VENI, VOLI, VICI

[ I came, I volleyed, I won]

Fed beats Nadal in London

 

World No. 2 Roger Federer won his fifth title at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals on Sunday when he defeated Rafael Nadal 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 in a gripping finale at The O2 in London.

As the undefeated champion of the world’s biggest indoor tennis tournament, Federer received 1,500 South African Airways 2010 ATP Ranking points and the maximum amount of $1,630,000 in prize money.  It is the fourth time that he has been crowned the undefeated champion at the season finale, having dropped only one set this week.

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NESTOR WINS LONDON

Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic ended their three-year partnership on a high note Sunday as they were crowned champions of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals for the second time. In a close final they defeated Mahesh Bhupathi and Max Mirnyi 7-6(6), 6-4 at The O2 in London.

Next year Nestor will team up with Mirnyi, while Zimonjic will join forces with France’s Michael Llodra. In the on-court trophy presentation Nestor joked: “We’ve had three amazing years. People wonder why we are splitting up. The truth is we play great tennis, but we really don’t like each other!”

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LONDON - FORMAT AND MONEY

MOYA RETIRES

Former World No. 1 Carlos Moya has announced his retirement from professional tennis at the age of 34. The Spaniard has been troubled with a persistent right foot injury and informed media at a press conference on Wednesday afternoon that the injury has forced him to call time on his illustrious 15-year career.

Moya played his last match on the ATP World Tour at the Mutua Madrilena Madrid Open in May, when he suffered a heavy defeat to German Benjamin Becker. It was at that moment, he acknowledged, that the time had come retire after doctors had been unable to settle on an effective course of treatment for his foot.

“I wanted to play the big tournaments and say goodbye but I got to the Madrid tournament and I still wasn't 100 per cent. I am still young for life but for sport, I am already knocking on a bit," said Moya. "I realised with that match that the moment had arrived. It's not how I dreamed of ending my career."

ATP

LONDON SKED

 

 

LONDON - 21st NOVEMBER

PARIS QUARTERS MATCH-UPS

 

Subtract 5 hours to translate the given local time to our DST.

14:00 local time is 8 am Friday morn, here.

TAYLOR DENT - ENDANGERED SPECIES

Taylor Dent announced his retirement from tennis Monday.

It's not a total shock. Dent is 29, and that he was playing for the last 18 months or so was a sweet bonus for a man who spent nearly two years fighting debilitating back injuries, underwent three back surgeries in 2006 and 2007 and wondered sometimes whether he would walk unaided and without pain.

But it is a loss for tennis.

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For Dent is taking with him into retirement the kind of game we don't see anymore.

Dent is an unabashed serve-and-volley player, always at the net. In fact, he has always been unwilling to stay at the baseline and pound ground strokes. It wasn't how he was taught, by his father and former pro player Phil Dent, and it wasn't how he wanted to play.

"It wasn't my nature," Dent said. "I love to serve and volley."

After his 12 years on the pro tour, where he was ranked as high as No. 21 in the world, and as he has watched the ascendance of big hitters of ground strokes such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, Dent sounds almost wistful that this style of play is disappearing.

"In the past, tennis has been cyclical," Dent said. "You'd have a wave of guys who stayed back, then a wave of guys who served and volleyed, then a wave of guys who stayed back.

"But lately the technology of tennis is taking the game in one direction. The balls are heavier, the courts are slower, the strings and rackets are enabling players to hit so much harder and with so much spin, it all works against the serve-and-volleyer.

"You might see somebody like a Pat Rafter or a Pete Sampras who have serves so good and so accurate they could negate the technology, but I don't think you'll see many."

Dent, who has a 9-month-old son, said he and his wife, Jenny, sat down last week and talked about what's next.

"It's the deal we have had since my comeback," Dent said, "that at the end of the year we sit down and have a scheduled talk about whether to go forward or retire. I've been playing for 12 years now and I met a lot of my goals, almost all my goals after coming back from the surgeries and the time seemed perfect.

"I've got a son and a strong desire to be a family man. Pro tennis is a grueling schedule and it gets pretty tough after a while. My body was able to hang in there, a testament to my surgeon, but at the end of the day it's just a lot of little things."

Dent, who grew up in Newport Beach and who has been based in Bradenton, Fla., for the last couple of years, said he would probably settle down in Kansas City, where his wife is from. He said he's interested in exploring careers in coaching and in tennis commentating.

"We'll see where the chips fall," he said.

As for what he'll remember most fondly about his career, Dent has a list.

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"Any time I've won titles [four], those are big deals to me," he said. "Not very many players win at the ATP level. I've had some big wins in my day, over James Blake and Andy Roddick and Juan Carlos Ferrero. And if I look back on the broader picture, clawing my way back from surgery, it gave me a lot of pride because it wasn't something easily done and it wasn't only me but my whole supporting cast.

"There are things I'll regret that didn't turn out as I wished, the top prizes — being ranked No. 1 or winning a Grand Slam," he said. "Those would have been incredibly special. But as I look back I think I always gave myself a chance to do my best. So I'm proud of that."

diane.pucin@latimes.com

BALLS TO FOOTBALL MATCH

Outraged FC Basel and FC Luzern fans were so angry at a change to the kick-off time for their match at the weekend that they staged a protest by throwing thousands of tennis balls on to the pitch.

A Swiss TV company had engineered the early kick-off to allow them to broadcast both the Swiss Super League match in Emmenbruecke and Roger Federer's final against Novak Djokovic at the ATP Basel tennis tournament, with the football match moved to 12.45pm to ensure that it would be finished in time for the tennis to begin at 3pm.

That prompted the fans of the two clubs - who occupy the top two spots in the Swiss top flight - to protest their treatment with a flurry of tennis balls.

And, with the pitch almost covered in them, the referee had no choice but to send the players back to the dressing rooms.

But as soon as they were cleared by stewards and security staff, the crafty fans began to rain a second wave of balls on to the pitch - forcing a further delay at the Sportanlage Gersag stadium.

When the game was finally played Basel fans were left celebrating an injury-time equaliser that saw them rescue a point to remain top of the league - while in the tennis, Federer beat Djokovic in three sets to win the title in front of his hometown crowd for the fourth time in five years.

YAHOO

TSN (2) PARIS SKED

HOMEYS WIN

FERRER WINS VALENCIA

FEDERER TAKES BASEL

BRYAN'S CLINCH TOP RANK

Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan celebrated clinching the year-end No.1 ATP Doubles Team Ranking by defeating Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 to win their 11th tour-level title of the season at the Swiss Indoors Basel Sunday.

The Americans, who will finish the year as the No. 1 team for a record sixth time in eight years, extended their perfect record in tour-level finals this season to 11-0, including two majors at the Australian Open and the US Open. It is the second time in their career they have won 11 titles in a season (also 2007) and they will look to set a new career-high tally in their final two tournaments of the season at the BNP Paribas Masters and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

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