Djokovic: Masters title up for grabs

SHANGHAI: Novak Djokovic had the best year so far in his career, but the Serbian-born player said he doesn't plan to sit back and relax just because the Masters Cup is considered the end of the annual tennis season.

The tournament, which plays host to the eight best men's singles players in the world and eight pairs of doubles players, has no favorites, said Djokovic. As a result, he said fans should expect the matches to produce some excitement because anyone could walk away with the top prize.

Djokovic, 20, said he landed in Shanghai a full six days ahead of the first game in order to prepare and get accustomed to the city.

"I arrived here Monday morning, so I am really taking it seriously trying to prepare as much as I can," he said. "Obviously there are no favorites. It's a tournament of the best eight players in the world this year so I am sure it's going to be a lot of interesting matches and there might be a lot of surprises as well."

He and the seven other men in the Tennis Masters Cup, which kicked off yesterday at Qi Zhong Tennis Center, chatted at length with reporters after the opening ceremonies Saturday afternoon.

Djokovic said the tournament championship could go to any man since most are energetic and eager.

"It's a very young players' group and it's going to be very interesting to see us on the court," he said. "Everybody's playing with a lot of confidence, with a lot of extra motivation. It's the end of the season, so everybody will try to finish it in a good style."

The right-hander said he hopes this first visit to China isn't his last because he hopes to compete for Serbia during the Olympic Games in Beijing next summer.

"I am looking forward to it," he said about the Summer Games. "Hopefully, I'm going to be healthy in that period so I can come and perform in my first Olympics. It's going to be an amazing experience."

In addition to Djokovic, who was born in Serbia and lives in Monaco, there are seven other players in the tournament: world No 1 Roger Federer of Switzerland, Rafael Nadal of Spain, Nikolay Davydenko of Russia, Andy Roddick of the US, David Ferrer of Spain, Fernando Gonzalez of Chile and Richard Gasquet of Switzerland.

When asked about the terracotta warrior statue made in his likeness, Djokovic cracked a smile.

"It's a fantastic thing, very surprising thing for me. As I said, it's my first time here in Shanghai, in China in general, so they showed it to me before I came here and it looks taller and more beautiful than me."

He said he hopes to find time to explore parts of Shanghai during his stay here but was already impressed with one thing in particular:

"The first thing that amazed me is the fact that there are about 20 million people in this city which is like three times my country," he said.

(China Daily 11/13/2007 page24)