The Rankings Thread (ATP)

[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.

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.

Yeah, I can't see Gulbis leap frogging Murray to be honest but Murray could lose early while those above him do better and keep him at number 12 but dropping to 13 doesn't seem likely unless Gulbis does extremely well next few tournaments, which again I can't see him doing really. No idea how many points Gulbis is defending the rest of this year.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

535 points lead with zero points to defend is a huge buffer; unless there is a major
catastrophy Murray will not fall below 12th in rankings this year.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

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

Making the FINAL of the WTF twice is extremely impressive. Most guys don't win the Career Grand Slam (see 2-time French Open finalist Novak Djokovic). So Nadal not winning the big indoor tournament (when indoor hardcourts = Nadal's worst surface) is absolutely no surprise :s

Add to the fact that he's never had year-long stamina (unlike Roger The Machine Federer) and you can see why Nadal hasn't won the World Tour Finals. He may win it now though, because we are entering the weakest era since early 21st Century (we are entering the era of Big Four Decline and there is no 'new big 4' yet to takeover).

 

[Front242]

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

Making the FINAL of the WTF twice is extremely impressive. Most guys don't win the Career Grand Slam (see 2-time French Open finalist Novak Djokovic). So Nadal not winning the big indoor tournament (when indoor hardcourts = Nadal's worst surface) is absolutely no surprise :s

Add to the fact that he's never had year-long stamina (unlike Roger The Machine Federer) and you can see why Nadal hasn't won the World Tour Finals. He may win it now though, because we are entering the weakest era since early 21st Century (we are entering the era of Big Four Decline and there is no 'new big 4' yet to takeover).

Stamina has zero to do with him not winning there and frankly the only guy I've noticed was visibly tired there was Ferrer last year when he himself said he was exhausted and won zero matches. Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else excluding Ferrer who plays too damn much last few years.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

Stamina has zero to do with him not winning there and frankly the only guy I've noticed was visibly tired there was Ferrer last year when he himself said he was exhausted and won zero matches. Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else excluding Ferrer who plays too damn much last few years.

For the last decade I've been reading
"Nadal is headed for an early retirement with that style of play" or
"Nadal will struggle to ever win the US Open, because he'll be too worn out by then" or
"Hardcourts are damaging Nadal's knees".....
So now suddenly "Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else"? :laydownlaughing

 

[Moxie]

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

Making the FINAL of the WTF twice is extremely impressive. Most guys don't win the Career Grand Slam (see 2-time French Open finalist Novak Djokovic). So Nadal not winning the big indoor tournament (when indoor hardcourts = Nadal's worst surface) is absolutely no surprise :s

Add to the fact that he's never had year-long stamina (unlike Roger The Machine Federer) and you can see why Nadal hasn't won the World Tour Finals. He may win it now though, because we are entering the weakest era since early 21st Century (we are entering the era of Big Four Decline and there is no 'new big 4' yet to takeover).

Stamina has zero to do with him not winning there and frankly the only guy I've noticed was visibly tired there was Ferrer last year when he himself said he was exhausted and won zero matches. Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else excluding Ferrer who plays too damn much last few years.

Agreed stamina has much less to do with it than surface/venue for Nadal. He has a stellar record outdoors, but indoors...not so much. I thought he had a decent chance last year, but, if I remember it right, Novak got him in straights.

 

[Front242]

Stamina has zero to do with him not winning there and frankly the only guy I've noticed was visibly tired there was Ferrer last year when he himself said he was exhausted and won zero matches. Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else excluding Ferrer who plays too damn much last few years.

For the last decade I've been reading
"Nadal is headed for an early retirement with that style of play" or
"Nadal will struggle to ever win the US Open, because he'll be too worn out by then" or
"Hardcourts are damaging Nadal's knees".....
So now suddenly "Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else"? :laydownlaughing

I mentioned nothing about anything you said there above except the bolded part above. It's not opinion or made up, it's fact. The reason is the surface doesn't play to his strengths and his topspin forehands are sitting ducks compared to other surfaces where they bounce up high and make things difficult for guys with single handed backhands. Hence why he's beaten Federer only once at the WTF because that topspin FH to BH tactic doesn't work there and a 32 year old Federer having one of his worst years on tour only at that. And it's not just against Federer but everyone that his topspin loses its bite.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

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.”

So much for Andy not caring for WTF. According to an article from tennis.com ,
he has taken wild cards in Shenzhen and Beijing. He has bought an apartment in China
as he will be staying there for three weeks

But, I like his move. He better care for WTF and try to make it, especially considering
he missed it last year and it is being held in his backyard.

I especially like his ATP 250 Shenzhen wildcard move as he may even win a title possibly
there which will improve his confidence and also make sure that he does not draw a blank
in titles in 2014.

 

[Front242]

Troicki is up to 208 in the live rankings now with a SF at the Banja Luka challenger. Will be well within the top 200 soon.

 

[Fiero425]

Stamina has zero to do with him not winning there and frankly the only guy I've noticed was visibly tired there was Ferrer last year when he himself said he was exhausted and won zero matches. Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else excluding Ferrer who plays too damn much last few years.

For the last decade I've been reading
"Nadal is headed for an early retirement with that style of play" or
"Nadal will struggle to ever win the US Open, because he'll be too worn out by then" or
"Hardcourts are damaging Nadal's knees".....
So now suddenly "Nadal has no more reason to be any more tired than anyone else"? :laydownlaughing

I mentioned nothing about anything you said there above except the bolded part above. It's not opinion or made up, it's fact. The reason is the surface doesn't play to his strengths and his topspin forehands are sitting ducks compared to other surfaces where they bounce up high and make things difficult for guys with single handed backhands. Hence why he's beaten Federer only once at the WTF because that topspin FH to BH tactic doesn't work there and a 32 year old Federer having one of his worst years on tour only at that. And it's not just against Federer but everyone that his topspin loses its bite.

Quite a bounce back for Roger who was #4 behind his countryman, Stan! I had no reason to believe he could approach #2 with Rafa's slide due to absence and Stan remaining static in his point totals; even with AO and Monte Carlo this year! There's a scenario having him get back to #1; "let's calm down now!" Nole's still the man and he's not going to just roll over and give up his status even though the family man might take a hit in his passion for the game! It'll all come down to WTF no doubt! The Asian swing is pivotal! Djokovic has owned it the last couple years, but he had his name added to the AO consecutive years and finally lost it to Wawrinka in Feb.! Stan might fall out of the Big 4 if he doesn't get busy! Love his game, but he's disappeared; with all that talent!

 

[Front242]

Will be interesting to see if Cilic, Nishikori and even Kyrgios do much damage next few months and stop many of the top guns building points.

 

[Front242]

Viktor Troicki won the Banja Luka challenger and has flown up the live rankings now from 208 to 170. Really making progress now.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Will be interesting to see if Cilic, Nishikori and even Kyrgios do much damage next few months and stop many of the top guns building points.

Cilic will do well in the indoor portion of the season. He has been generally good at indoors.
He will probably win at least one indoor title, either Basel/Valencia or Bercy or WTF.

 

[Billie]

Viktor Troicki won the Banja Luka challenger and has flown up the live rankings now from 208 to 170. Really making progress now.

Go Vik!!! Great job, I was afraid he would be a mentally broken man after a year long suspension. Still these are all challengers, I have to see how he is going to cope with ATP competition.

 

[Front242]

Viktor Troicki won the Banja Luka challenger and has flown up the live rankings now from 208 to 170. Really making progress now.

Go Vik!!! Great job, I was afraid he would be a mentally broken man after a year long suspension. Still these are all challengers, I have to see how he is going to cope with ATP competition.

True but he's played many regular ATP players who have dropped in the rankings and are now relegated to challenger events too so he's beaten some good players already.

 

[Front242]

Will be interesting to see if Cilic, Nishikori and even Kyrgios do much damage next few months and stop many of the top guns building points.

Cilic will do well in the indoor portion of the season. He has been generally good at indoors.
He will probably win at least one indoor title, either Basel/Valencia or Bercy or WTF.

Hopefully Nishikori stays healthy too and continues to do well. I'm hoping Gulbis redeems himself a bit for the rest of the year but not too sure he will. Would also love to see Kyrgios calm his nerves and attempt to play more of the downright awesome tennis he played against Robredo in their US Open match. I'm talking mostly only the first 5 games when he went up 5-0 and made Robredo look like a WTA player. Can't see him sustaining that level for more than a set though at this stage.

 

[Billie]

Viktor Troicki won the Banja Luka challenger and has flown up the live rankings now from 208 to 170. Really making progress now.

Go Vik!!! Great job, I was afraid he would be a mentally broken man after a year long suspension. Still these are all challengers, I have to see how he is going to cope with ATP competition.

True but he's played many regular ATP players who have dropped in the rankings and are now relegated to challenger events too so he's beaten some good players already.

He was so miserable for the first few months, everybody was worried about him. But he had Nole's and Janko's support and he reunited with his old girlfriend, so that helped him a lot. I am glad he is doing this well in the challengers. Hopefully his ranking will improve even more and he will soon play some ATP events.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Will be interesting to see if Cilic, Nishikori and even Kyrgios do much damage next few months and stop many of the top guns building points.

Cilic will do well in the indoor portion of the season. He has been generally good at indoors.
He will probably win at least one indoor title, either Basel/Valencia or Bercy or WTF.

Hopefully Nishikori stays healthy too and continues to do well. I'm hoping Gulbis redeems himself a bit for the rest of the year but not too sure he will. Would also love to see Kyrgios calm his nerves and attempt to play more of the downright awesome tennis he played against Robredo in their US Open match. I'm talking mostly only the first 5 games when he went up 5-0 and made Robredo look like a WTA player. Can't see him sustaining that level for more than a set though at this stage.

Nishikori will do well in the Asian Swing. But, I don't think he will do well in the indoor swing.
Kyrgios is not ranked high enough to even directly play in Shanghai and Bercy. He needs to
go through the qualifying. So, give him one more year before he can regularly participate,
forget how well he does, in the big events.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

The Beijing/Tokyo simulataneous ATP 500s have an interesting dynamic. Beijing always
attracts a strong field. This is due to two reasons. They offer substantially higher prize money
than Tokyo. The other reason is that all the top players will play in Shanghai right after this
ATP 500 week and it makes the travel easy for them to go to Shanghai from Beijing.

Right now most of the top 10 players are scheduled to play in Beijing including
Novak, Rafa, Murray (oops, he is not a top 10 player anymore, just a member
of big four :snigger), Berdych, Grigor and Cilic.

If somebody is looking for points and smart enough they should go to Tokyo instead.
That is exactly what Wawrinka, Ferrer, Raonic and Tsonga are doing. Nishikori is
playing in Tokyo, but not due to strategy; this is home tourney for him.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

This is the first time Nadal has missed the US Open and returned in the Asian Swing.
And Nadal traditionally returns with gusto.
So this could be his year to win Asia, Paris and London :celeb:
LOL imagine how Djokovic would feel if Nadal again finishes #1! (pipped him at the post last year too)
Although, Djokovic has bigger fish to fry perhaps (family) and won't be that disappointed.