Chapter 659: Deja Vu

On October 20, 2014, the last ATP Masters Tournament of the year officially kicked off in Paris with the drums of war beating.

The Paris Masters is not only the only top-level event held in a Grand Slam host city so far, but also one of the oldest and most important top-level events in the ATP calendar:

Since its first edition in 1969, the Paris Masters has been the highest-level ATP event.

In addition, for various reasons, this is also one of the most difficult ATP tournaments to win.

Firstly, the schedule is late in the year and the players are exhausted.

Secondly, indoor hard courts bring greater uncertainty.

As of 2013, the Paris Masters has been held 43 times, and only two players have won the championship three times: Becker and Safin.

There are only five players who have won the title twice: Tom Okker, Brian Gottfried, Sampras, Agassi and Djokovic.

The most incredible thing is that this is the venue where the Big Four have the weakest dominance. Since Federer's strong rise in 2004, the champions of the Paris Masters in the past ten years are arranged in chronological order:

Safin, Berdych, Davydenko, Nalbandian, Tsonga, Djokovic, Soderling, Federer, Ferrer, Djokovic.

After the data is listed, it is clear at a glance.

First, Federer didn't conquer the Paris Masters until 2011.

Second, Nadal and Murray have never been able to reach the top.

Third, Djokovic's dominance on fast hard courts is obviously inferior to that on slow hard courts, and he only won the championship twice, in 2009 and 2013.

Fourth, the uncertainty brought about by the indoor hard court environment allows players of different styles to have the ability to reach the top of the Paris Masters. Players with balanced offense and defense such as Berdych, Ferrer and Davydenko also won the championship.

Finally, so far, no one has successfully defended the title in the history of the event.

Among them, Safin is the closest to defending his title. His three championships came in 2000, 2002 and 2004. He was still a little short of reaching the top the following year.

There is no doubt that all the results prove that the Paris Masters is a tournament full of variables.

This year, the competition leading to the year-end finals has entered a chaotic situation with many strong contenders, and the uncertainty of the Paris Masters has further increased.

Everyone is paying attention.

The air was filled with smoke.

On the first day of the competition, Gawain continued to work diligently on the training ground, while Sampras went to various stadiums to observe and make preparations before the competition.

Gao Wen's draw is a bit tough.

His second-round opponent will be decided between Janowicz and Querrey, and neither opponent will be easy to deal with.

Janowicz, a Polish player, is also the first player born after 1990 to emerge.

His playing style is very sharp and flamboyant. He dares to take risks and take action. He has the vigor of a new generation. His ball path and style are very unique. His smooth offense is like a galactic battleship, but it is not a violent style. Instead, he dares to break the conventional routine.

It is indeed a pleasure to watch.

Many experts believe that Janowicz can become a leader of the new generation.

In 2012, it was at this venue of the Paris Masters that Janowicz emerged out of nowhere. Starting from the qualifying round, he eliminated Cilic, Murray and Simon all the way to the final, becoming the first post-90s player to enter the Masters final. In the end, he unfortunately lost to Ferrer.

In 2013, Wimbledon became the stage for Janowicz to make further breakthroughs. He made it to the semi-finals with great momentum and became the first post-90s player to reach the semi-finals of a Grand Slam. In the semi-finals, after winning the first set, he was tragically reversed by the eventual champion Murray.

With this strong upward momentum, Janowicz's world ranking further set a new career high, reaching 14th place, and he was in the limelight.

Just when everyone thought that Janowicz would naturally break into the top ten in the world, and then repeatedly appear in the top 16 or top 8 of major tournaments, and further launch an attack on the Big Four, the new generation represented by him is about to fully enter the stage.

As a result, injuries struck.

First he injured his back, then his foot, so that since the start of the North American season last year, his games have been intermittent. The injury is not serious enough to keep him away from the court, but it is always there, interfering with and affecting his games.

Moreover, after his sudden emergence, he became a conspicuous target. Everyone was studying his games and style, looking for ways to play against him, which further restricted his performance.

In major competitions, being eliminated in the first or second round no longer seems to be news.

Currently, Janowicz's world ranking has plummeted out of the top 50.

This year, Janowicz's best tournament had something to do with both Gawain and Querrey: Winston-Salem.

There, Janowicz defeated a number of top players including Goffin and Querrey and made it all the way to the final; in the end, he missed two match points in the final, lost to Rosol, and unfortunately finished second.

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It can be seen that Janowicz has been struggling with injuries and has been trying to get back to his peak form, although it is not easy.

Coming to Paris and returning to his blessed land, Janowicz hopes to relive his old dreams, especially in the first round against the opponent he just defeated two months ago. Janowicz also looks forward to getting past Querrey and fighting with the hottest rising star of the "post-90s" generation.

However, ideals are full and reality is skinny.

Three tough games.

Janowicz was eliminated.

After Janowicz ended the 2014 season with a first-round exit, Tennis magazine wrote a feature article that delved into the challenges facing the next generation:

From Janowicz at last year's Wimbledon, to Raonic and Dimitrov at this year's Wimbledon, to Gawain and Thiem at the US Open.

The new generation of players born after 1990 are indeed stepping onto the stage in an all-round way and delivering more and more wonderful performances, but the key lies in that after they achieve good results, they transform from challengers to challenged ones. Their entire mentality, temperament, game, etc. are all different. This is the real test.

Including Gao Wen, the current group of "post-90s" players who have emerged can more or less feel the obvious impact of the "Grand Slam Syndrome". Not to mention facing top players, their performance is not very stable when facing the impact of other players. Obviously, they still need to continue to grow.

2014 was a turbulent year for men's professional tennis. The dominance of the "Big Four" encountered a severe impact, and the new generation rose up. So, in the coming 2015 season, whether the new generation can continue its momentum and further subvert the situation is undoubtedly worthy of attention.

It is precisely because of this that the performance of young players in the Paris Masters and the upcoming year-end finals is worth looking forward to.

His gaze returned to Gawain.

Querrey, Gawain's second-round opponent has been officially confirmed. Suddenly, I felt like I was back at the US Open.

Everything seems familiar.

(End of this chapter)