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, chiara.pascarella@indesitcompany.com, tel. +39 (0)732 662432)
or Valentina Broglia (Indesit Company, valentina.broglia@indesitcompany.com, 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