Masters Cup Shanghai 2008

[Annie]

Place: Shanghai, China
Date: November 9-16, 2008
Draw Size: 8
Surface: Indoor Hard
Prize Money: $4,450,000
Tournament Director:
Brad Drewett
Ticket Hotline:
[phone]

Website: www.masters-cup.com


It's almost here!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! The Big tourney! Unforunately there will be no world number 1 in Shanghai this year and Gilles Simon will take Rafa's place. Rafa withdrew due to a tendinitis in his right knee (official version) and I would think he wants to be sure he can play the Davis Cup final.

The draw was made and here are the singles groups:

Red Group:
Federer Roger
Murray Andy
Roddick Andy
Simon Gilles

Gold Group
Djokovic Novak
Davydenko Nikolay
Tsonga Jo-Wilfred
Del Potro Juan Martin

Doubles Groups

Red Group
BRYANS Bob and Mike
BHUPATI Mahesh/Mark KNOWLES
COETZEE, Jeff/MOODIE, Wesley
CUEVAS, Pablo/HORNA, Luis

Gold Group
NESTOR, Daniel/ZIMONJIC, Nenad
BJORKMAN, Jonas/ULLYETT, Kevin
DLOUHY, Lucas/PAES, Leander
FYRSTENBERG, Marius/MATKOWSKI, Marius

[Annie]

Nadal, Erlich-Ram Withdraw From Tennis Masters Cup

ATP World No. 1 Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, which begins Sunday. Nadal's withdrawal elevates Frenchman Gilles Simon into the elite eight-man playing field. Simon is No. 9 in the ATP 2008 Race after his breakout season, which included three titles in Casablanca, Indianapolis and Bucharest.

In the doubles event at Tennis Masters Cup, Australian Open champions Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram have withdrawn and will be replaced by Poles Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski. Erlich (elbow) has not played since the US Open.

Nadal injured his right knee during last week's BNP Paribas Masters in Paris, when he retired after the first set of his quarterfinal match with Nikolay Davydenko. "I know that many people were speculating with this news and even though I have not yet done any test, I can say I take the right decision," Nadal said in a statement.

Nadal had qualified for Tennis Masters Cup for the fourth consecutive year, reaching the semifinals the past two seasons. The 22-year-old has enjoyed an outstanding year in 2008, winning eight titles, including a fourth consecutive Roland Garros crown, his first Wimbledon title, Olympic gold and three ATP Masters Series titles in Monte-Carlo, Hamburg and Toronto.

Nadal replaced Roger Federer as No. 1 in the South African Airways ATP Rankings in August and is also guaranteed to end Federer's four-year hold on the coveted year-end No. 1 Ranking.

Nadal said through a written statement: "I have decided not to compete on the Masters Cup in Shanghai... This is one of the most difficult decisions in my career due to the importance of the event and above all, due to the fact of not making possible my will to be with the fans in China and the tournament organizers that always treated me in such special way.

"I am deeply saddened and disappointed for my fans around the world that expected to see me in Shanghai fighting in every match. I do expect to be there again in October '09 for the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Shanghai."

Erlich, who has not played since the US Open, said: "Since the US Open I had the one goal in my mind of trying to be healthy and ready for Shanghai, unfortunately that is not the case and I need to withdraw from the Tennis Masters Cup due to the elbow problem.

"It is very disappointing to miss the last Masters Cup in that beautiful venue Shanghai, especially that for the first time in the last four years we have qualified as one of the top four teams," said Erlich, who will now seek further treatment in preparation for a return to action in Australia in 2009.

[jenhatter06]

Sunday, November 9, 2008
Center Court start 2:00 pm (6 am CET/12 midnight ET)

N. Djokovic (SRB) vs JM del Potro (ARG)
N. Davydenko (RUS) vs JW Tsonga (FRA)
Bryan/Bryan vs Cuevas/Horna
Bhupathi/Knowles vs Coetzee/Moodie

Monday, November 10, 2008
Center Court start 2:00 pm (6 am CET/12 midnight ET)

Nestor/Zimonjic vs Fyrstenberg/Matkowski
Bjorkman/Ullyett vs Dlouhy/Paes
Not before 6:00 pm
R. Federer (SUI) vs G. Simon (FRA)
Not before 8:00 pm
A. Murray (GBR) vs A. Roddick (USA)

[davis]

Official TMC photos (they didn't wait for Roddick for the group shot - tststs...)





And photos from the "opening ceremony":

[jenhatter06]

SUNDAY RESULTS
Singles Round Robin:
(2)N Djokovic (SRB) d (7)JM del Potro (ARG) 75 63
(4)N Davydenko (RUS) d (6) JW Tsonga (FRA) 67(6) 64 76(0)
Doubles Round Robin:
(1)Bryan/Bryan d (8)Cuevas/Horna 61 76(4)
(3)Bhupathi/Knowles d (5)Coetzee/Moodie 62 63


Thanks for the photos Annette!

TMC Group photo: LOL at some of their facial expressions ... wonder where in the hell AR was?

Love to see them all dressed up

More priceless facial expressions during opening ceremonies ... and wonder what (or who) struck AM so funny in the last photo? ;D
... woop, can answer my own question: www.atpmastersseries.tv/page/Shanghai/Features/0,,11444~1448906,00.html

[maryb]

Just watched the double-Andy match. As Scottish Andy would have said - 'That was a bit of a wummin's game there ...'
6-4 1-6 6-1

And Maestro lost!!! 4-6 6-4 6-3

I'm away to lie down ...

[jenhatter06]

Monday Results

Singles Round Robin
(8) G Simon (FRA) d (1) R Federer (SUI) 46 64 63 Go Gilles!
(3) A Murray (GBR) d (5) A Roddick (USA) 64 16 61

Doubles Round Robin
(2) D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) d (7) M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL) 76(4) 57 10-4
(4) J Bjorkman (SWE) / K Ullyett (ZIM) d (6) L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) 63 75


OOP: Tuesday, November 11, 2008

Center Court start 2:00 pm (7 am CET/1 am ET)

J Coetzee (RSA) / W Moodie (RSA) vs P Cuevas (URU) / L Horna (PER)
B Bryan (USA) / M Bryan (USA) vs M Bhupathi (IND) / M Knowles (BAH)
Not Before 6:00 PM (11 am CET/5 am ET)
J Tsonga (FRA) vs J Del Potro (ARG)
Not Before 8:00 PM (1 pm CET/7 am ET)
N Djokovic (SRB) vs N Davydenko (RUS)

[Annie]

Jesus Roger...what is wrong with you man? LOL

Good luck to Kolya today as surreal as it seems

I hate the time difference...never get to see any matches live

[davis]

The Doubles teams ;D

[Annie]

They put the cutest ones in the very front LMAO ;D

Jo lost to Juan Matrin 6-7 6-7 and Kolya is having brain cramps as always Was serving for first set at 5-4 and then lost it on a tie-break

[jenhatter06]

RESULTS: Tuesday, November 11, 2008
Singles Round Robin
(2)N Djokovic (SRB) d (4)N Davydenko (RUS) 76(3) 06 75
(7)J Del Potro (ARG) d (6)J Tsonga (FRA) 76(4) 76(5)

Doubles Round Robin
(1)Bryan/Bryan d (3)Bhupathi/Knowles 75 36 10-4
(7)Cuevas/Horna d (5)Coetzee/Moodie 62 67(2) 11-9

Novak and Bob & Mike earn their SF places

OOP: Wednesday, November 12, 2008
CENTER COURT start 2:00 pm
L Dlouhy (CZE) / L Paes (IND) vs M Fyrstenberg (POL) / M Matkowski (POL)
D Nestor (CAN) / N Zimonjic (SRB) vs J Bjorkman (SWE) / K Ullyett (ZIM)
Not Before 6:00 PM: A Murray (GBR) vs G Simon (FRA)
Not Before 8:00 PM: R Federer (SUI) vs A Roddick (USA)

[Annie]

More bad news

World No. 6 Andy Roddick withdrew from Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai with an ankle injury Wednesday and was replaced by Radek Stepanek, who will compete against four-time champion Roger Federer.

[jenhatter06]

yeesh - will anybody leave in one piece? ... Andy's ankle, Fed saying he felt a little stomach ill yesterday, and Stepanek's story is just insane:

Stepanek Taps Into Resources On Shanghai Debut

Going up against four-time defending Tennis Masters Cup champion Roger Federer would be a daunting task itself, but Czech Radek Stepanek faced the extra challenge of having to do it without his own racquets, socks - even his own contact lenses.

Stepanek was vacationing in Thailand (!) when he received a telephone call from Andy Roddick on Wednesday morning (!!), warning him that there may be a chance that he'd have to play later that evening. Stepanek immediately made the four-hour plane trip to Shanghai, and received confirmation following Roddick's warm-up that the American could not compete due to an ankle injury.

But the Czech wasn't exactly prepared to take the court: "I didn't [take] any tennis stuff on my vacation, so that's why they [sent] it to me from home."

With his tennis gear stuck in customs, the resourceful Stepanek borrowed a racquet from Novak Djokovic, socks from Andy Murray, and and was able to find his prescription of contact lenses in Shanghai. ;D

The 29-year-old ended up losing to Federer 7-6(4), 6-4, but was still happy with his effort on his Tennis Masters Cup debut: "I think I dealt with that pretty well. You know, I had my chances today, but didn't make them."

^ what a trooper ... you can't make that stuff up ;D

hate the time difference / tv coverage too

[SAFINNO1]

WOW what a match between Roger and Andy - epic stuff but the best man won i believe and if he can recover from the match from todays match i believe he will win it!

[jenhatter06]

Andy v Roger: wow wow WoW!!

I'm so glad I toughed it out and didn't cheat to look at scores before it was on TV, LOL
(although it's tough watching when any of them are hurting and in any kind of pain)

Roger can now have a nice vacation (and recoup) ... and hopefully Andy's effort won't come back to bite him tomorrow ...