Federer Wins Third Straight Title

Photo: UK/Reuters

Roger Federer prevailed over France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga today in the ATP Tour Finals today in London. With the top three seeds failing to make the semi-finals, only Tsonga stood between Federer and his third title in as many weeks of play.

I hate to say I told you so (see last week's blog post - Federer Poised For End of Season Sweep), but I did.

The ATP Tour Finals tournament concludes the professional tennis "season," and now players will have six-eight weeks off before they have to kick it in gear again and head to Australia. Hopefully, the nearly two month break will allow the younger players to rest up and be prepared for next year. With three consecutive victories to close out the 2011 season and many of his younger challengers suffering various ailments and injuries of late, it seems the 30 year-old Federer may not be finished with his domination of the sport.

Federer Poised for End of Season Sweep

Roger Federer at the Western Southern Open.

Roger Federer returned to championship tennis form this week in Paris winning a second consecutive ATP tour event.

With a straight set victory in Sunday's final over mammoth Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Federer won the ATP 1000 Parisbas Masters Series event, securing his biggest tournament win of the year.

Last week, Federer ended a nearly 10-month title drought by prevailing in an ATP 500 event held in his hometown of Basel, Switzerland.

With only three tournament victories in 2011 and no Grand Slam championships, this is arguably Roger's worst year since his reign at the top of professional tennis began eight years ago. In light of his lackluster season, it would be easy to discount his chances at next week's Barclay's ATP World Tour Finals in London. Federer's late season surge, however, seems to be coming just in time as he prepares to compete next week against seven other top players in the world.

Any of the seven players participating next week can beat Federer, but only the top three players provide consistently strong opposition to him. It happens, thought, that the three men ranked higher than Federer in the ATP rankings have not been completely healthy of late.

Among the top three - Serbia's Novak Djokovic withdrew from his final match this week in Paris, citing a serious shoulder injury that continues to plague him, and Andy Murray of Great Britain has been bothered off and on by a minor hamstring pull. Rafael Nadal will return from a several week hiatus to heal various niggling late season injuries, and while he should be rested, his absence from other recent indoor tournaments may leave him a little rusty.

Federer manages his play, his body, and his tour schedule brilliantly, and even as we reach the end of another gruelingly long tennis season, the thirty year-old continues to be in excellent physical condition. With a healthy Fed, and every aspect of his game from serve to net looking crisp and sharp in the last few weeks, my money is on the Swiss master to successfully defend his ATP Tour Finals title in London next week.

Cincy Tennis - Day 2

The first full day in Cincy was a ridiculous success. I saw several really great tennis matches, and as expected, had several opportunities to get photos and interact with some of my favorite players when they were on the practice courts. The one big disappointment for the day was that Serena Williams pulled out of the tournament with an injury, but there was still tons of great tennis to watch.

Best part of the day for me was meeting my favorite doubles team (Michael Llodra of France and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia). I know they aren't household names for most people (what doubles teams really are though), but they are ranked #3 in the world. They were funny and entertaining, and they took pics with us!

Later in the day, during Llodra's single's match, I happened to sit in the bleachers near his coach, only to have two tour players (Zimonjic and a French player named Adrian Mannarino) come join us to watch the match. Yea, I know they are just tennis players, but many are very popular in their countries, so I was just a little starstruck when they sat right next to me. I guess everyone has their idea of "celebrity" and for me that includes tennis players.

Here are a few pics from the day. I have been taking pics with my iPhone because I've had complications with my camera so some of the zoomed pics are a little grainy. Hope you enjoy. (And yes, Federer pics are coming.) In case you want to be super nerdy and learn more, I linked the players Wiki pages in the captions.

Jeff and Serbian doubles champion Nenad Zimonjic. He and his former partner Daniel Nestor won three grand slam doubles titles (2  Wimbledon titles and 1 French Open) in the last three years.

Frenchman Michael Llodra is a top ranked singles player and half of the #3  ranked doubles team with Nenad Zimonjic. Like Zimonjic, Llodra has won three grand slam doubles times (1 Wimbledon and 2 Australian Open).

Gael Monfils, also a Frenchman and the 7th ranked player in the world, is the best athlete in professional tennis. He is like a tennis "acrobat."

David Ferrer, Spaniard and 6th ranked player in the world.  Ferrer is a skilled tennis player, but he is most known for being a "workman" and a bull dog, a guy who absolutely positively never quits.

Samantha Stosur just broke back in to the women's top ten rankings (she has been as high as #4). She's an Aussie I photographed while signing autographs. She always wears those cool shades. 

Me and Carlos Bernardes - one of the best known and  most respected chair umpires in professional tennis. Carlos is from Brazil, and he was happy to take pics with both me and Paul.