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| 2008 Tennis Masters Cup | ||||
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| Date: | November 9 – November 16 | |||
| Edition: | 39th (singles) / 33rd (doubles) | |||
| Champions | ||||
| Singles | ||||
 Novak Djokovic |
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| Doubles | ||||
 Daniel Nestor / Nenad Zimonjic |
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Tennis Masters Cup
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The 2008 Tennis Masters Cup was a tennis tournament played on indoor hard courts. It was the 39th edition of the year-end singles championships, the 33rd edition of the year-end doubles championships, and part of the 2008 ATP Tour. It took place at the Qizhong Forest Sports City Arena in Shanghai, China, from November 9 through November 16, 2008.
Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia won his first year-end championships title in the singles event, defeating ATP No. 5 Nikolay Davydenko of Russia in the final 6–1, 7–5. He then succeeded to four-time winner, two-time defending champion, and World No. 2 Roger Federer, defeated in the round robin stage of the event, and absent of the tournament's final for the first time since 2002. Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia won the doubles event 7–6(3), 6–2 over Americans Bob and Mike Bryan in the final for their first year-end championships doubles title together. With the win, they clinched the year-end No. 1 spot for the first time together. Nestor was defending his previous year's title, while the other 2007 champion, Mark Knowles, lost in the round robin.
It was the last time that the singles and doubles year-end championships took place in Shanghai as the Tennis Masters Cup. Starting in 2009, the season-ending event will be moved to London, United Kingdom, at the O2 arena, under the new name of ATP World Tour Finals. Shanghai will instead hold another event of the 2009 ATP Tour within the ATP Masters 1000 series earlier in the season.1
Contents |
Qualification
Places are awarded to the top seven players and the top seven doubles teams in the 2008 ATP Race, with one spot reserved for Grand Slam champions who finish within the Top 20. Two more players and teams also go to Shanghai as alternates in case of withdrawals.
Singles
On July 9 – after the 2008 Wimbledon Championships – the first three players to qualify for the 2008 year-end championships were selected: ATP No. 2 Rafael Nadal of Spain, World No. 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland and third-ranked Novak Djokovic of Serbia. These players, who held the top three spots of the ATP rankings during the whole year, secured their fourth, seventh and second appearance respectively in the season's finale.2
Rafael Nadal, who reached his first hard courts Grand Slam semifinal at the Australian Open (lost to Tsonga),3 qualified after winning the French Open for a fourth consecutive time, matching Bjorn Borg's record performance from 1978 to 1981.4 He broke Roger Federer's streak in Wimbledon as he defeated the Swiss 6–4, 6–4, 6–7(5), 6–7(8), 9–7, in a four-hour, forty-eight minute-long final – the longest championship match in Wimbledon's history – to become the first tennis player to complete the Roland-Garros/Wimbledon double since Borg.5 In addition to the two Grand Slam titles, Nadal had also, at the time of his qualification, reached two finals in Chennai (lost to Youhzny) and Miami (lost to Davydenko), won his fourth consecutive title in Monte Carlo (def. Federer) and at Barcelona (def. Ferrer), and his first in Hamburg (def. Federer) and at London's Queen's Club (def. Djokovic), where he became, two weeks before his Wimbledon victory, the first Spaniard to win a grass court title since Andres Gimeno in 1972.6 After his qualification, Nadal clinched a second title at the Canada Masters (def. Kiefer), a gold medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics (def. Gonzalez), and a semifinal run at the US Open (lost to Murray). On August 18, after 160 weeks at ATP No. 2, Rafael Nadal overtook Roger Federer, breaking his 237-week streak at the top spot, to become the 24th player to hold the No. 1 rank in the twenty-five years of computerised-rankings history.7 Nadal eventually withdrew in the run-up to the tournament, citing fatigue.8
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Roger Federer started his 2008 campaign with his first exit before the final in a major event since a 2005 defeat by Marat Safin at the Australian Open, when he lost in the Australian Open semifinals to Djokovic.9 After announcing he had contracted mononucleosis in December 2007,10 Federer hired clay-court specialist Jose Higueras to coach him, first during the clay court season, but eventually for the rest of the year. Federer qualified after he reached his third consecutive French Open final (lost to Nadal), where he suffered a 6–1, 6–3, 6–0 defeat,11 and his sixth consecutive Wimbledon final (lost to Nadal). After failing to beat the five-consecutive-title streak at the All England Club record and losing his third Grand Slam tournament in a row for the first time since 2002, Federer described the Wimbledon final as his "hardest loss by far".12 When he qualified, Federer had lost two more finals to Nadal in Monte Carlo and Hamburg, and won only two ATP International Series titles in Estoril (def. Davydenko) and Halle (def. Kohlschreiber). Despite losing his number 1 spot to Nadal in August, the rest of Federer's season featured better results with a third consecutive title in Basel (def. Nalbandian), and a fifth straight victory at the US Open (def. Murray) which brought him one Grand Slam title short of Pete Sampras's record of fourteen.13
Novak Djokovic had the best start of the season, as the Serb reached his second straight Grand Slam final after the 2007 US Open, and won his maiden major title at the Australian Open (def. Tsonga), becoming the first man other that Federer or Nadal to win a Grand Slam since Marat Safin in Melbourne three years before.14 Djokovic reached his fifth straight Grand Slam semifinal at the French Open (lost to Nadal),15 but suffered his earliest exit in a major since a first round loss at the 2006 Australian Open, in the second round of the Wimbledon Championships (lost to Safin).16 In the first part of the year, Djokovic also reached the London's Queen's Club final (lost to Nadal), and won two ATP Masters Series titles in Indian Wells (def. Fish) and Rome (def. Wawrinka). After qualifying for the year-end event, Djokovic lost to Nadal in the semifinals of the Beijing Olympics tennis event, but defeated James Blake in the third place match to win a Bronze Medal for Serbia. Despite this run, Djokovic failed to win another title in 2008, not defending his 2007 final appearance at the US Open (lost to Federer),17 reaching only two tournaments finals in Cincinnati (lost to Murray) and Bangkok (lost to Tsonga).
The fourth qualifier, announced after the US Open on September 9, was Andy Murray of Great Britain, who secured his first Tennis Masters Cup ticket – the first for a Briton since Tim Henman in the 2004 edition.18
Andy Murray, who started the year just outside the Top Ten, qualified after improving his Grand Slam performances throughout the season. Defeated in the first round of the Australian Open (lost to Tsonga),19 and in the third round of the French Open (lost to Almagro),20 Murray reached his first quarterfinals in a major at his home tournament of Wimbledon (lost to Nadal), after coming back from a two-sets-to-love deficit to beat 2007 Wimbledon semifinalist Richard Gasquet in the fourth round.21 Murray capped his Grand Slam season with his first final appearance in a major – the first for a Briton since Greg Rusedski's lost 1997 US Open final – at the US Open (lost to Federer), after defeating Nadal, in his first tournament as World No. 1, in the semifinals13 By that time in the season, Murray had already won two International Series titles in Doha (def. Wawrinka), Marseille (def. Ancic) and his first Masters Series shield in Cincinnati (def. Djokovic). Murray consolidated his fourth place in the rankings after the US Open, by winning two more titles at the Madrid Masters (def. Simon) and in Saint Petersburg (def. Golubev), where he was the defending champion.
The fifth player to be selected, on October 19, was Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, who obtained his fourth consecutive qualification for the year-end championships.22
Nikolay Davydenko, a two-time Grand Slam semifinalist in 2007, never went into second week at a major in 2008, suffering early exits in the first round at the Australian Open (lost to Youzhny),23 in the third round at the French Open (lost to Ljubicic),24 in the first round at the Wimbledon Championships (lost to Becker),25 and in the fourth round at the US Open (lost to Muller).26 Though he did not defend his 2007 title in Moscow, Davydenko performed better in smaller events in 2008, reaching an International Series final in Estoril (lost to Federer), and winning two International Series titles in Pörtschach (def. Monaco) and Warsaw (def. Robredo), and his second career Masters shield in Miami (def. Nadal).
The last three qualifiers, who locked their spots during the final event before the year-end championships, in Paris, were Andy Roddick of the United States, qualified for the sixth straight year (withdrew in 2005) on October 30, Juan Martin del Potro of Argentina, and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France, both qualifying in the last two days of the event, and both ending in the Top Eight for the first time.27
Andy Roddick did not perform as well as in previous seasons in Grand Slam tournaments, exiting in the third round of the Australian Open (lost to Kohlschreiber),28 withdrawing from the 2008 French Open, due to a right shoulder injury contracted in the semifinals of the Rome Masters,29 crashing in a four-setter in the second round of Wimbledon (lost to Tipsarevic),30 and only matching his 2007 US Open performance with a quarterfinal in New York (lost to Djokovic).31 During the rest of the season, Roddick lost one final in Los Angeles (lost to del Potro), and captured three titles in San Jose (def. Stepanek), Dubai (def. Lopez), and Beijing (def. Sela), clinching the qualification when he reached the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters.
Juan Martin del Potro performed mildly during the first part of the season, losing in the second round of all first three majors, at the Australian Open (lost to Ferrer), the French Open (lost to Bolelli), and Wimbledon (lost to Wawrinka). After Wimbledon, del Potro went on to win his first four titles in as many tournaments in Stuttgart (def. Gasquet), Kitzbühel (def Melzer), Los Angeles (def. Roddick) and Washington (def. Troicki), becoming the first player ever to do so.32 In the rest of the year, del Potro extended his 23-match streak to the quarterfinals of the US Open (lost to Murray),33 and reached another final in Tokyo (lost to Berdych). Del Potro's qualification came during the Paris Masters, when Tsonga defeated other Masters Cup hopeful, and only contender to del Potro's place James Blake, in the semifinals.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, ranked 38 on January 1, turned his fifth Grand Slam showing into a giant-killing performance, when he defeated Murray, Gasquet and Nadal en route to his first final on the ATP Tour at the Australian Open (lost to Djokovic).34 Sidelined during three months of the season due to a right knee injury, Tsonga missed both the French Open and Wimbledon,35 coming back to competition at the US Open where he was defeated in the third round (lost to Robredo).36 Tsonga won his first career title in a rematch of the Australian Open final in the International Series event of Bangkok (def. Djokovic), and earned his Tennis Masters Cup qualification with his second career title (his first Masters Series shield) at the Paris Masters (def. Nalbandian).
After Nadal's withdrawal on November 3, the ninth player of the ATP Race, Gilles Simon of France, was elevated to the playing field, for his first career qualification.
Gilles Simon, one of fifteen Frenchmen of the ATP Top 100 at the beginning of the year,37 did not perform well in Grand Slam events, losing in the third round of the Australian Open (lost to Nadal), the first round of the French Open (lost to Stepanek), the third round of Wimbledon (lost to Gasquet), and the third round of the US Open (lost to del Potro). His ninth place at the race came thanks to three titles in Casablanca (def. Benneteau), Indianapolis (def. Tursunov), and Bucharest (def. Moya), a semifinals run at the Canada Masters, and a final at the Madrid Masters (lost to Murray).38
Doubles
The first two teams qualified for the year-end doubles tournament, selected on July 9, after the Wimbledon Championships, were World No. 1 duo Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan from the United States, and then-ATP Race-leaders Daniel Nestor of Canada and Nenad Zimonjic of Serbia. The Bryan brothers qualified for their sixth straight Tennis Masters Cup appearance (withdrew in 2007), while Nestor qualified for the tenth time, the first with another partner that Mark Knowles, and Zimonjic qualified for the third time.2
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan started their 2008 season failing to defend their 2007 Australian Open title, when they were upset in the quarterfinals of the Australian Open (lost to Bhupathi/Knowles).39 The Bryans matched their 2007 French Open performance with a quarterfinal in Paris (lost to Cuevas/Horna),40 but were again upset before the final in Wimbledon (lost to Bjorkman/Ullyett), leaving the tournament without ever dropping serve.41 When they qualified, the Bryan brothers had already reached eight finals, losing five of them in Sydney (lost to Gasquet/Tsonga), Delray Beach (lost to Mirnyi/Murray), San Jose (lost to Lipsky/Martin), Las Vegas (lost to Benneteau/Llodra), and Hamburg (lost to Nestor/Zimonjic), and winning the three others in Miami (def. Bhupathi/Knowles), Barcelona (def. Fyrstenberg/Matkowski), and Rome (def. Nestor/Zimonjic). After Wimbledon, the Bryans entered the US Open without a Grand Slam title for the first time since 2005, and ended their title drought in majors winning their second final in New York (def. Dlouhy/Paes), their sixth Grand Slam crown overall.42 The Bryans also won the Bronze Medal at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, defeating Clement/Llodra, after they were upset in the semifinals by Federer/Wawrinka, and reached two more finals, losing in Toronto (lost to Nestor/Zimonjic), and winning in Cincinnati (def. Erlich/Ram).
Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic, who previously played together late in the 2007 season, started their regular partnership by reaching the Australian Open quarterfinals (lost to Clement/Llodra),43 and the final of the French Open, which Nestor had won the previous year with Knowles (lost to Cuevas/Horna).44 The pair qualified after winning their first Grand Slam title together at the Wimbledon Championships (def. Bjorkman/Ullyett) – the title becoming Zimonjic's first in a major after three lost finals, and allowing Nestor to complete a career Golden Slam, having previously won the three other majors, and the Gold Medal at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.45 Nestor and Zimonjic's partnership also led them to three ATP Masters Series finals in Indian Wells (lost to Erlich/Ram), Rome (lost to Bryan/Bryan), and Hamburg (def. Bryan/Bryan), and a final at London's Queen's Club (def. Melo/Sa). After clinching their first ticket as a team for the Tennis Masters Cup, Nestor and Zimonjic, who held the top spot of the Race for several weeks, went on to lose early in the third round of the US Open (lost to Nieminen/Lindstedt),46 and win one more title in Toronto (def. Bryan/Bryan).
The third team qualified, announced on September 9, after the US Open, was the pairing of Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram from Israel, who participated to the 2006 and 2007 editions of the event, losing each time in the round robin.18
Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram kicked off their season by a run to their first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open (def. Clement/Llodra), becoming the first Israeli players to capture a major title in tennis history.47 Erlich and Ram did not match that performance in the remaining majors of the year, exiting by the third round at the French Open48 by the quarterfinals at Wimbledon (lost to Dlouhy/Paes),49 and by the second round at the US Open (lost to Robredo/Roitman).50 Upset in the first round of the Olympic doubles event by Clement/Llodra, Erlich and Ram reached two other tournaments finals in the season, in Masters Series events of Indian Wells (def. Nestor/Zimonjic) and Cincinnati (lost to Bryan/Bryan). Sidelined by a recurring elbow injury since the Davis Cup World Group Play-offs against Peru,51 Erlich did not participate to any event past the US Open. Partnering with different other players in the rest of the season, Ram won two more titles, in Vienna, partnering Max Mirnyi (def. Petzschner/Peya), and in Lyon, parnering Michael Llodra (def. Huss/Hutchins).
The fourth and fifth teams selected for the Tennis Masters Cup, on October 19, were the pairing of Mahesh Bhupathi from India and Mark Knowles – one of the two defending champions – from The Bahamas, who secured respectively their eighth and eleventh season championships, and the then-13th-ranked duo of Pablo Cuevas from Uruguay and Luis Horna from Peru, who qualified as Grand Slam champions certain to finish the year within the Top Twenty, and reached the year-end event for the first time.22
Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles started competing together in 2008 with a deep run at the Australian Open, in which they defeated defending champions Bryan/Bryan, before losing in the semifinals (lost to Erlich/Ram).52 Bhupathi and Knowles suffered first round exits at the French Open, where Knowles was defending champion (lost to Huss/Hutchins),53 and in Wimbledon (lost to Petzschner/Peya).54 Their performance at the US Open was barely better as the pair did not get past the third round (lost to Gonzalez/Monaco).46 Despite the poor season in majors, Bhupathi and Knowles reached five finals in Vienna (lost to Mirnyi/Ram), Madrid (lost to Fyrstenberg/Matkowski), Memphis (def. Ratiwatana/Ratiwatana), Dubai (def. Damm/Vizner), Basel (def. Kas/Kohlschreiber).
Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna did not start their partnership before the French Open, in which they upset four seeded teams (Clement/Llodra; Dlouhy/Paes; Bryan/Bryan; Nestor/Zimonjic) to win their first Grand Slam title, the first ever claimed by a South American team.44 Cuevas and Horna entered two more tournaments together in the rest of the season, losing in the second round of the US Open (lost to de Voest/Fisher),55 and the first in Washington (lost to Gicquel/Lindstedt). The pair had more success separately, as Cuevas reached the final in Houston, partnering Marcel Granollers (lost to Gulbis/Schuettler), and Horna won two titles in Auckland, partnering Juan Monaco (def. Malisse/Melzer), and Buenos Aires, partnering Agustin Calleri (def. Eschauer/Luczak).
The sixth and seventh teams to enter the field on October 26 were the duo composed of Jonas Bjorkman of Sweden and Kevin Ullyett of Zimbabwe, who qualified for their seventh and fifth year-end finale (their first together), and the pair of Lukas Dlouhy of the Czech Republic and Leander Paes of India, who qualified for their second and ninth year-end finale (their first together)56
Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett reached the quarters in the first major of their season at the French Open (lost to Soares/Vemic),40 and were defeated in the Wimbledon final (lost to Nestor/Zimonjic).45 Set to retire at the end of 2008, Bjorkman entered the US Open only to be knocked out in the second round (lost to Kas/Petzschner).55 Bjorkman and Ullyett had won one title together in Stockholm (def. Brunstrom/Ryderstedt) by October, then clinched one more after they qualified, in Paris (def. Coetzee/Moodie). Bjorkman also won in Båstad (def. Brunstrom/Rojer), partnering Robin Soderling, and Ullyett reached two finals with Bruno Soares in Nottingham (def. Coetzee/Murray) and Washington (lost to Gicquel/Lindstedt), and one with Jamie Murray in Estoril (lost to Coetzee/Moodie).
Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, who started the season with different partners, respectively Frantisek Cermak and Paul Hanley, debuted their partnership at the French Open, where they reached the third round (lost to Cuevas/Horna),48 and found success in Wimbledon, where they reached the semifinals (lost to Nestor/Zimonjic),57 and the US Open, where they reached their first Grand Slam final together (lost to Bryan/Bryan).42 Aside from the majors, Dlouhy and Paes reached three other finals together, in Bangkok (def. Lipsky/Martin), Halle (lost to Youhzny/Zverev), and Tokyo (lost to Youzhny/Zverev).
The last spot of the Tennis Masters Cup doubles event was awarded during the Paris Masters, where several teams competed for it, with Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie from South Africa eventually coming out on top to reach their first year-end event together – the first ever for Coetzee, the second for Moodie, after 2005.58
Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie climbed to the eighth place of the Race starting with a semifinal at the Australian Open (lost to Clement/Llodra),52 followed only by early losses, in the second round of the French Open (lost to Tipsarevic/Troicki), and of Wimbledon (lost to Lopez/Verdasco). Coetzee partnered Rogier Wassen at the US Open, where they were beaten in the first round (lost to Gonzalez/Monaco). Coetzee and Moodie reached three tournaments finals together during the season, in Doha (lost to Kohlschreiber/Skoch), Estoril (def. Murray/Ullyett), and Paris (lost to Bjorkman/Ullyett). Separately, Coetzee also reached two finals in Marseille, partnering Yves Allegro (lost to Damm/Vizner), and Nottingham, partnering Jamie Murray (lost to Soares/Ullyett).
After Jonathan Erlich and Andy Ram's withdrawal on November 3, the eighth team of the ATP Doubles Race, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski of Poland, were selected as replacements.
Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski never got past the third round in majors in 2008, exiting in the third at the Australian Open (lost to Bhupathi/Knowles), the second at the French Open (lost to Mertinak/Scherrer), the first in Wimbledon (lost to Bopanna/Qureshi) and at the US Open (lost to Andreev/Zverev). Despite the poor runs in majors, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski reached five finals in Barcelona (lost to Bryan/Bryan), Warsaw (def. Davydenko/Schukin), Bucharest (lost to Devilder/Mathieu), Metz (lost to Clement/Llodra), and Madrid (def. Bhupathi/Knowles).59
Build-up
Withdrawals
Four days after retiring from his quarterfinal against Nikolay Davydenko at the Paris Masters due to a recurring right knee injury,60 ATP Race-leader Rafael Nadal announced on November 3 he would withdraw from the year-end championships, for the second time in four qualifications.8 Nadal had already pulled out of the 2005 Tennis Masters Cup due to a left foot injury, before his opening match against Gaston Gaudio, and was replaced by alternate Mariano Puerta.61 Nadal's withdrawal in 2008 came as the Spaniard was scheduled to lead his country's Davis Cup team in the event's final, to be played five days after the Tennis Masters Cup in Mar del Plata, Argentina, on indoor hard courts, against an Argentinian team led by Stockholm titlist, Basel and Paris runner-up David Nalbandian, and other year-end event qualifier Juan Martin del Potro. Nadal cited the Davis Cup final necessary preparation as another reason to withdraw from the event, saying "I want to recover and be ready for the important Davis Cup final with my country that will be played in Mar del Plata, Argentina".62 He eventually announced, on November 10, his withdrawal from the Davis Cup final (set to be played November 21–23), due to his knee injury.63
Nadal's withdrawal elevated the first alternate, Gilles Simon, into the draw, making him the second Frenchman of the eight-men field, alongside Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, and marking the first time that two Frenchmen would participate in the year-end event since the Masters Grand Prix event of 1986, which field included both Yannick Noah and Henri Leconte. Simon was ranked eighth in the ATP Race when entering the Paris Masters, thanks to his final in Madrid and his semifinal at the Grand Prix de Tennis de Lyon, where he lost to eventual champion Robin Soderling,64 but was knocked out of the Top Eight when he lost to Andy Roddick in the third round,65 and Tsonga qualified by winning the title.66 Simon, who flew to Shanghai with countryman and friend Jo-Wilfried Tsonga on November 5, commented on Nadal's withdrawal and his first selection for the year-end event : "I was unhappy that he had to pull out. I would really have preferred to qualify directly by finishing eighth. It's not in my nature to wish that another player can't play. [...] I'm really happy to be going there and I really want to experience this."67
On the same day, Israeli Jonathan Erlich, who had been suffering from an elbow injury since the month of September, also announced he was pulling out from the doubles field, alongside his partner Andy Ram, with whom he had won the Australian Open in January. Hoping Erlich would be fit to play the year-end event, Ram had continued to compete with different players. In that span time, he won a Davis Cup World Group Play-off match against Peru with Harel Levy, an ATP International Series Gold title in Vienna against Philipp Petzschner and Alexander Peya with Max Mirnyi, lost to Pablo Andujar and Marcel Granollers in the first round of the Madrid Masters with Mikhail Youzhny, won another title in Lyon against Stephen Huss and Ross Hutchins with Michael Llodra, and eventually lost in the quarterfinals of the Paris Masters to Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra, with Bruno Soares.6869
Erlich and Ram's exit allowed the first alternates, Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski, to join the eight-team field just days after they lost a chance to qualify regularly during the Paris Masters.27 Fyrstenberg and Matkowski, who had boosted their chances to qualify by winning the Madrid Masters, met Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie in the semifinals of Paris, as both teams were vying for the seventh spot of the Race.70 Fyrstenberg and Matkowski were then beaten in straight sets, and denied a guaranteed spot in Shanghai. Their qualification as alternated marked their second appearance at the Masters Cup after a previous run in 2006, where they lost all of their round robin matches.
Alternates
While the ATP Rulebook states that the two players immediately ranked after the last qualifier at the Masters Cup should be selected as singles alternates, and be present at the event's location,71 only two players ranked in the Top 35 of the ATP Race, after Gilles Simon, accepted the invitation to come to Shanghai : 26th-ranked Radek Stepanek of the Czech Republic, and 35th-ranked Nicolas Kiefer of Germany.72 Among the twenty-four players who declined to come, to prepare for the Davis Cup final, for reasons of injury, or to preserve themselves for the next season, were James Blake, David Nalbandian, 2007 Tennis Masters Cup finalist David Ferrer, Stanislas Wawrinka, 2007 qualifier Fernando Gonzalez, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Robin Soderling, Igor Andreev, Nicolas Almagro, Tomas Berdych, Tommy Robredo, Marin Cilic, Mardy Fish, 2007 qualifier Richard Gasquet, Ivo Karlovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Dmitry Tursunov, Marat Safin, Feliciano Lopez, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Mikhail Youzhny, Rainer Schuettler and Mario Ancic.
Czech Radek Stepanek, who started the year as No. 30 and ranked as high as the No. 12 on July 7, had his best Grand Slam performance at the French Open, where he reached the fourth round, losing only to David Ferrer in five sets on the score of 4–6, 6–2, 1–6, 6–3, 6–3.73 Stepanek reached one final in the season in San Jose (lost to Andy Roddick), and reached the semifinals at four events, in Sydney (lost to Chris Guccione), Memphis (lost to Robin Soderling), Rome (retired due to illness against Novak Djokovic),74 and Metz (lost to Dmitry Tursunov).
Former World No. 4 Nicolas Kiefer, who qualified once for the year-end event at the 1999 ATP Tour World Championships, where he reached the semifinals (lost to Pete Sampras), did not get past the third round at a Grand Slam event in 2008 but reached his first tournament final since Saint Petersburg in 2005, his first career ATP Masters Series final – and his only final of the season – at the Toronto Masters (lost to Rafael Nadal).75 His other best results included a semifinal in Halle (lost to Roger Federer), and a quarterfinal at the Hamburg Masters (lost to Andreas Seppi).
The substitutes for the doubles event, directly ranked after the last qualifiers, Fyrstenberg and Matkowski, in the ninth position of the ATP Doubles Race, were Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa from Brazil.
Partnering together since 2006, Marcelo Melo and Andre Sa never did better than a third round in Grand Slam events in 2008, being knocked out in the first round of the Australian Open (lost to Arnold Ker/Lopez), the second at the French Open (lost to Ram/Reynolds), the third in Wimbledon (withdrew against Anderson/Lindstedt), and the first at the US Open (lost to Robredo/Roitman). The pair lost one final at London's Queen's Club (lost to Nestor/Zimonjic), but won three titles in Costa do Sauípe (def. Montanes/Ventura), Pörtschach (def. Knowle/Melzer), and New Haven (def. Bhupathi/Knowles).
Groupings
The draw ceremony, to divide the eight competing players/teams in the two round robin groups, took place on November 5, in Shanghai's Hilton hotel, in presence of ATP No. 4 Andy Murray. With Rafael Nadal withdrawn due to a knee injury, Roger Federer took upon the top seed, and the heading of the Red Group, and Novak Djokovic the second seed, headlining the Gold Group. Federer was drawn alongside Murray, Andy Roddick and Nadal's replacement Gilles Simon, while Djokovic was joined in his group by Nikolay Davydenko, Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.
The Red Group's composition set several rematches of the year's encounters, confronting Federer with three players against which he lost their last meeting – having been defeated by Roddick in the quarterfinals of the Miami Masters, losing to the American for the second time only in their seventeen-meetings history,76 by Simon in their only meeting in the second round of the Toronto Masters,77 and by Murray in the semifinals of the Madrid Masters.78 Federer and Murray's match was set to be their fourth encounter of the year, after a first round in Dubai (won by Murray), the US Open final (won by Federer), and a Madrid semifinal (won by Murray), which brought their head-to-head to a 2–3 record in the Briton's favor.7980 The announced meeting of Murray and Simon was also a rematch, that of Madrid Masters' final, which Murray won in straight sets, defeating the Frenchman for the second time in the year, after a second round at the Hamburg Masters, to lead their head-to-head 2–1. Roddick's encounter with Simon was to be their third career meeting, the second in 2008 after a Paris Masters third round (won by Roddick),81 which helped the American clinch his spot at the Tennis Masters Cup, and prevented Simon to gather enough points to qualify directly for the event. Finally, Roddick and Murray's meeting, their seventh overall, in a head-to-head led by Murray 4–2, was to be their first real match of the year, as Murray withdrew due to a thumb injury before what could have been their previous 2008 encounter, in the Queen's Club Championships quarterfinals.82
Gold Group leader Novak Djokovic, who lost all three of his round robin matches at the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup to Nadal, Richard Gasquet and David Ferrer, was set by the draw to meet again Jo-Wilfried Tsonga for the fourth time of the year, having lost their last two meetings in Bangkok's final and Paris Masters' third round, after their first encounter in the Australian Open's final (won by Djokovic).83 Djokovic's eventual meetings with Davydenko and del Potro were also uncertain for the Serb, as Djokovic had to retire in his only encounter with Davydenko, in a deciding match of the Davis Cup's first round,84 and had not met del Potro since a third round at the 2007 US Open, before the Argentian elevated his level of play in the end of 2008 to enter the Top Ten.85 Del Potro's meeting with Davydenko was to be their third overall, their second that year, and give an advantage in their head-to-head record to either player, who had previously won one match against each other, with Davydenko defeating del Potro in the second round of the 2007 Paris Masters –when del Potro, a qualifier, had a ranking of only 51–, and the Argentinian avenging this loss by crushing the Russian in the Davis Cup semifinals 6–1, 6–4, 6–2.86 Tsonga entered the competition with a 0–1 record against both del Potro and Davydenko, but with each meeting (versus del Potro in New Haven, versus Davydenko in Moscow) coming in the 2007 season, before the Frenchman's rise in the rankings.
The repartition of the doubles teams also took place, with Bob and Mike Bryan holding the top seed, and headlining the Red Group, and defending champion Daniel Nestor and new partner Nenad Zimonjic taking upon the second seed and the head of the Gold Group. With the Bryans landed Mahesh Bhupathi and Mark Knowles, Jeff Coetzee and Wesley Moodie, and Pablo Cuevas and Luis Horna, while Nestor and Zimonjic were joined by Jonas Bjorkman and Kevin Ullyett, Lukas Dlouhy and Leander Paes, and Erlich and Ram's replacements Mariusz Fyrstenberg and Marcin Matkowski.
Red Group top duo Bob and Mike Bryan, who had withdrawn from the 2007 Tennis Masters Cup due to an elbow injury for Mike Bryan,87 were set to face Mark Knowles, one of the two separated defending champions, and new partner Mahesh Bhupathi, for the fourth time in 2008, after meetings in the Australian Open quarterfinals (won by Bhupathi/Knowles),39 in the Miami Masters final (won by Bryan/Bryan), and in the Cincinnati Masters semifinals (won by Bryan/Bryan). The Bryans had also defeated Knowles, partnering fellow Bahamian Devin Mullings –then ranked 1017 in singles, not ranked in doubles– in the first round of the Beijing Olympics doubles tournament. The Bryan/Bryan-Coetzee/Moodie encounter was also a repeat of a matchup having already occurred three times in the season, at the Indian Wells Masters (won by Bryan/Bryan), the Miami Masters (won by Bryan/Bryan), and the Monte Carlo Masters (won by Coetzee/Moodie). Coetzee and Moodie, after defeating the Bryans in Monte Carlo Masters' quarterfinals, went on to lose in the semifinals to Bhupathi and Knowles, in their only meeting before the Masters Cup. Occasional doubles team of Cuevas and Horna, who competed in only three tournaments in the year, had a head-to-head record against only one of the three other teams, having upset the Bryan brothers in the French Open quarterfinals, en route to their Roland Garros title.40
In the Gold Group were set rematches of the Wimbledon final, between champions Nestor and Zimonjic and Bjorkman and Ullyett, whose encounter at Wimbledon (won by Nestor/Zimonjic) was the only one in their career,45 as well as of a Wimbledon semifinal between Nestor and Zimonjic, and Dlouhy and Paes (won by Nestor/Zimonjic).57 Nestor and Zimonjic, and Dlouhy and Paes had met three times in the year before the Masters Cup, in the Wimbledon semifinal first, then in a Toronto Masters semifinal (won by Nestor/Zimonjic), and a