Wk.40- If at First You Don’t Succeed...

Hey Y'all. Galileo here.

Yes, Djokovic has won 26 matches -- or something equally ridiculous number -- in a row in Beijing, but spare a thought for poor Milos Raonic. He has made three consecutive finals in Tokyo and lost them all in three sets. He has lost two of them to the same man. That has got to sting.

Raonic has gone 14-5 in the tournament. In 2010 and 2011 he lost to Nadal in the second round but since then he has been one of the strongest performers. He lost to Nishikori in 2012, at love in the third set, Berdych the next year and now Nishikori again. He will try again next year, hopefully, and he will win. After all, if at first you don't succeed try try again.

Federer in Basel and Nadal in Barcelona are perfect example of players dominating in their home countries. They usually win those titles or at least make the finals unless, in Nadal's case, they are injured. Could Nishikori join them in dominating his home event? Nishikori has won the event twice already and does well there every year.

When the young guns started to come up, the ones with the best rivalries were not already apparent to us. Dimitrov has proven Harrison is no match for him. Dimitrov has also proven he is perhaps the best out of the four young guns. The most interesting rivalry, however, is that of Raonic and Nishikori's. Yes, Nishikori leads the head to head 4-1 but they split slam meetings this year. Raonic had match points at the US and took it in four at Wimbledon. Nishikori has won both times in Japan and this year in Madrid. Nishikori owns the head to head against Dimitrov as well [2-0], but Raonic is 1-2 against the Bulgarian. This is reflected in the rankings. Nishikori is ranked sixth, two places above Raonic and four above Dimitrov. And yet, despite that slam final appearance and the rankings, I still feel like Dimitrov is the most complete player and the player most likely to win a slam first.

The end of the season gets ever closer. We have Masters tournaments left and two pair of 500 level tournaments. Shall we go through one of those pairs?



*WEEK 40 CHAMPIONS*
BEIJING, CHINA
S: Novak Djokovic d. Tomas Berdych
D: Rojer/Tecau d. Benneteau/Pospisil
TOKYO, JAPAN
S: Kei Nishikori d. Milos Raonic 7-6(5)/4-6/6-4
D: Herbert/Przysiezny d. Dodig/Melo


PLAYER OF THE WEEK: NISHIKORI, JPN
...We've been waiting. We have been wondering. We have three years of December the 24th, three years of the day before the presidential election result is declared. We have had three years of ordering something online and waiting. We have had three years of waiting for a letter from that special someone, that someone who makes you smile just to see their handwriting on your doormat. We have been waiting for Nishikori to catch on fire.



And now the Japanese, no the Asian number one has finally done so. He will finish the year inside the top five aided and abetted by Ferrer's quite epic collapse and his rise. He has backed up that maiden slam final beautifully. He won that title last week and he has carried that momentum forward. Kei has also answered all those questions the doubters asked about his fitness. He has answered them with his wins, with his titles. He has answered them on the field so to speak. He had a tough path through to win his second Tokyo title, but was too tough in his first two rounds. He beat Dodig 6-3, 6-4 before edging out Young 6-4, 7-6. Next he dismissed new veteran Chardy in two straight -- and straightforward -- sets before advancing to a semi-final clash against surprise package Benjamin "No-Relation" Becker. He needed a third set breaker to win a thrilling topsy-turvy match. And then in the final he barely got by Raonic. He might lead the head to head but each match goes down to the wire. If Raonic improved his return game by ten percent then he would start to win those matches. As it was, Nishikori triumphed 6-4 in the third set of an epic encounter. Nishikori has Shanghai to look forward to and then he heads to Valencia, not Basel. I personally would go to Basel but I like skiing. At the moment, Nishikori would be the second seed there but it might change.
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RISER: DJOKOVIC, SRB
...Djokovic had a questionable US Open. He cruised through most of it but was strangely out of form against Nishikori in the semi-finals. Nishikori was tired and was the underdog in that match. And Djokovic blew it, especially considering Federer went out in the same round. You can tell the strength of a player by how they react from a disappointing slam. When Graf crashed out of Wimbledon in 1994, she won San Diego weeks later and then made the final of the US Open. That is the perfect example of a champion and their attitude to a disappointing slam campaign. Djokovic has done just that. Djokovic decided to win Beijing, so he did. He blew away Garcia-Lopez 6-2, 6-1 in under an hour before dismantling Pospisil 6-3, 7-5. These are his courts and he makes sure everyone knows it. Dimitrov played decently but could do nothing as Djokovic swept past him 6-2, 6-4. It was the same story for Murray, who played well but lost 6-3, 6-4. Djokovic had had a tricky path to the final but had come through against some tough opposition. He had Berdych in the final and that would surely be a test. No. Djokovic was not in the mood for playing and handed Berdych a severe beating. He beat the world number six 6-0, 6-2. Enough said. Next up for Djokovic is Shanghai and that means indoor hard court. He is the best in the world on that playing field and there is only one who could perhaps stop him right now. Wouldn’t you know it, he is in the same half as the Serb. Yes, Federer has been drawn in Djokovic's half.
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SURPRISE: BECKER, GER
...Benjamin "No-Relation" Becker is a journeyman, but a consistent one. He has been German number one before and he has been to the fourth round of a slam. He is back in the top fifty once more after a deep run at a 500. Doing well at a 500 when one is a journeyman is huge. He benefited from the collapse of the top seeded Wawrinka. He beat Ito 6-3, 6-3 and moved through to the quarterfinals. He looked down against Sock but came back to win 4-6, 6-1, 6-4. Once he had scraped through that he had to face a tougher test. He had to beat fourth seed Nishikori and he won the first set, too. But the Japanese was too strong, winning 6-0, 7-6. He was just seven points from the upset but went down to the eventual champion. Becker can now get direct entry to 250 and 500. In fact he may even be seeded at some of the smaller 250 tournaments. Even better for the German, he should get direct entry into slams. He may even finish the year inside the top forty.
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COMEBACK: NADAL, ESP
...Nadal has had so many comebacks. The question is always asked of great sports players with injuries 'what if they had been fully fit?' and it is perhaps most relevant with Rafa. He and Federer have different approaches to the game and yet they are always mentioned together. If this was a cheesy movie I would say their destinies are intertwined. Putting a loss to Klizan aside, this week was a decent start to comeback #522. Nadal beat Gasquet, no stranger to the comeback himself, 6-4/6-0 and then beat that German Gojo 6-3, 6-4. He made the quarterfinals on his worst surface and looks to be back for good. Or at least until he hurts himself in Melbourne in three months time. Nadal is trying to cling onto the number two ranking but Federer will surely take it soon. Nadal has to defend Shanghai and Paris semi-final points. His failure to defend Beijing final points has already hurt him. Federer has nothing to defend in Shanghai and did not win Basel last year. Throw in a semi-final performance at Paris and two semi-finals and a win in Basel might be enough to take the number two ranking. If not then Nadal will be hard pressed to keep it beyond the WTF.
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FRESH FACE: HIROKI MORIYA, JPN
...the 23-year old beat Duckworth and Suzuki to make the main draw. He beat both in three sets before going down to American Steve Johnson. We remember Suzuki, don't we?

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VETERAN: CHARDY, FRA
...Chardy is 27 and I find that strange. I still think of him as a young gun. I still think of him as the guy who burst onto the scene at the French in 2008 and did well at the 2009 Australian Open where he challenged eventual champion Djokovic for two sets. I still think of him as a young Frenchman who is perennially dangerous, with nothing to lose. Becoming a veteran seems to sneak up on players. It seems to come to them when nobody is paying attention, it seems to happen when they are in their prime. Really, what is a veteran? Is it Nieminen? Yes. Is it Federer? Yes. Is it Nadal? Yes. But players like Chardy don't seem to be as clear cut. Chardy has remained a solid top thirty to forty player for years now with solid wins over big players but has now become a veteran. This week he has made the quarterfinals by beating seventh seed Anderson, but his 4 and 2 loss to Nishikori is less acceptable.
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UPSET: ITO, JPN
...Ferrer losing to Granollers is bad but not quite as bad as Wawrinka losing in straights to a journeyman outside the top hundred. Ito won the first set 7-5 and cruised from there to take it in straight sets. He was dismissed by Becker in the next round, showing how shocking a performance it was from the world number four. Stan will be at the WTF as he just needs to make the quarterfinal at the next two tournaments to get there, but it remains to be seen whether he can make another semi-final.
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1. TOKYO FINAL – Nishikori d. Raonic
...7-6/4-6/6-4. Nishikori survived a very stern test in the final and is now the most successful Japanese player ever. Paes still shades it for all of Asia but Nishikori is coming up on him. Don't forget Paes won that Olympic medal. Nishikori can seal his place in the WTF next week. I think he is going to do that. He set it up with a great win over Raonic in his backyard.
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2. BEIJING QF - KLIZAN d. NADAL
...6-7/6-4/6-3. After Klizan lost the opening set 9-7 on a breaker, it looked as if he would go away quietly in the last set. When he went a break down it looked as if Rafa, who had humiliated Gasquet 6-4/6-0, would sweep through. Martin had other ideas, however and took it 6-4 but soon dropped serve in the third set. He recovered once more, broke again and then clung on for victory. Klizan has risen to forty. That is not bad after coming through qualifying.
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3. TOKYO 1st Rd. – Granollers d. Ferrer
...4-6/6-4/6-4. Ferrer is probably going to cling on and make the WTF, but he has fallen on hard times. He should not be losing to players like Granollers, especially in three. Ferrer can seal his place by strong performances in Shanghai and Valencia, but he is slumping. Ferrer has finals in Valencia in 2005 and 2013 but has won it in 2008, 2010 and 2012. Surely a title there in 2014 is beckoning.
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*Shanghai, China*
=SF=
Djokovic[1] d. [3] Federer
Raonic [8] d. [6] Berdych
=FINAL=
Djokovic [1] d. [8] Raonic

...Djokovic continues that form and whizzes through the field, but Raonic has a very strong tournament.


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