RICHARD EVANS REPORTS FOR 10SBALLS TENNIS FROM THE BNP PARIS INDOORS

Written by: Staff on 4th November 2016

BNP Paribas 2016 Masters Tennis Tournament

RICHARD EVANS REPORTS FOR 10SBALLS TENNIS FROM THE BNP PARIS INDOORS

epa05617996 Andy Murray of Britain returns the ball to Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2016 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 04 November 2016. EPA/IAN LANGSDON |

This was a day to remember – a defining day on the ATP tour, a day that shaped the entire year as we head to London for the ATP Finals in nine days time.

It was a day that saw Novak Djokovic allow Andy Murray to move into pole position to overtake him as world No 1 by losing to Marin Cilic for the first time in 15 meetings; a day that saw Murray win one of the two matches he needed to ascend to the summit by ending Tomas Berdych’s hopes of going to London in a match wracked by nerves.

It was a day, too, that saw Murray recover from 1-6 down in the 1st set breaker against Berdych and save seven set points before winning it 11-9, creating a tie break that will live in the memory for longer than most.

And, as if all that wasn’t enough for a main course, we had an American starter in this gastronomic city – John Isner, who professes to love Paris, beating Jack Sock to reach the semi-final at Bercy for the second time in his career with a hard fought 7-6, 4-6, 6-4 victory. So now Big John will face Cilic, the former US Open champion and a man he has never beaten.

Marin Cilic of Croatia returns the ball to Novak Djokovic of Serbia during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2016 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 04 November 2016. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

The real drama began when it became clear that Cilic was not going let than 0-14 career record against Djokovic worry him. He looked sharper than the Serb in the opening set and refused to be thrown out of his stride as Novak tidied up his game in the second. Even missing two match points on the Serb serve did not agitate Cilic and he quickly took control of the tie break, moving serenely to victory by winning it 7-2.

“Credit to Marin and congratulations,” Djokovic said with typical generosity afterwards. “He definitely played better today and deserved to win. I wasn’t on the level I could have been on. Obviously there are things I could have done better.”

When asked about it, Djokovic admitted a long standing problem with his arm had given him some pain during the match but the feeling is that his inability to maintain the level of almost unmatchable superiority he held over the rest of the field up to the moment he won the French Open for the first time in June has more to do with his mental state.

“I have to get to – first of all, I have to get that state of mind where I am able to perform as well as I want, match after match,” he said, searching for a way to explain his predicament. “A lot of things are coming out, you know, a lot of emotions went through my mind and body these last two years with the things I was blessed to achieve. But it took a lot out of me and it has put some things in perspective and, obviously, raised some questions about in which direction I want to go. So I’m in the process at the moment and it will take some for me to redefine all these things.”

It seems that there is a lot of things going on in Novak’s head and he did not contradict the suggestion that there might be changes in his coaching staff in the near future with the role of Boris Becker under the microscope.

“It’s early to talk about it but the team that’s there is there,” he replied. “I’ll see what’s going to happen for next year.”

No such problems for Andy Murray who refused to get too excited about his remarkable escape in the first set tie-break against Berdych. “Obviously, I didn’t expect to win from 1-6 down, that doesn’t happen very often,” he said. “But when the score gets to 6-4 you think he might be getting a little nervous and I think that’s when he double faulted. Even at 6-6 it still could have gone either way but I started returning better and that made the difference in the second set.”

Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic serves the ball to Andy Murray of Britain during their quarter final match at the BNP Paribas 2016 Masters tennis tournament in Paris, France, 04 November 2016. EPA/IAN LANGSDON

It was nail-biting stuff and, if Berdych became increasingly nervous as his set points slipped by, Murray showed signs of nerves, too, as he completely whoofed a second serve to produce a double fault of his own. It was not over, even when he served for the match at 5-4, allowing the determined Czech, who used to beat Murray frequently earlier in their careers, to break back.

But, as was the case against Fernando Verdasco earlier in the week, Murray has the winning habit under lock and key and belief that he could rack up yet another victory enabled him to break yet again, leaving Berdych with no more answers when he served it out for 7-5.

To cap this strange day, one noticed a frustrated Goran Ivanisevic sitting in Berdych’s box. Earlier in the year, the former Wimbledon champion made a surprise move by ending his long standing relationship with Cilic, a fellow Croat, to work with Berdych. Now his former charge has qualified for the ATP Finals and Berdych hasn’t. Decisions, decisions.

Milos Raonic earned the right to become Andy Murray’s potential stumbling block on his way to that No 1 position in Saturday’s semi-final by outplaying local favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-2, 7-6 in the last match of the day. By then it was almost midnight and everyone went home exhausted.