The BNP Paribas Masters championship on Sunday features No. 15 seed and hometown favourite Gael Monfils against World No. 3 Novak Djokovic of Serbia. Djokovic has won the previous three meetings, including last year’s quarter-final at the Beijing Olympics. Both players are appearing in their first final in Bercy.

This is the ninth and final ATP World Tour Masters 1000 of the season and the winner will be the fifth different Masters 1000 champion this year. Djokovic is appearing in his ATP World Tour-best 10th final (4-5) of the season and Monfils his third final (1-1). The Frenchman is making his ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final debut while Djokovic is appearing in the 11th of his career (4-6) and fifth title match this year (0-4). This is the Serb’s eighth different ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament title match in his career.

If Monfils wins the title he will jump into the Top 10 (from No. 16) and become the fourth French winner in tournament history.

WHAT’S AT STAKE –
Winner: € 450,000 and 1,000 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points 
Runner-up: € 212,500 and 600 South African Airways 2009 ATP Ranking points
 
FINALS HISTORY –
Monfils: Appearing in his 9th ATP World Tour final… He is 2-6 in finals (1-1 in 2009). Appearing in his 1st ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final
Djokovic: Appearing in his 27th ATP World Tour level final… He is 15-11 in finals (4-5 in 2009)... Appearing in his 11th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final... He is 4-6 in finals (0-4 in 2009)

2009 ATP WORLD TOUR TITLE LEADERS – Djokovic is trying to become the third player with five titles or more in 2009:

Player/Titles
Andy Murray 6 
Rafael Nadal  5
Novak Djokovic 4
Roger Federer  4
Nikolay Davydenko 4

SUNDAY CHAMPIONSHIP HEAD-TO-HEADS –

(15) Gael Monfils (FRA) vs. (3) Novak Djokovic (SRB) Djokovic Leads 3-0
05 US Open (U.S.A.) Hard R128 Novak Djokovic      7-5 4-6  7-6(5)  0-6  7-5
06 Roland Garros (France) Clay R16 Novak Djokovic 7-6(5) 7-6(5)  6-3
08 Beijing Olympics (China) Hard QF Novak Djokovic 4-6 6-1 6-4
Other Meetings:
04 Italy F4 (Bergamo) Clay QF Gael Monfils 6-4  6-7(5)  6-2

	Monfils	Djokovic
Age (Birthdate)	23 (September 1, 1986)	22 (May 22, 1987)
Residence	Nyon, Switzerland	Monte-Carlo, Monaco
ATP Ranking (Career-High)	No. 16 (No. 9  – March 2, 2009)	No. 3 (No. 3 – July 9, 2007)
2009 W-L Record (on Hard)	42-18 (33-14)	75-18 (50-10)
2009 Finals W-L	1-1	4-5
Career Finals W-L	2-6	15-11
Last ATP Final/Last ATP Title	’09 Metz/’09 Metz	’09 Basel/’09 Basel
2009 Tie-Break W-L	14-8	18-15
Paris W-L (Best Result)	6-3 (Final – 2009)	7-4 (Final – 2009)
Coach	Roger Rasheed	Marian Vajda

 

MONFILS FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The Frenchman reached his first final in Bercy as he defeated No. 13 seed Radek Stepanek 64 57 64 …He’s lost one other set en route to the final,  that coming in a 36 64 64 quarter-final victory over No. 12 seed Marin Cilic …He also fired 16 aces and saved all six break points he faced Thursday in a 64 63 win over countryman Julien Benneteau…On Wednesday, he defeated French qualifier David Guez  64 75, as he fired 11 aces…Has a 6-3 career mark
• He leads the tournament with 51 aces and has broken opponents 13 times while losing serve eight times

2009 Highlights:
W: Metz (d Kohlschreiber); F: Acapulco (l Almagro); SF: Doha (l Roddick); Rotterdam (l Nadal); Tokyo (l Tsonga); QF: Roland Garros (l Federer); Kuala Lumpur (l Davydenko); Vienna (l Tipsarevic)

2009 in Review:
• The No. 3 Frenchman (behind No. 9 Tsonga, No. 12 Simon) is appearing in his third ATP World Tour final of the season and ninth of his career (2-6)…If he wins the title he will finish the year as the top Frenchman on the ATP World Tour and move from No. 16 to No. 10
• He has a 42-18 match record (33-14 on hard, 16-6 indoors)…He is making his debut in an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final
• He is trying to become the third Frenchman to win the Bercy title in this decade and fourth overall in tournament history…Jo-Wilfried Tsonga won the title last year, Sebastien Grosjean in 2001 and Guy Forget in 1991
• He is 14-25 lifetime vs. Top 10 opponents (2-8 this year)…He is 0-2 in finals vs. Top 10 foes, losing to No. 3 Roddick in ’05 Lyon and to No. 1 Federer in ‘06 Doha
• In late September he captured his second career ATP World Tour title in Metz, defeating German Philipp Kohlschreiber in three sets
• He opened the year with a semi-final effort in Doha, defeating World No. 1 Nadal in the quarter-finals before losing to Roddick in three sets
• He broke into the Top 10 for the first time on Feb. 23 and following week made his Acapulco debut (on clay) and reached the final (l. to Almagro), his sixth straight runner-up...Afterwards, went to a career-high No. 9 on March 2…Has ranked in the Top 10 for 14 weeks this year
• In June he reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros (d. No. 6 Roddick, l. to Federer) and followed with third round at the Queen’s Club in London…On June 11 he withdrew due to a left wrist injury he suffered in his previous round win (vs. Golubev)…He missed two months before returning in Montreal in August when he lost to Juan Carlos Ferrero in the second round
• At the US Open, he reached the fourth round for the second straight year (l. to Nadal in four sets)
• He is one of four Frenchmen to win an ATP World Tour title this year – Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (three titles) Jeremy Chardy (one) and Gilles Simon (one)

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• Has a 30-31 career record with his previous best result the semi-finals in Rome in 2006 (l. to Nadal) and Madrid last year (l. to No. 4 Murray)…He is trying to become the 56th player (since 1990) to win an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and the fifth Frenchman, joining Guy Forget (2), Jo-Willfried Tsonga (1), Sebastien Grosjean (1) and Cedric Pioline (1)

Miscellaneous:
• In 2008, the Frenchman finished in the Top 20 for first time at No. 14 and won a personal-high 30 matches while reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final and sixth career ATP World Tour final
• Missed first two months with a right knee injury and went 5-7 going into Roland Garros where he reached SF (d. No. 5 Ferrer, l. to Federer)...On grass, reached SF in Nottingham (l. to Karlovic) but then withdrew from Wimbledon due to right shoulder injury

DJOKOVIC FASTFACTS

Tournament Highlights:
• The Serb is making his first appearance in the final in Bercy…He has a 7-4 career mark
• He has only dropped one set en route to the final…He began the week with a 63 75 win over Argentine Juan Monaco on Wednesday and followed with a 62 62 victory over Arnaud Clement, a 64 16 63 triumph over No. 9 Robin Soderling and 62 63 win over No. 2 Rafael Nadal (never facing break point)
• He has won 16 of 39 return games this week, which leads the tournament (converting 16 of 30 brk. pts.)
• His previous best finish was the third round in 2005 (l. to Robredo) and last year (l. to Tsonga)

2009 Highlights:
W: Dubai (d Ferrer); Belgrade (d Kubot); Beijing (d Cilic); Basel (d Federer); F: ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Miami (l Murray); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Monte Carlo (l Nadal); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (l Nadal); Halle (l Haas); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Cincinnati (l Federer); SF: Sydney (l Nieminen); Marseille (l Tsonga); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Madrid (l Nadal); US Open (l Federer); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Shanghai (l Davydenko); QF: Australian Open (l Roddick); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Indian Wells (l Roddick); Wimbledon (l Haas); ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Canada (l Roddick)

2009 in Review:
• The World No. 3 has played the most singles matches (93) on the ATP World Tour this season while compiling a 75-18 match record, including 50-10 on hard courts (most wins in both)…He is appearing in an ATP World Tour-best 10th final of the season (4-5)
• This is the fourth final he’s reached in the past six tournaments going back to mid-August in Cincinnati…During that stretch he’s won 26 of 29 with his only losses to Federer (twice) and Davydenko
• He’s trying to capture his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in his fifth final this season…He reached three consecutive finals  – Miami (l. to Murray), Monte-Carlo (l. to Nadal in three sets) and Rome (l. to Nadal)…Also runner-up in Cincinnati in August (l. to Federer)…Has a 32-8 record in ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events in ’09…This is the eighth different Masters 1000 final he’s reached (except Shanghai)…He is 4-6 lifetime in Masters 1000 finals
• Has a 33-41 career mark vs. Top 10 opponents, including 13-11 this year…He also has recorded at least 60 match wins three years in a row
• Last week he won his final three matches in Basel in three sets, capped off by a 64 46 62 victory over World No. 1 Roger Federer in title match…He also beat No. 5 seed Radek Stepanek 67(4) 75 62 in semi-finals (saving three match points) to reach his first indoor final of the season
• Last month, he collected his third ATP World Tour title of the year in Beijing (d. Cilic)
• His other titles have come in his hometown of Belgrade (d. Kubot) on clay in May and in Dubai (d. Ferrer) on hard courts in late February
• Since opening the year with a first round loss to Ernests Gulbis in Brisbane, he has reached the quarter-finals or better for the 19th time in 20 tournaments (except Roland Garros, 3rd Rd.)
• In March at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, came in as defending champion and lost to Andy Roddick in the quarter-finals…Earlier in the month lost both of his singles matches on clay in a first round Davis Cup tie in Spain, falling to David Ferrer and Nadal in fourth rubber, which clinched the tie
• Prior to Davis Cup, defeated No. 8 Gilles Simon (SF) and David Ferrer (on Feb. 28) in the Dubai final for his first ATP World Tour title of the season

ATP World Tour Masters 1000 History:
• Has an 88-31 career match record and 4-6 in finals, winning two titles in each of the past two years…
This is the eighth different ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final in his career (except Shanghai)
• In 2007, reached his first final in Indian Wells (l. to Nadal) and followed with his first title at the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami (d. Canas)…Later that year, won the title in Montreal, defeating the Top 3 players in succession – No. 3 Roddick (QF), No. 2 Nadal (SF) and No. 1 Federer (F)
• Last year, won titles in Indian Wells (d. Fish) and Rome (d. Wawrinka) while reaching the final in Cincinnati (l. to Murray)

Miscellaneous:
• In 2008, the young Serb finished No. 3 for a second straight season...The last player to do that was Pete Sampras in 1999-2000…First ranked No. 3 on July 9, 2007 after semi-final at Wimbledon
• Captured four titles in six finals, winning Tennis Masters Cup Shanghai as well as his first Grand Slam crown at the Aust. Open (d. Federer in SF, Tsonga in F)...Only dropped one set, that coming in the final
• In March, reached semi-finals in Dubai (l. to Roddick) and followed with title in Indian Wells (d. Nadal in SF, Fish in F)…After a 17-4 start in first three months, played well on clay (16-3) with SF at Monte Carlo (ret. to Federer), won title at Rome (d. Wawrinka) and reached semi-finals at Hamburg and Roland Garros (l. to Nadal both times)...Had chance to move to No. 2 in last two events with a win over Nadal
• During summer hard court circuit, reached QF in Toronto, final at Cincinnati (l. to Murray both times), won bronze medal at Beijing Olympics (d. Blake) and advanced to SF at US Open (l. to Federer)

DOUBLES FINAL – NESTOR-ZIMONJIC LOOK FOR EIGHTH TITLE AGAINST GRANOLLERS-ROBREDO
Top seeds Daniel Nestor and Nenad Zimonjic will meet the unseeded Spanish duo of Marcel Granollers and Tommy Robredo in Sunday's championship at the BNP Paribas Masters.

Nestor and Zimonjic enter their 11th final of the season with a 54-14 match record together. Since opening the season with back-to-back final losses in Doha and Sydney, the Canadian and Serbian duo have won eight straight final appearances. Last week in Basel they captured the title over rivals Bob and Mike Bryan.

The 37-year-old Nestor is making his 15th straight appearance in Bercy and he's looking for his first title. He's been runner-up three times -- in 2000 (w/Haarhuis), 2005 (w/Knowles) and 2007 (w/Zimonjic). He has won 63 tour-level titles – the most among active players. Zimonjic, a winner of 31 career titles, is also looking for his first title in Paris. He reached the final in 2006 (w/Santoro) and the following year (w/Nestor).
  
The pair have a 14-4 match record on the season, highlighted by a title at the Brasil Open in Costa do Sauipe (d. Arnold Ker-Monaco) in February and runner-up at last week’s Valencia Open 500 (l. to Cermak-Mertinak).