It ended in anti-climax, with a suspenseless drubbing in the title match on Sunday, but the Masters Cup as a whole made a strong comeback this year. After being gutted by withdrawals in 2005, in ’06 the ATP’s season-ender felt like the special event it’s meant to be. First, as Andy Roddick said at the start of the week, the tournament is a reward in itself, the one time where the players have a sense of accomplishment before they even hit a ball. Seeing the Top 8 lined up for the opening ceremony, even in hokey local garb, is always impressive—look at all that tennis talent. The players’ sense of accomplishment, along with the knowledge that they’re guaranteed at least three matches, seems to help them relax and lift their games. For fans, the round-robin format offers a variety of heavyweight match-ups, without the early-round filler that comes with single-elimination. The result last week was must-see tennis from start to finish—Federer-Roddick, Blake-Nadal, Blake-Davydenko, Ljubicic-Nalbandian, Nadal-Davydenko, and Federer-Nadal were all minor classics. The controlled indoor conditions also helped; even Nadal, who said he had “no confidence” as the tournament began, was able to work himself back into something resembling top form by week’s end. I already miss starting my day with a TiVo’d showdown from Shanghai.
In a tournament with no losers, let’s review how a few of the biggest winners finished their seasons.
Roger Federer
Nothing else needs to be said, of course, but I’ll make a few final observations on the style with which Federer wrapped up the best year in men’s tennis since Rod Laver won the Grand Slam way back in 1969.
I mentioned in a recent post about Maria Sharapova that she’s good at “punctuating the percentages.” She knows when to mix in risky shots with conservative percentage play to keep her opponents off balance. Federer showed that same skill in his semifinal against Rafael Nadal. Federer came out flying and firing from all over the court; then, once he was up 3-0, he settled back into taking care of his serve and letting the points come to him (nobody is better at that than Sire Jacket). Those first few games were pretty spectacular, and they featured a shot I hadn’t seen Federer hit against Nadal before: More than once, the Swiss took Nadal’s strongest down-the-line forehand and punished it with an even bigger running forehand of his own. It was intimidating to watch; I can’t imagine what it was like to face.
Their semi, which was about as memorable as a 6-4, 7-5 match can be, ended with Federer tracking down a drop shot at the net and sending an all-or-nothing flick crosscourt forehand past Nadal at the baseline. Over at Tennis World, Peter Bodo has talked about “warrior moments,” those times when a player battles through adversity and defines himself as a champion. Think of Pete Sampras against Jim Courier in Melbourne, or against Alex Corretja at Flushing Meadows. While Federer hasn’t had that kind of career-defining gut-check yet, in this match he did rise to an occasion. Against his biggest rival, with a set potentially in the balance, Fed went beyond even his usual effort level and hit a shot that had to be perfect to win the point and the match. It won’t be as memorable as Sampras’ boot-fest against Corretja, but Federer made his warrior's instincts apparent. And it was his rivalry with Nadal that pushed him into it.
More typical of Federer's competitive style was the way he came back against Andy Roddick in their round-robin match. While he was outplayed by Roddick most of the day, Federer hung around long enough to force Roddick to win it, which he couldn't. At match point in the second-set tiebreaker, Roddick made a rash dash to the net and pushed a volley right back to Federer, who calmy nailed a forehand pass winner. As one of the Federer extremists at Tennis World said (Tim?), if Federer pumps his fist and dances off the court after hitting that forehand pass, it might become a “warrior moment” to remember. As it is, it’s still a vintage “Federer moment.” I don’t mean the kind of “supernatural” shot-making that David Foster Wallace (over)wrote about in the Times. I mean the kind of moment where the best player in the world does what he’s supposed to do, when he has to do it—and acts like he's been there before. Have you ever struggled with the pressure of beating someone you’re supposed to beat? It can be a heavy weight on your shoulders. Federer takes that weight with him every time he steps on court, and he isn’t phased by it. That’s pretty warrior-like to my mind.
James Blake
To see Blake standing in the Top 8 line-up as the tournament’s began was a gratifying moment for any U.S. tennis fan. The guy has been through a lot to get there, and his struggles started long before his annus horribilus in 2004. I remember watching him get whipped all over the court by Chris Woodruff in his U.S. Open debut many years ago. I walked away thinking Blake was just another good college player who wasn’t physical enough for the pros (sounds laughable now, I know, but Blake was a skinny, undersized guy back then).
Blake’s career has been series of breakthroughs and subsequent crises of confidence. He’ll reach a new level in the rankings and then need a few months to start believing he actually belongs in that rarefied air. Unfortunately, that exact scenario repeated itself on Sunday. Blake played the match of his life to earn his first win over David Nalbandian in the semifinals. He blitzed the Argentine with obnoxious serving, returning, and all-court athleticism. Suddenly he had gone from reaching his first Masters Cup to reaching his first Masters Cup final. It was a jump he didn’t appear to know how to handle. When Federer came out smoking, Blake ran for cover. Once again, he didn’t believe yet.
Still, it was another breakthrough for JB, and it could lead to the boost in confidence he’ll need to reach the highest plateau of all, a Grand Slam title. Can Blake do it? Why not? When he lost to Woodruff in his first Open, I doubt he pictured himself ever playing in the final of the year-end ATP championships. Now Blake’s one step closer to the mountaintop, and after yesterday he knows how it feels to fail when you get there. That should be motivation enough.
Rafael Nadal
It’s always amazing to me how quickly anyone can lose their confidence, including a two-time French Open champion. The guy takes it easy for a month after Wimbledon, chokes away one big point at the Open, and suddenly he’s lost all belief in himself. In his opener against Blake, Nadal blew a 4-0 lead in the second and looked like a panicky junior in the process. But he showed something more important as the week went on: the ability to be honest with himself about his problems and realize that a renewed sense of confidence is often just the product of a single victory—it’s as easy to get your confidence back as it is to lose it. Nadal got his key win against Nikolay Davydenko. The Russian had been playing superb tennis, but with the semifinals on the line Nadal caught him at the wire, 6-4 in the third. While he lost to Federer in the semis, I was struck by how the strength and spin of Nadal’s strokes still made Federer a less-dominant, more reactive player than he is against anyone else. Let’s hope their next match comes in the final in Australia, where the surface, which does justice to all types of shots and spins, should make for even better tennis.
Nikolay Davydenko
He’s got the game to beat anyone, and, yes, tennis fans, he’s fun to watch, like a lighter, streamlined, more potent version of Nalbandian, but without the workhorse aspect of the Argentine. Pat McEnroe mentioned Davydenko’s footwork in Shanghai, and after that I couldn’t help but focus on the nonstop, rapid-fire little steps he takes after he hits each ball. You could hear his feet working, even on TV. What’s the next step for the Russian? Like Blake, Davydenko’s got the ability, now he needs the swagger. He even has the potential to beat Federer, but he’s not going to do it by saying that the world No. 1 is unbeatable, as he did at this year’s U.S. Open. Also, a little re-scheduling might help. How about not entering 32 events in 2007, Kolya? It might help you finally do some damage at the ones that count.
Andy Roddick
Poor Andy. He had Federer beaten in their round-robin match, and even the world No. 1 knew it. But Roddick gagged at 4-1 in the tiebreaker. He pulled a forehand, stopped making first serves, and, as I mentioned above, after a rash dash to the net at match point he pushed a volley right back to Federer, who calmly hit a clean forehand pass.
