ROGERS CUP TITLES FOR DJOKOVIC, HALEP

This Week In Tennis
​Vol. 30

Novak Djokovic and Simona Halep are the 2016 Rogers Cup champions, with the ATP #1 winning in Toronto and Halep inMontreal. Djokovic was able to secure one of the few titles that eluded him in 2015, while Halep made up for having to retire in last year's final in Toronto against Belinda Bencic. Tennis in Canada was overshadowed by the news of Roger Federer missing the rest of the 2016 season to continue rehabilitation on his surgically repaired knee. 

​Volume 30 of #ThisWeekInTennis recaps the 2016 Rogers Cup, presenting player tweets, press quotes, ranking movers, tennis writing, and podcasts from Toronto and Montreal.

​Let's get started!

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RUNDOWN
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• Novak Djokovic won his fourth Rogers Cup title and 30th Masters 1000 title of his career. Playing for the first time since his third round loss to Sam Querrey at Wimbledon, Djokovic improved to 51-4 in 2016 and won his seventh title of the year.  
• After retiring in last year's final in Toronto, Simona Halep went the distance this time around, defeating Madison Keys in straight sets. Her path to the title included wins over Gavrilova, Pliskova, Kuznetsova, Kerber, and Keys. 
• Madison Keys re-enters the WTA top 10 after making her third final of 2016. She previously won Birmingham and lost in the Rome final to Serena Williams. 
• Kei Nishikori made the third Masters 1000 final of his career and second of 2016 last week in Toronto. As was the case in Miami, Nishikori lost in straight sets to Novak Djokovic. 
• Gael Monfils followed his title in Washington, D.C. with a run to the semifinals in Toronto, losing in straight sets to eventual champion, Novak Djokovic. The result bumps the Frenchman three spots in the ATP rankings to #11. 
• Roger Federer is out for the rest of the year. The 17-time Grand Slam champion will rehabilitate the knee on which he had surgery after the 2016 Australian Open. 
• Stan Wawrinka made the semifinals in Toronto, losing in straight sets to Kei Nishikori. He also announced his withdrawal from the Olympics. 
• Denis Shapovalov, 2016 Wimbledon junior champion, scored the upset of the tournament in Toronto when he beat Nick Kyrgios in the first round. The 17-year-old cracks the ATP top 300 for the first time in his career at #291. 
• Bob and Mike Bryan, defending Olympic doubles champions, have also withdrawn from the upcoming Rio Olympics. 
• Vasek Pospisil announced a split with his coach. Meanwhile, longtime doubles partner Jack Sock announced he will be paring back the amount of doubles he plays to focus on his singles career.

PRESS

Q. Is it fair to say you won that title without playing your best tennis?
SIMONA HALEP: Actually it was not my best tennis because I couldn't play my best tennis. She was hitting very strong. As anyone knows, I cannot hit stronger than her because she's very strong and it's impossible for my height and for my body.
I try just to put the ball away from her, just to make her run. I think I did it pretty well, and she missed. It was really tough for me to make winners today because her ball was coming too hard.
I'm tired (smiling).

Q. Congratulations for a great tournament. It seems to me that from beginning of the week you slowly built up and getting better and better. Today was just, particularly toward the end of first set, you were just hitting the ball with great authority. Are you satisfied with where you are now before you go to Olympics?
KEI NISHIKORI: Well, yeah. Today, yeah, I think he stepped it up. He raise his level I think a lot from these couple days, couple days ago.
He played really deep, and he didn't give me any, like, free points. Especially he was serving really well, so I didn't have many, you know, chance for my return game. So I was really feeling the pressure every game.
Maybe second set maybe I had some chance, but there was too many unforced errors from me. Well, also he was playing good, but I couldn't play good tennis today.

Q. You had Stanford last week, this week Montréal, then off to Rio. The grind of the tour, going week to week, tournament to tournament, how has it changed throughout your career?
VENUS WILLIAMS: It's been intense. Usually I don't play this much back-to-back. But I knew what I was going to do going into the year, what it was going to take. I still wanted to play the US Open Series as well as the Olympics. I'm not playing any more of the US Open Series after this, so I realize I got to get it in right here.
I never sign up for anything that I don't think I can achieve. I like to be honest. If I sign up for a tournament, I want to show up. If I don't, you know I just really couldn't be there.

Q. You come into the tournament, lost to Querrey at Wimbledon, a few weeks off, little bit not so good at beginning of the tournament. How would you explain the evolution of playing so well from the beginning of the tournament to the end of the tournament?
NOVAK DJOKOVIC: Well, it's a process like any other that has happened many times in my career where I would start a tournament still feeling a little bit uncomfortable on the court and finding my rhythm, and then in the end of the tournament, as the tournament goes on, I find that proper comfort level with shots, with the way I feel, with mental attitude. And the two best performances have arrived in semifinals and finals at the right moment for me.
So that gives me a lot of confidence that I will try to carry into Rio. Everything in life happens for a reason, so, you know, the fact that I have lost in the first week of Wimbledon allowed me to have a week more of the time with my family and just the quality time off the tennis, thinking about other things, recharging my batteries, and then coming in here with plenty of motivation to do well.
So I couldn't ask for a better start of the hard court season, and hopefully I can keep going in the right direction.

Q. On the Olympics, are you going down there with the mindset of medal, medal, medal, or with the mindset of this is the Olympics, I want to enjoy the experience? Lindsay said in the past people just go and have fun at the Olympics. How do you see it?
MADISON KEYS: It's funny, Lindsay actually called me before. She said, You're going to go. You're going to the open ceremonies. You're going to go to the village. You're going to experience the Olympics.
I'm really excited to do that. But she also said, If you're in a position where you could potentially win a medal, that's when you stop going to the village and you don't go to the other sports (smiling).
It's a combination of both. It's enjoying it, but it's also knowing when to enjoy it and when to be focused.

Thank you, Montreal, thank you team! pic.twitter.com/vkzRBTqXkX

— Simona Halep (@Simona_Halep) August 1, 2016

Con el equipo en #Rio!! pic.twitter.com/42cbgsz0vZ

— Rafa Nadal (@RafaelNadal) August 1, 2016

A Statement regarding my racket for today @CoupeRogers pic.twitter.com/lFwLOD96HT

— Zheng Saisai (@Zheng_Saisai) July 27, 2016

It's been democratically decided! From now on, accounts that tweet me w/ variant of "stick to tennis" will b blocked https://t.co/B0jGRG3mup

— Nicole Gibbs (@Gibbsyyyy) July 29, 2016

That kind of day at the office !!!□□□□□□□✌□️□□□ but thanks @rogerscup for a great week… https://t.co/8K3vizBdrm

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) July 31, 2016

Celine's voice makes me feel emotions I didn't know I had □□□ pic.twitter.com/OJniYVmGpd

— Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard) August 1, 2016

Team Canada off to Rio. Here we come! #canttouchthis □□ @GenieBouchard @danielnestor9 @gabydabrowski @TeamCanada pic.twitter.com/GC3J3sn7mo

— Vasek Pospisil (@VasekPospisil) August 2, 2016

RANKINGS WATCH

• ​WTA: Halep (+2 to #3), Keys (+3 to #9), Suarez Navarro (-3 to #12), Kasatkina (+6 to #27), Bouchard (+3 to #39), Zhang (+8 to #51), Sevastova (-7 to #55), Flipkens (-8 to #62), Wang (+10 to #66), Giorgi (+9 to #68), Kucova (+44 to #77), Hibino (-9 to #84), Gasparyan (-33 to #89)

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• ​ATP: Wawrinka (+1 to #4), Nadal (-1 to #5), Monfils (+3 to #11), Pouille (-4 to #27), Anderson (+6 to #28), Dimitrov (+6 to #34), Fognini (-8 to #41), Young (+4 to #53), Youzhny (+4 to #57), Haase (+14 to #62), Kukushkin (-9 to #68), Seppi (-23 to #74), Bedene (-16 to #85), Shapovalov (+79 to #291)

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READING LIST

James McGee's Struggles on the Fringes of Tennis
​73 Q's With Serena Williams
In the Player's Lounge in Toronto
The Five Toughest Players I've Ever Faced - Christina McHale
Summer Winds at their Backs
Bird Song
Teachable Moment
The Matter of Monfils
Wait Until Next Year
Tennis' Older Generation Proves They've Still Got it at Rogers Cup
Teen Tennis Star Denis Shapovalov Steps Into Rogers Cup Spotlight
Top Tennis Tips with Marcus Willis

PODCASTS

The Body Serve - Roger That: Tennis Comes Home to Canada
No Challenges Remaining - Federer Out, Olderers In
​Realz Tenis Fanz - We’re back but Federer is OUT
​Tennis Connected - Reviewing the 2016 Rogers Cup
WTA Insider - Halep Wins Montreal wins Montreal
The Tennis Podcast - Djokovic 'Slump' Over: A Catherine Whitaker Monologue