Yes! The ATP World Tour Finals can’t start before the requisite Men in Suits photo session. Along with the British press, another overlooked benefit of hosting the ATP World Tour Finals in London is seeing Federer, Nadal and the rest of the top guys in bespoke tailoring (at least I’ll pretend it is.) Here are some photos from Class Picture Day – I mean ATP World Tour Media Day at the County Hall Marriot Hotel.

These school assemblies are always so boring. . .

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Really, how lucky are we to have three ATP Top Models in the final 8?  Federer, Djokovic and Verdasco are obviously engaged in a heated pose-off in the photo below. While I love Roger’s masculine bearing, Nole takes it with his casual Gene Kelly elegance. Verdasco gets points for coaching del Po and Soderling has an honorable mention for his Swedish Sears catalogue look. Davydenko is obviously in character for the starving P.O.W. role he’s playing next week in the West End.

How the heck did Andy Murray get Dr. Ivo’s pants?

Who will be head of the class?

Nice trophy, right? It was made in England by expert silversmiths. You can check out the video on the ATP website.

Some year book photos:

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images via Daylife

AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth via Daylife

Candids! This one’s begging for a caption:

And thanks to “Tem” for passing along the Bryan Bro’s snapshot:

I’m a little concerned about Rafa’s hair:

I think Roger is, too:

Yes, Roger is deep in thought about it.

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Rafa’s like “awkward!”

CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

What ho! Is that Halley’s Comet or ATP CEO Adam Helfant? The players record this momentous occasion:

Andy Murray and the Bryan Brothers took part in the draw ceremony for the ATP World Tour Finals on Wednesday in a pod of the London Eye Ferris wheel. Here are the round robin groups for the singles and doubles competitions, which run from November 22 – 29:

2009 ATP World Tour Finals Singles Draw:

Group A
Roger Federer
Andy Murray
Juan Martin del Potro
Fernando Verdasco

Group B
Rafael Nadal
Novak Djokovic
Nikolay Davydenko
Robin Soderling

Group A: Based on head-to-heads, Murray rules Group A. He holds a winning record over everyone else, for a combined win-loss tally of 17-5.  Roger has a 12-7 win-loss record over Group A, with 6 of those 7 losses coming to Andy Murray. All the players in this group have struggled with injury since the US Open, with Murray winning the group’s only title a couple weeks ago in Valencia. Based on the head-to-heads, recent form, and home-crowd advantage, Murray’s a shoe-in for the semis. And Roger Federer (apart from being Roger Federer) has the extra motivation of playing for the year-end No. 1. Group A matches up badly for Verdasco and del Potro is likely too gimpy to get through. But you never know – the tournament can’t be called the WTF for nothin’.

Your predictions:

Group B: This is where the Mojo’s at! Based on their form, Nole and Kolya (the 2008 WTF finalists) are the guys to beat – not only in the Group but in the entire tournament. Nole, the defending champ, has been on a tear this fall, winning 3 titles: over Cilic in Beijing, Roger Federer in Basel and Gael Monfils in Paris (where he also took out Rafael Nadal in straights in the semis.) His only loss in the past months has been to Nikolay Davydenko in the semis of the Shanghai Masters. Kolya went on to win the title, beating Rafael Nadal in straight sets in the finals. Speaking of Rafa – he’s lost to all of the Group B players in their most recent meetings. The most painful loss was to Robin Soderling in the round of 16 at the French. Besides the possibility of retaking the no. 1 ranking from Roger, revenge may be the major motivator as the Spaniard progresses through Group B.

Your predictions:

2009 ATP World Tour Finals Doubles Draw – Nestor and Zimonjic and the Bryan Bros are battling for the year-end No. 1 ranking.

Group A
Daniel Nestor – Nenad Zimonjic
Mahesh Bhupathi – Mark Knowles
Frantisek Cermak – Michal Mertinak
Mariusz Fyrstenberg – Marcin Matkowski

Group B
Bob Bryan – Mike Bryan
Lukas Dlouhy – Leander Paes
Lukasz Kubot – Oliver Marach
Max Mirnyi – Andy Ram

FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

Better late than never! Novak Djokovic beat Gael Monfils, 6-2, 5-7, 7-6(3), in the Bercy final on Sunday, claiming his first (and last) Masters 1000 title of the year – in five attempts and on four surfaces. This is also Nole’s second trophy in as many weeks, following a nervy win over Roger Federer in the Basel finals last Sunday. He scored another major victory in this week’s semis, taking his rival and World No. 2, Rafael Nadal, out to the woodshed for a 6-2, 6-3 beat down.

Think Nole’s feeling up to defending his title at the upcoming World Tour Finals?

Here are highlights from Sunday’s final in Bercy:

And Djokovic’s post-match interview, where he declares himself “deeeelighted” with the win:

The match entertained me for two reasons:

1. Monfils’ hometown crowd refused to let him fold, encouraging him with chants and bongo drums even when he was being embarrassed in the first set and a half. This is the upside to the notorious French crowd.

2. Both guys know how to express themselves:

JACQUES DEMARTHON/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

FRED DUFOUR/AFP/Getty Images via Daylife

After the match, I found myself happy for Djokovic and completely confused by Monfils. Is he a pusher with a big serve? A comet-quick shot maker or a defensive one-trick pony? A headcasey choker? A world-class ham? Jumping bean or Gumby? Maybe he’s still figuring it out, himself.

Identity crisis or no, Monfils does see himself as a Top 10 player:

“This end of season gives me really the desire to work hard so that next year maybe I will have a full season. I’m thinking if I was able to play all the year round, all the tournaments, how good it would be. Without doing that, I’m already Top 13. I don’t want to over-estimate myself, but if I had played a full year this year I would have been among the Top 10. I’m almost sure of that. I’m sure next year I will be able to get back within the Top 10.“

It’s time to get to work, Gael! Don’t be fooled by the “off” in off-season.

Whenever I get excited for quarterfinals day, the matches never live up to my expectations. Friday at the Paris Masters was no exception. I was pulling for either a Nadal vs. Soderling grudge match in the semis or a chance for Tsonga to defend his title. Instead we get Novak Djokovic out-scrapping the Sod and Tsonga choking break points against Nadal. I won’t even get into Del Potro’s poop-out against Stepanek. At least Gael Monfils kept things interesting:

Saturday’s semifinals line-up in Paris will be: Djokovic vs. Nadal and Stepanek vs. Monfils. I’d say I’m excited, but I don’t want to jinx it.

Here are Friday’s highlights:

The biggest stories coming out of Bercy on Friday had more to do with the World Tour Finals than the Paris Masters. Rafael Nadal continues to chip his way closer to the year end No. 1 ranking, which could be within his reach by London. Rafa’s win over Tsonga also guaranteed his countryman, Fernando Verdasco, the final spot at the WTF. (Personally, I’ve found this week’s tournament to be a big WTF.)

Here’s the ATP’s World Tour Finals line-up:

Any day that Marat Safin and Roger Federer are kicked out of a tournament is a bad one. And today Marat’s gone forever! Oh well, at least some people are happy after Wednesday’s Paris Masters. Julien Benneteau got his best win, ever. Rafael Nadal saved 5 match points. Marat Safin doesn’t have to play tennis anymore. Whoopee f’ing doo.

Here are the video lowlights/highlights:

Andy Murray is also through, taking out James Blake in three tight sets.

Novak Djokovic beat Roger Federer 6-4, 4-6, 6-2 in the Davidoff Swiss Indoors tournament in Basel this Sunday.

I admit it. Halfway through the first set I thought “Roger Federer’s forehand took off early – and is spending the offseason in Miami.” But there were no racquet smashes in this one – and no tears at the trophy ceremony:

It was a puzzling match. Roger Federer walked onto the court smiling, seemingly relaxed. And why not? He was playing at home, at a tournament he’s won three times in a row, his last loss in Basel coming in 2003 (he didn’t play the tournament again until 2006). Djokovic is a world class opponent, but Roger owned their head-to-head 9-4, beating Nole handily in their last meeting at the US Open this summer. Novak also struggled in his semifinal match on Saturday, needing to save three match points against Radek Stepanek.

But Novak drew first blood, breaking Roger in the first set. Then the nerves kicked in for both players, with Nole needing 20+ minutes and 6 set points to eke out his final service game of the set (Roger flubbed 5 break opportunities in the game). Federer wrestled the second set away after losing his first service game of the set, only to lose the momentum by being broken immediately in the third. Roger went down 0-4 in the final set and couldn’t find a way out of the hole.

“I think the lack of opportunities was the problem today,” said Federer. “I missed too many chances throughout the match. Novak played well and make it tough for me to get chances, but when I had them he also played well.”

“Nothing is easy, believe me, against Roger,” said Djokovic. “I knew he was going to try to come back at any time. Although I was two breaks up [in the third set], he had some break points but I served well at the key moments.”

Novak is finishing the year strong, winning his second title since the US Open. It’s the perfect build up to the season-ending World Tour Finals, where he is the defending champ.

But don’t despair, Fed fans, Roger says he’s still “in the mood” to end the season well:

“We have some exciting weeks ahead of us, for all the players,” said Federer. “I won Roland Garros in the summer and now I return to Paris. Of course having won Wimbledon, I will return to London. It will be interesting to see how the crowds will be, as I have never gone back to Paris as the Roland Garros champion. I am feeling well and mentally fresh. I am in the mood to do well there.“

I’m in the mood, too, Roger!

Both Federer and Djokovic will be playing in the Paris Masters this coming week. Federer and Murray are on one half of the draw, Djokovic and Nadal are on the other side.

Quotes via ATP

The ATP’s latest “Uncovered” features Marian Vajda, Novak Djokovic’s coach and “second father.”

Perhaps the deep personal bond between the two explains why Marian is comfortable sharing coaching duties with Todd Martin, who joined Team Djokovic around the time of this year’s US Open.

Novak spoke recently about how the Vajda/Martin tag-team works (Quotes via The Independent):

“He [Martin] has a lot of obligations,” Djokovic said. “He’s still very active and he’s a father of three kids. It’s hard to find the right times, but we’re doing well now. We try to make compromises over who is going to work with me where. Generally I think it will be Todd I’ll work with when I go to the States and Marian when I’m in Europe”.

Nole says Martin wields his own paternal influence:

“When I get frustrated I throw my racket. Then I look at Todd and I’m kind of scared about what his reaction might be, what he’s going to say. But he always says: ‘The shot you made before the mistake was good. So keep it going.’ He always tries to find the positive in everything. I think that’s a great thing about him. He’s going to bring a lot of freshness to the team”.

So it’s a little like shared custody?

Novak Djokovic is playing this week in Basel. He faces Jan Hernych in the second round.

The ATP’s calendar was the hot topic in the Shanghai Masters press room last week, but there were plenty of other interesting exchanges, covering everything from sex, sports cars and when the heck a Frenchman will ever win a major. Before it’s old news, I thought I’d post some of my favorites:

Novak Djokovic on sex vs. Wimbledon (from an interesting interview in the Times U.K.)

So what was better, winning a grand-slam tournament or sex? “Nothing, nothing, nothing is better than sex, it is what God created us to do,” (Djokovic) replied. But what if he were to win Wimbledon? “Ask me the question again on that day,” he said.

Rafael Nadal thinks tennis players are like high-performance sports cars:

But, you know, when you played a lot of matches during all the season is tough, no? And the body, when you put the body all the time at the limit, so is difficult, no? Anyway, if you work hard on your physical with your physio, it’s the same like Formula 1. (laughter.) Yeah, that’s true, the best cars of the world, but at the same time the cars brokes more than your car. That’s the reason, because the car is always at the limit. So we are the same.

Gael Monfils predicts that a Frenchman will win a major “soon,” but I sense he has some reservations:

I mean, we close. And I think certainly in front of us we have like top guy. We have a legend, we can say, Roger. We have another semi-legend, Rafa. And then after we, let’s say with four, also, Djoko, Murray. So, I mean, it’s tough for us, Del Potro. So, I mean, we fight and we will not give up. I think we will have one soon. We will have one soon. Don’t know when, but for sure we work hard. We have guys, even with me, also, to win one, but not forget like in front of us we have like top guy also, so I mean, we would love to, but actually it’s tough. I mean, let’s say on clay this year what Rafa win like four in a row and then on grass, and Roger can win everywhere. Then we have Del Potro, Murray. So I think it will be time, but I think maybe next year we will have maybe one.

Marat Safin on his eternal competitive fire:

Q. You seem very disappointed. For me it’s a sign of motivation. I was wondering, why would you want to stop if you’re disappointed after almost beating Tomas Berdych? Don’t you think you have it in here?
MARAT SAFIN: Because I’m a absolute player. I’ll be dying, still being a player, so it doesn’t matter really. Tennis is something else. It’s still — the competition is still in me, and there will be disappointments no matter what I do. It’s not like — it’s not lack of — not motivation. Yeah, motivation. I just don’t feel like doing this thing anymore. It’s nothing emotional about it, but still, of course, you get frustrated if it’s something you don’t achieve no matter what you do. So it doesn’t really — is not especially in tennis

And Safin on giving back to the fans:

Q. You are a very private person. How hard for you to, like — in one week you say good-bye to China fans twice in farewell ceremony.
MARAT SAFIN: Well, it’s a little bit — soon I will be used to it. Yeah, well, it’s nice. I have to give the credit to the people that have been supporting me for so many years. So I have to give it back, something. I need to say it loud and say thank you very much. Once again, it doesn’t hurt. That’s really — it’s only a smart part I can do for the fans, so just — if I have to say it 10,000 times, I will say thanks 10,000 times. It will still not be enough for them to stand with the flags and with the small boards, all the things they do with the pictures, with the signs. It’s so much — they give so much to you. So it’s really — it will never be enough to give it back. So just two times, it’s not a big deal, eh?

The players partied on the helipad of the Shanghai Hilton to celebrate this week’s Masters tournament. They managed not to look too grumpy, and Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal even dressed up a little:

Marat, do you really want to wrap up your final season wearing plaid flannels? Come on now:

That’s more like it!

Novak Djokovic and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga were the ATP’s champs this weekend, with wins at the China and Japan Opens, respectively. Here are some video highlights and post match interviews from the finals.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga beat Mikhail Youzhny in just over an hour in Tokyo:

An interview with a happy Jo-Dubs:

Novak Djokovic beat Marin Cilic 6-2. 7-6 (4) in Beijing:

Djokovic’s post-match interview: