Today’s Men’s News (08/12)

Written by: Staff on 12th August 2012

Today's Men's News (08/12)

epa03337148 Roger Federer of Switzerland returns to Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina during their London 2012 Olympic Games Tennis competition in Wimbledon, Greater London, Britain, 03 August 2012. EPA/ANDY RAIN |

Canadian Open

Singles – Final: (1) N Djokovic def. (14) R Gasquet 6-3 6-2

Novak Djokovic may be tired, but he was the last of the Big Four standing. Were you expecting something else?

It’s surely a big relief for him; he hadn’t won a title since Miami. A string that, of course, cost him his #1 ranking. This won’t get it back — but it means that he goes into Cincinnati only 75 points behind Roger Federer. Of course, he has finalist points to defend there, but this means that he has at least a shot at regaining the #1 ranking next week — if Federer cooperates by not reaching the final.

The Race is getting interesting again, too. Here are the numbers we show for the Big Four:

Federer: 7535

Djokovic: 6910

Nadal: 4690

Murray: 4640

Which means that Djokovic could take the Race lead from Federer at Cincinnati also. Barring a miracle, the contest for the year-end #1 will come down to those two. And Federer still has the lead, and he likes the surfaces for the rest of the year. But Djokovic definitely made things more interesting this week.

Richard Gasquet continues to struggle in big matches; it would have been interesting to see how Djokovic would have done against a stronger opponent. But we show Gasquet climbing all the way to #13. A fair consolation prize.

Doubles – Semifinal: (2) Bryan/Bryan def. (5) Melzer/Paes 6-3 6-4

With Mirnyi/Nestor out, this represented a chance for the Bryans to take the #1 spot in the Race.

Doubles – Semifinal: Granollers/M Lopez def. (4) Lindstedt/Tecau 7-6(12-10) 7-5

Obviously a much tougher semifinal than the Bryans’, but it put Granollers/Lopez in position to threaten the #4 spot in the doubles Race. (Amazing that they weren’t seeded!) So the final had a lot on the line for both teams.

Doubles – Final: (2) Bryan/Bryan def. Granollers/M Lopez 6-1 4-6 12-10 (Match TB)

The Bryans should have won this in straight sets, and blew it, but at least they came through at the end. And so they are back on top. It’s a two-team contest for the year-end #1, and the Bryans lead — though we could still see a lot of lead-swapping. Lead-swapping or none, the Bryans earn their fifth title of the year, following Sydney, Monte Carlo, Nice, and the Olympics. The one big thing missing, obviously, is a Slam. We can be pretty sure of what they’ll be thinking about in New York…. Mirnyi/Nestor, their leading competitors, have only four titles this year, but one of those is Roland Garros. Besides, the Bryans didn’t get any points for the Olympics. So the contest stays close.

Cincinnati

Singles – First Round: B Tomic def. R Harrison 6-4 7-6(7-5)

Having finally broken his slump last week, Bernard Tomic seems to have shaken it fully. This costs Ryan Harrison his already faint chance of a U. S. Open seed.

Singles – First Round: (WC) J Blake def. K Anderson 7-5 6-4

It’s too early to be absolutely certain, but we would guess that this means no U. S. Open seed for Kevin Anderson.