Monte Carlo Masters 2018

[Moxie]

WC Kokkinakis loses to Khachanov.

I flipped a coin over that one and decided to go with Kokkinakis. Too bad for Thanassi.

 

[herios]

I flipped a coin over that one and decided to go with Kokkinakis. Too bad for Thanassi.

I do not think Thamassi will ever be as good as many have expected, even before his injury.

 

[Moxie]

I do not think Thamassi will ever be as good as many have expected, even before his injury.

Maybe not, I don't know, though he looked good v. Roger a couple of weeks ago. Anyway, I find Khachanov both uninspiring and unreliable.

 

[Moxie]

M. Zverev seemed to be in charge v. FAA. Then they played a 14-minute game where Felix has to dig deep to hold serve. He did, and seems to be playing much better. Won 2nd set TB.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Despite what @GSM stated a few weeks back, that no Americans are entered in MC draw, I see 2 of them will play: Donaldson and Sandgren.
Interestingly, Sandgren is still in Houston, where he made the final, while the tournament in MC is already underway.

I did not say all americans. I said all americans in top 32 (Sock, Querry and Isner).

 

[herios]

I did not say all americans. I said all americans in top 32 (Sock, Querry and Isner).

Ok, my bad. American #4 and #5 will play, so the next 2 bests.

 

[herios]

M. Zverev seemed to be in charge v. FAA. Then they played a 14-minute game where Felix has to dig deep to hold serve. He did, and seems to be playing much better. Won 2nd set TB.

Then he went down in the 3rd. It seems too early for FAA to make some noise.

 

[El Dude]

I expect FAA to make a bit of a run later in the year - break into 50-100 range, but no higher. He needs to string together some wins, and will do so soon.

 

[herios]

Then he went down in the 3rd. It seems too early for FAA to make some noise.

Remains to be seen. I would not bet on it just yet.

 

[Moxie]

Remains to be seen. I would not bet on it just yet.

Still, I think he responded well in the 2nd set to a tough situation. Used a long, difficult service hold to spur himself through the 2nd. He's still pretty boyish in his body. He'll get stronger, but the mental was a good sign. Zverev is a veteran. Not a bad loss, I didn't think.

 

[Moxie]

Have we resolved this before? Why is MC a non-mandatory MS1000? Why is there a non-mandatory MS 1000? Forgive me if someone has already explained it.

 

[Moxie]

 

[Moxie]

Already some interesting matches tomorrow. Nishikori v. Berdych. Shapovalov v. Tsitsipas, anyone? And I suppose Djokovic v. Lajovic has to be worth a look.

 

[Mastoor]

I wish Nole's match was earlier because it is likely to start when it is midnight here, but I'll try to stay to watch at least some of it. Then I'll have to toggle between Nishikori v Berdych and Coric v Beneteau which may be Nole's round 2.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Have we resolved this before? Why is MC a non-mandatory MS1000? Why is there a non-mandatory MS 1000? Forgive me if someone has already explained it.

I think most remember the reason. When the ATP restructured the Masters Series (and when they came up with the idea of attaching numbers to tourneys so that a casual fan immediately figure out how important the tourney is), they decided to have only 8 ATP 1000s.
There were 9 Masters Series events before. Since they wanted to give one to China (it was at that time that Shanghai's WTF contract was over and they decided to award a 1000 to Shanghai), that would make it 10.

So, two must go. The two that got axed are MC and Hamburg. Hamburg fought with ATP and lost. So, the event got degraded to 500 and more importantly it became a clay tourney that happens post-Wimbledon part of the calendar (thanks to Tiriac deciding to move Madrid up to the clay season). MC did not fight ATP and so got the reward of retaining the 1000 status although with a non-mandatory label.

That is the story. I will try to copy this so that I can post it next year also when you ask again.

 

[Mastoor]

I think most remember the reason. When the ATP restructured the Masters Series (and when they came up with the idea of attaching numbers to tourneys so that a casual fan immediately figure out how important the tourney is), they decided to have only 8 ATP 1000s.
There were 9 Masters Series events before. Since they wanted to give one to China (it was at that time that Shanghai's WTF contract was over and they decided to award a 1000 to Shanghai), that would make it 10.

So, two must go. The two that got axed are MC and Hamburg. Hamburg fought with ATP and lost. So, the event got degraded to 500 and more importantly it became a clay tourney that happens post-Wimbledon part of the calendar (thanks to Tiriac deciding to move Madrid up to the clay season). MC did not fight ATP and so got the reward of retaining the 1000 status although with a non-mandatory label.

That is the story. I will try to copy this so that I can post it next year also when you ask again.

Here the story is, a little differently told:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Tennis_Professionals#2009_changes

 

[Chris Koziarz]

Have we resolved this before? Why is MC a non-mandatory MS1000? Why is there a non-mandatory MS 1000? Forgive me if someone has already explained it.

Look at how the M1000 series shaped up in 2009:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association_of_Tennis_Professionals#2009_changes

To recap, before 2009, both MC & Hamburg were part of so called "Tennis Masters Series". While all other tourns of that seires became M1000, APT decided to drop MC & Hamburg onto 500 level. To quote Wiki:

Plans to eliminate Monte Carlo and Hamburg as Masters Series events led to controversy and protests from players as well as organisers. Hamburg and Monte Carlo filed lawsuits against the ATP, and as a concession it was decided that Monte Carlo remains a Masters 1000 level event, with more prize money and 1000 ranking points, but it would no longer be a compulsory tournament for top-ranked players.

As you can see, MC should really be 500, like Hamburg is. So a fear of that lawsuit led ATP to create this strange non-mandatory M1000 status (that BTW confused even myself before I learned that details) which is a very silly concession from ATP, IMO.

So for the purpose of its status, including player eligibility and its value in player's ranking, think of it as 500 tourn. It's just incidental that the amount of points earned from it is higher (like in M1000), a result of a silly ATP concession.

I don't know why ATP wanted to drop both MC & Hamburg from "Masters Series" in the first place. I guess, they figured that having 10 mandatory M1000 events would be too much and/or too restrictive for players. 8 mandatory tourneys seemed like a right number, so the "lowest two" should have been dropped.

 

[mrzz]

#GetRidOfMonteCarlo
#DieSnoobs
#These10DoesntCount
#PowerToThePeople
#NahFuckThePeopleToo

 

[herios]

Kei defeated Berdych, is Kei healthy now?
Novak served a bagel and a breadstick to his friend Dusan, I will have to see more of him to be assured this is not a flash in a pan .

 

[herios]

Now the 2 teenagers, Tsitsipas and Shapovalov are battling each other.
First set went to Stefanos