Montreal Draw – Can Anyone Stop Djokovic from Winning a Fourth Canada Masters?

1. Novak Djokovic (1) 2. BYE 3. Thomaz Bellucci 4. Pablo Cuevas 5. Jack Sock 6. Adrian Mannarino 7. Alexandr Dolgopolov (Q) 8. Grigor Dimitrov (14) 9. Kevin Anderson (12) 10. Lukas Rosol 11. Ernest Gulbis (Q) 12. Dominic Thiem 13. Denis Kudla (Q) 14. Donald Young (Q) 15. BYE 16. Thomas Berdych (5) 17. Stan Wawrinka (3) 18. BYE 19. Fernando Verdasco 20. Nick Kyrgious 21. Vasek Pospisil (WC) 22. Yen-Hsun Lu (Q) 23. Benjamin Becker 24. John Isner (16) 25. Richard Gasquet (11) 26. Jeremy Chardy 27. Hyeon Chung (Q) 28. Leonardo Mayer 29. Jerzy Janowicz 30. Ivo Karlovic 31. BYE 32. Milos Raonic (8) ========================== 33. Rafael Nadal (7) 34. BYE 35. Sergiy Stakhovsky 36. Filip Peliwo (WC) 37. Viktor Troicki 38. Mikhail Youzhny (Q) 39. Andreas Seppi 40. Giles Simon (9) 41. David Goffin (13) 42. Steve Johnson (SE) 43. Sam Querrey 44. Martin Klizan 45. Frank Dancevic (WC) 46. Pablo Andujar 47. BYE 48. Kei Nishikori (4) 49. Marin Cilic (6) 50. BYE 51. Joao Sousa 52. Bernard Tomic 53. Roberto Bautista Agut 54. Janko Tipsarevic (PR) 55. Boran Coric 56. Jo Wilfred Tsonga (10) 57. Gael Monfils (15) 58. Fabio Fognini 59. Philip Bester (WC) 60. Gilles Muller 61. Feliciano Lopez 62. Tommy Robredo 63. BYE 64. Andy Murray (2) http://www.couperogers.com/en/schedules-and-results/draws/

Hi there. It’s finally time for some serious tennis again after the month break since Wimbledon. Personally, I can use a distraction and I hope you guys are ready for some action too. Last week was Washington and Kitzbuhel where Nishikori and Kohlschreiber walked away with the silverware. Thiem couldn’t quite manage the hat-trick losing to Kohlschreiber in the semis and he was clearly getting tired. But it has still been a fantastic few weeks for him and he is officially a top 20(18) player now! As for Nishikori, he won a tenth title in Washington but still hasn’t won anything above ATP 500 level. Nishikori had some good wins against Cilic in the semis and Isner in the final, both after dropping the first set. It was good to see because Nadal is in his quarter in Montreal. Having made the US Open final last year Nishikori is a threat on the hard courts but I still think his serve is too much of a liability. It is too slow and attackable.

Looking elsewhere in the draw, Federer is not playing which means Murray is the second seed. Murray lost his first match in Washington which means he is not exactly making it hard for Federer to get the second seed at in New York, but I’m sure he’d want to make amends this week. A semi-final between him and Nishikori would be interesting. But I’m also looking forward to seeing what Nadal’s form looks like after winning Hamburg. A quarterfinal between him and Nishikori would be good entertainment. In the top half, the Djoker is back after a nice long break which means he will be fresh for the all-important North-American hard court season where he will be looking to win a second US Open. Being 1-4 in US Open finals he’d desperately want to win another slam there with the form he is in. He is too good a hard court player to have won only one US Open thus far.

Winning it would also give him another 3-slam title year and get him into double figures for slam titles. That would set him up nicely to dominate for a few more years and get into the GOAT debate. His draw is quite easy until the semis where he could meet Stan. Stan is the only guy that can really threaten Djokovic at this point, but there is still a question mark over his consistency. He already has Isner in his section who will be tough to deal with. Djokovic should easily be the favorite for the title as well as for the other two big events in the US Open series. Cincinnati is, of course, the only Masters he hasn’t won so that’s going to be an interesting event, especially with Federer back. But like I said, with the way Djokovic has dominated this season he is the favorite for all three the big events. The US Open is, of course, the big one though and he’d be more than happy to win only one of the Masters if it means he will win a second US Open. Tomorrow he opens against Bellucci! Montreal is where it all started for Djokovic when he defeated the number five(Roddick), two(Nadal), and one(Federer) in the world in succession to win the title. The

is in your court.

Posted in Canada, Masters 1000.

10 Comments

1. Matt
  
  August 11, 2015 at 4:37 pm Reply
  
  Good post, Ru-an. As great as this week should be, Cincy should be very interesting. Djokovic does seem focused and he certainly needs to be. The tune-up begins. He sounds rested and ready to march!
  [Reply]
  Ru-an Reply: August 11th, 2015 at 5:57 pm Thanks, Matt. I’m looking forward to both weeks of tennis, although Cincy will be a little more interesting since Djokovic will be trying to complete the career Masters. I don’t think anyone has ever done it although I stand corrected. And if he plays Federer I like his chances too after what happened at Wimbledon, but Federer would still be in with a great shot. Djo’s mind is good anyway. If he fails to win the USO it won’t be due to over-confidence. He is taking everything in his stride.
  [Reply]
  Charlie Reply: August 12th, 2015 at 11:57 am I agree with you Ru-an, Djokovic is the favourite for everything at the moment, just like Federer in his prime before Nadal turned up. That doesn’t mean he will WIN everything obviously, but you are correct in your assessment that there is not really any consistent challenger at the moment. I think that is why most people don’t appreciate Djokovic and to a lesser extent Federer and their wins. Because they never really had rivals in their primes because they were so dominant. Hewitt, Roddick etc were not bad players, Federer just made them look average. Same thing with Djokovic, an older Federer and also Murray in decent form along with Stan are decent competition and all of them would have won more in other era, but Djokovic makes them look average. Over the last 10 years we have had the chance to watch three legends (as much as I dislike him I have to give Nadal his dues) battling it out against each other and winning major title after major title. A run like this is unprecedented in tennis history and we should enjoy it while we can.
  [Reply]
  Ru-an Reply: August 12th, 2015 at 12:22 pm Yes, the domination is indeed impressive Charlie. The level of Djokovic this year and at Wimby has been incredible. Just look how Federer played against Murray in the semis. That was him at his best, and yet Djokovic just took it to yet another level in the final. Just unbelievable quality. It’s like you say, not really lack of challengers just that his level is so high. Same as Federer in his prime. Good points.
  [Reply]

1. steve
  
  August 11, 2015 at 11:31 pm Reply
  
  Probably not. He’ll want to pace himself. Don’t know if he can manage to sweep the US hard-court Masters and USO, that’s a lot of tennis, especially since Montreal and Cincinnati are back-to-back tournaments. The post-Wimbledon break before the HC season is a bit shorter these days thanks to the extra week after RG. Still you would expect him to be in the finals of all three events and win a couple of them. Nishikori will always run out of gas at inopportune moments. If he makes it to the finals of a big event, he’ll either be up against an aggressive player in great form who can blow him away (Cilic) or against a tireless defender with more raw power (Nadal). He’s like a modern-day version of Hewitt–he’s got great court sense. But unlike Hewitt, who managed two Grand Slams in the interregnum between the end of the Sampras-Agassi era and the rise of Federer, Nishikori is playing in the midst of Djokovic and Murray’s peak years, with Federer and Nadal still very present. To win a Grand Slam, he’s likely to have to go through two of those players and that’s asking a lot. His best chance was probably last year in New York but Cilic was unstoppable that week. For me, there’s not that much to cheer for at the moment. Maybe there might be one or two interesting matches, but Djokovic is walking away with this title.
  [Reply]

1. Krish
  
  August 12, 2015 at 10:35 pm Reply
  
  Man, I almost completely forgot about tennis – didn’t realise the U.S. Open series was already underway! Djokovic will win if he “feels like it” is my view. I can’t really say more than that because there’s not much else to go on regarding the other players
  [Reply]
  Ru-an Reply: August 12th, 2015 at 10:42 pm That’s the feeling you get with Djokovic at the moment Krish. If he plays like he had been this year there will be no stopping him, but someone can always cause an upset like Stan at the FO.
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  Krish Reply: August 15th, 2015 at 12:55 pm Yeah, he’s playing well. He was almost teasing Gulbis in the match last night – as if he knew he would win even after being 2 match points down. Murray’s looking good now after having fully recovered from his Wimbledon loss. I thought Nishikori played very well last night to get his first win against Nadal (should really be his second win).
  [Reply]

1. Eric
  
  August 15, 2015 at 4:59 am Reply
  
  Hey Ru-an, what do you think about this Kyrgios Wawrinka comment???
  [Reply]
  Ru-an Reply: August 15th, 2015 at 11:20 am Hey Eric, I think way too much is being made of it. It’s strange because this kind of thing has always gone on in professional sport. And yet the ATP goes after Nick for it instead of doing something about the weak doping controls. I think they are quite hypocritical. Not that I am excusing what Nick said, but where do you draw the line? Psyching has always been a part of tennis and there was no rule against it that I am aware of. Aussies have always been known to be brutal in this area like in cricket for instance. They don’t hold back in any way. They will pretty much do whatever helps them win. I don’t respect that so I don’t have a problem what is happening with Nick. I just think the ATP is being hypocritical.
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