The Rankings Thread (ATP)

[herios]

I read on another forum that Rafa applied for the Chinese visa, but his wrist is still sore when he hits gis BH. Anyone has any more updates, please share.

 

[Federberg]

I read on another forum that Rafa applied for the Chinese visa, but his wrist is still sore when he hits gis BH. Anyone has any more updates, please share.

I read on some blog, that he was thinking about shutting it down for the year to allow the wrist to heal properly. But I can't remember where I saw that. It was middle of last week. But if Rafa-fans aren't hearing that, then I'm certainly not going to push it...

 

[tented]

Radek Stepanek "the Worm" for "Player of the Year"

I agree Stepanek is known for defying the odds :clap

Is that what you kids call it these days?

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

career high..8.9.2014.

150. alexander zverev..17yrs 5months.
176. borna coric...........17yrs 10months.

 

[Front242]

career high..8.9.2014.

150. alexander zverev..17yrs 5months.
176. borna coric...........17yrs 10months.

Nice progress. Viktor Troicki is back to 227 in the live rankings now and still in the latest challenger event so will hopefully move higher still pretty soon. In light of the Cilic situation I feel less bad about the whole issue with doping surrounding Troicki as he served a 1 year ban as opposed to the totally unfair 4 months that Cilic's was reduced to. Given Troicki has been fighting back the hard way through challengers I'm actively following his progress and feel a lot sorrier for him than Cilic. He was clearly given the $h1t end of the stick and shame on the authorities for the double standards.

 

[TennisFanatic7]

Players seeded 5-12 have the same chance as each other of facing a Djokovic or Nadal or Federer in the QFs, so in that sense it makes not so much difference.

Not getting a bye is extra time on court, this can be a good or a bad thing.

The other difference is the opponent in the last 16. Murray can currently face Ferrer, Berdych, Raonic or Nishikori, if the results follow seeding. If he was in the top 8 at the expense of Kei, he would have to face Nishikori, Cilic, Dimitrov or Tsonga. Dare I say that, actually, when you look at those lists and ignore everything else, he may even be better off ranked where he is, than higher up?

Time will tell... The fact is if he doesn't rediscover his mojo and continues to play like the rest of the guys in the 5-12 rankings or worse than some of them, it's all rather inconsequential. Just so long as he avoids slipping outside of the top 12, because that's the stage at which you start to look at 4th rounds against Nole or Rafa in Australia. That shouldn't happen though as there are no points to defend between now and then.

Do you know what is Murray's schedule for the rest of the year?

I don't know for sure. According to live-tennis, he and Federer are the only two top 16ish players that aren't scheduled to play either of Beijing or Tokyo. I've just checked the respective websites and he isn't on either of the entry lists. I find it surprising he isn't playing one or the other, so it looks like it's just Shanghai and Bercy.

There is an article here (http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/tennis/andy-murray-wont-increase-playing-4191768) that says he won't expand his playing schedule in order to qualify for the World Tour Finals, but a sample of it suggests he may look for a wildcard into one of the 500 events before Shanghai:

He said: “To be honest, it was not a massive goal of mine. I mean, it’s obviously nice to qualify for it as it’s a good tournament. I played a number of years and enjoyed it, but I don’t want to overplay.

“I’ll play the right schedule. I’ll likely play probably a tournament before Shanghai, but I’m not sure exactly which one yet. I won’t expect to overplay just to try to qualify.”

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Yes, Federer will not be playing in Beijing/Tokyo and that is consistent with the schedule
he announced at the beginning of the year. Fed's schedule for the rest of the year is
DC(SF), Shanghai, Basel, Bercy, WTF and DC(F).

Even if Murray is not entered, he can easily get a wild card into Beijing or Tokyo at
the last minute. I think he will play one or the other. While Murray will not play a
250 at this time just to qualify, I am of the opinion that he will not skip the two
500 events (Beijing/Tokyo and Basel/Valencia) unless it becomes mathematically
clear that playing in it will not affect his qualifying in one way or other.

 

[Front242]

^ Well at least he has more brains than Ferrer who I hope does not qualify though sadly he probably will. Ferrer played so much all year he won zero matches at the WTF and what's the point in arriving there like a zombie.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

Federer has still a lot of tennis this year, he has played the most matches already with 64.

 

[Fiero425]

^ Well at least he has more brains than Ferrer who I hope does not qualify though sadly he probably will. Ferrer played so much all year he won zero matches at the WTF and what's the point in arriving there like a zombie.

I felt the same about Rafa; one occasion losing all 3 of his RR matches! Why bother? Most of these guys are just burned out by Nov. and they should allow others who want to play and really compete, not just enter the WTF as a responsibility!

 

[Front242]

^ Well at least he has more brains than Ferrer who I hope does not qualify though sadly he probably will. Ferrer played so much all year he won zero matches at the WTF and what's the point in arriving there like a zombie.

I felt the same about Rafa; one occasion losing all 3 of his RR matches! Why bother? Most of these guys are just burned out by Nov. and they should allow others who want to play and really compete, not just enter the WTF as a responsibility!

Well the surface is Rafa's biggest hurdle there but in fairness he's done a lot better there than Ferrer. I'm not putting Rafa's lack of success there down to fatigue as he doesn't overplay anywhere near like Ferrer. Most don't in fact. Ferrer is just like Davydenko was before his pretty much sadly career ending wrist injury in 2010, he plays practically every week to stay in the top 10. No wonder he's wrecked by November.

Nadal deserves his place there for his ranking and while the same applies to Ferrer, he gets there the hard way. Nadal wins more big events to justify his WTF qualification than Ferrer scraping in by playing 250s in the middle of nowhere just to make sure he gets there. Of course he's done well in slams the past few years too but every small tournament he plays adds to the points from slams and masters events that are enough for Nadal to qualify. It took till a 1/4 final at Beijing for Ferrer to qualify last year. Nadal qualified by winning Roland Garros months before Ferrer.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

Federer has still a lot of tennis this year, he has played the most matches already with 64.

When you are 33, that's awful :cover
More matches than anyone and no slams to show for it, and most likely no #1 ranking.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

I felt the same about Rafa; one occasion losing all 3 of his RR matches! Why bother? Most of these guys are just burned out by Nov. and they should allow others who want to play and really compete, not just enter the WTF as a responsibility!

But Nadal was in the final of WTF in 2010 (and took Federer to a deciding set).
And last year Nadal beat Federer and made the final again.
Looks like a very worthwhile endeavor :clap

 

[Fiero425]

I felt the same about Rafa; one occasion losing all 3 of his RR matches! Why bother? Most of these guys are just burned out by Nov. and they should allow others who want to play and really compete, not just enter the WTF as a responsibility!

But Nadal was in the final of WTF in 2010 (and took Federer to a deciding set).
And last year Nadal beat Federer and made the final again.
Looks like a very worthwhile endeavor :clap

Beating Roger nowadays shouldn't be a highlight of Rafa's career! He owns the man for the most part! If he loses even a set to Federer, he should be embarrassed! :snigger :laydownlaughing

 

[Front242]

Viktor Troicki is now up to 220 in the live rankings and Tsonga's Davis Cup win today has pushed Murray to 12 in the live rankings and will be 12 also in the official rankings next week.

 

[DarthFed]

I felt the same about Rafa; one occasion losing all 3 of his RR matches! Why bother? Most of these guys are just burned out by Nov. and they should allow others who want to play and really compete, not just enter the WTF as a responsibility!

But Nadal was in the final of WTF in 2010 (and took Federer to a deciding set).
And last year Nadal beat Federer and made the final again.
Looks like a very worthwhile endeavor :clap

And he still somehow hasn't managed to win a WTF? WTF is going on with your idol on indoor courts :nono

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Viktor Troicki is now up to 220 in the live rankings and Tsonga's Davis Cup win today has pushed Murray to 12 in the live rankings and will be 12 also in the official rankings next week.

Murray simply cannot afford to see his rankings go down even one notch. If he is ranked
13 or lower, he would have to face one of the top four guys (Roger, Rafa, Novak or Man)
in R16 (no longer in quarterfinals). :nono

 

[Front242]

Viktor Troicki is now up to 220 in the live rankings and Tsonga's Davis Cup win today has pushed Murray to 12 in the live rankings and will be 12 also in the official rankings next week.

Murray simply cannot afford to see his rankings go down even one notch. If he is ranked
13 or lower, he would have to face one of the top four guys (Roger, Rafa, Novak or Man)
in R16 (no longer in quarterfinals). :nono

Pretty tough going alright. If those ahead of him in the rankings do well next few months things will get tricky.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Viktor Troicki is now up to 220 in the live rankings and Tsonga's Davis Cup win today has pushed Murray to 12 in the live rankings and will be 12 also in the official rankings next week.

Murray simply cannot afford to see his rankings go down even one notch. If he is ranked
13 or lower, he would have to face one of the top four guys (Roger, Rafa, Novak or Man)
in R16 (no longer in quarterfinals). :nono

Pretty tough going alright. If those ahead of him in the rankings do well next few months things will get tricky.

The next guy below Murray is Gulbis and Murray has 535 points lead over Gulbis.
With Murray having ZERO points to defend for the rest of the reason, hopefully Murray
will not fall any further this year. This would also help him not to meet the top four
in R16.

 

[Kieran]

In fairness, I don't think the Big 3 would like to meet Andy in the round of 16 either...