*Official* Tennis Thread

[Jono]

Wonder who will qualify for the ATP Tour Finals. Berdych should still do it because of the first half of his season. Ferrer should as well.

Melzer still with a shot after winning Vienna. Depends also if Roddick's recovered well enough from his injury to make a play at Basel.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

Wonder who will qualify for the ATP Tour Finals. Berdych should still do it because of the first half of his season. Ferrer should as well.

Melzer still with a shot after winning Vienna. Depends also if Roddick's recovered well enough from his injury to make a play at Basel.

He only defended Vienna, though, which doesn't help him catch up at all (only keep himself in the race). I think he'll rue losing to Monaco in Shanghai tbh.

Would he withdraw from the doubles if he made the singles draw?

 

[biased indian]

No it's not. The system is the fine. Serena, Kim and Henin aren't playing tournaments because of injury.

Unless you think Grand Slams should be worth even more points than they already are? They're worth around 8 times more than most tournaments or something.

they used to have cut of number rite...or still have. even if you played 30 tournaments they will take only your best 18 some thing like that ...????

 

[Jono]

He only defended Vienna, though, which doesn't help him catch up at all (only keep himself in the race). I think he'll rue losing to Monaco in Shanghai tbh.

Would he withdraw from the doubles if he made the singles draw?

Good point, forgot he won Vienna in 09 and not 08. That loss to Monaco was a disgrace, but so vintage Melzer after beating Rafa.

If Verdasco finds even a semblance of form he can still make it I guess.

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

they used to have cut of number rite...or still have. even if you played 30 tournaments they will take only your best 18 some thing like that ...????

Pretty certain they still do. For the men definately.

So it isn't a case of the ranking system rewarding Wozniacki for playing so many more tournaments but penalising Serena and Clijsters for not playing enough. It is pretty reasonable imo.

I mean I suppose you could rejig it so the Slams are worth more, but then you get stuck in the position where guys like Lu have this massive ranking based on a week and bit of good work and a season of mediocrity.

 

[Jono]

**** OFF!

Had money on Fed to smash Dologopolov in under 18.5 games.

Was serving for the match at 6-3 5-2 and Dologopolov hurts his ankle and retires hurt before Fed can serve out the match.

Bet is void.

Highway robbery I tell ya!

 

[Anil]

No it's not. The system is the fine. Serena, Kim and Henin aren't playing tournaments because of injury.

Unless you think Grand Slams should be worth even more points than they already are? They're worth around 8 times more than most tournaments or something.

the entire wta side of things is a joke with some notable exceptions...mired in mediocrity and wozniacki is a symbol of that...

 

[Jono]

Yeah so basically you're acknowledging that there is nothing wrong with the ranking system, just the players.

 

[Jono]

Couple of good articles on this:

TENNIS.com - Blogs - Concrete Elbow by Steve Tignor - Hanging '10

Messy, up and down, briefly brilliant, at times hard to make sense of, at other times totally predictable, and a dogfight throughout, the last match of the women’s season was a microcosm of the WTA year as a whole. Kim Clijsters, having not played at all since the U.S. Open, beat Caroline Wozniacki in three sets to win her third year-end championship. With the win, Clijsters continued the recent WTA trend of an elite player sitting on the sidelines for months at a time yet still pulling it together to win, or nearly win, a big event. Wozniacki’s performance was equally fitting. Weary from her long season and a lot of fall tennis, she nevertheless was steady enough to make her way to the final, survive a 1-4 second-set deficit against Clijsters, and then, when an important title was on the line, lack the firepower to claim it.

TENNIS.com - Blogs - Peter Bodo's TennisWorld - The Slamless Ones

This morning, I posted on Wozniacki and the Doha result over at ESPN, and I'd like to further explore an issue I raised there. I might as well come out and flat-out declare it "The Curse of Number Oneness," a hex that befalls players who reach the year-end No. 1 ranking before they've won their first major. I'm not sure that the sample-size is large enough to draw hard and fast conclusions, and we all know that in tennis, anything can happen (if you're former No. 1s Dinara Safina or Marcelo Rios, that something is bad). But when I look at the career trajectory of the greatest of players, one thing really stands out: Most of them expressed their potential greatness before, and in some cases way before, they developed the consistency that enabled them to stay at the top.

In other words, the record suggests that you want to win your major first, then worry about rankings and all that other minutae of the pro life. And I believe this is one reason that most great players will tell you that they don't pay much attention to the numerical rankings, as well as the reason some No. 1 players (year-end and otherwise) have spent a fair amount of time almost apologizing for earning the top spot: Hey, don't blame me, I just swing the rackets. Take your beef to the computer!

 

[Anil]

Yeah so basically you're acknowledging that there is nothing wrong with the ranking system, just the players.

not really, not sure what made you think that...?

 

[Jono]

You haven't posted one actual technical aspect as to what is wrong with the WTA ranking system. You're just having a whinge about the quality of players and WTA in general.

Fair enough, but your point has nothing to do with the system. Serena, Venus, Henin and Kim have been injured in the last 6 months of the season. Obviously their ranking suffered.

As those articles above make clear, Kim was ranked #1 in 2003 before ever winning a Slam.

 

[Anil]

i don't really draw a distinction between the association, its constituents and its ranking system...never seen so many so-so players at the top of their ranking as in recent years...time was when the no: 1 ranking used to mean something, now it's a joke...

 

[Anil]

s those articles above make clear, Kim was ranked #1 in 2003 before ever winning a Slam.

i know, she didn't deserve it either...then...

 

[SirBloody Idiot]

i don't really draw a distinction between the association, its constituents and its ranking system...never seen so many so-so players at the top of their ranking as in recent years...time was when the no: 1 ranking used to mean something, now it's a joke...

Again, through no fault of the system...

 

[Jono]

Murray loses to Monaco in Valencia

**** he's a joke. Has the worst attitude.

 

[Jono]

Lol, Krumm playing Ivanovic in Bali. Krumm served a fault, it wasn't called and Ana smashed it back as a winner. Krumm challenged her serve being called in and got to serve again

 

[blahblahblah]

Roger Federer defeats Andy Roddick to reach finals of Swiss Indoors in Basel. - swissinfo

 

[Jono]

Decided to watch Ferrer vs. Soderling instead of Roddick vs. Fed. Was the right move it seemed, because A-Rod was crushed. He was a break up in the 2nd believe it or not.

Ferrer was awesome vs. Soderling. Should make the ATP World Tour finals now.

 

[blahblahblah]

Decided to watch Ferrer vs. Soderling instead of Roddick vs. Fed. Was the right move it seemed, because A-Rod was crushed. He was a break up in the 2nd believe it or not.

Ferrer was awesome vs. Soderling. Should make the ATP World Tour finals now.

one can easily say that ferrer has had a 2nd coming

he was so good in early 200`s but thanks to some amazing stuff by fed and nadal that he simply lost his way just like many others in this list hewitt,nalbandian,safin to name a few

 

[Jono]

Fed's showed Novak who is boss since the US Open. Beaten him in the Shanghai semi, and then beat him in the final at home in Basel, where he lost to Novak in the final last year.

With Nadal pulling out of the Paris Masters (Why the **** does he play ****ty tournaments and then pull out of a Masters?) Fed could very well take it, even though he is usually **** at the Paris masters for some reason. Usually doesn't try that hard since it's so late in the year I guess.

Anyway, I really really want Nadal vs. Fed final in the London World Tour finals. Fed's looking quite good, and Rafa is obviously resting to prime himself to finally win that illustrious title.