Nobody Cares

Earlier this week Novak Djokovic lost only his fourth match this season. Comprehensively. To a player ranked 31st in the world. Yet nobody thought anything of it. This is because we are in the bizarre stage of the season where there is very little left to place for. It is now nearly two months since Djokovic out battled Nadal to claim the final Grand Slam of the season and the intervening period has seen a number of tournaments played, including a Masters Event. However, it has mostly passed without anybody caring.


Imagine if In February the Champions League Final took place and the league winners declared. Then between February and May the teams played a number of glorified friendlies. That is (sort of) the problem the tennis season has now. The last tournament that anybody cares about takes place in September yet the season does not end until November.

What has happened this year


After a short break the tournament goes over to Asia for a couple of tournaments. I've already suggested in previous blogs that this particular scheduling is poor and once again a number of players didn't bother. Novak Djokovic played the "ow, my shoulder" card and skipped it while Federer just couldn't be arsed. Nadal played in Tokyo and Shanghai as he completely forgot to come up with an excuse in time but was kind enough to let Murray finally have some glory in the tournaments that didn't matter. Murray then showed everybody just what would happen if he wasn't stuck with 3 of the greatest players of all time by winning every tournament without breaking sweat.

The tour then moved to Europe and Murray decided to play the "ow, my bum" card and withdraw. Nadal made sure he didn't forget to withdraw by announcing he wasn't playing Paris Masters about four weeks in advance, insisting he would definitely be injured that week but would be absolutely fine for the World Tour Finals. The Paris Masters will be won by somebody who has done very little all year but who will now be expected to have a big 2012 (but won't).

World Tour Finals Qualification


There is some value to these tournaments as they allow players the chance to qualify to the World Tour Finals in London. This year the top 4 and Ferrer (what did Ferrer do this year that got him so far ahead of the rest of the tour?) qualified by about February 5th. Thomas Berdych (no), Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (yes), Mardy Fish (no), Nicolas Almagro (meh), Juan Martin Del Potro (dear god no), Janko Tipsarevic (no) and Giles Simon (ok then) have been scrapping in a manner akin to bald men fighting over a comb to secure their places. Not one of them seems to have made even the slightest impact since the US Open anyway though meaning the only real concern is that Del Potro still somehow finds a way to make it in. Which I have literally this second found cannot happen as he has withdrawn from the Paris Masters. Excellent.

Making a Breakthrough


The player of Autumn this year appears to be Kei Nishikori. A player that up until now I was mostly confused as to why he featured on a tennis game on Nintendo Wii ahead of about 60 better players has made a bit of an impact by reaching the Shanghai semis and the Basle final beating Djokovic along the way. There is no doubt some people now tipping Nishikori to have a big 2012 but he won't. He just won't. And this time next year it will still be Berdych, Del Potro and Tsonga fighting for London.

Previous years


Andy Murray has a bit of a monopoly on the Shanghai Masters recently, as the other 3 don't actually bother. It has only been played since 2009 so it is difficult to indicate how meaningless it is. However, lets look at the Paris Masters:

2003 - Henman
2004 - Safin
2005 - Berdych
2006 - Davydenko
2007 - Nalbandian
2008 - Tsonga
2009 - Djokovic
2010 - Soderling

Quite how France, which already has a Grand Slam and sort of another masters (Monte Carlo), gets another Masters Event I am unsure. However that roll call of winners shows it is far from a Masters Event in the eyes of the main players.

Paris was famous for being the only Masters Event Henman won, which seemed a great achievement at the time. On reflection it is actually quite shameful that a player like Henman, who was in the top 10 for nearly 10 years, only won one Masters Event in this career. The fact Murray has now won about 8 puts that into perspective too. The fact it was the Paris Masters means it essentially doesn't even count.

Paris is Soderlings, Tsongas and Berdychs only Masters Event titles. Only Djokovic of the Big 4 have won the event. Nobody cares.

World Tour Finals


It should also be pointed out that even the World Tour Finals isn't exactly taken seriously. In 2005 when Federer was in the middle of a 25,000 unbeaten run (approximately) Nalbandian took the title. In 2006 James Blake was a finalist. James Blake. I'll let you think over that fact for a minute.




The 2007 runner up was David Ferrer. In 2008 Djokvoic was the victor in an event that Nadal missed and Federer managed to lose to Simon in. In 2009 Davydenko won after a season that had been dominated by Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro. It was only in 2010, when the big 4 made the semis and the worlds top two played the final, that the tournament actually did have a real "Tour Finals" feel to it.

Conclusion


After the US Open is finished the top players simply don't care. The winners of events between September and November are not reflective of the rest of the season. Even the World Tour Finals rarely has a deserved winner. There isn't really much else to add beyond roll on the Australian Open.