Indian Wells, BNP Paribas Open, CA, USA, ATP Masters 2017

[El Dude]

"Nick Kyrgios, after visiting a Swiss bistro, came down with food poisoning."

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

So, Roger earns more 180 points. All these points will do him good.

 

[DarthFed]

herios, are you really bragging about picking Stan over Thiem? That was an easy pick, amigo.

I gave Thiem a solid chance yesterday, this is non-slam Stan so you never know what you're going to get but you assume it won't be full Stanimal mode. I haven't seen any of Stan's matches but going off scores it's safe to assume he is not in Stanimal mode yet. He probably won't need it in the semis either, the final will be a different story though.

 

[DarthFed]

"Nick Kyrgios, after visiting a Swiss bistro, came down with food poisoning."

I hear Stan was a guest chef at the restaurant Nick went to last night :devil

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

I hope Roger can win this. It will be huge.

 

[El Dude]

If Roger wins Indian Wells he will solidify his position as the current best player in the sport. Crazy to think. Even if he loses in the SF or F, he's had the best year so far by a good margin.

 

[DarthFed]

If Roger wins Indian Wells he will solidify his position as the current best player in the sport. Crazy to think. Even if he loses in the SF or F, he's had the best year so far by a good margin.

A few outstanding results wouldn't necessarily make him better than Novak even though the latter has struggled for a good 9 months now. When I think "current best player in the world" I'm not thinking over the course of 3-4 tournaments and 2-3 months. Of course he has been by far the best player this year and that'd have been true even if he lost the 1st round of IW.

 

[DarthFed]

I hope Roger can win this. It will be huge.

His chances are very good now. I do think Nishi wins today but Sock definitely has a chance. If Fed plays Sock there isn't much trouble there IMO, but a match with the Samurai would be tough.

 

[El Dude]

If Roger wins Indian Wells he will solidify his position as the current best player in the sport. Crazy to think. Even if he loses in the SF or F, he's had the best year so far by a good margin.

A few outstanding results wouldn't necessarily make him better than Novak even though the latter has struggled for a good 9 months now. When I think "current best player in the world" I'm not thinking over the course of 3-4 tournaments and 2-3 months. Of course he has been by far the best player this year and that'd have been true even if he lost the 1st round of IW.

I agree that it is a very short span of time, but when I say "current best player" I mean just that: who is playing the best right now and in the recent past? Novak has struggled since Wimbledon of last year - as you say, that's about nine months. How can we call him the current best player in the sport? He's 32-9 since Wimbledon, a 78% - the same as Rafa so far this year.

Now a lot can change quickly, but based upon this year's results, Roger is the player to beat right now.

 

[Puppet Master]

Kyrgios never change, please... :laydownlaughing
Plays possibly the match of his life, big ego boost, was probably very satisfied with the win and suddenly gets food poisoning. I don't know which strong drink is the most popular among younger people in America but I would assume Kyrgios slammed one too many vodka shots and now his belly is rejecting food. Oh well.
I was geniunely looking forward to watch this, and it wouldn't have been a cakewalk either, but oh well.

 

[Carol]

Rafa had food poisoning too and that was why he couldn't practice the first day in IW. The good news is that it has not last too long so Kyrgios will be ok in Miami.

 

[kskate2]

So the old man gets another day off. :devil

 

[DarthFed]

Kyrgios never change, please... :laydownlaughing
Plays possibly the match of his life, big ego boost, was probably very satisfied with the win and suddenly gets food poisoning. I don't know which strong drink is the most popular among younger people in America but I would assume Kyrgios slammed one too many vodka shots and now his belly is rejecting food. Oh well.
I was geniunely looking forward to watch this, and it wouldn't have been a cakewalk either, but oh well.

Lol I truly do hope it isn't what you said (partying too hard) but you never know. Still have to look at it as 2 very good weeks for Kyrgios, hopefully he builds on it and does well in Miami.

 

[El Dude]

Rafa had food poisoning too and that was why he couldn't practice the first day in IW. The good news is that it has not last too long so Kyrgios will be ok in Miami.

LOL. Here we go...

 

[El Dude]

Didn't Vitas Gerulaitis show up to matches after having partied all night and not sleeping?

Kids these days - no backbone.

 

[Moxie]

And Kyrgios withdraws with what he thinks is food poisoning: http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2017...erer-kyrgios-sock-nishikori-tennis-atp/64848/

A nice break for Roger but I was looking forward to this match the last couple days. Hopefully Nick recovers and is ready to go for Miami. For Roger hope he gets a nice hit in, he will definitely be the late match tomorrow so I'm not too worried about his rhythm being messed up after having 2 full days off before the semi.

Ditto. Big disappointment, from a tennis viewing standpoint.

 

[bajana]

Kyrgios gives walkover....../ You must be djoking!

 

[mrzz]

Damn. I was sure good ol Fed would give him a beatdown, at least all the beatdown you can give a big server, one break each set allowing just a few points on your own serve.

 

[mrzz]

I did not suggest that ranking should predict.

My other favourite sport is snooker, very popular here in the UK. Rankings cover 2 years rather than 1. This prevents such massive lowering of a players position unless they are out for an exceptionally long period. It also means they are under less pressure to compete when under strain or with a chronic injury. Also there is provision to protect a player with the agreement of the World Snooker Assoc. This was recently done for Carter who had cancer treatment and it worked well for him and was supported by other players. Wimbledon uses its own ranking system too - I am sure this ridiculous draw would not have happened there. For me the issue is not just about Federer. We are seeing far too many players injured. One of the reasons for this is they are playing so many tournaments to protect their points, often playing when unwell or injured. Current examples are Raonic, Edmund, Thiem, even Murray who had shingles. The ATP has the resources to review this and in the interests of the players well being, the tennis audience and the overall game I think they should do so.

So you are suggesting to use two years instead of one for ranking points. You´re in good company on this (Nadal), even if I not agree. So in fact you are not criticizing the system, but rather want to change one parameter of it, incidentally the most important one -- which by the way is completely arbitrary.

I am afraid you want to correct one problem (number of matches played) with the wrong tool. The rankings are there to give an assessment of the player´s levels, not to control how much they play. I understand your reasoning, sure, but it could even backfire: being more difficult to move up, some players could play even more...

But you are completely right that the RS influences how much people play. In fact there is already a mechanism on the ranking system that helps on this case, as only the player´s best 18 results (or some other number), count. Considering that, going for two years could indeed make things worst (but that is debatable, sure).

What I don´t like about the two years idea is that it can be easily outdated. Djokovic would yet be a distant #1, and he is not the player to beat for months. If you look, most times the #1 spot changed hands in the last ten years, it really marked the dethroning of a king.

 

[Front242]

Sucks 'cos I didn't realize it was meant to be an early match (8pm local time here) so I could actually have watched it. Doh.