Janko Tipsarevic

despite his performance yesterday, i really like this guy:

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/video/21012012/58/tipsy-time-trolling-rafa-nadal.html

World No 9 Serbian Janko Tipsarevic is the top seed at the upcoming season-opening January 2-8 Aircel Chennai Open. However, it's his doubles campaign with India ace Leander Paes that the super Serb is eagerly anticipating. Paes and Tipsarevic have got together for India's only ATP Tour event after the Indian split with compatriot Mahesh Bhupathi recently. While Bhupathi-Rohan Bopanna have been given top billing at the Chennai tournament, second-seeds Paes-Tipsarevic will be no pushovers.

How do you view the season-opening Chennai Open?
It's a great event... it's as simple as that. And that's the reason I'm playing in it for the fourth time.

Could you share some of your significant experiences in Chennai?
Even though I somehow never expected it coming here, I'd like to admit that the crowd here has been amazing. And that's true even if I'm playing against an Indian player. It gets even more exciting especially if it's a night fixture.

How is the Chennai Open -- India's only ATP event -- different from other ATP events worldwide?
The main difference here is the food. I love Indian food. As far as the tournament goes, it's the people that make all the difference. The people are really polite, easy going and have a lot of respect towards players.

You will be partnering Leander Paes in the men's doubles this time. How did this partnership come about?
I have known Lee for a long time now on the Tour. He is one of the best doubles players in the history of this sport and that's the reason I'm very happy to have this opportunity to partner up with him.

What's your take on Paes and Mahesh Bhupathi, India's topmost doubles pairing of all time?
I think both Lee and Mahesh are fine athletes. They are great representatives of the Indian flag
wherever they go.

Given Paes' popularity here, does that put you under a bit of pressure to win here with him?
I normally play better when the crowd is behind me, and having Lee on my side is just going to reinforce that.
I'm definitely looking forward to this tournament.

http://www.mid-day.com/sports/2011/dec/281211-sports-Chennai-Open-Tipsarevic-hopes-to-create-magic-with-partner-Paes.htm

Serbian Janko Tipsarevic, seeded 11th, cruised past Alex Bogomolov Jr. 6-1, 6-0 in just 51 minutes to keep alive his hopes of qualifying for the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

The World No. 13 won 66 percent of his return points, breaking serve on six occasions to beat the American for the second time this season after taking their semi-final encounter in St. Petersburg.

Tipsarevic must reach the final to have a chance of qualifying for the year-end event at The O2. He’ll square off against fellow contender Tomas Berdych in an important third-round meeting. The Czech, ranked sixth in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Year-To-Date Rankings, will clinch a London berth should he defeat Tipsarevic.

He's certainly got a good shot at WTF now. He's 11th in the race, but it's better than that sounds. For a start, Soderling is injured atm, and Del Potro is skipping the Asian swing so will drop further behind. Almagro likely won't pick up many points for the reast of the season either. Even better, Tipsy has a 0 point penalty for Paris to come off.

Only 315pts behind Berdych in 8th now. Atm Simon/Tips look to be the competitors for that spot. Guys a bit behind like Monfils, Dolgo, Gasquet and Roddick would need to do something big to leapfrog.

Janko Tipsarevic after claiming first ever ATP title in Kuala Lumpur(and his view on the "Battle For London"):

“It feels great. I think I deserved it. I’m so happy that it came in a good place, at a tournament that is really, really nice, and against a good player. Marcos Baghdatis has played in 11 finals and was a former Top 10 player, a Grand Slam finalist. So I feel happy that I won against a great player in a final that I hope kept the fans on the edge of their seats until the very end. I could not be happier.

“I knew I had to play overall good. In two of my previous four finals I was overly aggressive and in two of them I was too defensive, and this is not the way to win an ATP World Tour title. You need to feel the game; you need to know what to do in certain moments. At 5-5 I stayed calm, I didn’t panic; I didn’t choke. I managed to find my game and close out the match in two sets.


[On the Battle For London]: “I know that it’s a really long way off. I have a certain amount of points and another eight guys have like 700 or 800 points more than me, which means I need to perform really good at the Masters 1000 events in Shanghai and Paris in order to have the chance to overtake Tsonga or Fish. But I’m not thinking about that. Since I’m going to stay Top 20 or Top 15 for the rest of the year, I would be overwhelmed if I had the chance to finish Top 10.”

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic passed his sternest test of the tournament so far to advance to the semi-finals of the US Open on Thursday. The Serbian had been severely tested in the first two sets against Janko Tipsarevic, before his countryman was forced to retire from his first Grand Slam quarter-final trailing 7-6(2), 6-7(3), 6-0, 3-0.

“Congratulations to Janko for a fantastic tournament and a great effort today,” said Djokovic in an on-court interview with ESPN. “He’s a great friend of mine and it was not easy to play against him. But he’s definitely playing in the best form of his life and I wish him much more success to come and I hope he recovers.”

The No. 20-ranked Tipsarevic had Djokovic in trouble when he converted his fourth break point opportunity to lead 6-5 in the first set. He failed to serve out the first set, though, and was made to pay in the subsequent tie-break as Djokovic snatched the one-set lead.

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Tipsarevic again squandered a break advantage in the second set, having led 3-1, but made a better start to the ensuing tie-break and went on to level the match as Djokovic hit a backhand long. However, from there it was one-way traffic. Djokovic reeled off nine straight games against the increasingly immobile Tipsarevic and was granted victory after three hours and 27 minutes.

“I think I sensed early in the third set, when I got a break, he lost a lot of pace on his first serve,” reflected Djokovic in his on-court interview. “He wasn’t able to move as well. It’s really unfortunate in a quarter-final of a Grand Slam.”

The 24-year-old Djokovic is through to his fifth successive US Open semi-final. He went on to reach the final for the first time in 2007, losing to Roger Federer, and again last year, falling to Rafael Nadal.

Watch Djokovic Interview

The Belgrade native, who has a 62-2 record on the season, is bidding to become the sixth man in the Open Era to win three major titles in the same year. He defeated Andy Murray in the Australian Open final and bested Nadal at Wimbledon, his only slip-up coming against Federer in the Roland Garros semi-finals.

Djokovic played a scintillating semi-final clash with Federer at Flushing Meadows last year, and will face the Swiss in the last four again after Federer defeated Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in straight sets in the Arthur Ashe night session.

The No. 20-ranked Tipsarevic had Djokovic in trouble when he converted his fourth break point opportunity to lead 6-5 in the first set. He failed to serve out the first set, though, and was made to pay in the subsequent tie-break as Djokovic snatched the one-set lead.

Tipsarevic again squandered a break advantage in the second set, having led 3-1, but made a better start to the ensuing tie-break and went on to level the match as Djokovic hit a backhand long. However, from there it was one-way traffic. Djokovic reeled off nine straight games against the increasingly immobile Tipsarevic and was granted victory after three hours and 27 minutes.

Janko Tipsarevic, the No. 20 seed, advanced on Monday to his first Grand Slam championship quarter-final.

The 27-year-old Serbian knocked out unseeded Spaniard and 2003 runner-up Juan Carlos Ferrero 7-5, 6-7(3), 7-5, 6-2 on Louis Armstrong Stadium at the US Open. It was the pair's first meeting in more than four years.

"I'm really happy, but I'm more happy that my goal of being Top 20 at the end of the year is happening," said Tipsarevic. "I feel really, really lucky that I made a big change at the beginning of this year and things started to pay off almost immediately. It wasn't a pretty beginning of the year, but I'm doing things right and things are paying off. I'm more happy about that than playing quarter-finals."

Tipsarevic broke serve in the 12th game, when Ferrero hit a backhand into the net that wrapped up the 59-minute first set.

Ferrero failed to converted two break point opportunities in the second set, which was decided on a tie-break. But Ferrero raised him game to lead 6-2 in the tie-break and clinched the set in 68 minutes when Tipsarevic hit a return long.

Tipsarevic regrouped and in a gruelling third set, the Serbian managed to break Ferrero in the 11th game before closing out to love with a 124 miles per hour ace.

Ferrero's resistance ended at 1-2, when he was broken to 15. Tipsarevic grew in confidence and broke a second time, to love, for a 4-1 lead. Minutes later, he wrapped up his 39th win of a career-best year with his 20th ace.

He hit 54 winners overall and converted four of 10 break point opportunities for victory in three hours and 43 minutes.

"I feel that he was a little bit psychologically down [after the third set], of course, which is understandable," reflected Tipsarevic. "He ran out of fuel in his tank because I think first two rounds he played like nine hours. He was much longer on court than me. I feel that that in the third set, apart from me playing and serving extremely well, I feel that that was kind of an issue."

Ferrero, who lost to Andy Roddick in the final eight years ago, won 25 per cent of points on return of serve. He committed 39 unforced errors, one more than Tipsarevic, and hit eight double faults.

"I think physically I didn't get in the fourth set," said Ferrero. "Like maybe not 50 per cent, because I have a little problem in my adductor, so I couldn't resist the whole time. It was very difficult to return his serve because I couldn't move very fast against the ball. Mentally it was tough to recover."

The former World No. 1, now aged 31, was playing his first major championship of the season, following time off to recover from left knee and right wrist surgeries. The World No.105 drops to a 14-7 season record.

Tipsarevic, playing at the US Open at a career-high No. 20 in the South African Airways 2011 ATP Rankings, will next face his fellow Serbian and World No. 1 Novak Djokovic.

"I'm going to try to play my game a little bit more aggressive than I did today," said Tipsarevic in explaining how he will try to inflict just the third defeat of the year on his countryman. "I cannot rely on my serve that much against Novak because he's, I think, the best return player out there. Just hope and go for the win. You really need to go for your shots and use the opportunities that you have if you want to have a chance against this guy."

Janko Tipsarevic equalled his best Grand Slam championship performance by advancing to the US Open fourth round on Saturday.

The No. 20 seed from Serbia was leading ninth-seeded Czech Tomas Berdych 6-4, 5-0 after 70 minutes of play, when Berdych retired due to a right shoulder injury. Tipsarevic had hit 17 winners and four aces at the time. Berdych received treatment on his right arm at the end of the first set.

"I'm happy that I won the first set because I feel that had nothing to do with an injury, but I'm happy that I executed the next five games in the second set," said Tipsarevic, who has twice reached the Last 16 at Wimbledon in 2007 (l. to Ferrero) and 2008 (l. to Schuettler). He improved to 4-0 lifetime versus Berdych, having recently beaten him at the Rogers Cup in Montreal.

World No. 9 Berdych dropped to a 41-18 match record on the season. Tipsarevic will next meet Spaniard Juan Carlos Ferrero, the 2003 runner-up, who was leading No. 31 seed Marcel Granollers 6-1, 4-3 when his fellow Spaniard retired with a back injury after 51 minutes of play.

On facing Tipsarevic, Ferrero admitted, "I think he's playing very well not only this tournament, but two weeks ago he played semi-finals in Montreal. He's in his highest ranking right now, so for sure he's going to be very motivated to play. I know very well he's playing his best tennis now."

Ferrero, 31, is contesting his first major championship of the season after left wrist and right knee surgeries put him out of action. The World No. 105 is now 14-6 on the year.

Berdych will next play No. 20 seed Janko Tipsarevic, who took out German Philipp Petzschner 6-0, 6-3, 3-6, 6-3. Last year Tipsarevic upset Andy Roddick in the second round of the Open.