Djokovic prevails over Murray

Novak Djokovic went into the final of this year's Australian Open with one objective... to win it. After having a bit of a battle for the first set with Djokovic taking it 6-4, Murray began to slack off and Djokovic just kept his foot on the gas. Stretching and running down every ball possible, all that hard work payed off and Djokovic raised his arms up in victory when Murray hit a relatively easy ball into the net. Crushed hopes for Britain but notes of celebration for Serbia. After this match was over, Novak playfully took off practically everything except his pants and threw it out to the crowd. Those lucky swines!

At the trophy ceremony he gave a shout out to the flood victims in Brisbane and dedicated this title to his beloved Serbia. With Federer being knocked out by Djokovic in convincing fashion and Nadal feeling not so great, this year might be the start of the Djokovic era. But we'll see... after all, the year isn't over yet and Nadal and Federer are some of the greatest fighters on tour.

P.S. former world number one and Serbia's sweetheart Ana Ivanovic was spotted in Djokovic's box during the final.

Djokovic and his gang get shaved!

After Viktor Troicki toppled veteran Michael Llodra and Serbia leapt for joy for their tennis heroes, Janko Tipsarevic grabbed the hair clippers and shaved each of the players' heads (including himself) in a promise made after they won the semifinals of th Davis Cup. So now the top Serbian singles and doubles players are practically bald! Lets hope Novak's hair will grow back by next season.

Congrats to Serbia on such a great achievement in their Davis Cup journey!

Superb Federer finishes the year on a high note

Though Roger Federer has been in a bit of a slump this year apart from winning the Australian Open, he sure proved that he's capable of knocking out some of the best players in the world. He beat his rival Rafael Nadal in a stunning display of consistency, power and accuracy with a score of 63 36 61. This is Roger's 5th victory at the year-ending championships and it will be a memorable one at that. Roger kept his composure throughout the match even after Nadal broke serve in the second set showing what it really to be a champion. Though Nadal was running and fighting throughout the whole match, some errors were just too costly to afford and Federer took advantage of them. Federer finishes the year at world number 2 and earns the jackpot of $1.6 million while Nadal gets the honour of ending the year as the top dog after his Grand Slam haul this year.

Well done Roger and hopefully next year we will see you winning some more Slams.

Standing ovation for Nadal as well of course after his dream-like run to winning 3 Slams in a row and clinching the top spot on the tour.

Wishing all the players a good off-season and Happy Holidays!

Thanks for tuning in guys to the ATP Tennis Blog for all the news on the ATP Tour, and sorry for the keeping you waiting on the news after the end of Wimbledon.

Nadal bests Berdych to win Wimbledon and 8th Grand Slam title

World No. 1 Rafael Nadal won his second Wimbledon title on Sunday as he mastered blustery conditions at the All England Club to defeat first-time Grand Slam finalist Tomas Berdych 6-3, 7-5, 6-4 in the final of The Championships.

The Spaniard has dominated the ATP World Tour since April, winning 31 of his past 32 matches, and came into Wimbledon having just won his seventh Grand Slam championship at Roland Garros (d. Soderling). He also achieved the Roland Garros – Wimbledon double in 2008, when he became the first man since Bjorn Borg in 1980 to accomplish the feat.

The Manacor resident is the first Spaniard in history to win two Wimbledon titles. The only other Spanish winner at the All England Club is Manuel Santana, who lifted the trophy in 1966 (d. Ralston).

“It’s more than a dream for me,” said Nadal. “It was always my dream to play on this court and today, to play a fourth final for me was amazing. I couldn’t be here last year but this year I came back and to have this trophy in my hands is more than a dream.”

“It was a great two weeks for me, but he was very strong today,” conceded Berdych. “He’s showed in the last few months that he’s really the champion and he just deserved to win today.

The 24-year-old Nadal, who regained the No. 1 spot in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings from Roger Federer after his Roland Garros triumph last month, added a further 2000 points to his tally. He has already secured his place in the elite eight-man field at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the year-end championships which will return to The O2 in London from 21-28 November.

Nadal conquers 5th French Open title after straight sets win to Soderling in Paris

In a remarkable Sunday for Rafael Nadal, the Spaniard won his fifth Roland Garros title, returned to No. 1 in the South African Airways 2010 ATP Rankings and became the first player to qualify for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, after defeating Robin Soderling 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 in the final in Paris.

At the age of 24 years and four days, Nadal became just the second man in history to win five or more Roland Garros titles. Bjorn Borg finished his esteemed career with six titles on the Parisian clay. The Spaniard will subsequently return to the No. 1 spot in the South African Airways ATP Rankings for the first time since 22 June, 2009.

"[It was a] very important victory for me. I think one of the most important victories in my career," said Nadal. "It was a difficult year for me the last year. I worked a lot to be here. I was very nervous during all the tournament, because I know before that I was ready to try to win another time, and I saw the chances there. But the very positive thing is today I was ready to play. I was ready to play with calm and to try my best and to enjoy the match. I did, and it was a very special day.

"For me I was 11 months without winning a title, so a lot of tournaments going back to home without a victory. A lot of difficult moments, because in a few of these tournaments I had to retire for the problems. So is difficult moments to accept. It was personal goal to be back at my best. So I did. And for me, sure, the important thing is Roland Garros. But for me the biggest thing is the personal satisfaction to be here, to be here another time and to be at the top level."

Victory for Nadal secured his seventh major singles title. Together with his five victories at Roland Garros in 2005-2008 and 2010, the left-hander also lifted the Wimbledon trophy in a dramatic finale in 2008 and won the Australian Open last year.

Nadal has been in devastating form throughout the fortnight, racing to the title without the loss of a set despite coming across opponents such as Lleyton Hewitt, Thomaz Bellucci, Nicolas Almagro and Jurgen Melzer on his route through. It is the second time that the left-hander has won a Grand Slam championship without losing a set, having also achieved the feat at Roland Garros in 2008. In the Open Era, only two other players have won the title at Roland Garros without dropping a set - Ilie Nastase in 1973 and Bjorn Borg in 1978 and 1980.

Nadal closed the European clay-court circuit with an unbeaten 22-0 record, which began with victory at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters. The Manacor native went on to become the first player in history to win all three clay-court ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments in the same year and then achieved a historic “Clay Slam” with his triumph at Roland Garros.


Sunday, June 6, 2010

Singles - Final
(2) Rafael Nadal (ESP) d. (5) Robin Soderling (SWE) 64 62 64