tennis masters cup
Transcription
tennis masters cup
TENNIS MASTERS CUP : DAVID BEATS GOLIATH Communication and External Relations Department November 2005 Number1 ROGER FEDERER CONFIRMS HIS WORLD NO. 1 STATUS AND WINS THE INDESIT ATP RACE FOR THE SECOND YEAR RUNNING. 1 Tennis Masters Cup In a thrilling final and against all the odds, Nalbandian beats the Federer Phenomenon, who in any case wins the Indesit ATP Race for the second year running. David Nalbandian dopo aver messo a segno il match point nella finale della Tennis Masters Cup A part from Nalbandian’s family and his gorgeous girlfriend, no one would have bet a yuan on Federer losing the match. It happens so rarely we don’t take it into consideration (this is only the fourth time this season, against 81 victories). The last time was in the semifinal at Roland Garros against Rafael Nadal. Not that he merely won the other matches, he dominated them like few other players in the history of this sport. The Shanghai Tennis Masters Cup didn’t seem any different. Federer had to fight, but always won through, in the round robin, but when the competition got tougher, he scored an historic win in the semi-final against Gas- David defeats Goliath Nikolay Davydenko Post scriptum 2 ton Gaudio: 6-0 6-0 in under 50 minutes. No Top 10 player had ever received such a drubbing, let alone at this level. Federer seemed to have forgotten the tendinitis in his foot that had him on crutches till three weeks before the start of the tournament. He arrived in China before everyone else, to get himself into good physical shape, which wouldn’t be optimal anyway, not even for an extra-terrestrial like himself. Federer seemed to be regaining his magical form however, as one adversary after another was offered up as a sparring partner. To be frank, the experts weren’t at all sure that Nalbandian would be a walk-over. The Argentinean had been called up whilst fishing in Patagonia, content with his successful season and glad to be enjoying a few days well earned relaxation. Due to the withdrawals of Safin, Roddick, Hewitt, Nadal and then Agassi too, other players were called up, including David. But how could he put in a decent performance after so many days without even touching a racquet? In the event, he played impeccable tennis throughout, proving his great talent and also that he’s one of the most underrated The Bryan brothers ended up top of the doubles ranking for the second year running. But they had to surrender the Tennis Masters Cup title to the French pair Llodra-Santoro, who beat Paes-Zimonjic in the final Wayne Black and David Sanchez announced they are quitting the professional tour at the end of the season. most blasphemous to say that Federer lost. Any other player in his physical condition (and against an adversary like Nalbandian) would have collapsed. But Federer managed a comeback that had something magical about it. 4-0 down in the fifth set, maybe not even his coach Tony Roche believed he could turn the match round. Federer can console himself with a truly fabulous season: 81 matches won and 4 lost (just short of John McEnroe’s record 82 wins and 3 defeats in 1984), eleven tiles, Roger Federer David Nalbandian players on the circuit. The only match he lost was the opening one, to Federer, but only after being a tie break up in the decisive set. “If he didn’t win then, he won’t win now” must have been what fans were thinking. And this was indeed the case in the first two sets, which Federer claimed after a tie-break in each. At that point the high drama started, and Hitchcock himself couldn’t have directed it any better. Federer suddenly looked tired and off form; their roles were switched over and the No. 1 looked like his blond, pony-tailed opponent. 6-2, 6-1, 4-0 and Federer seemed ready for a shower. But 20 minutes later the Swiss phenomenon found himself 6-5 up and serving on 30-love. Concentration wavering perhaps, he decided to put three second serves past his adversary’s deadly backhand. Nalbandian duly replied with three unerring missiles and went on to win the decisive tie break after 4 hours 39 minutes of battle. “When I was two points from losing, I said to myself - it can’t end like this, for God’s sake, I was nearly there,” said Nalbandian at the end of a match which could prove a turning point in his career. The Argentinean has always got close to the big titles but without ever winning one. He’s an excellent hitter, is tactically very complete, as well as being a great fighter, and plays well on all surfaces. His limitations have always been his not exactly statuesque physique (the Argentinean media often call him “el gordo”) and a certain lack of self-assurance in top level encounters. This amazing success could give him the confidence he lacked and enable him to reach the level his technical capacity promises – ie. in the world’s Top 5. In Nalbandian’s own words, it sounds al- two Grand Slams and above all winner of the Indesit ATP Race for the second year running. The No. 2, Rafael Nadal, is way behind and the others aren’t even visible on the horizon. So the Swiss ace will automatically start as favourite next season. Regarding the semi-finalists in this Tennis Masters Cup, few people can have been expecting to see two Argentineans and Nikolay Davydenko, the real surprise of the season, who closed his already extraordinary season on a suitably high note. Another player we mustn’t forget though is Ivan Ljubicic, the Croat who dominated the closing stage of the season and who made Federer suffer in the round robin and then lost to Nalbandian in the decisive match, which he got to in a state of near exhaustion. If he can improve his performance in the Grand Slam tournaments next year, he’ll be well set to confirm his Top 10 status. The ATP announced changes in the rules for the doubles tournaments in 2006. Matches will be played with the first two sets on a no-ad basis (on 40-40, the first point wins), whereas an eventual third set will be decided by a 10-point tie-break The famous People Magazine has put Roger Federer in its list of candidates for “Sexiest Man Alive”. The Swiss champion said he was very satisfied at being appreciated.... not just as a tennis player 3 Tennis Masters Cup No. 1 year-end stats David Nalbandian and Roger Federer Here are the year-end statistics of all the world’s No. 1 players since the rankings have been computerized. 1973 Ilie Nastase 1974 Jimmy Connors 1975 Jimmy Connors 1976 Jimmy Connors 1977 Jimmy Connors 1978 Jimmy Connors 1979 Bjorn Borg 1980 Bjorn Borg 1981 John McEnroe 1982 John McEnroe 1983 John McEnroe 1984 John McEnroe 1985 Ivan Lendl 1986 Ivan Lendl 1987 Ivan Lendl 1988 Mats Wilander 1989 Ivan Lendl 1990 Stefan Edberg 1991 Stefan Edberg 1992 Jim Courier 1993 Pete Sampras 1994 Pete Sampras 1995 Pete Sampras 1996 Pete Sampras 1997 Pete Sampras 1998 Pete Sampras 1999 Andre Agassi 2000 Gustavo Kuerten 2001 Lleyton Hewitt 2002 Lleyton Hewitt 2003 Andy Roddick 2004 Roger Federer 2005 Roger Federer Post scriptum 4 Player profile David Nalbandian was born on 1st January 1982 in Cordoba, Argentina, where he still lives. He’s 1m 80 tall and weighs 79 kg. He turned professional in 2000. A right-hander with a double-handed backhand, he uses a Yonex RDX 500 racquet and Yonex SHT 303 shoes. This year he set a personal record of 44 wins and 19 defeats (173-88 to date); he won two Atp tournaments (Munich and the Tennis Masters Cup) to add to Estoril and Basle which he won in 2002. His best result, apart from this Shanghai, was the Wimbledon final in 2002, which he lost to Lleyton Hewitt. He also reached a junior semi-final at Wimbledon but lost because he turned up late. He started playing tennis when he was 5. His father, Norberto, is a salesman and his mother Alda is a housewife. His grandfather, an Armenian, built a tennis court in the garden and it was there that David played his first tennis. He loves fishing and is a fan of River Plate (football). As a junior, he won a US Open (beating Federer in the final) and in 1998 closed the season at world No. 3 in the under-18 category. He has a taste for the extreme, having done a 152 metre bungee jump in Vienna and swum with sharks off Melbourne. He’s in People’s “50 most beautiful men in the world” (in the magazine’s Latin American edition). His athletic coach is Diego Rodriguez. Final call In the final of the Tennis Masters Cup, Australian referee Wayne McKewen showed considerable courage (as well as sound judgement) in overriding the line judge. This was the last ATP match for this excellent referee, who has overseen 10 Australian Opens, one Wimbledon and five Davis Cup finals. McKewen will now referee for the Davis Cup and the Fed Cup and be a supervisor at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. Guga Kuerten has launched a new, personal line of clothing that will be seen on court in 2006. The garments include not only tennis gear but also his other great sporting passion – surfing Outgoing ATP CEO Mark Miles received the thanks of the ATP Players Association for all the work he did since taking up the post back in 1990 Roger Federer: the Indesit ATP Race is his again The seasons change, but the result is always the same. Roger Federer confirmed his “world’s best player” status by winning the Indesit ATP Race for the second year running. He was presented with his prize on the centre court of the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai (broadcast world-wide) by Indesit Company’s marketing manager, Marco Rota. “Roger is an example not only as an athlete but as a symbol of what sport should always stand for; he’s an elegant, delightful player, competitive but fair, and with a smile that conceals a strong sense of responsibility”. No one will be surprised to learn that the Swiss ace has a charity, the Roger Federer Foundation, which he set up in Basle in 2003 to pursue two main aims: to fund projects in support of poor children (especially in South Africa, where his mother Lynette comes from) and to promote sport amongst young people. On such a prestigious occasion as the Tennis Masters, Indesit decided to support the Fondation by giving it ten thousand euro, plus the proceeds from an auction of a special Indesit Graffiti on E-bay. The Graffiti fridge in question was autographed by Federer straight after the prize ceremony and was customized by the Chinese artist Wu Yimin, with an image showing Federer with some South African kids he recently visited. Federer thoroughly deserved to win the Indesit ATP Race 2005, having won eleven tournaments, of which two Slams and four ATP Masters Series (of the five he took part in). He had been unbeaten for 35 consecutive matches when Nalbandian, in the final of the Tennis Masters Cup, interrupted his winning streak of 25 consecutive finals victories. Many of his adversaries consider him the greatest player of all time, starting with his keenest rival this magical season, the Spanish Rafael Nadal. “He was undoubtedly the best player of all in this 2005 season,” said Rafael, “but maybe he’s the greatest of all time”. A lot of champions from the past are of the same opinion, such as the legendary John McEnroe. “I don’t know whether he’ll beat Sampras’s record of Slam wins but Roger is certainly the player with the biggest talent in the history of this sport. Yes, even more than yours truly”. Crowning praise indeed and not very encouraging for Federer’s adversaries, who are growing in quality and number every year however. If I had to make a prediction about 2006, I wouldn’t have to think long. It seems obvious to me that Indesit Company’s marketing manager Marco Rota will find himself handing the Cup to the same player in Shanghai next year - Roger Federer. Roger Federer with the Indesit Company Marketing Manager, mr. Marco Rota The internationally famous musician Lionel Richie is to play in a private concert for the Andy Roddick Foundation. All of the proceeds from the evening will go to charity. Guests will also include Andre Agassi Starting next season, the American brand Wilson will become world-wide distributor for the Belgian string maker Luxilon, the brand most used by players on the international circuit 5 2005: the final results Simply Here are some of the year-end rankings, starting with the Indesit ATP 2005 Race, followed the top Under-20s, the country standings and the most improved players. Is there an Anti-Federer lurking in there somewhere? the Best R oger Federer has confirmed his No. 1 status by putting a gaping chasm between himself and his closest adversaries. The No. 2, the phenomenal young Spanish player Rafael Nadal, didn’t make a thousand points, whilst the Swiss ace sailed comfortably past the mark to finish on 1,345. This is absolute domination rather than mere “victory” and it was only interrupted by David Nalbandian in the final of the Tennis Masters Cup. For Federer looks set to start next season as the firm favourite to be the world No. 1 in 2006 as well. Federer won two Slams, five ATP Masters Series (out of six played) and 11 tournaments, winning 95% of his total matches. So it doesn’t seem he has credible rivals, even though potential new adversaries are on the horizon. With Hewitt and Roddick looking resigned to their fate, Agassi by now too “old” and Safin too often sidelined by injury, the Top Ten is about to be shaken up by some new (and fairly young) faces. In addition to Nadal, Federer will have to watch out for the player many are already saying is his heir in terms of technique and imaginative play: the French Richard Gasquet (born 1986), who has an instructionvideo backhand and bags of room for improvement. He was one of only four players to beat King Roger this year (at the Monte Carlo ATP Masters Series) and it can’t be long now before we see him a permanent fixture in the Top 10. Another player with the same technical capability but with greater physical reserves is the Czech Tomas Berdych, winner of the Paris Bercy ATP Masters Series. Many ex- Post scriptum 6 Andrew Murray perts see him as the most promising young player, while some are even saying that he’ll be more trouble to Federer than Nadal, on the strength that he beat the Swiss in the 2004 Athens Olympics. Berdych is technically breathtaking, one of the few players that can keep on putting three metres between you and ball. He need only speed up his footwork and perform more consistently and he’ll be amongst the favourites in the big tournaments. So you don’t need a crystal ball to see that he’ll be Top Ten material in the very near future. In the season’s Most Improved Player ranking however, mention must be made of two 18-year olds who’ve just burst into professional tennis: Scottish Andrew Murray and Serb Novak Djokovic. They could have carried on playing the junior tournaments in 2005 but they both sailed comfortably into the Top 100 of the Indesit ATP Entry Ranking. Another under-20 to keep in mind is French Gael Monfils, born in Guadalupe, who looks set to become a great celebrity as well as a formidable player. He needs to mature a lot but when he does learn to manage his natural qualities, both technical and athletic, Monfils will be a very tough proposition for anyone, especially on fast surfaces. Widening the scope to the countries who did best this season, Argentina stays on top with three players in the Top 10 (Coria, Nalbandian and Gaudio) followed by the United States and Spain. France and Great Britain both made impressive leaps forward (thanks to the above mentioned under-20s, Gasquet, Monfils and Murray), while Sweden lost the most ground and tiny Belgium was the surprise newcomer to the Top 10, mainly thanks to the two Rochus brothers. From 29th November to 4th December, London’s Royal Albert Hall will be hosting the end-of-season Masters in the Delta Senior Tour circuit. With Goran Ivanisevic out because involved in the Davis Cup final, the tournament will anyway have players of the calibre of John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Mats Wilander Indesit ATP 2005 Race 50 1 50 15 Andre Agassi (Usa) 50 25 Guillermo Coria (Arg) 30 15 140 5 Nikolay Davydenko (Rus) 6 David Nalbandian (Arg) 7 8 140 - - 1 45 1 1 1 - - 1 15 7 - 45 - 45 1 7 70 70 25 total - Lleyton Hewitt (Aus) 7 7 - 15 Tennis Masters Cup 70 4 200 100 best 5 other tournaments - Paris-Bercy 100 1 240 100 1345 - 230 - 953 45 200 - 617 - 62 - 498 15 25 121 60 478 45 1 80 130 474 Madrid 70 Andy Roddick (Usa) - US Open 45 Rafael Nadal (Spa) 3 200 100 Cincinnati 30 90 2 90 - Montreal 25 Wimbledon Monte-Carlo 100 Roland Garros Miami 100 Player Roger Federer (Swi) Hamburg Indian Wells 90 1 Rome Australian Open These are the final, year-end standings. As was obvious some time ago, Roger Federer wins the Indesit ATP Race for 2005 and is firm favourite to take the title in 2006 as well. - 100 200 - 100 1 15 100 1 70 1 1 90 1 45 90 - 90 7 15 25 7 30 50 7 7 50 1 - 70 - 140 - - 78 - 455 30 30 1 7 50 15 1 87 0 438 9 Ivan Ljubicic (Cro) 7 15 15 1 15 7 1 1 1 1 15 70 70 197 20 436 10 Gaston Gaudio (Arg) 15 7 15 25 15 15 30 - 25 1 1 1 25 195 40 410 Guillermo Coria National ranking Argentina once again heads the ranking*, followed by the United States and Spain. Great Britain edges into the Top 10 thanks to Andrew Murray’s explosive progress. *sum of the positions of the top three players in each nation in the Indesit ATP Entry Ranking at the end of the year. Nation Most Improved Player Of the players who’ve made the most progress in the Indesit ATP Entry Ranking this season, note there are three French. Player end 2004 diff. 1 Argentina 24 26 +2 2 USA 27 30 +3 3 Spain 35 43 +8 4 Russia 45 48 +3 5 France 73 108 +35 6 Czech Rep. 95 102 +7 7 Croatia 103 112 +9 8 Sweden 123 75 -48 9 Belgium 128 227 +99 10 Great Britain 140 235 +95 Year end Indesit ATP Entry Ranking Pos. 2005 Year end Indesit ATP Entry Ranking Progress Ranking Born 62 Robin Vik (Rce) +375 1 Player Rafael Nadal 2 1986 65 Andrew Murray (Gbr) +346 2 Richard Gasquet 16 1986 31 Gael Monfils (Fra) +208 3 Tomas Berdych 25 1985 50 Florent Serra (Fra) +163 4 Gael Monfils 31 1986 68 Paul Goldstein (Usa) +122 5 Stanislas Wawrinka 55 1985 12 Mariano Puerta (Arg) +121 6 Marcos Baghdatis 56 1985 55 Stanislas Wawrinka (Swi) +113 7 Andrew Murray 65 1987 83 Novak Djokovic (Scg) +103 8 Novak Djokovic 83 1987 92 Lukas Dlouhy (Rce) +101 9 Yeu-Tzuoo Wang 103 1985 16 Richard Gasquet (Fra) +91 10 Nicolas Almagro 111 1985 Under 20 This is the Top 10 of the under-20 players in the Indesit Entry Ranking. It’s headed by Nadal but there’s certainly no lack of promising talent behind him in this international line up. James Blake appeared on the famous CBS “60 Minutes” show, where he spoke about his extraordinary return to competitive tennis after months of suffering from a dangerous virus For further information, please contact Chiara Pascarella (Indesit Company, [email protected], tel. +39 (0)732 662432) or Valentina Broglia (Indesit Company, [email protected], tel. +39 (0)2 30702551) 7 Memorabilia “ Bicycle wheels The set score 6-0 in tennis has various names around the world. The French call it a “bicycle wheel” for obvious graphical reasons. Similarly, Americans (and especially those in New York) call it a “bagel”, which is a tasty ring-shaped pastry they sell on street corners. Italians tend to say “cappotto”, which is Italian for coat, but in fact mimics the German word “kaputt”, for broken, finished, lifeless. At the Tennis Masters Cup in Shanghai, Roger Federer beat Gaston Gaudio in the semi-finals with two “bicycle wheels”, a thing that had never been inflicted on a Top 10 player “ 8
Similar documents
personality - Indesit Company
in terms of elegance, as well as being highly effective, but it’s his repertory as a whole that so impressive, because this little French kid has rare fantasy. His physique is still
More information1 - Indesit Company
9. www.tenniscorner.net The best thing here is the statistics on all the tournaments played in the Open Era (since 1968), in which you can trace all the games by any player who’s ever been on the A...
More information