Columnists News
G'day from Melbourne. The jetlagged team is finally getting it together. It's so great being down here. It feels so good. We always feel jittery till the tourney gets going. That first round match in any tourney is tough.
It’s that time of year again, where the winter months give way to people sweltering in the Aussie heat (making those of us who have to de-ice cars… it happens…) very jealous.
Hawaii was awesome. We even took a short heli - ride to Lanai to catch a dinner before we left the islands. We made a puddle jump to the Island of Lanai for some sliders @NOBU among everything else yummy there. Last time we were in Lanai was 25 years ago ,time flies and there wasn't a Nobu.
Aloha and Mahalo. There's nothing like the north shore of Oahu. Especially during the Triple crown. Or even better the "Eddie" ... BIG Waves ... This has always been a favorite pit stop on the way to Australia. Whether we are coming from east coast / west coast it just helps in length of flight and jet lag.
It feels like it has been a long time coming, but finally the Singapore Slammers get their first International Premier Tennis League win! After boasting Serena Williams in their side at the end of the first week, the Slammers could not snap their losing streak since the start of the exhibition league last week.
The News Has been broken by Bob Larson news service that Jo - Willie Tsonga is being paid 500 thousand dollars to play in the inaugural IPTL. If Jo is making $$$$$. What's Roger Federer getting ? $$$$$$$$$$$ ? Or Maria Sharapova ? Or Andy Murray ? We will know in time.
There comes a time, when writing previews and watching matches where a player coming up through the ranks, or perhaps even bubbling under the big boys just catches your eye.
It probably seems quite fitting that a bizarre week of elite tennis came to a bizarre end on Sunday, when Roger Federer in all his cardigan-ed glory walked onto court to announce his withdrawal from the final.
The watching crowds have been willing the tournament to catch light, and for the briefest of moments, the clouds that have settled on the East of London this week lifted momentarily to bring a three-set semi-final that had promise.
After what seems like an interminable age, we reach the end of the round-robins and embark on a straight shoot-out for title over the weekend. By now we have done to death the one-sided matches, the inability of competitors who have proved their worth on every surface imaginable to handle the slick indoor conditions in the tent of doom.
At last we are at the business end of the tournament, and hopefully we will have a semi-final line-up that will do the season-ending finale with eight of the best male players of the year justice. First up we have the unstoppable Novak Djokovic who not only beat Tomas Berdych every bit as handily as he has been doing all week, but wrapped up the year-ending No. 1.
Group B sorted out their semi-finalists on Thursday with Kei Nishikori and Roger Federer doing the honours but in very different circumstances. First up, we lost Milos Raonic to a quad injury, sustained in his match against Andy Murray and serious enough for Raonic not to risk ruining his 2015 season preparations.
If you can forgive us a moment to revel in the first three-set match when super-sub David Ferrer stepped in for an injured Milos Raonic to give Kei Nishikori a workout, we arrive at the last of the round robins, as the Group A boys being what feels like the first week of a Grand Slam to a close.
It started so promisingly, as Stan Wawrinka started with the same confident free-swinging style as he had against Tomas Berdych in the first round robin match. Surely a mate against the two winners of the first matches would yield our most competitive match to date.
For the non-mathematically minded, all we really want is a simple “win this or go home” scenario, as we look ahead at the final round robin matches for Group B. We kick off on Thursday with the battle of the rookies. Kei Nishikori had to work to overcome his nerves in his opener, when he edged the home-town favourite Andy Murray in the first match.
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