Roger Federer-James Blake Masters Cup Notes

FINAL FACTS

ATP World No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland won his third Tennis Masters Cup title in four years with a 6-0, 6-3, 6-4 victory over American James Blake in Shanghai on Sunday.
The 25-year-old Federer hit 11 aces, with 41 winners and 26 unforced errors during the final, which last one hour and 36 minutes. Blake hit four aces, two double faults with 18 winners and 27 unforced errors.
Federer broke the Blake serve six times from 13 opportunities in comparison to Blake, who managed one service break from 11 opportunities. Federer won 100 of 167 points in total. Federer now holds a 6-0 career-lead over Blake, winning four-out-of-four meetings in 2006.
The result means Federer becomes the first professional tennis player ever to earn $8 million in prize money in a single season. He surpassed the $7 million prize money mark after his Red Group round-robin defeat of Andy Roddick on Tuesday.
He has won $8,343,885 in 2006 and has amassed $29,576,458 in career prize money during a nine-season professional career.
Victory in the final saw Federer become the first man to win three circuit-ending championships since Pete Sampras won the last of five ATP Tour World Championship titles in 1999.
To date, only five men have won three or more year-end championships, including John McEnroe (1978, 1983-84), Boris Becker (1988, 1992, 1995), Ilie Nastase (1971-73, 1975), Ivan Lendl (1981-81, 1985-87) and Sampras (1991, 1994, 1996-97, 1999).
Federer is the first man to contest four consecutive finals at a circuit-ending championship since Ivan Lendl, who reached a record nine finals in a row between 1980-1988.
Federer was making his fifth consecutive Tennis Masters Cup appearance. After reaching the semifinals at Shanghai in 2002, he won consecutive titles at Houston in 2003-04, before his 14-match Masters Cup winning streak was ended in last year’s Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai final by David Nalbandian. Federer now holds a 22-2 overall record at the circuit-ending finale.
He beat No. 2 Rafael Nadal 6-4, 7-5 in the semifinals on Saturday, having won all three Red Group matches to extend his unbeaten Tennis Masters Cup round-robin record to 15-0. He defeated defending champion Nalbandian 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 in his first match, the second successive year he had beaten the Argentine in his opening contest. He then saved three match points to beat Roddick 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-4. In his final match he overcame Ivan Ljubicic, 7-6(2), 6-4.
Federer has now played 608 career matches, winning 483 of them. His match record from 1998-2003 was 236-110 with 11 titles, but over the past three years he is a sensational 247-15 with 34 titles.                                               
Federer has a 29-match winning streak – his fifth streak of at least 20 wins (see chart below). He has now won 12 titles this year, matching surpassing his totals for each of the past two years, and more than doubling Blake, Nikolay Davydenko and Nadal, who are tied for second with five. Federer is the first player in Open Era history to record double-digit numbers in titles for three consecutive years.
Federer’s record for 2006 is 92-5, his career high for wins in a year, exceeding last year’s finish of 81-4. Federer is the first player to rack up at least 80 wins two years in a row since Ivan Lendl went 96-14 in 1981 and 106-9 in 1982.
Federer’s 45 career titles rank him No. 11 on the Open Era list. Next up is No. 10 Rod Laver with 47.
Federer reached the final in 16 of 17 tournaments this year and 22 of 23 going back to June 2005.
Federer is 12-4 in finals this year and 45-13 for his career. His career winning percentage of 77.2 in finals, compares favorably with those of all-time greats Sampras, who won 72.7 percent (64/88); McEnroe, who won 71.3 percent (77/108); and Bjorn Borg, who won 70.5 percent (62/88).
The Swiss extends his own INDESIT ATP Race record with 1,674 points in 2006, which is 780 points more than No.2 Nadal who holds 894 points this year.
Federer was honored on court on Monday for his record-setting season, and presented with the INDESIT ATP 2006 Race trophy for finishing the year at No. 1.
Has ranked No. 1 every week since Feb. 2, 2004, the third-longest consecutive streak (146 as of Nov. 13) behind Jimmy Connors (160) and Lendl (157). Will break Connors' mark if he remains No. 1 until Feb. 26, 2007. Stands fifth in total weeks at No. 1 behind Sampras (286), Lendl (270), Connors (268), McEnroe (170), and Federer (146).
Blake was making his debut at the Tennis Masters Cup, having qualified in No. 8 position for the circuit finale. The American was the first debutant to reach a year-end final since Sebastian Grosjean was runner-up to Lleyton Hewitt at the 2001 Tennis Masters Cup Sydney.
The last player making their debut at a circuit-ending finale to win the title was Alex Corretja of Spain, who won the 1998 ATP Tour World Championship in Hanover.
The 26-year-old is guaranteed to finish the year at No. 4 in the INDESIT ATP Rankings, as a result of reaching the final at the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai. Blake also finishes 2006 as the highest-ranked American two spots above No. 6 Andy Roddick.
Blake jumped from No. 7 to No. 4 as a result of beating Nalbandian 6-4, 6-1 in the Tennis Masters Cup semifinals.
He won the Gold Group despite losing his final round-robin match to Tommy Robredo 6-2, 3-6, 7-5. He defeated No. 2 Nadal 6-4 7-6(0) in his opening match, before beating No. 3 Davydenko 2-6 6-4 7-5.
Blake won five ATP titles this year at Sydney (d. Andreev) in January, Las Vegas (d. Hewitt) in March, Indianapolis in July (d. Roddick), Bangkok (d. Ljubicic) in September, and Stockholm (d. Nieminen) in October.
Blake was also a runner-up at ATP Masters Series Indian Wells in March (l. to Federer) and London-Queen’s Club (l. to Hewitt) in June.
He finishes the year with a 59-25 match record for 2006 and now has a career record of 8-7 in finals.

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Federer: "It's quite incredible. To finish off the season by winning the Masters Cup is really, for me. It's obviously the perfect ending to an incredible season. There's not much more I could have done. I gave myself the best possible chance basically at every event. To come out like this, on top, I surprised even myself.

"I had to laugh at one stage how well I was playing, I always came up with a great answer, you know.  I was in control pretty much all the time.

"Everything I wanted to do worked. To come to this point in my career where I feel so happy with my game, it's come such a long way, you know, that I also am out of words really to describe this performance."

Blake: “There is nothing I could have done. He [Roger Federer] played too good. I will probably run out of adjectives to describe him on the court. He is unbelievable, he steps it up even more in finals. I definitely think I could have played a little better, but to be perfectly honest I don’t think it would have mattered today. I wish I could have done more. I wish I could have been out there longer, but what can you do?

“I wish I could have done better, but that was my best for today. There will be day’s when I play above my level, and others when I will play below my level. I cannot say that today was much below my level, Roger just played better than me in every facet of the game.

DOUBLES FINAL – BJORKMAN & MIRNYI WIN TENNIS MASTERS CUP TITLE

Sweden’s Jonas Bjorkman and Max Mirnyi of Belarus captured the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup title with a 6-2, 6-4 victory in 78 minutes over Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor at the Qi Zhong Stadium in Shanghai on Sunday.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi won all five matches at the 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, collecting $220,000 for remaining undefeated at the circuit finale.
The pair won the Gold Group with three wins, defeating Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-3, 6-4, Knowles and Nestor 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2) and Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 7-6(7). In the semifinals they defeated Martin Damm and Leander Paes 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 7-6(5) in three hours and 14 minutes.
Bjorkman was appearing in his second circuit-ending doubles final, having won the 1994 ATP World Doubles Championship in Jakarta with compatriot Jan Apell (d. Woodbridge/Woodforde).
Victory in the final gives Bjorkman his 50th career doubles title since turning professional in 1991. Mirnyi collects his 32nd career doubles title in his 12th year as a professional.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi improved to 53-11 as a pair this year, with their sixth team title of 2006. They captured the crowns at Doha in January (d. C. Rochus-O. Rochus), at Miami in April (d. the Bryans), Monte Carlo in April (d. Santoro-Zimonjic), Roland Garros in June (d. the Bryans) and Cincinnati in August (d. Bryan-Bryan).
They reached the finals of Queen’s Club-London in June (l. to Hanley-Ullyett) and the US Open in September (l. to Damm-Paes).
Bjorkman also won two other ATP titles in Bastad (w/T Johansson) and San Jose (w/J McEnroe) in 2006. Mirnyi took home the Stuttgart title in partnership with Gaston Gaudio.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi were contesting their second Tennis Masters Cup as a team, having lost all three round robin matches in Shanghai in 2005. Both players were making their fourth straight Tennis Masters Cup appearance.
Bjorkman and Mirnyi finish the year ranked No. 2 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race with 1,151 points, just 29 points behind No. 1 Bob and Mike Bryan.
Knowles and Nestor were looking for their first year-end title in their eighth appearance at a season-ending championship.
They were appearing in their second year-end final, having reached the final at the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship in Hartford, Connecticut in 1998. The pair were also  semifinalists at the Tennis Masters Cup Houston in 2003 and 2004, but lost all three round-robin matches at the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai.
Knowles and Nestor qualified from the Gold Group in second place with two group wins. They defeated Fabrice Santoro and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 6-2, then lost to Bjorkman and Mirnyi 4-6, 6-4, 7-6(2), before defeating Marius Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski 6-3, 6-3.  In the semifinals, they defeated Red Group winners Paul Hanley and Kevin Ullyett 4-6, 6-1, 6-3.
Knowles and Nestor finish the 2006 season with a 48-20 match record, with five titles. They won ATP Masters Series events in Indian Wells (d. Bryan-Bryan) and Rome (d. Erlich-Ram), with other crowns collected in Delray Beach (d. Haggard-Moodie), Barcelona (d. Fyrstenberg-Matkowski) and Basel (d. Fyrstenberg-Matkowski).
The pair also finished runner-up at ATP Masters Series events in Hamburg (l. to Hanley-Ullyett) and Madrid (l. to Bryan-Bryan), plus tournaments in Dubai (l. to Hanley-Ullyett) and Marseille (l. to Damm-Paes).
Canadian Nestor owns 46 career titles and Bahamian Knowles has 44 titles, ranking them second and third among active players.
The two have won an ATP title together in 12 of the last 13 years. They will finish the year at No. 3 in the Stanford ATP Doubles Rankings, behind No.1 Bob and Mike Bryan and No. 2 Bjorkman and Mirnyi. The pair finished as the No. 1 doubles team in 2002 and 2004.
 

WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID

Bjorkman: “I think we saved the best until last, and we couldn't have finished the year better than this way. We just played probably the best match of the year. We felt really good. [We] had no stiffness after that long match yesterday. Like I said, we’re used to play a lot of matches. I think that actually helped us, that we had a tough one yesterday. We came out here and were ready to rock and played almost a hundred percent perfect match.”

Mirnyi: “Many players, especially doubles players, felt that we were drifting for a long time under the leadership of [former ATP Chief Executive Officer] Mark Miles and particularly there was not enough attention towards doubles. With Etienne [de Villiers] being a true lover of tennis and particularly the game of doubles, he has managed to convince the guys that the changes are going to be for the better.”