Novak + others dusting off their racquets

While it officially began yesterday, with some matches in Brisbane and Shenzhen, today sees main draw action in earnest in all 6 tournaments - 3 ATP and 3 WTA.

In Doha, the top 2 players in the world are seeded to meet each other in the final for bragging rights even before the Aus Open, but first Novak Djokovic has an opening round match against 63rd ranked German Jan-Lennard Struff.

Potential semi final opponent for Djokovic is David Goffin, and the Belgian fourth seed has Robin Haase from The Netherlands to negotiate initially.

The top four seeds in Chennai have first round byes, including top seed and world number six Marin Cilic.  The only seeded player in first round play today is fellow Croatian Borna Coric who should have too many weapons for South Korean qualifier Hyeon Chung.  Both are only 20, but Coric has been ranked as high as 33 and has made two ATP finals, including Chennai last year.

First round winners in Shenzhen included seventh seed Romanian Monica Niculescu, although she needed to come from a set down against China's own Kai-Lin Zhang.  Eighth seeded American Alison Riske also found solid opposition from a Chinese wildcard, delivering victory via a pair of tie breaks.

Today top seed and world number three Aga Radwanska opens her campaign, yet another wild card from China, Ying-Ying Duan her first hurdle.  Little chance of this one going beyond two sets.

Far more problematic for second seed Simona Halep, whose first round task is to conquer former world number one Jelena Jankovic.  Despite the Serbian having fallen to 55, she still has the potential to match it with the top players, especially early in the season when everyone is short of match practice.

An interesting clash will feature the veteran Shuai Peng, who at 30 will have the experience and the crowd support when facing 20 year old promising Czech player Katerina Siniakova, who broke back into the top 100, then for the first time the top 50 in 2016.

Auckland has the Williams sisters this week, in addition to Caroline Wozniacki, and Serena is on court this evening, the top seed clashing with French player Pauline Parmentier, currently sitting at 71 in the world.

Earlier in the day, former Roland Garros finalist Lucie Safarova takes on fellow Czech player Denisa Allertova.  Lucie is 62 in the world but poses a danger far more potent than the ranking suggests.  Should she win, her second round opponent will likely be fourth seed and another Czech mate, Fed Cup star Barbora Strycova.

Brisbane results from yesterday included Shelby Rogers knocking out Eugenie Bouchard 6-1 in the third, Alize Cornet upsetting seventh seed Elena Vesnina in a third set tie break, after dropping the opening set, and Ekaterina Makarova joining her doubles partner on the scrap heap courtesy of Japanese player Misaki Doi in straight sets.

Russia had some reason to smile though with teenager Daria Kasatkina continuing her rise up the charts, defeating Begu in two convincing sets.  A challenging second round awaits - probably Garbine Muguruza.

Third seed Karolina Pliskova was in no mood to stick around, taking just over an hour to dismiss Putintseva for the loss of just four games.  Ominous form from the big serving Czech.

Today there are more women's matches and the men introduce themselves further. Last year's semi finalist Bernard Tomic has a tough ask with perennial nuisance David Ferrer (8th seed) his first match up.

7th seed Grigor Dimitrov has drawn accomplished American Steve Johnson and will need to be on his game to avoid leaving early.

More Aussies are scheduled today and surprise surprise they have centre court (Pat Rafter Arena) allocated for their first matches.

Ash Barty, continuing her comeback to serious tennis, is still only 20, but ranked 275 is relying on wild cards for tournaments like these.

Her first round encounter is against a qualifier, 149th ranked Serbian Aleksandra Krunic.  A chance for Barty to win and then be given a lesson by Kerber.

Samantha Stosur was treated more harshly by the draw, and would need several moons and stars to align, and her tennis game to improve markedly before realistically standing a chance of overcoming Garbine Muguruza.

Fifth seed Sveta Kuznetsova and sixth seed Elina Svitolina will play today, as will eighth seed Roberta Vinci.  Young American Louisa Chirico, Olympic Gold Medalist Monica Puig, and Ukranian Kateryna Bondarenko are the respective opponents who all should be collecting first round losers cheques in a number of hours.

The all French clash between Nicolas Mahut and Stephane Robert is planned for Court One, followed later by promising Brit Kyle Edmund against American qualifier Ernesto Escobedo.  The first named in each to win those.

Tomorrow we expect to see the big guns - Milos Raonic (reigning champ), Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Dominic Thiem and Rafa Nadal.

Top Players flock to Brisbane, Perth

New Years Day 2017 and the international tennis circus has hit the shores of Australia in a big way.  On the west coast, Perth is hosting the 29th edition of the Hopman Cup, the team event won last year (yes I can legitimately say that now) by Australia.

The home nation once again will be represented by world number 13 Nick Kyrgios and world number 25 Dasha Gavrilova.

Spain will be the first opponent for the defending champs, and that tie will be decided on the first night of 2017.  Feliciano Lopez and Lara Arruabarrena carry the Spanish hopes.

Before that, the day session and opening of the competition sees the strong USA team of Jack Sock and Coco Vandeweghe take on the Czech Republic combination Adam Pavlasek and Lucie Hradecka.

Some of the other prominent names who will strut their stuff over the course of the Hopman Cup this year include Roger Federer, Richard Gasquet, Alexander Zverev, Belinda Bencic and Kristina Mladenovic.

Meanwhile, on the east coast, the Brisbane International has a wealth of the top ten players from each of the WTA and ATP Tours on show.  The WTA Premier event will feature the 2 players who battled it out for the WTA Finals title in Singapore in November - world number one Angie Kerber and her vanquisher on that occasion Dominika Cibulkova, now ranked number 5.  They are the top two seeds for this event and both receive first round byes.  Seeds 3, 4 and 5 are the worlds 6, 7 and 9 - Karolina Pliskova (2016 US Open Runner-Up), Garbine Muguruza (2016 Roland Garros Champion) and Svetlana Kuznetsova (2 time GS title winner).

Last year, Vika Azarenka defeated Kerber in the Brisbane final, before Angie turned the tables on Vika in the Aus Open quarter final en route to the title.  However, Vika has just given birth to a baby boy, so is not a threat for the foreseeable future.  This year the top seed must start favourite.  

The first days action on centre court begins with former top ten star and 2014 Wimbledon finalist Eugenie Bouchard.  The Canadian, now ranked 46, faces Shelby Rogers in an all North American contest, the USA player at 59 in the world.  My selection is Bouchard to win in three sets, but nothing should surprise in early matches in early tournaments of a new season.

Except perhaps a loss for third seed Pliskova in her opening match against Kazakhstan's Yulia Putintseva, scheduled second in the main stadium.  That would indeed be a shock.

Putintseva made the quarter finals last year at Roland Garros, while Pliskova lost first round.

2016 after that saw just 10 wins from 24 appearances for Putintseva.

Pliskova on the other hand won Nottingham and Cincinnati, was a finalist at Eastbourne and Flushing Meadows, and managed 28 match wins from 39 starts.

Can't visualise anything but straight sets entry into Brisbane's second round for the Fed Cup winning team member.

The other seed on display on day one is number seven Elena Vesnina, whose court one opposition comes in the form of French woman Alize Cornet.

Last year Cornet made the second round before winning the Hobart title, while Vesnina lost to Azarenka in the first round.  In fact Vesnina also lost in qualifying for the Aus Open 2016 and found herself languishing ranked somewhere in the hundreds.

Her revival to end the year at 16 was one of the more impressive on court achievements for 2016.

The final women's and men's qualifying matches are also scheduled for New Years Day, but the sole main draw men's match will include an Australian - wild card Jordan Thompson.  The 79th ranked Aussie has managed to claim centre court as the venue to fight it out against fellow wild card Elias Ymer, who hails from Sweden.  

While Thompson is favoured to win that match, his tournament would likely end next round where he'd have to overcome the Tomic/Ferrer victor.

2017 Tennis Almost Here

2016 is about to end which means that the first tournaments on both the WTA and ATP tours for 2017 are only just over a week away.

A fortnight of practice for the first major - the Australian Open at Melbourne Park starting on 16 January - begins with titles up for grabs in Auckland, New Zealand and Shenzhen, China for the ladies, and Chennai, India and Doha, Qatar for the gentlemen.

Brisbane, Australia plays host for both tours.

Petra Kvitova will be missing for at least six months after injuries suffered in the senseless personal attack from an intruder in her home earlier this week.  She will be certainly missed, but hopefully be back on court later this year, recovered from her physical and emotional trauma.

2017 offers plenty, and certainty is not on the menu.  12 months ago, Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams were the dominant forces atop the singles rankings, and whilst still the ones to beat in the minds of many, other players have lifted their standards of performance and consistency.

Angelique Kerber is the deserved number one female player having claimed two Grand Slam titles in 2016, and her obvious talent is matched with a fierce competitiveness and belief, an attitude that has been adopted by many of her peers.

Challengers to Angie, either for the top spot, or for major titles, should come from the tried and true - Serena for as long as she is willing, Simona Halep, Aga Radwanska, Garbine Muguruza (who with consistency could be anything), Karolina Pliskova, Dominika Cibulkova, and yes even Maria Sharapova once she returns from her suspension in April.

Then there are the potential world beaters Madison Keys and Johanna Konta.  

The depth in women's tennis makes for an exciting season ahead.

The Andy Murray / Novak Djokovic rivalry appears set to define the men's game, at least for the foreseeable future, despite a number of young guns attempting to close in on the duopoly.  

Murray should retain the top spot for some time, given all the points that Novak has to defend in the first half of 2017.

What of the others ?  Federer returns after a long injury layoff and we don't know exactly where he will feature - probably able to beat most but not the top few.  Nadal is now appearing to be at best a solid top five player if fit, and not a threat at majors other than Paris.

Wawrinka is the same as he has been for a few years - dangerous at Grand Slam level but highly unreliable elsewhere.

Milos Raonic is the real deal, again with the proviso that he maintains fitness.  Injury robbed him of a possible final at the 2016 Australian Open, he was runner-up at Wimbledon and clearly the third best performed at the year end event in London.

Of the new breed, Alexander Zverev and Nick Kyrgios have games that can worry the best, but they need to apply patience before potential ever turns into a threat to the top spots.

The predictability of men's tennis I believe will still exist in 2017, but to a much lesser extent.

Andy beats Novak to deserve #1 spot

The final big showdown in men's tennis for 2016 was potentially newly crowned world number one Andy Murray against the man he replaced - Novak Djokovic.  The ATP World Tour Finals was the tournament and London provided the venue.

Many, including yours truly, believed that Murray was merely a statistical number one, as he had not actually played Djokovic (let alone beaten him) since losing the Roland Garros final in June.  Here was the chance to play that return match, and silence any doubters.

In the preliminary round robin matches, the top two swept through their respective pools.  Djokovic, after losing his opening set in his opening contest against Dominic Thiem, cruised for sets two and three.

He found it tougher against Milos Raonic, requiring two tie breaks to claim victory.  His third and final pool clash was against David Goffin, a replacement for injured Gael Monfils.  Goffin was put away without any fuss.

Murray thrashed Marin Cilic, struggled to a three set win against Kei Nishikori, before giving US Open champ Stan Wawrinka a hiding.  Nishikori won through to the semi finals, with only one win, thanks to a better percentage of sets won than Cilic or Wawrinka.

Raonic finished second to Djokovic in the other group with two wins and earned the fourth semi final spot.

The semi finals were decided in vastly different style.  Andy Murray lost the first set to Raonic and despite losing the second in a tie break, the Canadian held a match point in the third.  Murray saved that and scraped though, taking home another tie break 11 points to 9.

Novak Djokovic destroyed Nishikori, setting the trend with the first four games going his way in a flash.  The straight sets win in a little over an hour must have filled the Serb with great confidence for the final.

Andy Murray has had problems maintaining the quality of his serve in big matches against Novak Djokovic in recent years.  However many of those have been in Grand Slam events and best of five affairs.

The final here in London was best of three, and although Murray's first serve percentage was well below that of Djokovic, he was far more successful when he landed it, winning 27 points from 32 deliveries.  Djokovic won just 26 from 44.

Murray didn't face a break point in Set One and only a single one in Set Two.

Djokovic faced three break points in Set One and six in Set Two.

With his famous return of serve not as effective as normal, Djokovic was always under pressure and the result appeared inevitable from early in the match.

Andy Murray won 6-3 6-4 and earned the undisputed title of year end world number one.  He had beaten the great Novak Djokovic to seal the deal.

Next on the agenda for Murray is to win his first Australian Open title - he has lost three finals to Djokovic in Melbourne previously.

Fed Cup - Czech Again !

The Czech Republic at the weekend won its third successive Fed Cup, and fifth in six years with an enthralling victory over France in the 2016 final.

It came down to the final match - the doubles rubber - and the heroics, though shared throughout both teams during the tie, most prominently were served up by the lower ranked Barbora Strycova for the victors, and Caroline Garcia for the valiant runners-up.

The 2016 US Open finalist, and only top ten player featured in the final, Karolina Pliskova, opened proceedings on Day One against French number two Kristina Mladenovic.  The pair split the first two sets before embarking on an unprecedented marathon decider lasting 30 games.  Incredibly only five breaks of serve occurred during this time, but it was the Czech Republic which put the first point on the board with Pliskova outlasting her opponent 6-3 4-6 16-14.

Caroline Garcia injected a wave of enthusiasm back into the Strasbourg crowd, which was clearly a little down from the result of the first match, when she stunned last start winner Petra Kvitova in a masterful display against the two time Wimbledon champ.  Garcia won the WTA tournament here in May this year, so Strasbourg is a happy hunting ground.

After an enthralling first set, which appropriately was decided in a tie break, eight points to six in Garcia's favour - thanks mainly to her forehand, and ability to restrict her unforced error count to a minimum - the French player controlled set two, especially with her success on the Kvitova serve, winning 13 out of 24 points from it.

The 7-6 6-3 win levelled things at 1-1 after Day One, and Caroline Garcia continued her momentum first up on Day Two when confronting a battle weary Karolina Pliskova.

Garcia took the first set, often forcing Pliskova into error in an otherwise even affair.  Pliskova answered quickly in the second, not facing a break point on her own serve but creating many chances on the Garcia delivery, converting one to level the battle.

Garcia had plenty in reserve and clinched her second win in as many matches with a fine third set highlighted by crisp forehand winners and success when coming to the net.  France ahead 2-1 and the home crowd well and truly brimming with confidence.

Both captains decided to rest players for the fourth rubber, Petr Pala opting for Barbora Strycova ahead of Kvitova, and Amelie Mauresmo replacing Mladenovic with Alize Cornet.

Strycova was quickest out of the blocks, clearly having the better of Cornet whenever the points were decided at the net, and punishing the French serve, both first and second entries.  The 6-2 scoreline was a true reflection of the gap in performance.

Set two was far more competitive, and despite Strycova losing half her points at the net, a tie break resulted.  7 points to 4 it was the set to the Czech Republic and the match 6-2 7-6.  The doubles would decide Fed Cup 2016.

The teams selected for the critical clash were Caroline Garcia and Kristina Mladenovic (France) and Karolina Pliskova and Barbora Strycova (Czech Republic).

There was hardly anything between the teams in either of the two sets, but an overall edge in effective return of serve managed to convert into an extra service break in each, providing a 7-5 7-5 success to the Czech pair over the world number two ranked pairing, and a 3-2 Fed Cup triumph for the nation.

From 1-2 down, Barbora Strycova stepped in to the breach, and deserves huge praise for her work in winning the vital final singles and then immediately backing up for the doubles decider.

Caroline Garcia, ranked 23, defeated players ranked 6 and 11 and while disappointed for her nation, can justifiably be proud of her efforts.  

WTA - New Look Year End Top 10

As the men prepare to compete in the prestigious ATP World Tour Finals, it is worth reflecting on the year just gone for the WTA Tour.

In Zhuhai, China last weekend Petra Kvitova finished 2016 in style, winning her second tournament out of the last four contested.  She was a beaten finalist in one of the others.

This compares with an ordinary first half of the year, in which she reached only one semi final.

Petra defeated Elina Svitolina in the Zhuhai final - Svitolina achieved plenty in 2016, including a win over Serena Williams.  The Ukranian reached three finals, grabbed one title, and finished the year at a career high ranking of 14.

The top ten at year end sees Angie Kerber at number one - her two Grand Slam titles helping the rise from 10 at the start.

Serena Williams dropped from 1 to 2.

Agnieszka Radwanska rose from 5 to 3.

Simona Halep dropped from 2 to 4.

Dominika Cibulkova rose from 38 to 5, including taking the WTA Finals title.

Karolina Pliskova rose from 11 to 6.

Garbine Muguruza dropped from 3 to 7, despite winning Roland Garros.

Madison Keys rose from 18 to 8.

Svetlana Kuznetsova rose from 25 to 9.

Johanna Konta rose from 47 to 10.

The five women losing their spots in the top ten were: Maria Sharapova - was 4 but found trouble, Petra Kvitova - 6 to 11, Venus Williams - 7 to 17, Flavia Pennetta - was 8 but now retired, and Lucie Safarova - 9 to 64

The dominance of Serena Williams has dissipated, at least statistically.  Also, there are certain players who clearly are not as intimidated by the great one.  Kerber and Pliskova have weapons which they are only too happy to throw at Serena, and on clay Muguruza demonstrates her ability to counter the brilliance of Williams.

Cibulkova and Kvitova are firing again, and both could be potent forces in the Australian summer, leading into the first major of 2017 - scarily only two months away.

Carla Suarez Navarro had a disappointing end to a solid year but is worth following in 2017, as is the ever improving Johanna Konta.

While Halep and Radwanska are in tournaments, they should never be discounted, and this and all before proves that the depth at the top level of women's tennis is as real as ever, a guarantee of absorbing viewing.

The eight players competing in London in the ATP World Tour Finals have been split into two groups.

Andy Murray heads the John McEnroe Group, and it is without doubt the tougher of the two.  It includes Stan Wawrinka (the US Open Champion), Kei Nishikori (who knocked out Murray in the US Open quarters) and Marin Cilic (who defeated Murray in the Cincinnati final).

Novak Djokovic heads the Ivan Lendl Group, which is filled with other players Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils and Dominic Thiem.

The Serb has not lost to any of them, winning all of his 7 matches against Raonic, 13 against Monfils and 3 against Thiem.  He has beaten each of them twice in 2016 alone.

Novak likely to lose top spot

Andy Murray is just one win away from taking the number one ranking from Novak Djokovic, and it should happen in the semi finals at the Paris Masters this weekend.

Following Novak's breakthrough at Roland Garros in June, all the talk was surrounding the possibility of him grabbing a calendar year Grand Slam.  

However, since that day in Paris, it has been Murray who has dominated men's tennis.

The Scot, who was a gallant runner-up in the Roland Garros final, has subsequently:

WON     Queens Club, Wimbledon, Olympics, China Open, Shanghai Masters, Vienna

And

Been a Finalist at Cincinnati Masters and a Quarter Finalist at US Open

Oddly, in all that time he has not played another match against the man he is likely to replace at the top of the heap.  Hopefully we will have the chance to see that in the ATP World Tour Finals in London starting in just over a week.

This tournament will determine the year end world number one.

So how was Andy given the golden opportunity ?  Well he can thank Marin Cilic, whose great quarter final win against Djokovic prevented the Serb from defending his 2015 Paris title and importantly the 1000 ranking points it provided.

There was not much between the two as the 6-4 7-6 scoreline would suggest, but Cilic managed to create slightly more pressure with his serve, and also win the key points, something at which Djokovic has been the master for the past couple of years.

Not today though, and indeed in the second part of the season he has not presented the same level of intimidation to those about to play him.  Mentally he appears to be ever so slightly below the sharp, highly motivated Novak which, with his impeccable brand of tennis can create an aura of impregnability.  

Cilic will play John Isner in the semi final after the big serving American took three sets to eliminate compatriot Jack Sock.  This section of the draw had already seen the departure of seeds Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem.

Murray defeated Tomas Berdych to reach the semi final where he will meet the winner of the Raonic v Tsonga quarter final.

While the best women have played their WTA Finals, 12 of the next level - ranked 10 to mid 20s - have been fighting out for the WTA Elite Trophy in Zhuhai, China.

Split into 4 groups, the women in each group played each other in a round robin format to determine the group winner.

The four group winners are top seed Johanna Konta, 4th seed Elina Svitolina, 12th seed Shuai Zhang and 3rd seed Petra Kvitova.  Each were undefeated in their group matches.

The semi finals will feature Konta v Svitolina and Zhang v Kvitova.