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Stress-Free Stan Free To Focus

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015

If you notice Stan Wawrinka looking a bit more calm/cool/collected these days, it’s for good reason. Along with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic, the Swiss star is one of only two players who have reached the quarter-finals or better at all four Grand Slams in 2015, and therefore he has already booked a spot among the elite eight in London for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

Just knowing that he won’t have to battle for those extra Emirates ATP Race To London points has provided Wawrinka with a comforting sense of calm.

“Two years ago when I qualified, it was really a race until the last tournament,” said the 30 year old baseliner, who comes into the October 5-11 Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships with a 43-13 mark on the season. “I remember there were a few players who had a chance to qualify. Until Paris, I wasn’t sure I’d be there. So it was quite stressful. Last year and this year, it’s been a little different with winning a Grand Slam. I already qualified since the US Open, so I don’t have that pressure. It’s better, for sure. I can really focus on my game and what I’m doing.”

Shedding that stress should bode well for Wawrinka, who will encounter a tricky opponent in the opening round. The two-time Slam champ is set to face veteran Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, against whom he’s 1-4.

“Radek is a tough match. I’ve lost many times against him,” said Wawrinka, who’s appearing in Tokyo for the fourth time. “He’s an aggressive player, using some serve and volley. He doesn’t give you too much rhythm. So I’ll have to be ready, I’ll have to relax.”

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Emirates ATP Star Of Tomorrow Contenders

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015

Who will be crowned the 2015 Emirates ATP Star of Tomorrow? Meet the contenders.

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Nishikori Avoids Early Exit In Tokyo

Nishikori Avoids Early Exit In Tokyo

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015

Two-time champion Kei Nishikori weathered a storm Monday to secure his spot in the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships second round. The Japanese star delighted 10,000 fans at the Ariake Colosseum with a 2-6, 6-1, 6-2 comeback win over Borna Coric.

Nishikori, who is one match win away from his 50th victory of 2015, is battling to qualify for next month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the second straight year. Four spots are left at the 15-22 November season finale at The O2 in London.

Coric broke Nishikori in the first and third games, dominating baseline rallies and attacking the net with great fluency. At 1-5, Nishikori saved three set points at 15/40 and Advantage, but minutes later he could not prevent Coric from wrapping up the 48-minute opener.

Nishikori found his rhythm and from a 3-1 lead in the second set clinched five straight games against his 18-year-old opponent, who is the youngest player in the Top 50 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Nishikori won 72 per cent of his first service points and saved eight of 10 break points for victory in two hours and eight minutes. He will next face Sam Querrey, who, playing in Tokyo for the first time since 2008, recorded his 20th match win of the season by beating Alexandr Dolgopolov 7-6(5), 6-4 in 83 minutes.

Tatsuma Ito knocked out fellow Japanese wild card Yoshihito Nishioka 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 in two hours and 20 minutes and he now waits on the winner of top seed Stan Wawrinka or Radek Stepanek, who play on Tuesday.

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Bounced in Beijing: Haider-Maurer Shocks Tsonga

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015

Unseeded Austrian Andreas Haider-Maurer scored the first major upset of the 2015 China Open in Beijing, stunning No. 8-seeded Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(4), 6-2 to advance to the second round.

Tsonga, who was coming off his first title of the year on his home turf in Metz, France (d. Simon), was up a break and had a chance to close out the first set with his opponent serving at 3-5. But Haider-Maurer battled back to force a tie-break and was soon in control. Trailing 4-2 in the second, Tsonga called for a medical timeout, complaining of dizziness.

“It’s not really important what happened when I was a little bit dizzy,” said Tsonga, who’s now 25-13 on the year. “The most important thing for me was the start of the match and this first set I lost. The second set I didn’t play well. That’s it. Today I didn’t lose because I was dizzy, I just lost because I was bad, and that’s it.”

Tsonga, a runner-up to Novak Djokovic in Beijing in 2012, landed just 52 per cent of his first serves. Despite seven aces, he registered four double faults. Haider-Maurer, No. 64 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, won 76 per cent of his first-serve points, and converted three of four break point opportunities. This was their first career meeting.

Seventh seed David Goffin made a strong start, dismissing Andreas Seppi 6-2, 6-3 in 66 minutes. The Belgian broke serve four times from six opportunities as he claimed his 33rd win of the season. The 24-year-old Goffin is playing for the first time since leading Belgium into the Davis Cup final with victory over Argentina last month. He goes on to face another Italian, Fabio Fognini, who needed just 59 minutes to beat Martin Klizan 6-2, 6-1.

Chinese No. 1 Ze Zhang could face top seed Novak Djokovic in the second round after battling past Denis Istomin 6-3, 1-6, 6-3 to earn his third tour-level win of the season. World No. 219 Zhang reached the quarter-finals of this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in 2012 (l. to Mayer). Five-time Djokovic opens his campaign on Tuesday against Simone Bolelli.

Elsewhere, Lukas Rosol came from behind to beat qualifier Aljaz Bedene 1-6, 7-6(6), 6-3 in two hours and seven minutes. 

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Golden Memories Motivate Nadal In Beijing

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015

It’s no wonder that Rafael Nadal feels at home on the courts of Beijing’s National Tennis Center, site of the October 5-11 China Open. It was here, after all, as a 22 year old, that the Spaniard struck Olympic gold at the 2008 Summer Games.

Much has happened since. Nadal now stands side by side with Hall of Fame great Pete Sampras on 14 Grand Slam trophies, second only to Roger Federer (17). But the memories of his gold-medal-clinching 6–3, 7–6(2), 6–3 win over Chile’s Fernando Gonzalez that year have never faded. As he prepares for the ATP World Tour 500-level event in Beijing this week, those indelible world-stage moments still serve as motivation.

“Every day is an opportunity to improve,” said Nadal, currently No. 7 in the Emirates ATP Race To London and chasing a spot in next month’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. “I take this tournament like another opportunity to play close to the way that I want to play. I have the motivation to play here at a tournament that I love. I have one of the best memories of my career in this center.”

Nadal’s third-round defeat at the hands of Italy’s Fabio Fognini this year at the US Open meant that his streak of 10 consecutive years with at least one Grand Slam crown had come to an end, his best results at the majors being quarterfinal finishes at the Australian Open and Roland Garros. But the left-hander says that he saw improvement in New York, and continues to see it in practice. And for the motivated Mallorcan, that’s all that matters.

“That is something that is important for me,” said Nadal, who is making his third straight appearance in Beijing and fifth overall. “I’m going to try my best in every single match. I going to try to do the things that I believe I need to start stronger next year.”

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‘More Complete’ Djokovic Says 2015 His Best Year

  • Posted: Oct 05, 2015
It’s hard to top Novak Djokovic circa 2011. That’s the year the Serb sprinted out to a McEnroe-esque 41-0 start, finished at 70-6 and claimed the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He would claim 10 singles titles, including a record five ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns and three majors. He was an astonishing 21-4 against Top-10 competition.

A career year, right? The kind that summons comparisons to the sport’s all-time greats. But even though we’re barely into October, the 28 year old insists his 2015 campaign has already surpassed it.  

“Somehow I feel like this one is even better,” said Djokovic, in Beijing to defend his title at the China Open. “I just feel like a more complete person and a player. I’m a father and a husband, just different circumstances that happen in my life in the last couple of years that have helped me to enjoy all the success that I have on the tennis court even more. So 2011 was absolutely an incredible year. But I feel this year I’m enjoying it even more because I’m more, I would say, fulfilled, more complete, more mature as a person and a player.”

Djokovic, who for the second time in his career came within one major (Roland Garros) of a calendar year Grand Slam, will surely add to his 2015 numbers in the coming weeks. The World No. 1 is already 63-5 with seven titles on the year and traditionally plays some of his best tennis during the ATP World Tour’s Asian swing. He’s chasing a record sixth China Open title, and has won the Shanghai Rolex Masters in two of the past three years.

“I love playing these tournaments,” he said. “I’ve had lots of success in these two cities. The first time I came to Beijing was for the [2008] Olympic Games and I won the bronze medal.  Ever since then, I’ve won five trophies here. Shanghai I won a couple times there, won the first Masters Cup. So the record that I have in these tournaments in China gives me a lot of obvious motivation to come back, a lot of great memories that I built my approach on for this year.”

Djokovic, who has already qualified for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November, is determined to maintain his run of form through to the end of the year.

“It’s been a long season, no question about it, a lot of matches played,” he said. “But this is what I do. This is my life. I’m looking forward to perform in front of the Chinese people, who give me a lot of support over the years…The way they wait for me in front of the hotel and the club is something that I don’t experience really more or less anywhere, maybe very few places in the world.”

Djokovic will open his title defence this week against Italian qualifier Simone Bolelli, against whom he’s 4-0.   

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