Djokovic Gives Tsonga Walk-Over in Paris Masters

Novak Djokovic withdrew from the Paris Masters tournament on Friday before his quarterfinal match against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, handing the Frenchman a walk-over into the semifinals, where he will face John Isner (who beat World #5 David Ferrer 6-3 3-6 6-3). Djokovic published a statement on his official website, NovakDjokovic.rs, which said (in Serbo-Croatian): "Sadly I have to inform you that I have withdrawn from the tournament. I have pushed myself to the limit by playing, and after the match yesterday my shoulder got worse."

Djokovic has only lost 4 times all year, compared to 69 wins. His 69th win was a come-from-behind win against Viktor Troicki. By playing in Paris even though his shoulder injury is clearly not recovered from his shocking loss to Kei Nishikori last Saturday in Switzerland, the World #1 won a $1.6 million bonus from the ATP for playing in the Paris Masters as part of an incentive for the top players to play all 8 Masters tournaments in a year. Djokovic had already wthdrawn from the Shanghai Masters so if he withdrew from Paris his potential $2 million bonus for winning the most Masters series titles in 2011would have been reduced to nothing. Djokovic's 2011 winnings are well above $10 million because he has won 3 Major titles and 5 Masters series titles so far. His financial haul could increase even more if he does well at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals which start on Sunday November 20th in London.

Meanwhile back in Paris, World #4 Roger Federer is the highest remaining seed left in the only Masters tournament he has never won in his long storied career. He will face Tomas Berdych (who eliminated World #3 Andy Murray) in one semifinal while Isner and Tsonga face off in the other. A Federer-Tsonga final on Sunday in Paris would be an incredible moment.

Federer Beats Nishikori To Win 68th Title

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World #4 Roger Federer won his 2nd title of 2011, the 68th of his majestic career, by defeating Kei Nishikori  6-1 6-3 in Basel, Switzerland. Nishikori spoiled a 3rd consecutive year of Swiss Indoor Championship final matches between Novak Djokovic and Federer when the Japanese player handed the Serbian only his 4th defeat of the year in the semifinals. Nishikori pulled off the most stunning upset of the year by coming back from a set down to beat the World's #1 player 3-6 7-6(4) 6-0, the first player from Asia to defeat a current #1 since Paradorn Srichapan defeated Lleyton Hewitt in 2001.  Federer defeated his countryman Stanislas Wawrinka 7-6(5) 6-2 in the other semifinal and notched his 21st win in 23 matches against Andy Roddick in the quarterfinals. Nishikori's path to the final included Top 10 player Tomas Berdych in the first round who he beat 3-6 6-3 6-2. The tournament was struck by a shocking amount of withdrawals, including Andy Murray and Robin Soderling.

The last Masters 1000 tournament of the year starts Monday in the Bercy suburbs of Paris. It is possible that the only player from the Top 5 in the World playing it will be Federer, as Rafael Nadal announced earlier that he was withdrawing to concentrate on the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London, where he has never done very well.

Nishikori Stuns Djokovic In Basel Semis

Wow! For only the fourth time this year World #1 Novak Djokovic did not win an ATP Tour match after stepping on to the court. He lost to Asia's best male player, Kei Nishikori of Japan 3-6 7-6(4) 6-0. Djokovic was two points from the win receiving 4-5, 0-30 in the second set but his the speedy Japanese playerwas able to track it down and go on to win the tiebreaker; the Serbian only won 10 points in the final set, losing his only bagel set of the year.

Djokovic was clearly not at his best, playing in his first tournament in 6 weeks, and received treatment for a right shoulder injury after winning the first set, the same injury that caused him to retire during his match with Andy Murray at the Cincinnati Open this summer.

In fact, of the four matches Djokovic has lost in 2011, half of them have been to retirements (the loss to Murray in Cincinnati and lost to Juan Martin del Potro in the Davis Cup semifinal). The loss to Nishikori was only the second full match Djokovic has lost all year, out of 72 matches played the Serbian has won 68 (plus a 69th win due to a controversial walk-over in the French Open quarterfinals over the pulchritudinous Fabio Fognini). Roger Federer was the only person to beat Djokovic at a grand slam best-of-5-sets match all year long, doing so in the semifinals in four sets.

Djokovic is likely to pull out of the Paris Masters event starting in Bercy on Monday, but should be okay for the World ATP Tour Finals in London starting November 20th.

Congratulations to Nishikori, who will be playing for his second tour title against either Federer or Stanislas Wawrinka.