International Premier Tennis League - 2014

[GameSetAndMath]

More photos of Federer in India with everything from Elephants to Monkeys.

 

[Kieran]

More photos of Federer in India with everything from Elephants to Monkeys.

Any photos of him with clowns?

 

[NADAL2005RG]

^ Elephants are a great choice for photos.
I own a photo of myself standing underneath an elephant's trunk (the trunk is raised in the air above me).

 

[tented]

^ Why isn't that your avatar?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

More photos of Federer in India with everything from Elephants to Monkeys.

Any photos of him with clowns?

What do you mean "with"? I thought he was the clown.

 

[Front242]

Roger's apparently only playing 2 matches in New Delhi on Dec 7th and 8th at this IPTL crap and then playing his exo with Stan 2 weeks later in Zurich. Could be worse and at least only 2 matches in India is all he's doing for IPTL.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/09/federer-unveiling-season-schedule/52874/#.VCSSxRbPC2U

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Roger's apparently only playing 2 matches in New Delhi on Dec 7th and 8th at this IPTL crap and then playing his exo with Stan 2 weeks later in Zurich. Could be worse and at least only 2 matches in India is all he's doing for IPTL.

http://www.tennis.com/pro-game/2014/09/federer-unveiling-season-schedule/52874/#.VCSSxRbPC2U

Wow, good news. I take back the statement that he is the clown. I thought he will
play 3 days in India and 3 days in Dubai. He seems smarter than what we give him
credit for.

I am also glad that he is not pulling out of Shanghai. YE #1/2 hopes are still alive then.

 

[Billie]

GSM, your head is going to explode worrying and calculating what Federer needs to do. You should try to relax a bit.

BTW: do you really want a slamless #1?

Everybody was ready to crucify Nole if he were to gain #1 ranking by just reaching the Wimbledon final and then losing it, and now it is OK if Federer does it? :laydownlaughing

 

[GameSetAndMath]

GSM, your head is going to explode worrying and calculating what Federer needs to do. You should try to relax a bit.

BTW: do you really want a slamless #1?

Everybody was ready to crucify Nole if he were to gain #1 ranking by just reaching the Wimbledon final and then losing it, and now it is OK if Federer does it? :laydownlaughing

You are projecting your thoughts on to others. I certainly did not try to crucify and
never did see any discussion about such a thing in this forum.

Under normal circumstances, I would not want a slamless #1. But, this may be the
last opportunity for Fed to finish #1. Besides, if he wins WTF and gets #1, he has
got at least one big title and so won't sound bad.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

It will be really interesting to see how many year-ending #1s the big 3 finish their careers with.
Right now we have:
Federer 5
Nadal 3
Djokovic 2

2014 is a huge one.
If Djokovic gets it he ties Nadal.
If Nadal gets it he's within one of Federer.
If Federer gets it he ties Sampras.

 

[Billie]

It's OK, I am not projecting anything, don't be so sensitive, I read those posts from Wimbledon topic and I said people, I didn't say you personally. And I am teasing you, don't take it to heart too much.

But seriously you want somebody with 1 major final, 1 M1000 title and possibly WTF (that is a big IF) to be #1? :snigger

As far as I am concerned if he collects the most points of any other player this year, Federer will have deserved his #1 ranking. I have always maintained that opinion about players but some didn't see it that way. Also how many rude and snide comments were made at slamless #1 in WTA? Even Federer himself took a shot at Jelena in 2008, so the situation is just too funny to me now, that's all.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

If Fed does not even win WTF, I don't think he will finish YE #1 and will spare us from
getting into unending debates.

If Fed ends up being YE #1, I would gladly admit that Rafa's injury and Novak's family situation
were "factors" in it.

Finally, I am guilty of making negative comments about more than one YE#1 WTA players.
But, I am tired of that happening too frequently out there. In 7 of last 14 years it happened.
It should be an exception and not a norm.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

I think staying healthy is a tennis ability in a sense (or a sporting/physical ability), so I don't think Nadal missing Canada/Cincy/US Open will take anything away from another player finishing #1. Whoever gets it fully deserves it based on their capacity to play enough and succeed enough.

And Djokovic being distracted by family is also not an excuse, because Federer and others have dealt with family distractions over the years and played some of their best tennis in spite of it. Contending with issues, be it physical or mental, is part of being a champion and therefore year-ending #1.

 

[Kieran]

If Fed ends up being YE #1, I would gladly admit that Rafa's injury and Novak's family situation
were "decisive factors" in it.

I fixed that for ya...

 

[DarthFed]

It's OK, I am not projecting anything, don't be so sensitive, I read those posts from Wimbledon topic and I said people, I didn't say you personally. And I am teasing you, don't take it to heart too much.

But seriously you want somebody with 1 major final, 1 M1000 title and possibly WTF (that is a big IF) to be #1? :snigger

As far as I am concerned if he collects the most points of any other player this year, Federer will have deserved his #1 ranking. I have always maintained that opinion about players but some didn't see it that way. Also how many rude and snide comments were made at slamless #1 in WTA? Even Federer himself took a shot at Jelena in 2008, so the situation is just too funny to me now, that's all.

No, it's fair to say this. Federer certainly isn't the best player of the year regardless of what his ranking is. In fact he wasn't the 3rd or 4th best really, he'd trade this year for Stan's or Cilic's in a heartbeat.

 

[Federberg]

I know what you're saying DF, but unless you're questioning the ranking system, it's hard to agree. If you mean RF hasn't had even the 4th best season of the year, purely on the basis of slams then it's hard to argue. But for me.. tennis has got to be about more than the slams, otherwise we might as well only turn up to watch 4 times a year. That would be sad.

Personally I think the ranking system is as good as it can be.. it's not perfect, but what system would be?

 

[DarthFed]

^ No I didn't mean it to sound how it came off. I think the ranking system is mostly good and there's more than just slams. But slams are the most important by far and really the main criteria people use to determine who is the best player in the world. Due to that even if Roger gets to #1 it's not like we'd say he was the best or even 2nd best player this year. It would just indicate he was better in the lesser tournaments than the rest.

 

[Billie]

^ No I didn't mean it to sound how it came off. I think the ranking system is mostly good and there's more than just slams. But slams are the most important by far and really the main criteria people use to determine who is the best player in the world. Due to that even if Roger gets to #1 it's not like we'd say he was the best or even 2nd best player this year. It would just indicate he was better in the lesser tournaments then the rest.

But that is the nature of ranking system in ATP, everybody is treated the same way, you collect most points in a year - you are #1 player for that year. The titles are something different, if a player cares more about titles and winning them, but skipping other events or under-performs at them, then it is only his fault that he didn't win enough matches in a whole year to collect most points to end up #1.

It is not Federer's fault that Nole and Rafa were missing from some tournaments (either mentally or physically). Players should use the misfortunes of others, there is nothing wrong in that. And this is my opinion about all players regardless of who they are. At the end of the day, what they do during a whole year counts the most.

 

[DarthFed]

^ Agreed Billie. It'd be a tremendous achievement if Roger gets back to #1 at all let alone if he finishes the year at #1. But truthfully I think Nole is the player of the year for sure and I'm kind of shocked the points race is remotely close when you consider he has 3 MS titles, a slam, a slam final and a semifinal. It's by far the best year.

 

[Billie]

^ Agreed Billie. It'd be a tremendous achievement if Roger gets back to #1 at all let alone if he finishes the year at #1. But truthfully I think Nole is the player of the year for sure and I'm kind of shocked the points race is remotely close when you consider he has 3 MS titles, a slam, a slam final and a semifinal. It's by far the best year.

On top of my head I think Federer has 1 slam final, 2 slam semis, 1 M1000 and three M1000 finals, with a couple of smaller tournaments wins. Whereas Nole either won M1000 or bombed out of them too early.

If Nole loses his #1 ranking by performing poorly the rest of the year, it will have been his own fault. I still think he can play decently and keep his distance from the other two guys, but tennis is so unpredictable.