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The last fortnight has been a nail-biting time for many men in the top 15 or so places of the A.T.P. rankings.
Even as the final Masters of the year began this week in Paris, two guaranteed spots at the Tour End Finals were still up for grabs. For some of the players, their destiny was not even on their own rackets.
Nikolay Davydenko, for example, failed to confirm his place in Valencia and had to wait for Fernando Verdasco to lose in Paris.
Verdasco himself, poised at No. 8, had an even more agonizing wait, with his fate in the hands of Fernando Gonzalez, Robin Soderling, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Not until Rafael Nadal’s defeat of Tsonga on Friday did Verdasco heave a sigh of relief.
What did become increasingly clear, however, was that Novak Djokovic was the man to beat not only in Paris but also at the Tour finale.
The Top Ten
1. Novak Djokovic (1,405 points)
(Last Power Ranking: 2, ATP Ranking: 3)
Last Four Tournaments: Paris Masters [Winner], Basel [Winner], Shanghai Masters [SF], Beijing [Winner]
It’s hard to believe that Djokovic, despite reaching four Masters finals, had not won a single major this season.
Coming into Paris, the Serb was carrying losses to Nadal in Monte Carlo and Rome, a defeat by Roger Federer in Cincinnati, and a defeat by Andy Murray in Miami.
In winning both Paris and Basel he not only took his first Masters of 2009, but also the scalps of Federer and Nadal.
In beating Gael Monfils in the Paris final, he showed stamina and impressive focus. No wonder his roaring, unsmiling celebration was the most pumped up we’ve seen all year.
Prospects for London: he has no injuries, has the best end-of-season record, and is the defending champion— he is one of the favorites.
2. Gael Monfils (656 points)
(Last Power Ranking: NR, ATP Ranking: 13)
Last Four Tournaments: Paris Masters [Final], Valencia [R16], Vienna [QF], Shanghai Masters [R16]
All the talk in recent weeks had been of Monfils’ compatriot, Tsonga: Would he repeat his Houdini act of last year to qualify for the Tour End Finals by winning his home tournament?
In the event, it was Monfils who had the French crowd on their feet as he stormed into his first ever Masters final.
A player of enormous promise and potential, Monfils has a flat speed, it is claimed, of 10.4 secs for the 100m. He used all that speed and boundless talent to push Djokovic to the wire. At stake for Monfils was a top-10 ranking and a reserve seat for London. By losing, he handed Tsonga that reserve spot.
3. Rafael Nadal (582 points)
(Last Power Ranking: 3, ATP Ranking: 2)
Last Four Tournaments: Paris Masters [SF], Shanghai Masters [Final], Beijing [SF], US Open [SF]
Nadal continues to ride high in the power rankings despite this being, in the past, his least successful phase of the Tour.
He has never won the indoor Paris event. Indeed last year he had to pull out with injury and missed the Masters Cup in Shanghai. But with his extended layoff over the summer, Nadal has posted some decent results on the indoor hard courts. A semifinal place on the very fast Bercy court may not have been what he wanted, but he came through some strong challenges along the way—especially against an inspired Tommy Robredo—and fell to what can only be described as a white-hot performance from Djokovic.
Prospects for London: He seems recovered from injuries, but some have suggested a loss of weight or conditioning. By Nadal’s standards, it’s been a decent run through his least favourite season: He has not won an indoor title since Madrid 2005. Expect him to make the semis, and then he is bound to be a contender for the title.
4. Radek Stepanek (501 points)
(Last Power Ranking: NR, ATP Ranking: 12)
Last Four Tournaments: Paris Masters [SF], Basel [SF], Vienna [QF], Shanghai Masters [QF]
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