Nadal essentially stated that even with a bad shoulder, he is taking the Middle Eastern cash tour that this week also included the lucrative Abu Dhabi exhibition. After the Australian Open he says he will shut it down for a month to heal-up, missing the Dubai event.

Djokovic broke Federer in the third game of the first set, and came down from a break in the second set. Djokovic consistently pounded the Federer backhand, which is not aging gracefully with the 29-year-old Swiss, much like Pete Sampras’ one-handed backhand declined in his final years. Late in the second set the Federer backhand also let him down, producing some critical unforced errors.

Russian workhorse Nikolay Davydenko was one match away from duplicating the 2010 feat when he defeated the top two players in the world, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer, to repeat as Doha champion on Sunday, but this time the world No. 2 Federer was having none of it. Federer defeated Davydenko 6-3, 6-4 to claim his third career Qatar ExxonMobil Open title in Doha.

Roger and Rafa coming off the final at the cash-grab Abu Dhabi exo where Rafa won in two tiebreaks; organizers shelled out appearance money for world No. 1 Rafa and No. 2 Roger, but it falls off from there with No. 13 Tsonga the No. 3 seed; the Ukraine’s Sergei Bubka gets a wildcard; Federer likely to face two qualifiers in first two matches; Davydenko won the title last year, beating Roger and Rafa; returning champs in the field are Davydenko (2010) and Federer (2006-05).

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.

Big start to the New Year with just about all the top guys playing ATP events, including Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and the two Andys, Murray and Roddick, all in Doha.