The Mad Professah Lectures

Surprising many, Stefanos Tsitsipas finished his breakout 2019 season by coming from behind to win his first ATP Tour Finals title over Dominic Thiem 6-7(6) 6-2 7-6(4). The 21-year-old Greek player is the youngest player to win the  year-end tour championship since Lleyton Hewitt in 2001 and the seventh player to win it in his tournament debut (Grigor Dimitrov did that in 2017).

Tisitsipas finished the year with wins over every member of the top 10, including the big 3: Nadal, Djokovic and Federer.

For the fourth consecutive year, the ATP Finals will be won by someone new, i.e. someone who is not a previous champion of the event. This sequence started in 2016 when Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic to become World #1 for the first time, then in 2017 Grigor Dimitrov defeated David Goffin, last year Alexander Zverev beat Djokovic to win the biggest title of his career and tomorrow either 26-year-old Dominic Thiem or 21-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas will win their biggest title. On paper one has to give the edge to Thiem, who has played in two major finals but only won one Masters series shield (defeating Roger Federer in the 2019 Indian Wells final). Plus Thiem leads the head-to-head with Tsitsipas 4-2.

Despite my predictions of a Federer-Thiem final, Tsitsipas was able to blast past Federer in a thrilling 6-4 6-3 win while Thiem dispatched defending champion Zverev 7-5 6-3.

MadProfesah's prediction: Thiem d. Tsitsipas.

The semifinals at the Nitto ATP Finals are now set: Roger Federer will face Stefanos Tsitsipas while Dominic Thiem versus 2018 champion Alexander Zverev. Both the World #1 Rafael Nadal and World #2 Novak Djokovic were eliminated via different paths in the last two days.
In a blockbuster showdown between Federer and Djokovic (their 49th career meeting) for the semifinal slot, Federer shocked Djokovic by defeating his rival in straight sets 6-4 6-3 to bring their head to head of 23-26 in favor of Djokovic. Interestingly, the result of this match also decided the World #1 race for 2019. Nadal claimed his 5th yearly World #1 (2019, 2017, 2013, 2010, 2008), matching the other members of the trivalry: Djokovic (2018, 2015, 2014, 2012, 2011) and Federer (2009, 2007, 2006, 2005, 2004). The significance of the Federer-Djokovic match was set up after Dominic Thiem beat Djokovic in one of the best matches of the year: 6-7(5) 6-3 7-6(5). Thiem's victory meant that Djokovic wouldn't gain undefeated ranking points in the ATP Finals, thus making his task to reach the #1 spot that much more difficult.

In fact this year's ATP Finals was one of the most thrilling in years. In addition to Thiem-Djokovic and Federer-Djokovic there was another notable match in Medvedev-Nadal. Medvedev was up in the third set 1-5 3-40 on Nadal's serve and the Russian twice served for the match at 5-2 and 5-4 but eventually he lost in a third set tiebreak. Other important wins were Zverev's first win over Nadal and Tsitsipas's first win over Medvedev. In the end, despite winning two matches in the round robin round (both 3 set victories, against Medvedev and Tsitsipas) Nadal was eliminated when Zverev defeated Medvedev in straight sets, claiming the final semifinal slot to join Thiem, Federer and Tsitsipas.

MadProfessah's prediction: Federer d. Tsitsipas and Thiem d. Zverev.

The ATP Year-End Championship is happening now in London. Currently called the Nitto ATP Finals, it will be moving to Turin, Italy in 2020. Although it started off slowly, there have been some surprising results. Dominic Thiem has defeated Roger Federer for the third time this year. He followed up that win with a 3rd set tiebreak victory over Novak Djokovic which many people are calling the best 3-set men's match of the year. However, in the even more surprising results section is the fact that both Alexander Zverev and Stefans Tsitsipas defeated players whom they had 0-5 head-to-head records against in straight sets. Zverev defeated World #1 Rafael Nadal and Tsitsipas defeated Daniil Medvedev.

THIEM BEATS NADAL ON CLAY (AGAIN)
Dominic Thiem faced the 11-time champion Rafael Nadal at the Barcelona Open, a reprise of the final here two years before as well as the 2018 French Open final but this time the result was different, with a 6-4 6-4 victory for the Austrian. The last time Nadal reached this far into the tennis year without a title was 2004, and for the second week in a row the King of Clay failed to win a set in a semifinal on his favorite surface, having lost to Fabio Fognini last week in Monte Carlo.

THIEM WINS BARCELONA OVER MEDVEDEV
Dominic Thiem, the Prince of Clay, and heir apparent to Nadal won the Barcelona title without dropping a set, despite facing Nadal in the semifinals and Daniil Medvedev (who beat Novak Djokovic in Monte Carlo) in the finals. Thiem lost the first three games of the final and then ran off a string of 12 of 13 games (5 in a row and then 7 in a row) to claim his 13th career title with a 6-4 6-0 victory. and join Federer as the only player on tour to have won two titles in 2019 (Indian Wells and Barcelona).

KVITOVA WINS STUTTGART, REACHES CAREER HIGH WORLD #2 (AGAIN)
Petra Kvitova has led the WTA tour in match wins (24) and tour finals (4) and now becomes the first player to win a second title in 2019 by defeating Anna Kontaveit 6-3 7-6(2) in Stuttgart. The streak of one-time winners this year was as high at 18 on the women's side and 15 on the men's. The 2019 Australian Open finalist lost to Kontaveit in the 3rd round of the 2018 French Open despite coming in as one of the players to watch after winning in Prague and Madrid last year. With the win, Kvitova is solidly atop the Race to has matched her career high ranking of World #2 and is less than 200 points away from World #1 Naomi Osaka.

GIMELSTOB PLEADS NO CONTEST, GETS THREE YEARS PROBATION FOR VIOLENT ASSAULT
Justin Ginelstob has pled "no contest" this week to the charges that he violently assaulted Randall Kaplan, a close friend of Gimelstob's ex-wife Cary Gimelstob on October 31, 2018. Gimelstob is a powerful figure in men's tennis, as a prominent commentator on Tennis Channel and controlling multiple seats on the ATP Players Council and a former coach of American men's #1 John Isner. Very few prominent people in tennis have spoken out against Gimelstob retaining his high profile in tennis but Andy Murray ("I don't see how he can maintain his position at the ATP") and The Tennis Podcast.

ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS MOVES TO TURIN, ITALY FOR 2021-2025
The ATP announced today that the year-end championships, now called the Nitto ATP World Tour Finals, which have been in London for the last several years, will be held in Turin, Italy for five years starting in 2021. So, the annual "Race to London" for the Top 8 players of the year will be rebranded as the "Race to Turin" I presume!

KEYS DEFEATS WOZNIACKI IN CHARLESTON
Madison Keys won her first grass court title (and completed the WTA "Career Green court sweep" by winning the Volvo Open in Charleston this week over Caroline Woziacki


OSAKA $IGN$ ON WITH NIKE
World #1 Naomi Osaka has signed with Nike and earned a rare dispensation from the Sports giant to wear other logos on her apparel while sporting the swoosh.

MUGURUZA DEFEATS AZARENKA IN MEXICO
Two former World #1's battled it out in the finals of Monterrey after Victoria Azarenka was able to get past Angie Kerber in 3 sets in the semifinals and then was forced to retire in the final against Garbine Muguruza, who was able to defend her title (and ranking points) and will remain in the Top 20.

ROGER FEDERER IS #1 IN RACE TO LONDON (AGAIN) BUT #4 IN RANKINGS
For the 3rd year in a row Roger Federer leads the race to London at the end of the American spring hard-court swing after winning Miami and reaching the final in Indian Wells (l. Dominc Thiem). Maybe the third time is the charm because the two previous years he led at this point did not result with him ending the year at World #1.

TENNIS SEASON ENDS WITH SIMONA HALEP AND NOVAK DJOKOVIC ON TOP
The 2018 tennis season is now over since the 2018 ATP Tour finals concluded on Sunday with Sascha Zverev's improbable win over Novak Djokovic in the final. For the record, Djokovic ended the year at #1 on the ATP Tour and Simona Halep ended the WTA tour at #1.

DJOKOVIC RETURNS TO WORLD #1 AFTER  NADAL WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS MASTERS
Because Nadal cut his entire season short (he ended up not playing the rest of the year after retiring with an injury against Del Potro in the US Open semifinals) Djokovic was assured to  return to World #1 last Monday when the Paris Masters points dropped off the calendar. This was a historic changeabout for Djojkovic who started 2018  with 6 losses and 6 wins but then had a 20-match winning streak which resulted in 3 titles (2018 Wimbledon and 2018 US Open).

FEDERER LOSES TIGHT 3-SET SEMIFINAL TO DJOKOVIC WITHOUT LOSING SERVE
The highlight of the Paris Masters was the 47th match between Federer and Djokovic, which the Serbian was able to win the 3-hour semifinal showdown 7-6(6) 5-7 7-6(3) despite never breaking Federer's serve.

DJOKOVIC ENDS YEAR-END #1 FOR FIFTH TIME IN CAREER
By Nadal being unable to compete in the ATP World Tour Finals, Djokovic will end up as the year-end #1 since World #3 Roger Federer will be unable to get enough points to surpass the Serb by the end of the year. This is the fifth time Djokovic has ended the year at #1 (2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, 2018).

KHACHANOV WINS FIRST ATP MASTERS TITLE
Karen Khachanov defeated Djokovic in the final of the ATP Paris Masters in straight sets 7-5 6-4 to win the biggest match of his career. The 6-foot-6 Russian reached a career high of World #11 and seized the ATP World Tour Finals first alternate spot with the win.

ATP YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP SET WITHOUT NADAL, DEL POTRO
The Elite Eight is set with the field consisting of Djokovic, Federer, Sascha Zverev, Kevin Anderson, Dominic Thiem, Marin Cilic, John Isner and Kei Nshikori. The two alternates are Borna Coric and Karen Khachanov. The draw is set, with Djokovic, Zverev, Isner and Cilic in the Guga Kuerten group and Federer, Thiem,  Nishikori and Anderson in the Lleyton Hewitt group.

Grigor Dimitrov has won the 2017 ATP Year-End Championship by defeating David Goffin 7-5 4-6 6-3. Dimitrov defeated Jack Sock in the semifinal 4-6 6-0 6-3 after emerging from his round-robin group containing Goffin, Dominic Thiem, Pablo Carreno Busta (who replaced Rafael Nadal).

Amazingly, Goffin reached the final by handing Roger Federer only his 5th defeat of 2017, upending his prior 0-6 record against the Swiss Maestro by coming back to win 2-6 6-3 6-4 and become only the 6th player in history to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament (and the first player to accomplish this feat without subsequently winning the tournament).

Goffin saved 4 match points i the final set before handing Dimitrov the win by missing a relatively easy drop volley into the net. Dimitrov will end the year rated #3, behind Rafael Nadal at #1 and Roger Federer at #2 (Goffin ends the year at #7). The 26-year-old Bulgarian wins $2.5 million and becomes the first person to win the year-end championship on his debut at the season-ending event since Alex Corretja did it in 1998.

SOCK ENDS YEAR WITH AMAZING RUN TO WIN PARIS MASTERS, REACH TOP 10 & QUALIFY FOR YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP
The player of the week was 25-year-old American Jack Sock who ended his 2017 with an amazing run that resulted in him winning the 2017 Paris Masters. That win was incredibly significant, because it qualified him into the ATP Year-End Championship and vaulted him into the ATP Top 10 for the first time. It also means that he is now the highest ranked American player on the ATP Tour, ahead of John Isner (who could have qualified himself if he had won the title instead of losing to qualifier Filip Krajinovic in the semifinals) and 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist Sam Querrey. Sock defeated Krajinovic 5-7 6-4 6-1 in the biggest match of both youngsters' careers.

THE ATP WORLD TOUR YEAR-END CHAMPIONSHIP FIELD SET
The elite eight players who have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals year-end championship in London are (in order) #1 Rafael Nadal, #2 Roger Federer #3 Alexander Zverev #4 Dominic Thiem #5 Marin Cilic #6 Grigor Dimitrov #8 David Goffin #9 Jack Sock. Stan Wawrinka is #7 but he has ended his season with early. Both Andy Murray (#16) and Novak Djokovic (#12) have also ended their seasons early and will end the year out of the Top 10 for the first time in a long long time.

NADAL CLINCHES 2017 WORLD #1 THN WITHDRAWS FROM PARIS MASTERS
After winning Basel, Federer decided not to play the Paris Masters which meant that Nadal only needed to win one match to clinch the 2017 Year-end #1 ranking. The Spaniard did that, and then promptly withdrew from the tournament. Should Federer have played Paris? In retrospect, probably, because it looks Nadal will perhaps not be playing in London either, where he has never done particularly well, having lost in the final a few times. However, all that is past and Nadal is now the ATP's oldest ever World #1 at age 31.

GOERGES WINS ELITE WTA ZHUHAI TROPHY OVER VANDEWEGHE
The WTA basically ended its season last week when Wozniacki beat Venus to win the WTA Tour Year-End Championships in Singapore. This week the year-end championships for the Top 20 players happened in Zhuhai and Julia Goerges of Germany won the biggest title of her career by defeating Coco Vandeweghe in the final.

2017 YEAR-END WTA TOP 10 HAS INTRIGUING NEWCOMERS: COCO AND CARO.
The WTA Tour year-end Top 10 has Caroline Garcia at #8 and Coco Vandeweghe at #10. Simona Halep ended the year at #1 with Garbine Muguruza at #2, Wozniacki at #3, Karolina Pliskova at #4 and Venus at #5. Just outside the top 10 are #11 Kiki Mladenovic, #12 Sveta Kuznetsova, #13 Sloane Stephens and Goerges at #14.

Defying expectations and predictions, Andy Murray was able to defeat Novak Djokovic 6-3 6-4 to win his very first ATP World Tour Finals in London on Sunday. The win cemented the British player's hold at #1 and insured that he will end the year ranked #1 for the very first time. It was Murray's 24th consecutive match win and he now improves to 11-24 against his chief rival.

Amazingly, Andy's brother Jamie Murray is ranked #1 in doubles (with partner Bruno Soares), so the two have become the first brothers to simultaneously top the tennis rankings in singles and doubles.

This is how their mother Judy Murray marked the occasion:

The way they were....... pic.twitter.com/oSJVs5fEC9

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) November 20, 2016

Congrats, Andy!

The race for the year-end #1 comes down to a historic meeting between world #1 Andy Murray and World #2 Novak Djokovic in the very last  tour match of the year! After playing against each other in two major finals (2016 Australian Open and 2016 French Open) this year the two will play their 35 career ATP match in the final of the 2016 ATP year-end championship. Murray is playing in his very first ATP Tour Finals final while Djokovic is trying to win his 6th year-end championship and for the fifth consecutive year!

Murray has won his last 23 matches in a row, which has led him to a career-high #1 ranking but in the last six months where he has been ascendant (winning Wimbledon, the Rio Olympics singles gold medal and multiple Masters shields) he has not had to face any other members of the big Four (Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were injured and Djokovic was curiously  unproductive this fall). However, in his semifinal match, Murray played an intense 3-hour-38-minute match with Milos Raonic (who will end the year at World #3), saving 1 match point in the third-set tiebreaker and winning 5-7 7-6(5) 7-6(9) in what some are calling one of the best matches of the year. (It was the longest match ever at the year-ending championship, a record that Murray had set just a round before when he won another epic match in 3-hours-21 minutes against Nishikori. In contrast, Djokovic dismantled World #5 Kei Nishikori 6-1 6-1 in just over 66 minutes to get the right to retake the World #1 ranking and end the year at the top for the third consecutive year.

I'm glad that this is a 3-set match. Despite the fact that Djokovic has a 24-10 head-to-head record and appears to be playing some of his best tennis right now I still think this is Murray's best chance to beat him in a long time. It should be noted that 2 of the 3 major finals Murray has one he did it over Djokovic. But it will not be easy. I think the more likely result is a straight sets win by Djokovic. If Murray wins the first set, then I think he has a slightly better than 50% chance to win the match. But Djokovic has beaten Murray in all 4 indoor hard court matches they have played and leads him 3-1 in the four finals they played so far this year.

MadProfessah's pick: Djokovic.

The semifinals of the ATP Tour Finals in London are now set with Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori reaching the final four of the year's most prestigious tournament. Surprisingly, 2016 US Open champion Stan Wawrinka did not make the semifinal round for the first time in his five appearances in the year-end championships.

Both Murray and Djokovic won their respective groups by winning all three of their matches in the round-robin portion of the tournament. Murray beat Nishikori, Wawrinka and Marin Cilic while Djokovic beat Raonic, Dominic Thiem and David Goffin (who substituted for Gael Monfils). Murray is now on a 22nd match winning streak, and is now the #1 player in the world. He will face Raonic in the first semifinal (a reprise of the 2016 Wimbledon final won by Murray) and he has won their last 7 meetings and leads the head-to-head 8-3. Djokovic faces Nishikori, whom he has beaten 7 times in a row since losing the 2014 US Open semifinal match, and leads the head-to-head 10-2.

If they both win their semifinal matches the two will face each other for the 35th time, with the year-end #1 ranking going to the winner. Djokovic leads their rivalry 24-10 and has beaten Murray in most of their most crucial meetings (including in 4 major finals) but Murray is playing the best tennis of his life and if there's any time he can turn this rivalry around it is in London while riding a career-high win streak. An exciting end to the tennis year!

ATP WORLD TOUR FINALS HALF OVER: Murray, Djokovic, Raonic, Thiem, Nishikori All Notch Victories
The year-end championships of the ATP tour are underway in London with the 8 players who had the best results in 2016. Novak Djokovic has won this tournament the last four consecutive years and needs to do so again in order to end the year ranked #1. Andy Murray, Kei Nishikori, Marin Cilic and Stan Wawrinka are in one round-robin group (named after JohnMcEnroe). The other round-robin group, which is named after Murray's coach Ivan Lendl, contains Djokovic, Milos Raonic, Dominic Thiem and Gael Monfils. Halfway through the tournament, everyone except Monfils, Cilic and Wawrinka have won at least one match.

Czech Republic Captures Fed Cup After Bravura Performance From Strycova
As I mentioned on Sunday, Babrora Strycova demonstrated her nerves of steel for the second consecutive year, coming up victorious in the fifth doubles rubber to power the Czech team for its 3rd consecutive Fed Cup and fifth title in 6 years. (In 2013 Italy beat Russia 4-0 to win the title.)

Andy Murray Relishes His 2nd Week As World #1, Trying To Win 9th Title in 2016
Andy Murray became World #1 last Monday after he reached the finals of the Paris Masters tournament. Murray eventually won his 8th title of the year by defeating John Isner in the final.

The semifinals of the BNP Paribas Paris Masters have now been set. The first surprise that Novak Djokovic is not there--he was upset in straight sets by Marin Cilic, which means that Andy Murray can become new World #1 if he reaches the final. The semifinals are Cilic versus John Isner (who dismissed fellow American Jack Sock in the quarterfinals to retake the American #1 slot) and Milos Raonic versus Murray. Murray dismissed Tomas Berdych, ending the Czech's chances of qualifying for the year-end championships, while Raonic did the same for Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. That mens that the 8th and final slot will be take by Dominic Thiem.

Novak Djokovic, 28, ended his amazing 2015 season by surprisingly defeating Roger Federer 6-3 6-4 in the finals of the ATP World Tour Finals in London, cementing his domination over the rest of the field. It was Djokovic's 11th tournament win of 2015 and he reached the final of 15 of the 16 tournaments he played in 2015. The win, along with bonuses for remaining World #1 for the entire calendar year means that he earned $21,646,145 in prize money in 2015, the most ever. (In fact, it is more prize money than Andy Roddick earned in his entire career!)

Djokovic has been at the top of men's tennis since 2011, and this is demonstrated by the fact that he has won the season-ending championship for the fourth consecutive year. In this year's tournament he finally lost a match, but it was in the round-robin format so he was still able to qualify for the semifinals an d get revenge in the final. During this tournament Djokovic evened out his rivalry with both Rafael Nadal (23-apiece) and Federer (22-apiece). It seems more likely than not that the Serb will end his career with leads against both these champions since both Federer's and Nadal's peaks are definitely behind them but Djokovic's may still be yet to come.

Djokovic won 27 of 28 grand slam matches in 2015 and went 82-6 overall, winning 93.2% of all matches he played. This chart puts his remarkable 2015in the context of some of the best years of all time:

It is very possible if Djokovic has another 2-3 years at the level he is currently playing at and no one else emerges to challenge his dominance that he will be in the conversation for greatest player of all time, especially if his current major haul of 10 titles gets into the mid-teens. His number of Masters Shields titles is already impressive (he won 6 of 9 in 2015) and now is just 1 behind Nadal's record total of 27.

Of course, I still think Federer has the edge in any conversation about the Greatest of all Time because he not only has 17 major titles (the most ever) but also has been at or near the top of men's tennis for well over a decade (2003). Djokovic won his first major title in 2008 so he has until about 2018 to see how many more majors he can get, but I would not be surprised if it was in the 14-16 range. He currently is 10-8 in major finals (but he has won 3 of 4 he played in 2015, including 2 consecutive Wimbledon finals against Federer) while Federer is 17-10 and Nadal is 14-6. Ultimately, it will be his final record in these historic matches that will determine his place in the pantheon of tennis greats.

The semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals are complete and Novak Djokovic defeated Rafael Nadal in straight sets while Roger Federer beat Stan Wawrinka in straight sets. Therefore, for the   eighth time this year (and forty-fourth time in their careers) the two will meet on the ATP tour. In fact, the two met earlier in the week during the round-robin stage and Federer won that meeting in straight sets (7-5 6-2).

The two have met in 2 major finals and four other tour finals in 2015 and Djokovic won both major finals while they split the regular tour final meetings 2-all. Federer currently leads their overall head-to-head 22-21 and indoor hard courts is widely considered his best surface. However, Djokovic has won the ATP Tour Finals for the last three consecutive years. Last year Federer could not compete in the final due to a bad back and Djokovic won in a walkover. Despite that result, Federer went on to join with his compatriot Wawrinka and Switzerland won the Davis Cup in 2014.

If Djokovic wins tomorrow he will have evened up his rivalry between both Federer and Nadal and his 4th consecutive year-end championship. If Federer wins he will have won an unprecedented seventh year-end tour championship.

MadProfessah's Prediction: Federer.

CZECH REPUBLIC WINS FOURTH FED CUP IN FIVE YEARS DESPITE SHARAPOVA'S 2-0 PRESENCE
The Czech Republic was able to win a dramatic 3-2 tie versus Russia with the help of Karolina Pliskova this weekend despite the presence of Maria Sharapova playing for Russia and her defeats of Pliskova and Petra Kvitova. This was the fourth win in five years (2011, 2012, 2014 and 2015) for the Czech Republic.

FEDERER GETS REVENGE AGAINST DJOKOVIC IN LONDON, ENDING WORLD #1'S 23-MATCH WINNING STREAK
Roger Federer ended Novak Djokovic's 23-match winning streak in fine style at the ATP Tour Finals by winning in straight sets, 7-5 6-2. Federer's win gives the him the 22-21 edge in their head-to-head and assures that he will be playing in the semifinal round on Saturday. Almost certainly, the two will be facing again in the championship match, unless the two players who advance from the other group (likely to be Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray) disrupt this narrative. Interestingly, Federer was also the last person to beat Djokovic before the win streak began (in the 2015 Cincinati Masters final in August).