heartache and took a 6 week break which saw him fall out of the top 3 rankings for the first time since 2003. He skipped the entire Asian leg and came back fresh as a daisy in Basel which he went on to win. Then as we know, he won in Paris Bercy and the World Tour Finals for a record sixth time in London. Oh and with those three consecutive wins, he climbed back up the rankings and ended the year at #3.

This year he has driven himself a little too much and has already hinted that he will cut back on his tour schedule next year. His fatigue has been obvious in Shanghai and to a certain extent Basel, though Basel being an indoor tournament and in his hometown has probably given him an extra gear; he has been playing better than in the Shanghai Masters. Nonetheless, his body language seems less positive and he has been escaping out of close matches using his guile and experience rather than supreme game play against lesser opponents. My prediction at this point is that he will skip Paris Bercy next week. He will thus lose 1000 points and his #1 ranking after a record 302 weeks and Novak Djokovic will become the new #1 player on November 5^th, 2012 and end the year as #1 for the 2^nd year running. Interesting to note,  this is something that Nadal was not able to do despite being year end #1 in 2008 and 2010. Federer took it back from him in 2009 and Nole ended his phenomenal 2011 as the year end #1.

As a fan I would support this decision for Federer to pull out of Bercy wholeheartedly. The year end #1 ranking s no longer in his hands, even if he wins everything in sight, he still has to hope for Djokovic to perform badly. And Nole has looked to be in almost 2011 form since he failed to defend his title at the US Open. That loss has inspired him to go the distance in finishing the year and he has also learnt to manage his schedule better and stay healthy compared to last year when he was already burnt out post US Open.

For now, the maestro has to get through Paire, and then either Mathieu or Dimitrov (hard to choose between those two), before facing Delpo (who I feel is playing solid enough to beat Gasquet) in the finals. Fed usually plays his best in finals, he lost only 2 of the 8 finals he has reached this year. Hopefully he can beat Delpo and retain his Basel crown before taking a week off to recuperate and come in red hot for the World Tour Finals at the O2 in London.