In a match reminescent of Miami, Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer to take home the title in Basel today. It was absolutely terrible tennis. I started watching, (at 4am on a work day), at the end of the first set where Federer managed to blow a thousand break points, Novak managed to double fault hundreds of times but eventually take the first 6-4… after about 7 previous set points. Federer was slicing his backhand like a man with zero confidence and hitting forehands consistantly into the net. Novak was better but only marginally, his groundstrokes Ok until an important point, and his serve woeful.

Federer somehowwon the second set, picking up his play enough to make him look like he belongs in the top 50, whilst Novak let his drop. The third set was a joke, with Federer going down a double break at the start and never recovering. Novak hit some nice returns off pathetic serves… and that is about as bigger compliment as I can give to the entire match.

Federer said after the match, “I thought I missed plenty of opportunities. I’m not looking for excuses. He played tough and he played well when he had to, and saved a ton of break points that were crucial.” The first sentence is bang on, the third incorrect. Novak didn’t play well at all on the big points, Roger was just worse.

What is concerning for Novak fans is the following quote, “I played by far my best match. It came at the right time.” How bad was Nole playing before this match, exactly? Must have been nothing short of awful.

I am really suprised to see Roger play this badly at home. It wasn’t actually anywhere near as bad as Miami, but it was awful. Great that Novak won a trophy but I still don’t hold much hope for him in slams. His nerves turn to jelly under pressure and you can see on his face he is strung up like a piano wire.

In other news, Muzz smashed Youzhny to take home yet another non-slam title.

Bring on Paris already.

Andre Agassi is no hero of mine. I fell for tennis when watching Roger Federer win the 2007 Australian Open. Andre Agassi had retired. Of course, I had heard of him. But without actually watching a player during his career, I cannot call myself a fan. From what I can tell, he is an amazing ambassador for the sport, and his retirement speech was incrediable. Other than that, I do not really know much about Agassi. Which is why I am looking forward to the release of his book.

I didn’t intend to be malicious when I smothered sarcasm all over the title of this post. I am genuinely happy for Serena and Venus. It is good for women’s tennis that the world number one is playing like the world number one, Serena hasn’t dropped a match yet. It will also be good to see her win a title that isn’t a slam if she makes it past her sister tomorrow. As for Venus, her year has been a bit of a disappointment, but a finals showing here, despite only winning two matches, has got to be good for her confidence and her game. If Venus wins it will be her greatest achievement of 2009 barring perhaps her runner up result at Wimbledon.

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Despite all these facts, many of us tennis fans will heave a collective sigh come tomorrows match. Once again the Russians have disappointed. A win for either Dementieva or Kuznetsova would of boosted their 2009 results considerably. Dinara Safina’s year has gone from good to bad to worse, retiring in tears in her first match. As for the young guns, their enthusiasm didn’t falter but their bodies did.  Wozniacki played her heart out but unfortuantly it wasn’t quite enough. Azarenka had a couple of close losses, one in which she retired after dropping a 5-2 lead in the second after winning the first. All around, Azarenka’s latter half of the year hasn’t lived up to the promise she displayed earlier on.

The Williams girls are fantastic for tennis. I am a fan of both and their matches are always high quality and fascinating. I really did want to see one of the others really make a mark in Doha, though. Wozniacki showed she had guts and impressed me, but her game is still lacking. As is everyone else’s except Serena’s, apparently.

Good luck to both the girls tomorrow, I hope it is a tight match. Oh and note to the WTA, can we please not have the finals in Doha? Somewhere that actually likes tennis would be nice, thanks.

Caroline Wozniacki may not have the game I like, but she sure does have the guts. I became a reluctant fan at the US Open, the way she acted in the presentation ceremony was utterly sweet and cute. She has none of the drama of JJ, Azarenka, Serena, or... and I say this reluctantly because she is my favourite, Sharapova. Caroline has something that a lot of the other players don't. She has charm. Elena Dementieva and Ana Ivanovic may display it from time to time, but with Caroline it really does shine through. Her behaviour, on and off court, is impeccable. Despite the fact she's a pusher, it is absolutely impossible to dislike her.

If her personality wasn't enough, I am sure there are a few more Caroline fans after Doha this week. With tears streaming down her face, a leg cramping up, abdominal injuries, and lord only knows what else, Caroline dogfought her way through Doha, eventually finding herself in the semi finals. I have no doubt that with the state her body was in, many other players, (do I even need to say her name?), would have retired or not played at all. Not Caroline, she proved that although she may not have the firepower of the likes of Sharapova and the Williams girls, she too has the mentality and the fight needed to win. I am sure there are a lot of girls in the top ten right now that would trade forehands with her if they could have her mentality. Afterall, a strong mentality is a lot harder to learn than a powerful forehand.

Caroline Wozniacki probably doesn't quite have the game yet to win slams. Eventually she is going to run into a Clijsters or a Williams or perhaps a back-to-their-best Henin or Sharapova, and I can't see her beating them. But she does have the mentality of a slam winner. At the age of 19, Caroline has plenty of time improve her serve and forehand, and if she does the rest of the field better watch out, because from I can see, mentally she is already on that podium.

Anyone hoping for the Serena Dinara Doha showdown for the year end number one ranking would have been bitterly disappointed today. Safina retired at 1-1 against JJ with a sore back. This is disappointing for two reasons, 1) I wanted Safina's season to end on a high note, and 2) I don't like it when JJ wins a match. She is far more entertaining when she loses. So Vera Zvonereva comes into replace Safina. Which is cool, I like Vera.

In tough three setter between my favourite pusher and Azarenka, Caroline the pusher edged her way past Vika after saving two match points.  I didn't see the match, but from what I hear it was a typically consistant Caroline, and an angry, nervy, chokey Azarenka. From what I understand, Azarenka got angry at a ball boy (seriously uncool), smashed some balls into the stands and threw some racquets and got a point penalty against her on break point. Whatevs.

Azarenka isn't out of it, she beat JJ the other day so no need for the girl to get down on it.

Lena has to play Serena (oh yeah, she won) next, Kuzy takes on Vee (don't like to see Vee not win a match but going for Svet anyway), and Vera plays Caro. Awesome.

First up, congrats to Lena for taking out a struggling Vee in the first match in three sets. From what I gather, Vee played an outstanding first set and then slid away. When I reviewed Venus, I said her performances this year have been sub par and this just adds to it. Great for Lena, though, who I am hoping can win this thing.

The more hilerious match of the day was Vika crushing JJ in straights. After the match, JJ pulled a Serena and gave Vika absolutely no credit.

"I basically gave her everything. I beat myself," Jankovic said. "I just was trying to get in the match, get my rhythm. But unfortunately, that never happened. ... I was really a shadow of myself."

Really, JJ, a shadow? Of which 'self', because you have been pretty god awful at times this year. Vika replied to JJ's comment with a snarky,

"I'm glad she gave me the match, and she was not in the mood, it worked out pretty well for me."

I don't care what anyone else's take on it is, mine is that it is a catfight just waiting to happen. I mean come on... clearly that comment was sarcastic. TEAM VIKA.

Oh and Serena beat Kuzy.

Pretty slow week for ATP fans. In the most shocking news of the week so far, Juan Monaco won a hard court match, and Ernests Gulbis won a tennis match. Although Ernie needs to win far more than that to get back in my good books. Due to the lack of news, I thought I'd contribute my opinion on the much thrashed ATP scheduling topic. I'll try and keep this pretty short because I know it is far from an original topic.

First of all, I don't believe the number of mandatory events is an issue. All up, tennis players have 25 weeks worth of tournaments, assuming they make it to the second week in the slams. 25 weeks of a 10-15 year career is something I'd happily swap my 48 week, god-knows-how-many-years-long career for. Jelena Jankovic really got on my bad side when she bemoaned the amount she had to practise and play. They get paid millions, I get paid rubbish. They do something they love, I do something I dislike most of the time. Playing 25 weeks of the year really doesn't seem to be a big ask for the amount they get paid. They could always quit and get a normal job

I do, however, think there is a problem. I mean, there has to be. Lots of players are currently injured. Andy Roddick, Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Robin Soderling, Juan Martin del Potro... and the list goes on. Of course, noone really seemed to be injured at the US Open, it was post slam that these injuries seemed to rear their heads. Indeed, it seems to be well agreed upon that the real problems happen after the final slam. Players are lacking motivation and energy. The last thing they want to be doing in travelling to Asia, then Europe, for the final Masters and WTF.

Herein lies the issues; travel and sufficient post slam rest. Wimbledon has almost a month where the top players do not need to compete, as does the Australian Open. The French runs onto grass pretty quickly but we all know and expect that. Yet players seems to be in action far too quickly after the US Open, and more to the point, they have two continents to visit in as many months. The gap between the final slam and the WTF to signify the end of the season seems a touch too long and gruelling. Hence the amount of injuries and fatigue.

Players also want a longer off season. In order to satisfy everyone, it seems the answer is to shorten the post US Open season and play the WTF at a more reasonable date... like... now. In between there would be perhaps one Masters events, and that would be Paris to make the trip to London more convieniant. Of course, that leaves Shanghai.

I am a big believer in promoting tennis in Asia. Shanghai, Tokyo, and Beijing all need to happen. Where we could fit them in, I know not. But their place on the calender needs to change. Currently, they are getting a bunch of retirements, withdrawls, and lacklustre top players. It is simply not fair. Would it be possible to hold these tournaments earlier in the year? If the players took most of November, December off... could the Asian swing be played in Febuary?
 

There is only a few more things that I feel need addressing. I have heard some people suggest that keeping the schedule the way it is and players 'calling in sick' is acceptable. I do not feel this is fair on the tournaments that are missing out. The advertisements for Shanghai had pictures of Federer and Murray, but both these men pulled out. Paying for matches that end in retirements is also not a good way to promote our sport.

I do feel that the ATP is looking into these issues. A few top players, I believe Davydenko was one, said they know their concerns are being addressed. Changes will take time. It is also my belief that Nadal's on going injuries will not be solved by cutting down on his schedule. That boy has serious knee tendonitis, he has had problems since the start of the year, never mind the end.

As a tennis fan I have no issues with a long season. Most individual sports are year round. The off season does need to be extended, but I feel the main problems are with the amount of travelling. It just doesn't seem logical at times. Hopefully the ATP's Helfant will sort things soon. As for the WTA, I think their schedule looks pretty damn good to me.

Off topic, good luck to the girls in Doha, I hope it is a really good tournament with high quality tennis. And... begrudgingly... good luck to Gulbis too.

What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you think of the luxury brand, Davidoff? Personally, I think of the male cologne, Cool Water, which is possibly the sexiest scent I have had the luck of smelling. It makes the most unattractive man attractive. What I did not know  is that Davidoff also make cigarettes and cigars.

The upcoming ATP 500 tournament in Basel, Switzerland is sponsered by Davidoff. It is also the home tournament of Roger Federer, who started out as a ball boy there a long time ago. He enters this year as defending champion and is obviously a crowd favourite. He frequently calls it one of his favourite tournaments to play, and always holds pizza parties for the ball boys.

This year, more that 500 'health experts' have signed a petition calling for Roger Federer to pull out of the tournament in protest of Davidoff being the main sponser. Tobacco sponsorship is legal in Switzerland as Switzerland is not a member of the European Union. Many health organisations have being in uproar over the sponsorship deal, and Eurosport have cancelled their plans to broadcast the event after French anti-tobacco campaigners threatened legal action if the tournament was broadcast in France. Roger Federer has declined to comment.

I have a few issues to discuss. Firstly, why has this not come to the fore earlier? Davidoff has been sponsoring the tournament for as long as I remember, (that would be a year). Have Davidoff always made cigarettes or is this a new thing? But mainly, is it really that bigger deal? Davidoff make tons of stuff, the tournament is not promoting smoking by having them as a sponsor, they are promoting the brand Davidoff. To me, there is nothing wrong with that. Tennis is obviously a sport that requires a healthy lifestyle and a lack of nicotine intake, any moron knows that. I highly doubt anyone watching this tournament is going to rush off and start smoking because of the sponsor. Why does the EU feel they have to interfere with  Switzerland's laws? Or, more to the point, Roger Federer's schedule?

Do they really expect the current world number one to pull out of his home tournament and deny the ball boys and Swiss people their opportunity to watch one of their national heroes? All because of a sponsor that makes cigarettes amongst many other things. How ridiculous. They want to deny the ball boys their pizza party? Do they even realise that it is compulsory Roger Federer plays four 500 tournaments a year and this is one of them? He absolutely loves this tournament and the fans love watching him play it, how selfish can people be?

I personally do not smoke and do not encourage it, but this Nazi attitude to cigarettes is absurd. If there were giant pictures of cigarettes and glamourous 1950s-esque posters of people smoking hanging around the stadium then yes, they would have an argument. As it stands, they are just making utter fools of themselves. As a health care worker and Roger Federer fan, I have no problems with Davidoff sponsoring Basel and I personally would be disappointed if Roger Federer pulled out of his home tournament.

I went through all the different motions when Serena announced she was putting pen to paper, (or someone else's pen to paper), and producing a 'set of memoirs'.  I was at first excited. Excited because I am obsessed with the world of tennis, I am a reluctant Serena Williams fan, and I am a self proclaimed book worm. Then Serena Williams discovered Twitter. What followed was a series of shameless self promoting tweets from, 'does anyone know the title of my new book?', to reminding us on the release date of her book, to just plain advertising. I swore I would never read it.

When I began this 'year in review' series, Caroline Wozniacki was on my list. Just weeks ago she was ranked number five. Now she sits at six and Dementieva sits at five, with Venus at four, and Kuznetsova at three. Needless to say it will all change again in the coming week, including Safina returning to her number one spot. It is all a bit rough for Wozniacki, who I would have loved to write a year in review on. However, Kuznetosva has had an equally intriguing year, and to be fair to her, she has managed to do what a lot of people doubted she would ever do again and won another Slam.She fully deserves to be in the top five.

Kuznetsova won her first Slam in 2004 at the US Open. Since then she has had mixed results, nothing worth writing home about but enough to keep her in the top ten, if not top five. With the WTA struggling without the prescence of a solid number one this year, the Slams were up for the taking. Kuznetsova, along with Safina, Jankovic, and Dementieva among others, would have been hoping she would be one of the ones to take advantage of this. Unlike the other three mentioned, Kuznetsova actually stepped up to the plate and in June, won her second Slam at Roland Garros. Kuznetsova beat the number one seed, Dinara Safina, in a lopsided final 6-4 6-2. She also beat Serena Williams in a very close three setter in the quarter finals.

As magnificant as Kuznetsova's win was for her career and her place in history, the victory seemed somewhat hollow. Clearly upset for her close friend, Safina, there were no celebrations for the ages when she won. Well, not on court anyway. Instead, Kuznetsova accepted the trophy with grace and moved back out of the limelight. For a girl with such an extroverted personality, well liked and often called the funniest woman on tour, Kuznetsova stays well away from most of the media and hype. She deserves more, but I suspect she prefers it this way.

Aside from Roland Garros, Kuznetsova has won another two tournaments this year, most notably the recent Premier Mandatory event in Beijing. How 2010 will play out for Kuznetsova will be interesting. Despite her success at Roland Garros, and her reasonable quarter final result in Australia, Kuznetsova experienced setbacks at Wimbledon and the US Open, with third and forth round showings respectively. She remains one of the big unknowns in the WTA, but this year was a success.

Overall Verdict : Very Good

That concludes my Year in Review series. It has been great fun writing, disappointed I could not get the Svetlana one done sooner but I am still having big computer issues. HP should be getting a spare one to me tomorrow, but I am not holding my breath. Charlotte should be back by the end of the month with any luck. Thanks for reading :)