The world's top male tennis player, Roger Federer, says the
depth of the current men's tennis circuit is largely underestimated
because he and world No 2 Spaniard Rafael Nadal have been winning
every Grand Slam recently.
But Federer, who found himself back in the hunt for the Masters
Cup title with a straight-set victory over Russia's Nikolay
Davydenko yesterday, noted the significant splash made by a new
generation of youngsters this year, saying it may be overshadowed
by the fact that he and Nadal have won the last 11 Grand Slam
titles.
"I really said this could be the year of youngsters coming up,
the ones you also are thinking about: Berdych and Gasquet and
Murray and Djokovic and all these guys," Federer said.
"They've definitely taken a step forward. They still haven't
been able to win Grand Slams, but they are winning titles more
regularly, whereas they were waiting in the wings a couple of years
ago."
Federer looks more vulnerable than he has in recent memory,
suffering his ninth loss of the season here on Monday in his
opening match against Fernando Gonzalez. It was his worst record
since 2004 but still a remarkable season as he only lost to six
players all year.
"That's probably not going to happen again," Federer said.
"Sometimes you have these incredible seasons where you just go on
winning streaks, but that doesn't mean anything about how the game
is being played."
This year the Swiss lost to three players twice: Nadal and a
pair Argentines, Guillermo Canas and David Nalbandian. Italian
Filippo Volandri, Serb world No 3 Novak Djokovic and the Chilean
Gonzalez were the other three who were able to knock off the
reigning world No 1.
He said the challenge from youngsters in the group were the most
dangerous.
"It's not easy to play against these guys, you know, because
they hit hard, flat, off the baseline, return well. Everybody
cracks the 200 without a problem. Everybody's got a decent second
serve today. I think that makes it so much tougher to beat all
these guys all the time.
"There's always been these great players, in any generation.
This year the youngsters got a bit more of a piece of the cake. But
still the Grand Slams stayed with Rafa and myself."
Federer said he was just happy to get through the year and was
able to finish ranked No 1 for the fourth consecutive year. On
Tuesday, he was awarded the 2007 ATP Race Trophy here at Qi Zhong
Tennis Center.
"This year obviously is very special coming back in the race,
especially all the way through to the US Open. I had to battle
hard.
"It took me really enormous wins, such as three Slams, to
actually maintain my No 1 position. Obviously it's a great
achievement for me and I am looking forward to 2008."
For Davydenko, yesterday's loss was his 11th straight to the
Swiss and, like last year, practically eliminates him from the
$4.5-million tournament in the group phase.
He did make a few notable plays in both sets by breaking Federer
each time in the ninth game of the first set and in the seventh
game of the second. But it was not enough for an upset, although
Federer committed 39 unforced errors, 17 more than the Russian.
"Still I am happy to be on the tour. I don't want to die now
after losing to Federer again.
"He is 26 going on 27. I think he is more tired for next year,"
Davydenko teased. "I am waiting and everybody is waiting."
Roddick advances
In another Red Group match, Andy Roddick, seemingly inspired by
a 1:00 AM phone call to coach Jimmy Connors on Tuesday, defeated
Gonzalez 6-1, 6-4 to qualify for the semifinals.
Connors is not with Roddick in Shanghai, but the American said
Connors had seen his games live on TV and had offered him
praise.
"He was happy with what he saw," Roddick said. "He was happy
with the way I was playing pretty aggressively.
Roddick will next play Federer who leads him 14-1 in career
meetings including a 10-match winning streak.
"I can just go for my shots and try to knock him out. I am sure
I will have about seven other guys cheering for me to do that," he
said.
(China Daily November 15, 2007)