Greg Callegari Blog: Djokovic

Showing posts with label Djokovic. Show all posts

Wednesday, June 18, 2014

Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams top seeds for Wimbledon

Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were seeded No. 1 for Wimbledon on Wednesday, while defending men's champion Andy Murray was bumped up two spots above his world ranking to No. 3.

Djokovic, the 2011 Wimbledon champion, is ranked No. 2 but was given the top seeding by the All England Club ahead of top-ranked Rafael Nadal.

Nadal, a two-time Wimbledon champion who is coming off his ninth French Open title, is seeded No. 2 for the grass-court Grand Slam, which starts on Monday.

Murray last year became the first British player to win the Wimbledon men's title since 1936.

Seven-time champion Roger Federer is No. 4, while Australian Open winner Stan Wawrinka is down two spots from his world ranking at No. 5.

Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, Milos Raonic of Thornhill, Ont., John Isner and Kei Nishikori round out the top 10.

Among the 32 seeded players, Jerzy Janowicz received the biggest boost, going up nine spots from his No. 24 ranking to No. 15. The big-serving Polish player reached the Wimbledon semifinals last year, losing to Murray in four sets.

Wimbledon takes a player's grass-court record into account in assigning the men's seedings.

The women's seedings, however, stick to the WTA rankings.

That means five-time champion Williams is No. 1, followed by Li Na, French Open runner-up Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska and Maria Sharapova.

Sharapova, who won her first Grand Slam title at Wimbledon 10 years ago, is coming off her second French Open championship. She is considered Williams' top challenger at Wimbledon, despite the No. 5 seeding. They could end up on the same side of the draw.

Petra Kvitova, the 2011 Wimbledon winner, is No. 6, followed by Jelena Jankovic, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber and Dominika Cibulkova.

Eugenie Bouchard of Westmount, Que., was 13th.

read more: http://www.cbc.ca/sports/tennis/novak-djokovic-serena-williams-top-seeds-for-wimbledon-1.2679304

Saturday, April 19, 2014

Roger Federer vs Novak Djokovic 2014 Monte Carlo Masters Tennis: Date, Time, Livestream, TV Channel

Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic face off in the semifinals of the 2014 Monte Carlo Masters tennis tournament on April 19 in Monaco.

The pair will play at approximately 3 p.m. CEST.

The game will be broadcast on ESPN International, Sport 1 in Germany, Novasports in Greece, MRTV in Macedonia, MTV in Finland, Teleclub in Switzerland, Digisport in Romania, Canal+ in France, Sport1 in Israel, Balls Channel in the Philippines, Racquet Channel in Singapore, Gaora in Japan, RDS in Canada, and the Tennis Channel in the United States.

Live streaming will be available through monte-carlorolexmasters.tennistv.com.

Federer of Switzerland, the No. 4 seed in the tournament, took out No. 9 seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France in the quarterfinals (2-6, 7-6, 6-1).

Djokovic of Serbia, the No. 2 seed in the tournament, dispatched with unranked Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the quarterfinals (4-6, 6-3, 6-1).

The winner will face the winner of Stanislas Wawrinka and David Ferrer.

See an Associated Press story about the quarterfinals below.

PARIS—Rafael Nadal’s mastery of the Monte Carlo clay courts seems to be over.

The top-ranked Spaniard hopes his confidence isn’t gone, too.

Nadal lost to fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 7-6 (1), 6-4 in the quarterfinals of the Monte Carlo Masters on Friday, his earliest exit since 2003 at a tournament that helped build his reputation as perhaps the greatest clay-court player of all time. Nadal won eight consecutive titles here from 2005-12, before losing to Novak Djokovic in last year’s final.

This was Nadal’s first loss on clay to Ferrer since 2004, and the 13-time Grand Slam champion said he is still trying to find his best form after a disappointing loss to Stanislas Wawrinka in the Australian Open final.

“After what happened in Australia, (it) was little bit harder for me to find again the intensity, the confidence, the inside power that always I have,” Nadal said. “Even if I won Rio, I played the final in Miami, you know, (this) remains something in my mind and in my game.”

Djokovic looked like he might follow him out, but the Serb finally got the better of the unseeded Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain 4-6, 6-3, 6-1 to set up a 34th career meeting against 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer.

“I started very poorly. Garcia-Lopez played well and I had to work for this win,”Djokovic said. “I finally started to play as I wanted in the second set.”

Federer leads Djokovic 17-16 in head-to-heads and they are 1-1 this year, withFederer beating him in the Dubai Championship semifinals and Djokovic winning their final at Indian Wells.

The Serb was close to losing against Garcia-Lopez, saving a break point in the fifth game of the second set and two more when trailing 15-40 in his next service game.

Djokovic then made a crucial break to take a 5-3 lead, served out the set, and then broke Garcia-Lopez twice at the start of the third.

Ferrer hardly needed to dig deep as Nadal committed 44 unforced errors and gave away 10 break-point chances on his serve.

“I didn’t play the right way. I didn’t play with the right intensity with my forehand. I played too short,” Nadal said. “I give him the chance to have the control of the point almost all the time.”

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Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Roger Federer is back up to No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings this week after reaching the quarter-finals of the Sony Open Tennis in Miami (l. to Nishikori). The Swiss, who had fallen to No. 8 after the Australian Open – his lowest position for nearly 12 years - leads the ATP World Tour with a 22-4 match record this season and now trails third-placed countryman Stanislas Wawrinka by just 515 points.

Tomas Berdych returns to the Top 5 for the first time since September after a semi-final showing in Miami. The Czech usurps David Ferrer, who falls out of the Top 5 for the first time since June 2012.

American John Isner returns to his career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 9, while Canadian Milos Raonic vaults back into the Top 10 after successive quarter-final showings in Indian Wells and Miami, displacing France’s Richard Gasquet, who had held Top 10 status for all but one week since October 2012.

Completing the Indian Wells-Miami for the second time has put Novak Djokovic hot on Rafael Nadal’s heels in the pursuit for the No. 1 Emirates ATP Ranking. The Serb has closed the gap to just under 2000 points as he bids to reclaim the top spot that he surrendered to Nadal in September. Coming up in the European clay-court swing, Djokovic will look to make up more ground on Nadal, who is defending winner’s points in Barcelona, Madrid, Rome and Roland Garros.

Alexandr Dolgopolov’s strong start to the season has seen him make the biggest rankings jump inside the Top 100 this season, rising 35 places to World No. 22. The Ukrainian has compiled an 18-9 mark, highlighted by reaching the final in Rio de Janeiro (l. to Nadal) and the semi-finals in Indian Wells (l. to Federer).

source: http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis/2014/04/14/Rankings-Update-Federer-Djokovic.aspx

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Monday, March 31, 2014

Djokovic bosses Nadal to win Miami Masters

The win was the second straight Masters series title for the second ranked Serb, who defeated Roger Federer in the BNP Paribas Open two weeks ago in Indian Wells.

The world's top ranked players added another line to what has grown into one of tennis's great rivalries with the Spaniard holding a 22-18 edge.

But the Miami title continues to be one of the few to elude Nadal, who has now finished runner-up four times at Crandon Park, twice beaten in the final by Djokovic.

Both Nadal and Djokovic were well-rested after receiving walkovers into the final after opponents withdrew from the semi-finals, giving the tournament a mouth-watering championship matchup.

The contest featured everything one would expect from a matchup between the world's best with a title on the line, Nadal and Djokovic trading thundering groundstrokes right from the first point.

Both players had one break opportunity in an entertaining opening set and it was the Serb who made his count breaking Nadal to go up 4-2 and then holding serve for a 1-0 lead.

Djokovic quickly put his opponent under pressure, starting the second with a break and that was all he would need with Nadal unable to find a crack in the Serb's armor.

The match ended on another break and a dazzling rally, Djokovic sealing a clinical victory with textbook half-volley, then falling onto his back and punching his hands into the air in celebration.

source: https://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/miami-masters-djokovic-bosses-nadal-win-miami-masters-195346994--ten.html

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Thursday, March 27, 2014

Djokovic ends Murray's reign, Federer falls in Miami

Meanwhile, a tireless Kei Nishikori shocked 17-times Grand Slam winner Roger Federer 3-6 7-5 6-4 to claim his second top five scalp in two.

For Djokovic, a three-times winner on the Miami hardcourts, the victory was a small measure of revenge as the rivals clashed for the first time since Murray beat the Serb in last year's Wimbledon final.

Murray, playing his first event since splitting with coach Ivan Lendl last week, had looked increasingly comfortable and confident on his own but Djokovic kept the Scotsman under almost constant pressure in blustery conditions.

"I was not surprised about the way he played," said Djokovic, whose coach Boris Becker was also not in Miami as he is taking time off to undergo double hip surgery. "I expected him to play well, to be a little bit more aggressive.

"I tried to not allow him to be in the comfort zone because when he strikes the zone, when he feels comfortable on the court, he's striking the ball so well, maybe best in the world."

The road to a fourth Miami title does not get any easier for Djokovic with a possible semi-final meeting with 17-times Grand Slam winner and two-times Miami champion Roger Federer up next.

Federer, who lost to Djokovic in the final of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells 10 days ago, takes on Japan's Kei Nishikori in another quarter-final later on Wednesday.

In dramatic contrast to the women's semi between Dominika Cibulkova and Agnieszka Radwanska that ended moments earlier on centre court and featured 19 breaks of serve, breaks were hard to come by for Djokovic and Murray in a tight opening set.

Murray had only a single break opportunity against the Serb while Djokovic was able to convert one of his three chances, with the help of a controversial point.

The first set ended in an argument between Murray and the chair umpire, the Scotsman furious that Djokovic was given a point to open the decisive game even though it was clear the Serb reached across the net to hit the ball.

A distracted Murray then lost the next three points on unforced errors as Djokovic claimed the break and set.

"I wasn't sure, from where I was standing, it was a very hard thing to see," said Murray. "I knew it was close. So that's why I went and asked Novak and he told me he was over the net. That was it.

"(The chair umpire) said, 'yes, he was over the net but he was in line with the net,' so I didn't really understand.

"It maybe had a slight bearing on that game but I was still up a break in the second set."

Djokovic admitted later that he did indeed cross the net but claimed he was unaware it was against the rules because he did not touch the net.

"It's an important point but mentally obviously it distracted him more than it gave me an encouragement," said Djokovic. "It was him, that he got upset ... he made three unforced errors and the set was gone."

After knocking off fourth seeded Spaniard David Ferrer in a three-hour marathon on Tuesday, the 21st ranked Nishikori was forced to go the distance again, surviving a two-hour centre court battle with Federer.

read more: http://asia.eurosport.com/tennis/miami-masters/2014/djokovic-ends-murray-s-reign-federer-falls-in-miami_sto4189824/story.shtml

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Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Nadal joins Djokovic, Murray and Federer in quarters

Officials announced a suspicious package had been left near the main entrance to the sprawling tennis facility which was quickly locked down, keeping thousands of spectators from entering or leaving while Miami Dade police investigated.

The all clear was given just before Nadal stepped onto the Crandon Park centre court to face Fognini in the final match of the night.

The Spaniard showed no signs of being alarmed by the bomb scare as he completed the win in 62 minutes.

"Every day I have to try to find my rhythm, try to think about myself, what I have to do well, so I just try to be focused on what I really need to do to play well," said Nadal.

"Then the opponent is free to do whatever. Tonight was not an easy match for him, for the conditions that I told you before. So it was a little bit strange, but in general, I think I was very focused and solid with my serve."

Nadal's next opponent is Canadian Milos Raonic, who beat Benjamin Becker 6-3 6-4.

"He's a very dangerous opponent," added the Spaniard.

"His serve is huge, one of the best without any doubt, and he's able to play very aggressive on the return because he doesn't feel a lot of pressure on his return because he knows that he's very safe with his serve."

Nadal's great rival Federer was also in cruise control, needing just 49 minutes to dismiss ninth seeded Frenchman Richard Gasquet 6-1 6-2.

"Look, things went well out on the court today," said the Swiss 17-times Grand Slam winner. "You just take what you get and you run with it.

"I think I played well. I served well. I made my returns I had to and stayed aggressive, so I didn't let him just make errors.

"I forced him to do stuff. It was a good match for me."

Defending champion Murray, playing his first event since splitting with coach Ivan Lendl last week, has looked increasingly comfortable and confident on his own.

He disposed of 11th-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-4 6-1 without facing a single break point.

read more: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/tennis-djokovic-first-miami-quarters-175013248--ten.html

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