I was way off about my Shanghai predictions.  Of course when I wrote my previous post, I had no idea Federer was as hurt as he claimed to be.  However, that is really beside the point – I honestly would have ranked Djokovic about 5th odds on favorite to win (behind Federer, Murray, del Potro and Tsonga), but he definitely proved me wrong.  He had a couple of battles, including three-set wins over Davydenko and Simon, before really giving a beat down to Davydenko in the finals.  Although this win was very important for Djokovic (proved that he would continue his run at Nadal & Federer), at the same time I realized that I was wrong again in my previous post stating that it was very important for Federer not to lose.  Turns out I was wrong.  Federer losing means next to nothing, and it took me awhile to figure out why that is – and here is what I came up with- ready for it? NO ONE CARES.  No one cares that Nadal pulled out, no one cares that Federer was injured, no one cared that somehow Radek Stepanek had a chance to win the year end Championships, no one cares because the tennis season is too long!  Being in Shanghai the last three years didn’t help either, maybe the move to London will spark some interest.  Maybe people will start to care again next January, when Djokovic looks to defend his Australian Open Title. 

One more note before I change to topics to WTA (which, sad to say, no one really cares about either), congrats to Belgrade – city where all three men who captures titles in Shanghai were born (Djokovic, Zimonjic & Nestor). 

At least I was right about Venus Williams.  Although it wasn’t exactly a stretch; put these four players in a group – V. Williams, Dementieva, Zvonareva & Jankovic – and no matter what (surface, location, momentum) I’d probably pick Venus just about every time.  The real question this result brings is not only what will Venus bring to the table in 2009, but what will the Williams sisters bring to the table? I’m not sure there is a doubt in anyone’s mind that if the Williams sister manage to play a somewhat full schedule next year, they will dominate the WTA Tour.  That is no slight to the women’s game, I think it is as deep and exciting as it has been in a long time, but it is certainly not top heavy.

Before I get to links, just in case I don’t get a chance to post next week given the holidays (yes, I count Black Friday as a holiday), I’ll pick Argentina to defeat a depleted Spain in the Davis Cup Finals.

Here is the ticker from Tennis.com – very little reason to go there this time of year, except I found this gem of a quote, “Roger Federer, asked if he was disappointed Rafael Nadal is not at the Masters Cup, joked, ‘We’re not dating.’”
Steve Tignor discusses Djokovic and his sprint to the finish line.

Sandra Harwitt’s summary of Shanghai.

Emilio Sanchez Vicario doesn’t want Nadal to be at the Davis Cup Final because he would be a ‘distraction.’

Jon Wertheim’s Ad In/Ad Out.

I’m not sure the USTA would be able to pull most of these ideas off, but I agree with this post on principal.

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