Spain won the Davis Cup finals with Fernando Verdasco beating José Acasuso in a five setter to give his nation a lead of 3-1 which cannot be overtook by the Argentines in a five match rubber. Argentina were in the lead at 1-0 in the beginning of the finals but they lost their momentum as Spain bounced back to beat their opponents in three straight games. This is the second biggest trophy for Spain in two sports as they already won the Euro 08 tournament that took place in June earlier this month. The match winners for Spain were Feliciano Lopez and Fernando Verdasco with them winning a singles match each and then partnering up to beat the Argentines in the doubles match. This is the third Davis Cup title for Spain and they last won it in the year 2004. United States of America is the record holder for the most number of titles with a haul of 32 titles to its name. Interestingly they have won all the three titles so far in leap years namely 2000, 2004, 2008. On the controrary Argentina have never won a Davis Cup title and they are still in search with this loss. This means that they have to work hard and try their luck next year when the Davis Cup kicks off again.
Djokovic who is the current world number 3 closed the gap on the number 2 and the former champion Roger Federer and he is just 30 points in reach of him. He closed the gap with his win in the season ending Masters Cup in which Roger Federer saw himself eliminated in the group stage. Djokovic has been in good form this year and Federer was not in good shape and these two factors saw Djokovic climb up the rankings. This year was exciting in men’s tennis as there were three GrandSlam Champions compared to the two GrandSlam Champions over the last couple of years. It was Rafael Nadal who won two GrandSlams and both Federer and Djokovic won one each. Federer who was at the top of the ratings at the start of the year saw him lose the top spot to his rival Rafael Nadal after the loss to him in the Wimbledon which was the third GrandSlam of the year. Even after that Federer did not have good time as he lost most of the tournaments he went into and Djokovic was improving the results than what he produced in the events before and this saw him increasing the points and here has come the stage when he is in touching distance with the champion. Federer has said that he will not leave the second spot that easy and his fans can expect him to be back in form when the season kicks off in the January next season.
As expected much by others defending champion Roger Federer bowed out of the Masters Cup losing his match to Murray. He has previously lost his first encounter against Simon and this means that out of the three matches Federer has lost two matches and this is the end of the most forgettable year for Federer. He came into the tournament as the favourite as current number1 Rafael Nadal pulled out of the tournament due to ankle injury. But Federer’s title hopes were shattered by debutant Simons who beat Federer in three sets. Had Federer won the title it would have been a hat-trick of titles for the Swedish International. Prior to the match Murray had quoted that he will beat Federer and stand his biggest chance of winning the trophy as he is in the high of his career. Federer has to be content with just a single GrandSlam title to his name this year. Simon too had his dreams coming true as he qualified for the semifinals when he beat Stepanek. Stepanek replaced Roddick who had to pull out of the tournament due to an ankle injury after having played against Murray. The Masters Cup is the seson ending tournament and Murray, Simon and Djokovic have qualified for the semifinals of the tournament so far. The fourth spot will be decided today.
American Andy Roddick recieved a setback as he pulled out the season ending Masters Cup taking place in Shangai with an ankle injury and is cursing the tennis adminstrators for the busy schedule that the players have been given with. Roddick played the opening match in the tournament which he lost and now Radek Stepanek who is the world number 27 and the first alternative replaced him in the tournament and faced the top seed and the defending champion Roger Federer. Roger Federer has lost his previous encounter with Simon and needed a win in this match to keep his title chances alive and he kept his cool to take the match in straight sets. Roddick told the reporters that the injury must not keep him much out of action and he is expecting to return to action early in the next year as there are no tournaments this year after the Masters Cup. Should Federer lose to Murray though, Gilles Simon also stands a chance of reaching the final four, providing he beats Stepanek.
Roger Federer got a setback in finishing the year with some pride as he lost the first match of the group stage against Simon after having taken the lead by winning the first set. Federer has been having a disastrous year in which he saw himself winning only one GrandSlam title which is so far the worst for him since he started winning titles and he lost the number 1 spot that he held for more than four and a half years. He was thinking of gaining some pride by winning the Masters Cup which is the year ending tournament in which the top eight players of the year participate and Federer is the winner of it for four times and he is on course of doing a hat trick. He missed the hat trick the previous time as he was bet by Nalbandian in the finals and he hoped of accomplishing the task this time. But it seemed that it cannot happen as his start was slowed down by Simon. Federer took the first set 6-4 but failed to capitalise on the lead and he lost the match 4-6,6-4,6-3 and this is the many of the loses that has come to him this year. But Federer will be thinking that this is only group stage and there is more time to capitalize and work towards the title. The other players in the frame are Nadal, Roddick, Murray and Tsonga.
Ana Ivanovic began working with Scott Byrnes (muscle and training coach) in July 2006. She started practicing tennis at age 5 after seeing it on TV (in particular Monica Seles). Recollecting the phone number to a neighboring tennis school and pleaded her parents to take her to that school. Then she was given a racquet for her fifth birthday and at once she was very much devoted with the game. Mother, Dragana, is a attorney; father, Miroslav, is a entrepreneur; brother, Milos, is four years younger than Ana’s and he likes playing basketball; all the family likes sports, but none played tennis before Ana. She likes watching cinema (mainly thriller) either at the cinema theatre or on DVD at residence; she also likes reading (particularly regarding the past and Greek myths) and to listen to melody songs. She loves the TV shows 24, Lost and Prison Break. She admires Roger Federer for his professionalism on and off the court. Sometimes she prepares for match by playing Sudoku in her room.
It is quite common in all sports to be rivalry among the top sportsmen of the sport but the rivalry will be only on the field and they will be good friends outside the field. There have been a lot of people who were in the top of their field for quite a long period of time such as Michael Schumacher in Formula 1, Pete Sampras in Tennis, Mike Tyson in boxing, Tiger Woods in Golf and not but not the least Sachin Tendulkar in Cricket. In the modern era one of the most highlighted and the most anticipated fight is between the top two rankers in the sport of tennis who are none other than Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. There are the best rivals that the world of sport has seen and both of them have been improving from one game to another and this entertains the fans a lot. Roger Federer not to mention has been the inevitable player in tennis in the modern era. He has the record for the most number of grand slam wins and also the most number of consecutive weeks at the top spot in the rankings. Can you imagine that he was at the top of the table in the rankings for a record 236 consecutive weeks? Also Nadal has the record for the most number of weeks in the second spot. This shows how the two had been competing for the top spot and Federer getting the better of it for more than four years. But the point is that Federer’s reign at the top of the rankings ended this year after he had what was called a miserable and disappointing year in his career. He lost the season opening Australian Open and then lost embarrassing to Nadal in the French open which Nadal has won for the past five years. Next came the Wimbledon. Federer was the king of grass and hasn’t lost a match in grass over three years but the Swedish International lost that trophy too and it was the first time Nadal won the Wimbledon championship but Federer regained some respect by winning the season’s last grand slam event, U.S. Open. But it was in 2008 that Federer lost the top spot to Nadal and he is keen to regain it. The season ending Master’s Cup is due in next month and the players are preparing hard for it as only the top eight players at the end of the year qualify for the event. I can’t wait to see Federer beat Nadal on hard court and take his revenge for the two losses earlier this year.
