In the men’s game, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, have been taking a break since the Davis Cup in order to recover from injuries. Rafael Nadal played his first tournament since the US Open last week and Andy Murray is playing some of the best Tennis of his career, having now won 3 out of his last 4 tournaments!
In the women’s game, Agnieszka Radwanska won both of the premiere level events since the US Open. Last week she won the China Open, which is a mandatory premiere-level event on the WTA Tour, beating Andrea Petkovic in the finals. Before that she won the tournament in Tokyo beating Vera Zvonareva in the finals!
Men’s Game
Djokovic and Federer have not played since the Davis Cup and Andy Murray is in good form at the moment. He has now won three out of his last four tournaments, with the only loss in this stretch coming from the US Open semi-finals match against Rafael Nadal! Nadal came back for his first tournament since Davis Cup last week and lost in the finals to Murray.
Murray Beats Nadal In Tokyo
This was a big win for Andy Murray, especially since Nadal won the previous five matches between these two and still holds a 13-5 career record against Murray!
I have been skeptical in the past whether Andy Murray can play aggressive enough in the big matches to beat the top guys when they are in their best form. I only saw the highlights of this match but it seems like Andy is playing better and more aggressive than ever. Possibly his game is evolving in this regard, but so far he has not shown this kind of Tennis in those big Grand Slam matches!
Djokovic Still Injured
Novak Djokovic is still recovering from his back injury and has not played at all since the Davis Cup, where he had to retire because of this injury. Federer has not played either since Davis Cup and the absence of these two has caused new discussions in regards to the length of the season in the men’s game!
Women’s Game
In the women’s game, Agnieszka Radwanska won back-to-back titles at two major tournaments and is the hot player at the moment on the tour. She beat Vera Zvonareva in Tokyo to take the title and last week she beat Andrea Petkovic at the China Open to win her first premiere level mandatory event!
Radwanska Zonvareva Tokyo Final Highlights
Radwanska plays incredibly solid from the baseline. She rarely misses easy balls and hard shots don’t seem to bother her at all. Her great movement and anticipation skills are making it very hard to get any balls by her. She is now inside the Top10 and there is still plenty of room to improve, especially in regards to her rather weak serve!
Year-End Championship Coming Up
7 Players Already Qualified
The WTA Championships will be held in Istanbul, Turkey for the first time this year from October 25th to October 30th. So far 7 out of 8 players are qualified for this important tournament.
The qualified players are:
1. Caroline Wozniacki
2. Maria Sharapova
3. Petra Kvitova
4. Victoria Azarenka
5. Li Na
6. Vera Zonareva
7. Sam Stosur
Agnieszka Radwanska has the best chances of gaining the last spot but Marion Bartoli still has an outsider chance to steal the spot from Radwanska. Andrea Petkovic is out again with a knee injury that reoccurred in the China Open finals.
