Top 3 Takeaways from 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters

With the Shanghai Masters coming to an end, the Asian swing of the ATP tour for the year 2018 too has reached its conclusion. It was a tournament that saw some big upsets, emergence of new exciting players, unfortunate injuries and at the end of it all, the coronation of the pre-tournament favourite.

Here are the top 3 takeaways from the tournament.

#1 Novak Djokovic is the BEST Tennis Player on the planet at the moment

Any player who has won back to back Grand Slams should be rightfully considered the best player of the moment. However, thanks to a disastrous first half of the year, in terms of ranking points, Novak is not the number 1 player – yet.

Novak has not only won the last two Grand Slams, but he has also continued with his imperious form by winning the Cincinnati Masters to complete a career golden masters – a feat no other player has been able to achieve. He has now added the Shanghai Masters title to his burgeoning bag of trophies this year.

Of course, he is still behind Rafael Nadal by about 215 ranking points. With Nadal set to make a comeback soon, it is going to be an exciting two-way race to the year-end number 1 position. But on current form, it is safe to conclude that despite what the official rankings have to say, Novak Djokovic is clearly the best tennis player on the planet at the moment.

#2 Old order still intact; Next-Gen has a lot of catching up to do

The Big Three era is very much alive and kicking

For more than a decade, the big three of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have dominated the tennis scene. A couple of their contemporaries, notably Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka have intermittently put a stop to their absolute domination in terms of winning Grand Slams, but only occasionally.

The generation that came next had some players with great potential. But the likes of Marin Cilic, Kei Nishikori, Milos Raonic, and Grigor Dimitrov were mostly blown away by the artistry, power and awesomeness of the big three to such an extent that they are sometimes referred to as the ‘lost generation’.

The next gen has a lot of catching up to do to challenge the monopoly of the Big Three

The latest set of very young and talented players who are now termed as the “Next Gen” were supposed to be the ones who would finally end the monopoly of the big three. It’s true that some of those players, especially Alexander Zverev and a slightly older Dominic Thiem have posed a significant challenge to the old order, but are yet to win a single Grand Slam.

Of course, Father time will catch up with the big three eventually, as it seems to have done with Roger Federer to some extent. Yet, the way Djokovic demolished Zverev and then thwarted Coric’s attempt to win his first Masters, demonstrates that the next gen still has a lot of catching up to do, if they are to win Grand Slams and even Masters 1000s on a regular basis.

#3 Father Time has finally caught up with Roger Federer

Father time seems to have finally caught up with the 'ageless' Roger Federer

When Federer went more than four years without a Grand Slam title to his name, many tennis pundits started writing obituaries of the Swiss Maestro. Then in the Australian summer of 2017, Federer silenced his critics by winning a fifth Australian Open, defeating his old nemesis Rafael Nadal, of all people, in a five-set classic for the ages.

Just to prove that it was not a one-off, he followed that up with the Sunshine Double by winning both the Indian Wells and Miami Open. He skipped the clay court season to preserve himself for the grass court and hard court seasons. That, in hindsight, turned out to be an excellent decision. He was fresh and in top form come Wimbledon. He won a record eighth Wimbledon title, without losing a single set!

His form after that was a bit up and down. But he began 2018 with a bang by defending his Australian Open title. It seemed almost as if Roger had rolled back the years and we were witnessing yet another Federer-era. He decided to play the Rotterdam Open in a bid to become the oldest number 1 player, and succeeded in his endeavour.

But it was a short stay at the top, as his form saw a consistent dip afterward. He could not defend either of the two Masters titles. Even though he skipped the clay court season, his grass court season was far from satisfactory. He lost to Borna Coric in the Halle Open final and to Anderson in the Wimbledon quarter-final, after being in a position to win both those matches. After that, he lost in the 4th round of the US Open and now in the Semi-Finals of the Shanghai Masters. Even his victories in the early rounds of Shanghai Open seemed laboured.

Federer’s 2018 season is by no means over. He still has the ATP 500 Swiss Open and the ATP World Tour Finals, and even perhaps the Paris Masters. Will he be able to surprise us again? Can he rediscover his form and consistency?

It’s possible. But on the evidence of his performances this year after his Australian Open victory, it seems, even though he is still capable of producing moments of magic on the court and his tennis is still a thing of beauty, the consistency to stitch six to seven solid performances together to win big tournaments will be difficult to attain. Father Time, it seems, has finally caught up with the twenty-time Grand Slam winner.