Paris Masters 2013 - ATP - Finals

All times CET.

COURT CENTRAL Start 12:15 pm

Bob Bryan (USA)
Mike Bryan (USA)
d
[2] Alexander Peya (AUT)
Bruno Soares (BRA) 6-3, 6-3

Not Before 3:00 pm
[3] David Ferrer (ESP)
l
[2] Novak Djokovic (SRB) 5-7, 5-7

David Ferrer, the weaponless Spanish #2 (and one of my favourite players) has the chance to make history, which has not been done so far, in the 45-year history (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Masters) of the tournament at Bercy in it's various incarnations on Clay, Carpet and Hard Court surfaces - to Win Paris back-to-back.

Djokovic is the last hurdle in such a stellar achievement. It would also make the YE#1 race/discussion somewhat moot.

Good luck  to both players.

PS: Players who had chance for back-to-back wins are Stan Smith (1972-73), Boris Becker (1989-90), Guy Forget (1991-92), Pete Sampras (1997-98), David Nalbandian (2007-2008) and now, David Ferrer (2012-13).

Djokovic seems to have physical issues, heavy breathing, jerky walking around.

Djokovic strikes me as one of those people who think they're one death's door when they have a pinkie strain

Djokovic is playing Federer again, on Tuesday.

Dont let Djoko's "faking it tired" fool you, he'll grind away until death shows up with a beckoning boney finger .

Ferrer played some stunning inside-out FHs yesterday against Nadal. Surprising he is not playing any of those today.

That was pretty classless from Nole.

Come on Ferrer, deck himmmm  

kingraf wrote:That was pretty classless from Nole.

What happened?

Nothing unforgivable, Murdoch, just a particularly petulant racket smash

Ferrer to get broken, anybody?

Predictable play, every shot you know where ita gonna end, no attack, no net play, has to be the most boring form of Tennis.

Will Djokovic have enough points to overhaul Nadal temporarily for the world tour finals??

Being number 2 seems to suit Novak! Unbeaten post-USO, 3 titles, 2500 points.

As for Ferrer, is it the game or the mind? I don't understand this view of him as a brave battler, he so frequently collapses under pressure.

I wouldn't be surprised if Novak doesn't play too well in London though. I can envisage Fed getting revenge!

Novak is massive favourite in London. He's in a class of his own with Rafa not as strong indoors. We saw yesterday that he is leagues better than Fed - as soon as he got out of first gear he crushed him. It will require something exceptional to stop him next week.

It can't be the game - for it to be the game, is to suggest every single big player has an "I can't lose to Ferrer" moment everytime he is serving for the match, or he has a break point. I don't think thats the case. Ultimately, Ferrer doesn't have the game to beat the top guys if they are at their best, but I can't think their best seems to so often coincide with Ferrer serving for the set, you know what I mean?

HM Murdoch wrote:Being number 2 seems to suit Novak! Unbeaten post-USO, 3 titles, 2500 points.

As for Ferrer, is it the game or the mind? I don't understand this view of him as a brave battler, he so frequently collapses under pressure.

I wouldn't be surprised if Novak doesn't play too well in London though. I can envisage Fed getting revenge!

Well HM if we are to agree with your opinion i.e. he is not a brave battler then how is he in the position he is in the rankings.? Given his age (almost the same as Roger) then he must have something going for him. Roger would give his back teeth to be in his position and keep getting to finals. So Ferrer imo has (maybe not 100%) the same mental attitude as Rafa... the Spaniards are not good at waiving a white flag  

HM Murdoch wrote:As for Ferrer, is it the game or the mind? I don't understand this view of him as a brave battler, he so frequently collapses under pressure.

Career W/L for Ferrer...

2002 - 10-6 (16), 2003 - 20-27 (47), 2004 - 29-31 (60), 2005 - 43-29 (72), 2006 - 41-26 (67), 2007 - 61-23 (84), 2008 - 44-23 (67), 2009 - 45-23 (68), 2010 - 60-24 (84), 2011 - 59-19 (78), 2012 - 76-15 (91), 2013 - 60-21 (81).

This does not seem to indicate someone who collapses. He is #3 today, his highest ranking since he turned professional.

HM Murdoch wrote:I wouldn't be surprised if Novak doesn't play too well in London though. I can envisage Fed getting revenge!

He played well last year, I suspect, he will this year too.

Against top players Ferrer has often lost sets/matches from winning positions - I think that's the collapsing under pressure that HM is referring to.
He is No 3 but has only won 2 250 tournaments this year - in January and February. He has lost in 7 finals since then - an indication that he doesn't handle the big matches well?

In his last two matches, Ferrer served for the set five times. He failed to do so three times.

In those two matches, he lost his serve five times. Every one of those breaks of serve happened when either serving for or serving to stay in the set.

Are we suggesting he doesn't have a problem with capitulating vs the top guys?

JuliusHMarx wrote:Against top players Ferrer has often lost sets/matches from winning positions - I think that's the collapsing under pressure that HM is referring to.
He is No 3 but has only won 2 250 tournaments this year - in January and February. He has lost in 7 finals since then - an indication that he doesn't handle the big matches well?

There are other players who dont manage big matches well (and they dont even get to the finals) i.e. Gasquet, Berdych (is not exactly a Masters winner either).. I think to some degree you have to take Daveeed´s age into account.. he has had a huge year and he must be exhausted at 31 (coming up 32) yrs of age. I wish I could see this man get some credit for what he DOES do rather criticised for what he doesn´t

The way Ferrer handles almost any player not named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, he should be among the best placed to sometimes beat those top players.

His collective record against them is terrible though: 45-10 (and that includes victories against teenaged versions of Novak and Rafa!).

JMDP (against whom Ferrer has a leading 6-3 H2H) has already got 12 victories against those players.

This is why I find him so frustrating. He good enough to knock really good players out of tournaments but so rarely brings the goods against the top guys.

HM Murdoch wrote:The way Ferrer handles almost any player not named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, he should be among the best placed to sometimes beat those top players.

His collective record against them is terrible though: 45-10 (and that includes victories against teenaged versions of Novak and Rafa!).

JMDP (against whom Ferrer has a leading 6-3 H2H) has already got 12 victories against those players.

This is why I find him so frustrating. He good enough to knock really good players out of tournaments but so rarely brings the goods against the top guys.

And so do players like Karlovic, Isner, Raonic... equally if not more frustrating they dont even have a good game.
Just a big serve

Haddie-nuff wrote:

HM Murdoch wrote:The way Ferrer handles almost any player not named Federer, Nadal or Djokovic, he should be among the best placed to sometimes beat those top players.

His collective record against them is terrible though: 45-10 (and that includes victories against teenaged versions of Novak and Rafa!).

JMDP (against whom Ferrer has a leading 6-3 H2H) has already got 12 victories against those players.

This is why I find him so frustrating. He good enough to knock really good players out of tournaments but so rarely brings the goods against the top guys.

And so do players like Karlovic, Isner, Raonic... equally if not more frustrating they dont even have a good game.
Just a big serve

In years gone by a big serve was a bigger weapon, and it should be. But not now. Raonic is still young, and I expect him to do a lot better in the future. Same with Dimitrov.

Really .???. Dimitrov maybe.. Raonic ? not imo they were saying that about him two years ago. Janovic almost certainly .. if he just can calm his temperament somewhat. Dimitrov at least is more than a big serve.

I'm gonna bet that Raonic wins at least one slam in his career.  At moment though, gasquet is surprising me.  A really gutsy performance this and a good match! Del Potro was serving for the match but Gasq broke back to love...  might be a tie break decider in this one.

Well very bad decision cost Gasquet there. Ball was in, call out, had to replay point.