Novak Djokovic continued his dominant 2015 campaign by winning a third straight BNP Paribas Masters title on Sunday, when he cruised past Andy Murray 6-2, 6-4. Djokovic gave back a break early in the second set but more than made up for it by breaking Murray a total of four times during the match.
“There was couple of games in the second set where Andy started turning things around, so things could have gone different way as they did maybe yesterday against (Stan) Wawrinka at same stage,” the world No. 1 reflected. “But I managed to stay tough. It was, all in all, the best performance of the week, and it came at the right time.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/ATPWorldTour/status/663393450130280448]
[tweet https://twitter.com/espn/status/663398573799833603]
Both Djokovic and Murray will now head to London for the World Tour Finals. As the No. 1 and No. 2 seeds, respectively, they cannot face each during round-robin action.
“I’m hoping that I can repeat the kind of performances and success I have had there in previous years,” the Serb commented. “[The O2 Arena] is a great stage for a tennis tournament.”
Much to the chagrin of many tennis fans, Vasek Pospisil and Jack Sock will not be in attendance at the year-end championship. Their London bid came down to the final day of proverbial regular season, when the North American duo needed to win the Paris title in order to qualify.
Pospisil and Sock came within a set but ultimately fell to Marcelo Melo and Ivan Dodig 2-6, 6-3, 10-5 on Sunday afternoon.
Melo is going into the World Tour Finals as the No. 1 doubles player in the world and on a 16-match winning streak. The Brazilian has also won an incredible 11 consecutive super-tiebreakers.
“I think the confidence I got from the last tournaments and this one with Ivan helped us to come back in one more match,” Melo explained. “This year has been so special for us. It’s special for me because I’ve now won four titles in a row, I’ve become No. 1, (and) I’m going to be year-end No. 1. So I’m very happy for that.”
[tweet https://twitter.com/MutuaMadridOpen/status/663336578652205056]
[polldaddy poll=9169263]
Reblogged this on Tennis Abides.
Djokovic has become too good for everybody. Congrats to him and his team.
weak era, Novak at his peak and with infinite confidence…it will soon come to an end…it starts with losing sets here and there and will soon turn into losing close matches…
however, amazing feature it is…great job done by Novak…high respect for him…
Reblogged this on Mon site officiel / My official website.
His first slam closely followed by the WTF crown came too soon in his career. IMO it actually stalled his development as a player for over two years as proved by his ludicrous match retirement record and the number of times he missed out on titles he came close to winning.
It is the way he eventually re-invented himself which is so impressive. Whether he can continue to find the solutions as other players suss him out will be the acid test. For now his awesome array of weapons, his unrelenting chutzpah, combined with physical and mental stamina, set him apart.
As Natashao points out. Once his invincibility has been challenged it will become increasingly easy for others to pierce his armour.
There is frequent speculation about how many Slams and Masters he might amass. The figures bandied about are all predicated on the assumption he will remain at his current level for years and there is nobody out there capable of challenging him.
#Beware of false prophets
I thought that lucky had some great thoughts on what it will take to challenge Novak on the Rafa fan page. She talked about which players could have a shot at Novak next year in each of the slams.
Murray used to be able to challenge Novak in their matches, but since the back surgery hasn’t been able to do so with the exception of Montreal this year. Stan was able to beat Novak at RG, playing maybe one of his best matches ever. Novak’s camp said afterward that he used the wrong tactics, but that felt a bit like an excuse to me.
Rafa is the one player who has been able to stay with Novak and push him in slams. So I am hoping that Rafa can be back to his best form in 2016 and get the better of Novak again.
For now Novak is the obvious favorite to win the WTF, capping what has been an impressive year. Winning 3 slams and 6 Masters titles is quite a feat and I am not about to chalk that up to a weak field or put any asterisks beside his achievements. I don’t have to like the guy or be a fan, but still just have to say – too good – for this year.
nativenewyorker7 says:
November 9, 2015 at 3:19 pm
—Novak’s camp said afterward that he used the wrong tactics—
===
.
BB was accused of not giving right “signals” to Djoko during the match.
🙂
Rafa is frequently accused of the same thing, is he not? Wawrinka was warned in his match against Nole on the weekend.
The only top player that I’ve never seen warned or accused is Federer.
Mirka coaches Federer or tries to but Federer doesn’t think anyone knows better than him. He says he was the same as a little boy he used to tell his parents not to tell him what to do on court. I’ve seen Mirka shout out “move your feet” at Fed.
I missed the Wawrinka coaching warning but I’ve noticed how frequently he looks towards his box during a match – that is when he’s not watching himself on the big screen.
I would guess most players receive some help from somebody in their team. Possibly not Fognini and Theim – Bresnik is so stony faced and immobile I doubt they get any help from that quarter: Fognini would probably ignore it anyway lol.
ed251137 (at 12:09 pm)
May I ask, are you trying to rescue ND?
Yeah ed. That’s my job. I want to see your union card.
Rescue ND? You gotta be joking. Whatever ever makes you think I would want to do that? I’ve made my feelings clear often enough and Site rules make it imprudent to repeat what I feel about him 🙂
?? ? ?? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ??? ?
ed251137 (at 12:59 pm),
I mentioned his coach @4:28 pm and you wrote that “… most players receive some help…” 🙂
I was reacting to the report that WaWa was given a warning on Sunday. Maybe that was why they were laughing when they shook hands at the net. It was certainly a warm, friendly exchange between the two of them.
I didn’t see the incident because I missed chunks of the match. But would be interested to see it. Who was the umpire and was it very blatant?
Basically I am not in favour of the rule because it is impossible to monitor and therefore impose any sactions fairly. Like quite a few of the ATP Rules.
ed,
I wasn’t aware that Stan was given a warning on Sunday. That’s interesting. We have spoken in the past about the language barrier. I think one time Rafa got into an argument with a chair umpire because insisted that he could not have known what was being said by Uncle Toni. I am sure that chair umpires understand more than one language.
When it comes to profane language, obviously I know what Murray is saying! But when it comes to other players, I would have no idea. I remember when Novak’s profanity was interpreted for us here on the site. After reading what he said, I would have preferred not to know in the first place! 🙂
nativenewyorker7 says:
November 10, 2015 at 6:51 pm
—I think one time Rafa got into an argument with a chair umpire because insisted that he could not have known what was being said by Uncle Toni. I am sure that chair umpires understand more than one language.—
===
.
Rafa and U.Toni speak to each other in a dialect of Catalan language spoken in Mallorca.
That’s what Richard Gasquet said in his interview with l’Équipe when he practiced with Rafa in Mallorca last December:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CTfHSbZWIAACGt-.png:medium
Sergi = Sergi Bruguera, who is the coach of Richard Gasquet, was born and lives in Barcelona, the capital of Catalonia.
Is there a crib available that shows what signs each coach uses to signal what moves/tactics to employ. It would be invaluable, n’est ce pas 🙂
Mirka blows a bubble to signal Fed to challenge.
Checking her phone means time to SABR.
ed251137 (at 4:17 pm),
Maybe it’s possible to ask BB directly:
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CRmuZRgWoAALpzb.png:medium
🙂
If BB isn’t available, maybe it’s possible to ask UT directly (but let me check with Benny first):
“I talk to Rafa during matches. I know that it’s not allowed but I think that at my age I have nothing to hide,”
And another time Nadal said. “I told him ‘I’m sorry, it’s not going to happen again’. That’s why I told Toni to stop because the relationship is more important than any match.”
Both coaches are just saying move your feet, Vamos, and, like UT, as BB says,” let them know if it is good or bad, and then it’s up to him to change it.”
Most players have this feedback from their coaches (except for Roger) and technically it is against the rules (if you get caught). But so what. It is part of the tennis landscape.
Blowing a bubble, using the phone etc can all be construed as coaching. I remember once my brother and I had done a mind reading act where we had devised the “code” beforehand. Color of the pen, checking cell phone, sneezing, coughing, blowing a bubble……… It is amazing how much we can communicate through seemingly casual everyday acts or gestures. The audience was ready to believe our minds were connected!!!!!
I would be hopeless, I would be sure to forget the code and get the signals muddled up in key moments.
Do coaches study the oppositions’ code of signals so they can then let their charge know what to expect e.g. a serve and volley followed by a drop shot?
Lol!
Benny is hawkeye’s Jeeves.
An imaginary friend.