Tennis, Day to Day

What a sour end to what has been an interesting year. It really hasn't been the year I was hoping for - I was hoping for another year of Federer domination - but it has been interesting, nonetheless, with a massive swathe of first time winners, the emergence of Murray, Tsonga and del Potro at the top of the rankings, and a few future major stars like Gulbis and Cilic (and even Tomic) making their first marks. But this is really a sour, sour end. Djokovic winning the Masters Cup. Ugh.

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I suppose he had a bit to invest in it, after his pathetic showing last year... and I suppose he wanted to prove that he wasn't Mr. 2007, someone who had a big breakout season, cemented it early in a Slam and then faded away a bit - because he has been fading. If, at their current level of play, you pitted Djokovic against Murray in a cagematch, Murray would win. But I suppose I can't always get what you want... and if the tennis season played out to my desire, it would probably be a bit boring for anything else.

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If we can learn one thing from the Masters Cup this year - Shanghai and Doha, really - is that although it should be a microcosm of the season, it really isn't. Sure, Federer's won some Masters Cups in years where he has been the Master, but if you look at the people he's played in the final... Blake, Ferrer, etc, we can see it's not a microcosm at all. Men's tennis for the last few years has been a duopoly - the Federer/Nadal rivalry has grown into one of the greatest in sport. Lately, Djokovic and now Murray are muscling in on the scene, but when it comes down to it, it's those two. And we've never had a final like that. We've never seen Roger/Rafa in the final.

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And, although both are good players, the match this year that has been the essential match of the tour, the match at the core of it... it isn't the final of the Masters Cup. The match we're going to remember from this year is the Wimbledon final. Djokovic and Davydenko can't touch that, can't come near that. Neither is capable of anything like that level of play. So there's one thing we can learn. The Masters Cup should be a microcosm - and the way it's structured, it's in the best possible position to be, with the round robin and all, and the opportunity to lose a match and still win or what not. However, tennis is tennis. It's unpredictable. Though there are Masters, men that dominate the sport, a match is decided on the day. And it's the day to day that makes a tournament - even at the Masters Cup.

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Today's Results

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Tennis Masters Cup (Shanghai)

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Novak Djokovic def. Nikolay Davydenko, 6-1 7-5