Federer's Schedule for 2017

[GameSetAndMath]

Just checked who is playing in Dubai. Rafa and Novak are not playing there this year. Andy and Stan are playing. Roger is likely to be seeded third in Dubai. Monfils, Berdych and Pouille are other notables in the mix there.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Normally the points earned in a tourney will not help you to get a better seeding in a tourney that is held very next week. However, Dubai/Acapulco is an exception. The tourney following them is IW. IW starts only on Thursday for men and the draw is on Tuesday. So, they use the latest rankings and so both Roger and Rafa could potentially secure a better seeding for IW by performing well in Dubai and Acapulco respectively.

Roger already moved up to #9 from #10 this week without doing anything. That is why he is called TMF.
He has a good chance to make it into top eight before IW starts.

Rafa is at #6 right now. In order to get seeding advantage, he needs to get into top four. It looks like it is impossible for him to make it to top four by the time IW starts, even if he wins Acapulco.

p.s. The same thing applies to Miami also. The points earned in IW will count for determining seeds in Miami, as the draw is held after the new rankings come out.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

Thiem has a lot of points to defend in February, and Cilic also has a few. So the chances of reaching top 8 by IW look promising, at least if he has a good run in Dubai.

Roger only adds points now until the clay season, so it seems reasonable to expect him to be firmly in the top 8 by then. Then a SF or better at IW or Miami could well guarantee a top 8 seeding for RG, regardless of what happens in the clay season.

I haven't done the maths, but probably a win at one of them would put a top 4 seeding at Wimbledon into play, given the seedings formula. Of course, it depends on others' results also.

 

[El Dude]

I tend to think seeding is a bit over-emphasized, and I think AO bears that out a bit. Kieran pointed out the other day that Mats Wilander said "great players find a way."

That said, it does matter a bit, just not a huge amount, imo.

 

[isabelle]

Just checked who is playing in Dubai. Rafa and Novak are not playing there this year. Andy and Stan are playing. Roger is likely to be seeded third in Dubai. Monfils, Berdych and Pouille are other notables in the mix there.

I wonder if Stan can play and defend his title, his knee injury seems to bother him a lot

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Fed agreed to play in an exo against Andy Murray in Glasgow in Nov 2017 to raise money for charity.

p.s. Also Fed is supposed to play in the Laver cup later in the year.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Thiem has a lot of points to defend in February, and Cilic also has a few. So the chances of reaching top 8 by IW look promising, at least if he has a good run in Dubai.

Roger only adds points now until the clay season, so it seems reasonable to expect him to be firmly in the top 8 by then. Then a SF or better at IW or Miami could well guarantee a top 8 seeding for RG, regardless of what happens in the clay season.

I haven't done the maths, but probably a win at one of them would put a top 4 seeding at Wimbledon into play, given the seedings formula. Of course, it depends on others' results also.

Thiem has 930 points to defend before IW begins from three different tourneys. It will be very tough for him to defend them, especially as he seems to be not in good form. With Roger adding points in Dubai, Roger is almost sure to be ranked in top 8 in time for IW.

Also, the chances of being seeded in top four for Wimbledon and USO looks good.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

With the early loss in Dubai, Roger is likely to stick to his schedule of playing both in IW and Miami.

 

[Fiero425]

With the early loss in Dubai, Roger is likely to stick to his schedule of playing both in IW and Miami.

He wasn't doing that recently; why now? He had enough trouble playing 1 tourney in Dubai and now he thinks he can manage back to back Masters? uzzled :nono :cover :ras:

 

[GameSetAndMath]

With the early loss in Dubai, Roger is likely to stick to his schedule of playing both in IW and Miami.

He wasn't doing that recently; why now? He had enough trouble playing 1 tourney in Dubai and now he thinks he can manage back to back Masters? uzzled :nono :cover :ras:

It is not as sternous as a regular back to back masters. Both of them are spread over two weeks. He gets a bye in the first round of both tourneys. Even if he wins IW, he will probably not have to play before Friday or so of next week at Miami.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

Thiem has 930 points to defend before IW begins from three different tourneys. It will be very tough for him to defend them, especially as he seems to be not in good form. With Roger adding points in Dubai, Roger is almost sure to be ranked in top 8 in time for IW.

As it happened, Roger was one Monfils win away from dropping out of the top 10 again, and even if he'd made the Dubai SF and lost there against Murray, he still would be (just) behind Cilic. So the statement above was a little optimistic.

Big chance in IW & Miami though to add points. I haven't checked what the others around him have to defend, but one QF would probably be enough to get him into top 8, and a SF / 2 QF for a likely top 8 RG seeding.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

With the IW points dropping off, Fed is in 8th, just barely ahead of Tsonga (by 5 points) and Thiem (by 20 points). Both of them have a reasonable way to at least the QF.

(Tsonga, in Murray's quarter, has possible R2 Fognini, R3 Cuevas, R4 Goffin; Thiem in Stan's quarter has possible R2 Chardy, R3 MZverev/Sousa, R4 Monfils.)

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Thiem has 930 points to defend before IW begins from three different tourneys. It will be very tough for him to defend them, especially as he seems to be not in good form. With Roger adding points in Dubai, Roger is almost sure to be ranked in top 8 in time for IW.

As it happened, Roger was one Monfils win away from dropping out of the top 10 again, and even if he'd made the Dubai SF and lost there against Murray, he still would be (just) behind Cilic. So the statement above was a little optimistic.

Haven't you heard the quote "It is difficult to make predictions, especially about the future".

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

With the early loss in Dubai, Roger is likely to stick to his schedule of playing both in IW and Miami.

He wasn't doing that recently; why now? He had enough trouble playing 1 tourney in Dubai and now he thinks he can manage back to back Masters? uzzled :nono :cover :ras:

Fiero, I wanted to know if you still hold on to your belief that Roger should have retired before 2015? You were the one who believed Roger had been extending his career too much. Australian open title of Roger has proven that all these opinions are stale. I am not expecting anything more from him. But, he was around to do something, win something and prove a point. And, look what he got. 18th slam. Roger might retain this slam-count-leader title for the next 50 years or so. He just added one and made it that much more difficult for everyone. This can be ultimately crucial for his slam count battle with Rafa. And, what a special win he got in the final of a grand slam against his biggest rival in the twilight of his career. An important win. Made the h2h better ever so slightly. Would he be able to achieve all these things if he hanged up his boots back in 2014? That's why you should just stick around for a little longer, to do one great thing instead of worrying about legacy- tarnishing.

Now, I hope you will accept the reality as it is and not talk about hypothetical situations where Roger would not have won another grand slam title.

He proved so many of them wrong. And, don't tell me that he didn't have to face Djokovic or Murray who were looking like slouch in the tournament anyway. Moreover, he did have to go through a brutal path facing his nemesis Nadal in the final.

 

[mightyjeditribble]

I haven't seen this mentioned here before, but during the tournament in Dubai Fed essentially said that he wasn't necessarily planning on putting too much effort into the clay-court season.

http://www.straitstimes.com/sport/tennis/federer-may-curtail-clay-court-schedule

"I know the French Open is going to be hard just because I would have to put in so much work during the clay-court season even to be perfectly ready for it, and even then there is no guarantee," Federer said. "I have to ask myself the question, how much am I going to put into it?"

I guess it's not really a big surprise, and also it is not clear exactly what it means. My best guess would be that he would play just one of the clay-court MS as warm-up for RG.

 

[Frode789]

I don't think we'll see him in anything other then AT MOST 1 clay Masters before RG. That's pretty much given at this point.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

He has earlier said that he will play RG as "if you are not in the draw you cannot possibly win it".
That means, he is basically just entering in it just in case a miracle happens.

Reminds me of a quote from the movie "Eat, Pray and Love".

Laura: Oh God, please make me win the lottery.

God: Oh Laura, please buy a lottery ticket.

I don't remember whether her name was Laura or something else.

 

[isabelle]

He has earlier said that he will play RG as "if you are not in the draw you cannot possibly win it".
That means, he is basically just entering in it just in case a miracle happens.

Reminds me of a quote from the movie "Eat, Pray and Love".

Laura: Oh God, please make me win the lottery.

God: Oh Laura, please buy a lottery ticket.

I don't remember whether her name was Laura or something else.

a miracle happened in AO....he's a good opportunist, he's right to play imo even if his chances are tiny

 

[DarthFed]

He has earlier said that he will play RG as "if you are not in the draw you cannot possibly win it".
That means, he is basically just entering in it just in case a miracle happens.

Reminds me of a quote from the movie "Eat, Pray and Love".

Laura: Oh God, please make me win the lottery.

God: Oh Laura, please buy a lottery ticket.

I don't remember whether her name was Laura or something else.

a miracle happened in AO....he's a good opportunist, he's right to play imo even if his chances are tiny

Absolutely. From about 2013 on I've thought his chances at AO are very very small and his chances at RG are a bit smaller. Well he just won AO and did it by going through a very difficult draw so of course he should play RG and any slam as long as he's healthy.

I think he will be flexible with his schedule, we have to remember that players are basically sharing "preliminary" schedules. Roger has always been great about not overplaying and he knows it's extra important not to do that at his age. So if he makes the final at IW, win or lose I think he will skip Miami. If he does well at RG I think he will skip the first grass tournament and just play Halle, etc.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

He has earlier said that he will play RG as "if you are not in the draw you cannot possibly win it".
That means, he is basically just entering in it just in case a miracle happens.

Reminds me of a quote from the movie "Eat, Pray and Love".

Laura: Oh God, please make me win the lottery.

God: Oh Laura, please buy a lottery ticket.

I don't remember whether her name was Laura or something else.

a miracle happened in AO....he's a good opportunist, he's right to play imo even if his chances are tiny

Absolutely. From about 2013 on I've thought his chances at AO are very very small and his chances at RG are a bit smaller. Well he just won AO and did it by going through a very difficult draw so of course he should play RG and any slam as long as he's healthy.

I think he will be flexible with his schedule, we have to remember that players are basically sharing "preliminary" schedules. Roger has always been great about not overplaying and he knows it's extra important not to do that at his age. So if he makes the final at IW, win or lose I think he will skip Miami. If he does well at RG I think he will skip the first grass tournament and just play Halle, etc.

I think Roger will play Miami even if he wins IW. This is because he likes long breaks. After Miami, he will take a six week hiatus and then play Rome as a token warm-up for RG and then RG.

But, I agree with you on the second part. If he goes deep at RG, he will probably withdraw from Stuttgart. But, he has signed a two year contract with them and so it will be a little bit difficult. But, he can always tell them that he will honor the remaining year in the next year.