Nadal reflects on 'most emotional' year

LONDON (AP) -Roger Federer briefly thought he might have ruined Rafael Nadal's vacation by denying him victory at the end-of-season ATP World Tour Finals.

He needn't have worried.

After all, even if Sunday's 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 defeat hurts, Nadal can console himself by looking back on one of the most successful seasons ever.

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"I tried my best this afternoon," said Nadal, who became the seventh player in history to complete a career Grand Slam by winning this year's U.S. Open. "But he was better than me."

Nadal won seven titles this season, including a so-called "Clay slam" featuring wins at the Masters tournaments in Monte Carlo, Rome, Madrid and his fifth French Open. He followed that by winning Wimbledon, and topped it off at the U.S. Open.

By September, he had already qualified for the eight-player end-of-season tournament, and wrapped up the year-end No. 1 ranking. It was the kind of dominant season that used to be Federer's specialty.

"I hope ... " Federer began in his on-court speech on Sunday, before correcting himself. "I know I didn't spoil his vacation after this because he's had an amazing year, a year that any player dreams of."

Nadal described 2010 as not just his best year but also his "most emotional."

The 24-year-old Spaniard ended last year with three straight losses at the O2 Arena ion London. He began this season well, but the knee problems that have regularly interrupted his career forced him to retire from his Australian Open quarterfinal match against Andy Murray.

Victory at the Monte Carlo Masters ended an 11-month title drought, but for Nadal, it was that relative lack of success that has made the last eight months so special.

"When you spend 11 months without a victory, when you pass some difficult moments, you really know how difficult (it) is (to) win a tournament, how difficult (it) is be there, how difficult (it) is be competitive every week," Nadal said.

"So when I started to win the first time, first tournament in Monte Carlo, everything was more easier, no, because I pulled out all the pressure, all this anxiety. After that I started to play really well."

He even counts London as a success. As he hasn't hesitated to remind everyone this week, the surface at the O2 Arena is his worst nightmare - and yet he still beat a fired-up Murray in three sets on Saturday and, despite battling fatigue, pushed Federer the distance in the final.

"I lost the match because I played against a very good Roger Federer in one of his favorite surfaces," Nadal said. "Was very difficult final for me. I still won a set.

"But I am more happy about all the week. (Beating) four top-eight players in the same week on a difficult surface for me. I think never happen in the past. So that's very good news for me."

And perhaps bad news for everyone else. Nadal begins 2011 with at least one goal still remaining: to go one better this time next year.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nadal and Federer heading back to Abu DhabiNadal set for Mallorca role

Roddick flustered by flickering advertising lights

LONDON (AP) -The advertising lights behind the baseline flashed and flickered, even while play was going on, and each time it made Andy Roddick more and more frustrated.

Finally, after being broken for the second time in the match, Roddick snapped. Or, actually, the rim of his racket snapped when he smashed it against his foot.

"I was angry with myself and there wasn't anybody else to talk to at that moment," Roddick said wryly after losing to Tomas Berdych 7-5, 6-3 Wednesday at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Roddick had been playing well through the first set, but shortly after wasting a pair of set points on Berdych's serve while leading 5-4, the eighth-ranked American was broken and eventually dropped the set.

In the second, Roddick held his first two service games relatively easily. Then, at 2-2, the neon lights on the front of the boxes where the line judges stand started to change, flickering red sometimes and then back to the light blue that they're supposed to be.

With Roddick growing increasingly frustrated, Berdych took a 15-30 lead with a forehand winner. Roddick then dumped a forehand wide on the next shot and lost his replay challenge, giving Berdych two break points.

After saving one when Berdych sent a forehand return long, Roddick tried an overhead smash from the baseline but the ball landed out, giving Berdych a 3-2 lead.

That's when he let it all out.

First, he whacked a ball high into the rafters - it eventually landed only three rows from the top of the lower section of the O2 Arena. Then, when he was walking back to his chair for the changeover, he smashed his racket against his foot and drew a code violation from the chair umpire.

"The neons in the back weren't quite to the settled position. They were still advertising fun stuff," said Roddick, who dropped to 0-2 at the round-robin tournament for the top eight players in the world. "When you're trying to track a ball, it's kind of neon lights and stuff. Then Tomas noticed it. A couple of them just went out before we played a point."

The match finished with the lights off.

Nalbandian winsBarca won’t pay £50m for Cesc

Moya honored 4 days after retirement

LONDON (AP) -Four days after announcing his retirement from tennis, former top-ranked player Carlos Moya was back on court and the center of attention.

This time, however, he was wearing a suit instead of shorts and tennis shoes.

The 34-year-old Spaniard, who retired on Wednesday after a 15-year career and one Grand Slam title, was honored Sunday on the opening day of the ATP World Tour Finals.

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"It's always great when people remember you, even when you're not at the top," Moya said after getting a round of applause from the packed crowd at the O2 Arena. "Although I didn't play great here at Wimbledon - well, I one year played fourth round - they treat me very well always."

Moya, who won the 1998 French Open and reached the Australian Open final the year before, was brought out on court shortly after Andy Murray beat Robin Soderling 6-2, 6-4 in the opening match of the season-ending tournament for the top eight players in the world.

Moya, who quit the game because of a nagging foot injury, won 20 ATP titles and played his last match in May at the Madrid Masters. He became the first Spaniard to become No. 1 in the rankings, in March 1999.

He was an early training partner of Rafael Nadal, who is also from the island of Mallorca and was present at the ceremony.

"Knowing him for so long makes it special for me because first time I met him he was just 11, 12 years old," Moya said of Nadal's success. "When he was 13, 14 years old, we were practicing together. I was near the top 10 and sometimes he was beating me during the practice.

"I realized he had something special, but could never think that he could be that good, to be honest. He's one of the greatest ever. But he's on his way to become - who knows - but maybe the greatest. I could never expect that, to be honest."

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nadal set for Mallorca roleVerdasco eases through opener in Valencia

Federer, Djokovic advance at Paris Masters

PARIS (AP) -Roger Federer eased into the third round of the Paris Masters on Wednesday with a 6-4, 6-4 win over local favorite Richard Gasquet.

Defending champion Novak Djokovic and third-seeded Andy Murray of Britain also advanced.

Fresh off his victory at the Swiss Indoors, where he won his 65th title last week, Federer converted his first break point for a 2-1 lead with a sharp forehand volley and closed out the first set with an ace after losing only three points on his serve.

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Gasquet saved three break points in the first game of the second set to level at 40-40 but stopped playing after misjudging a shot from Federer that was in, with the Swiss being awarded the point. Gasquet then sent a backhand long and Federer held his serve to move up 2-0.

Federer sealed the win on his first match point to improve his record against Gasquet to 7-1, after losing their first meeting five years ago.

Eighth-seeded Andy Roddick took a big step toward qualifying for the ATP World Tour Finals by beating Jarkko Nieminen 6-1, 6-4.

Roddick never looked in trouble against the Finn and didn't face a single break point as he broke his opponent three times.

Only the top eight players qualify for the ATP Finals in London from Nov. 21-28, with No. 1 Rafael Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray and Robin Soderling having already booked their places.

"Every match I win is significant at this point," Roddick said. "Puts more pressure on the guys behind me. I have a pretty good shot no matter how I do here this week, but I think the last thing you want to do is be in that position where you're at home cheering against somebody hoping that something bad happens to them."

Roddick is in eighth place in the rankings and will be guaranteed a spot at the year-end tournament unless Fernando Verdasco reaches the final in Paris or Jurgen Melzer wins the tournament.

No. 11 Melzer progressed with a 6-3, 7-6 (6) win over Santiago Giraldo.

Roddick, who plays Ernests Gulbis of Latvia in the third round, lost only five of the 29 points played on his first serve.

The former U.S. Open champion, who reached the semifinals twice at the Paris Masters, broke Nieminen immediately to take a 3-0 lead after winning his serve at love.

Roddick then took Nieminen's serve in the sixth game with a crosscourt forehand winner and broke again in the third game of the second set when his opponent sent a backhand wide.

Nieminen saved two match points but Roddick served two consecutive winners to close out the match.

Roddick said he was happy with the speed of the court, which is faster this year and suits his offensive style of play.

"I believe it's become so monotonous as far as what you get. Grass is slow and indoors has turned slow," Roddick said. "So I think it's fair ... They have less time to return. If you actually stick a volley you get rewarded."

Djokovic overcame a slow start and an early break in the first set to beat Juan Monaco of Argentina 6-4, 6-3.

The second-seeded Serb struggled on his first serve but fended off seven of eight break points and took Monaco's serve three times. He'll next play Frenchman Michael Llodra, who beat No. 16 John Isner of the United States 6-3, 6-4.

Murray also had some problems in his 2-6, 6-4, 6-3 victory over former No. 3 David Nalbandian and received treatment for an apparent wrist injury during the decider.

Nalbandian, who missed most of last year because of hip surgery and missed two months this season with a hamstring problem, lost only two points on his first serve in the opening set but tumbled at a crucial point when he was broken in the 10th game of the second set after two consecutive unforced errors, allowing Murray to level.

Murray called for the trainer at 2-2 in the decider and received treatment for about five minutes. He came back on court and quickly recovered, breaking for a 5-3 lead before serving out the match.

"My wrist feels OK just now," Murray said. "I have had a few problems with it in the past, and I felt quite a sharp pain. I'll just have to wait and see if it's still fine tomorrow."

Murray next plays No. 13 Marin Cilic of Croatia, who beat Sergiy Stakhovsky of Ukraine 6-4, 4-6, 6-3.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Di Maria clinches Real dealFrederico Gil into second round at Open Sud

Nalbandian wins

BASEL, Switzerland (AP) -David Nalbandian set his sights on a top 10 return after beating sixth-seeded Marin Cilic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 Thursday to advance to the Swiss Indoors quarterfinals.

Nalbandian improved to 3-0 against Cilic, including a semifinal victory in Washington in August, which he won when ranked 117th and returning from injury. A sore left hamstring followed a 10-month absence after hip surgery.

"It was a very strange year," said Nalbandian, who turns 29 on Jan. 1 and has been out of the top 10 since February 2009. "That is one of the goals for next year. I'm just trying to play as well as I can."

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The 29th-ranked Argentine mixed accurate serving and strong groundstrokes against Cilic, clinching the win on his first match point with a powerful forehand.

Nalbandian, the 2002 Basel champion and a three-time runner-up, next faces either fourth-seeded Andy Roddick of the United States or Andrey Golubev of Kazakhstan, who played later Thursday.

Czech wild card Radek Stepanek earned a quarterfinal match against Roger Federer by beating Santiago Giraldo of Colombia 3-6, 6-2, 6-0.

Richard Gasquet of France won 6-4, 7-5 against Germany's Tobias Kamke, a lucky loser in qualifying who eliminated third-seeded Tomas Berdych in the first round.

Gasquet has a last-eight match against Viktor Troicki of Serbia, who got a walkover win when Frenchman Paul-Henri Mathieu withdrew citing a knee injury.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Palop commits to SevillaKohlschreiber beats Falla in Vienna opener

Ivanovic, Date Krumm reach Bali semifinals

BALI, Indonesia (AP) -Former No. 1 Ana Ivanovic dispatched third-seeded Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova 6-0, 6-1 and wild card Kimiko Date Krumm edged top-seeded Li Na 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 in the Tournament of Champions on Thursday.

The unseeded Ivanovic won the first 11 games against Pavlyuchenkova, a two-time winner on tour this year.

The Serb said winning the Generali Ladies in Austria three weeks ago, ending a two-year title drought, had boosted her confidence.

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In the semifinals she'll meet 40-year-old Date Krumm, who came from 3-1 down in the last set to beat China's Li, converting her fourth match point when Li double-faulted.

No. 2-seeded Aravane Rezai of France plays Alisa Kleybanova of Russia, and No. 4 Yanina Wickmayer of Belgium meets Daniela Hantuchova of Slovakia to complete the semifinals lineup in the eight-woman tournament.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Peer advances at Japan Women’s OpenCottagers eye Miguel

Without injured Williams sisters, some buzz gone

DOHA, Qatar (AP) -Extended injury absences for Serena and Venus Williams are giving everyone a chance to see what women's tennis eventually will look like without them.

Other players, fans, WTA officials and TV networks all are getting a preview of a Williams-less tour. Both sisters are going to miss this weekend's Fed Cup final in San Diego between the United States and Italy. And both were no-shows at last week's WTA Championships.

Serena is sidelined after two operations on her right foot and hasn't played a competitive match anywhere since winning Wimbledon on July 3. Hobbled by a bad left knee, Venus only has played in one tournament, the U.S. Open, since losing at the All England Club on June 29.

Serena turned 29 this year, and Venus turned 30.

Knee injury sidelines Venus for rest of 2010Barca won’t pay £50m for Cesc

Retired Dementieva plans to start a family

MOSCOW - Olympic champion Elena Dementieva,who stunned the tennis world by announcing her retirement lastweek, said starting a family was one of the main reasons for herdecision to quit the sport.

"It is true that I expect changes in my private life in thenear future," the Russian, who ended her playing career at theseason-ending WTA Championships in Doha, was quoted as saying bylocal media on Wednesday.

"I don't want to give all the details because these are veryprivate, intimate things," the 29-year-old said.

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"But I have to admit I've made a decision to quit mainlybecause I want to start a family, have kids."

The Muscovite has always been reluctant to discuss herprivate life but it has been widely reported that she is engagedto Russian ice hockey player Maxim Afinogenov.

Dementieva also ruled out the possibility of one day makinga comeback like Belgium's Kim Clijsters, who returned to thegame in 2009 after more than two years off to start a family andin her third tournament back won the U.S. Open.

"It was a very difficult and emotional but if I decided toquit that was it. I'm not coming back," Dementieva said.

To query or comment on this story emailsportsfeedback@thomsonreuters.com)

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

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Federer clears the air with Swiss over Davis Cup

BASEL - Roger Federer has cleared the air with the Swiss tennis federation over his last-minute decision to pull out of the Davis Cup tie in Kazakhstan in September, the 16-times grand slam champion said on Monday.

Federer received rare criticism in his homeland when he withdrew two days before the tie. Switzerland went on to lose 5-0 and were condemned to the Europe/Africa group, effectively the competition's second division.

"Criticism is okay but I think most of the people actually understood my decision," Federer told Reuters after overcoming Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Swiss Indoors on Monday when the Ukrainian retired hurt.

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"I don't read that much press but I always try to be very transparent with my thoughts.

"Kazakhstan was unfortunately not one I could do at the very end, I tried to keep it open as long as possible, but I always think of the long term.

"I had a good conversation with the president of Swiss Tennis and all is under control."

Federer has played 37 Davis Cup rubbers, although from 2005 to last year he only represented his country in the playoff round which decides whether they stay in the World Group.

KAZAKHSTAN TRIP

The Kazakhstan tie came shortly after the U.S. Open, where Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals, but Swiss media said he should not have waited until the last minute before deciding.

Federer lost only four points on his serve as he won 6-4 5-2 in 51 minutes on Monday, the match prematurely ending after Dolgopolov hurt his ankle.

World number two Federer said the Ukrainian appeared more interested in shaking his hand than worrying about the injury.

"I ask him if he needed water, a towel, if I could help him out.

"He wanted to shake my hand while he was lying down on the floor, I was saying 'put on your shoe, let's hope you're okay, you can maybe walk out and then let's shake hands, don't rush yourself.'"

Federer, once a ball boy at his hometown tournament, is aiming to win it for the fourth time, having lost to Djokovic in last year's final.

"For me, it's always one of the nicest parts of the season," he said.

"In terms of importance, everybody talks about the slams and everything but in terms of emotions, this is obviously very high up there, if not number one.

"I love this tournament, more than any other almost, and it's always wonderful for me to come back here. I try to get good at not getting injury before because it's happened twice before."

Copyright 2010 Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions.

Nadal’s earning power may not match Federer’s

Verdasco eases through opener in Valencia

VALENCIA, Spain (AP) -Spain's Fernando Verdasco delighted the home crowd at the Valencia Open with a 6-4, 6-1 win over Michael Russell in the first round.

Verdasco, who won the tournament in 2004 when it was played on clay, broke the American qualifier five times on the hard indoor court at the City of Arts and Sciences.

The third-seeded Spaniard snapped a four-match losing streak and got his bid to qualify for the year-ending ATP World Tour Finals back on track in the process.

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Verdasco will play Giles Simon next after the Frenchman got past Ukrainian player Sergiy Stakhovsky 6-3, 6-3.

Stanislas Wawrinka came through a tough match with Andreas Seppi, winning 7-6 (2), 7-5 to join Verdasco in the second round, while Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia also progressed with a 6-4, 6-2 win over Arnaud Clement.

Clement hit 20 unforced errors in the first set alone to trail before Gabashvili broke early in the second. The sluggish Frenchman couldn't answer Gabashvili's backhand and was broken again in the seventh game.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Frederico Gil into second round at Open SudCottagers eye Miguel

Nadal and Federer heading back to Abu Dhabi

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -Top-ranked Rafael Nadal and No. 2 Roger Federer are headed back to Abu Dhabi.

Organizers of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship say Nadal and Federer will compete at the tournament scheduled to run over New Year's.

Also on the lineup are Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Marcos Baghdatis.

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Nadal won his first title of 2010 in Abu Dhabi earlier this year. He says the Emirati capital "holds great memories" for him and provides good preparation heading into the Australian Open.

The tournament runs from Dec. 30 to Jan. 1.

© 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Nadal’s earning power may not match Federer’sNadal set for Mallorca role