By Chris Oddo | Monday, November 3, 2014
Novak Djokovic came to Paris on a mission, and he leaves with the No. 1 ranking nearly locked up.
Photo Source: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty
Another week is in the books, and a fresh batch of heroes—and zeros—to go with it. Find out who got high marks and who didn’t make the grade right here.
The Trophy Kissers
Novak Djokovic
Novak Djokovic came back to the tour, after spending time away to witness the birth of his first child, with a vengeance. The Serb raced to the Paris Masters title—his 20th Masters 1000 shield—to increase his stranglehold on the No. 1 ranking and claim his 600th tour-level victory.
Djokovic took what was considered a tough draw and rumbled his way through without the drop of a set to increase his lead over Roger Federer to 1,310 points.
But that wasn’t all. Djokovic increased his indoor winning streak to a whopping 27 matches and became the first player in history to win the Paris Masters in back-to-back years. Need we say more?
The Djoker himself was happy, and, more important, thankful:
The Bryan Brothers
The Camarillo, California kids became the first—singles or doubles—to win six Masters 1000 crowns when they clinched their 32nd Masters 1000 crown, and ninth of the season in Paris over Matkowski and Melzer.
Oh, and make that a record 102 team titles for Mike (the one with the beard) and Bob. Hey, good idea with the beard—now we can finally tell them apart!
Andrea Petkovic
Petko fought back from a set down to take down Flavia Pennetta for the WTA’s Tournament of Champions title in Sofia. With the win, the German becomes one of only five players to have claimed more than two titles on the WTA Tour this season (Serena Williams, 7, Maria Sharapova, 4, Ana Ivanovic, 4, and Petra Kvitova, 3).
Extra Credit
Caroline Wozniacki
Woz didn’t take the court this week, but she most certainly demonstrated her athletic prowess, fortitude and soul by running the New York City Marathon in 3:26:33 and raising over $80K for charity.
R-E-S-P-E-C-T!!!
Studs
Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori
Raonic and Nishikori each took care of business nicely in Paris, as Raonic notched back-to-back top ten wins—highlighted by his first career victory in seven tries over Roger Federer—for the first time in his career to make the London cut, while Nishikori battled past David Ferrer in a tense, dramatic affair to solidify his bid (and also eliminate Ferrer).
Both players showed poise in the clutch to lock up their maiden London appearances, and even though both ended up being bounced by Novak Djokovic in straight sets in Paris, it doesn’t diminish the significance of what each achieved. Nishikori, the first Asian man to ever qualify for London, and Raonic, the first Canadian singles player to ever do so, have lots to be proud of.
Duds
Grigor Dimitrov
A wildly impressive year for Dimitrov ended with a whimper. He just didn’t seem to have any fight left in him as he fell to Andy Murray in straight sets in Paris. His decision to opt out of traveling to London as an alternate, one hopes, is centered around his commitment to creating the perfect training block to head into 2015 with.
Kevin Anderson
0-12 vs. Tomas Berdych and counting….
Top Tweets
1. Totes normal, Serena!
2. Rumor has it that she had him piped in via Bluetooth. “Run!!! Run!!!”
3. No words for this, just admiration!
It Must Be Love Moment of the Week
Roger is such the KICK-ASS dad!!!
Quote of the Week
Arnaud Clement, on his French Davis Cup team taking on the Swiss in a 27,000 seat stadium.
"I just saw photos. I didn't go. It's going to be new for everybody for the players, for everyone to play in such a big arena. But I'm not afraid they are going to be impressed. On the contrary, I saw them being very excited. They're used to playing on big stadiums, so I believe it's on the contrary. I believe it's a good opportunity for us."
Most A.D.D Halloween Partier: Eugenie Bouchard
Bouchard switched from polar bear to commando somewhere during Halloween. Is that legal? Is that normal?
Reporting for duty.
A photo posted by Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) on