Officials at the Hopman Cup exhibition were shocked when Marat Safin showed up for the event with a black and bloodied eye and cuts on his face after getting in a brawl in Moscow.

If China is so “crazy for tennis” as one ESPN writer put it, how come there were so many empty seats at the Masters Cup matches, even the final? Fans are so crazy they forgot to go to the event?…

Spain was the slight favorite entering the encounter behind world No. 1 Rafael Nadal, but after Rafa pulled with a knee injury, the betting swung heavily toward the Argentine side. Spain’s David Ferrer has had a disastrous second half of the season and enters the tie with little confidence, while Feliciano “F-Lo” Lopez does not have a history as a big-match winner.

“This is a message for Pete Sampras, Stefan Edberg, Goran Ivanisevic and all of you other guys,” McEnroe delivered in a warning. “I’m not coming to London to lose.”

“I would put it in the same league as a Grand Slam because the best eight players in the world are participating here,” Djokovic said. “I feel very happy. End up the season the way I started it, with a win in a big event. So it’s a great boost up for upcoming season.”

We got our first real surprise today out of the Gold Group at the Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai, with Juan Martin Del Potro defeating Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 7-6(4), 7-6(5).

Djokovic held off the No. 7-seeded Argentine del Potro 7-5, 6-3, while the Russian Davydenko needed to come from a set down to top the Frenchman Tsonga 6-7(6), 6-4 , 7-6(0).

Monday’s action will feature world No. 2 Roger Federer vs. Frenchman Gilles Simon, and Andy Murray vs. Andy Roddick.

Too often I see players who fall prey to what I call “The Complete Player Syndrome” — a desire to master every shot at the expense of a focused, self-aware recognition of one’s true skills, strengths, and, yes, limitations. For Jankovic, of course, the stakes are higher. If she wants to win Slams she’ll likely need to beef up her serve, particularly her second serve. But it’s not likely she’ll ever lead the tour in aces. But her backhand is a beautiful shot, and to see how she looks for ways to deploy that strength is a lesson any player can take away from her effective game.

“It doesn’t bother me at all — we’re always in the same half of the draw, so I’m used to it,” said Serena, who leads the sisters’ career meetings 9-8.

Notes: Roddick, Del Potro and Simon are the favorites for the remaining three berths at the year-end Masters Cup, but 10 players remain in the running entering the last week of regular-season play. The seeds get byes, but potentially opening-round matches of interest are (16) Gael Monfils vs. Marat Safin, (6) Davydenko vs. (Q) Ivan Ljubicic, (8) Nalbandian vs. Ivo Karlovic, (7) Roddick vs. Janko Tipsarevic, and (2) Federer vs. Robin Soderling.