The tribes have gathered once again in Beijing, at the rich dual event that is both a Premier Mandatory tournament for the women and an ATP 500. But let’s be honest here; this is really the ATP’s 10th Masters 1000 event. It doesn’t matter what the rankings or prize-money tables say; when you have Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal in the draw, you know you’ve got a tournament that matters.
I can think of a few reasons why Beijing might be happy that it lacks Masters prestige. The financial buy-in is significantly lower, and appearance money can be liberally doled out to ensure participation. It sure beats investing all the money in a Masters 1000 and then sitting on the edge of your chair, waiting to see who’s going to pull out.
In any event, now that things are heating up on the ATP tour—two Masters 1000 events follow Beijing—and the flare of the last significant WTA regular-season event lights up the skies in China, let’s hand out some accolades and admonishments for last week—a pretty eventful "uneventful" week: