The Rankings Thread (ATP)

[DarthFed]

How much money does one need? If I was Rafa I'd be focused on the ATP tour. I'd also go easy about coming back this year too quickly - being the year-end #1 is less important than being healthy for next year. I think he needs to set himself the goal of winning two Slams next year and doing whatever it takes to best situate himself for that. It starts with being healthy.

Furthermore, of all the Slams I'm guessing he wants another AO most. It would give him something Roger doesn't have, two of each, and silence (or at least quiet) doubters about his lopsided Slam count.

A million more than what one currently has.

Amen brother. There is no such thing as too much money. That's one of the laws of the world.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

This IPTL certainly increases the chances of either Roger Federer or your "favorite surprise
winner" (such as Cilic, Nishikori, Grigor, Raonic etc) winning the AO in 2015. Novak Djokovic, Rafa Nadal, Andy Murray, Tomas Berdych, Jo Tsonga,, Monfils, Gasquet and even Kyrgios are all part of IPTL circus. They will be spending three weeks of the vacation time meant for R&R performing in the circus and then rush home to celebrate Christmas (not all) for a week and then discover that
the tune-up tourneys are upon them so soon.

p.s. Finally, Roger will get his million anyway to play in the tune up in Brisbane.

 

[NADAL2005RG]

^ Nadal gets a million per match at the IPTL, and no indication that it will reduce his chances of winning the Australian Open :clap

 

[Moxie]

^ Nadal gets a million per match at the IPTL, and no indication that it will reduce his chances of winning the Australian Open :clap

What the hell are you clapping about? (An emoticon is a bit of spice...too much, and you spoil the dish.) Rafa doesn't need $1Milion or $8M. He needs another Major. No indication that it will reduce his chances of winning the AO?? What about what Kieran said about him and Novak playing exhos in So. America last winter? (Neither of them won the AO.) Or Roger saying that doing it affected his AO, so he didn't do it again? Unless Rafa plays nothing before the YEC, I don't see how this is a helpful choice.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

yes. nadals south American globetrotting last year when he should have been switching off totally backfired with his bad back destroying anychance of a win in the AO FINal.

we moaned about it on here at the time ..its like rafa really cannot keep still. and he paid the price big style.

 

[the AntiPusher]

^ Nadal gets a million per match at the IPTL, and no indication that it will reduce his chances of winning the Australian Open :clap

Don't make sense to me

 

[GameSetAndMath]

As far as Nadal earning $1,000,000 per night (of one set play) is concerned Nadal2005RG
appears to be correct. Here is an old telegraph article claiming the same thing.

However, elsewhere I read the fineprint. It appears that both Rafa and Novak have decided
to play only in India and UAE. They will be skipping the Singapore and Phillipines portion of
the IPTL tour.

Although they never disclose the exact monetary agreements in these things publicly,
it appears that both Rafa and Novak will be cashing in about $6,000,000 each and will
be playing in India for three days and UAE for three days. So, they will only be wasting
about a week or ten days of their vacation and not three weeks like other not so
famous players.

It looks like the "owner" of each team (some oil sharks) is spending about $24,000,000 just
in payments to players of that team. The team consists of ten players and the money
is of course highly unevenly divided among the ten players based on their popularity,
fame, record etc.

While we can debate whether that is what Rafa should be going after, it would be hard
to blame him for cashing in a million bucks in a single evening and that too for playing
one set and that too a touchy, feely exo set.

 

[Moxie]

^ We might also ask who sold those financiers a bill of goods? How does anyone make their money back on this? Did anyone tell them these people were just going to play tennis, not re-stage "Phantom of the Opera," or "Cats?"

 

[GameSetAndMath]

^ We might also ask who sold those financiers a bill of goods? How does anyone make their money back on this? Did anyone tell them these people were just going to play tennis, not re-stage "Phantom of the Opera," or "Cats?"

I don't think it is a sustainable operation. This being the first year, it will run. Once they
realize that it is not a sound business proposition, the "owners" will get out of it or at least
substantially reduce the money that they are willing to spend. Once they reduce the money
they want to spend, the top players will not be coming any more and that will lead to even
less revenue than before and there will be spiraling effect leading to the death of IPTL
in at most three years in my estimation.

The only good thing is that it is entirely private operation and the governments of
these countries are not wasting tax payer money on this circus.

 

[Moxie]

^ Well, as long as they only fleeced stupid rich people.

 

[Kieran]

^ We might also ask who sold those financiers a bill of goods? How does anyone make their money back on this? Did anyone tell them these people were just going to play tennis, not re-stage "Phantom of the Opera," or "Cats?"

Not true, actually. Novak has promised to don a furry wig and dance after every single game, doing conga lines through the aisles with his favourite ball-children tagging behind. It's on the basis of this alone that it costs so much.

Pete Sampras was also asked about dancing, but in his case they're paying him not to... :lolz:

 

[Federberg]

^ We might also ask who sold those financiers a bill of goods? How does anyone make their money back on this? Did anyone tell them these people were just going to play tennis, not re-stage "Phantom of the Opera," or "Cats?"

I don't think it is a sustainable operation. This being the first year, it will run. Once they
realize that it is not a sound business proposition, the "owners" will get out of it or at least
substantially reduce the money that they are willing to spend. Once they reduce the money
they want to spend, the top players will not be coming any more and that will lead to even
less revenue than before and there will be spiraling effect leading to the death of IPTL
in at most three years in my estimation.

The only good thing is that it is entirely private operation and the governments of
these countries are not wasting tax payer money on this circus.

Don't underestimate the greed of tennis players, and the amount of money Indian business men are willing to throw at the problem. It's not just tennis that's being targeted. This is about to happen with soccer as well. The IPL cricket has been a commercial success, and it will encourage them to attack more global sports than cricket. Obviously this will really gain traction if they can just find some home grown stars, but I suspect they'll be willing to throw a sizeable amout of money before they give up. The ATP and WTA must be krapping themselves. This might just get them to up the prize money in regular tournaments as a defensive measure. It will be interesting to watch in the next few years!

 

[NADAL2005RG]

What the hell are you clapping about? (An emoticon is a bit of spice...too much, and you spoil the dish.) Rafa doesn't need $1Milion or $8M. He needs another Major. No indication that it will reduce his chances of winning the AO?? What about what Kieran said about him and Novak playing exhos in So. America last winter? (Neither of them won the AO.) Or Roger saying that doing it affected his AO, so he didn't do it again? Unless Rafa plays nothing before the YEC, I don't see how this is a helpful choice.

Are you saying Nadal receiving $6 million more for playing 6 sets of tennis and giving that money to his Indian school is not worthwhile? :laydownlaughing

And firstly you've got to prove that the IPTL prevents Nadal from winning the Australian Open. Good luck trying to prove that......

You can talk about Federer and Djokovic, but those guys aren't Nadal. They don't train as hard as Nadal (from what I've heard), so perhaps the IPTL would be a better rest for Nadal than his usual Christmas training regime. There are way too many variables for you to prove that the IPTL hurts Nadal's chances of winning the Australian Open.

Plus, do you even know whether Nadal values the AO more than his Indian school that he's raising money for?
I mean, I think he does or has it about equal, but I can't be sure. Playing for $6 million in IPTL is an extremely noble act, and far more noble than skipping it just because of the Australian Open (especially if playing the IPTL is easier than Nadal's Christmas training regime).

 

[NADAL2005RG]

yes. nadals south American globetrotting last year when he should have been switching off totally backfired with his bad back destroying anychance of a win in the AO FINal.

we moaned about it on here at the time ..its like rafa really cannot keep still. and he paid the price big style.

2014 is Nadal's 3rd best AO ever....... And his SF was his best match of the year (also the Monfils match was awesome). If Nadal plays like that at every AO, I'd be confident he wins most of them :clap

 

[Kieran]

NADAL2005RG,

You'd have to prove that playing this ludicrous Indian knockabout is better than his usual Christmas training...

 

[Federberg]

^Playing to earn $6m is very noble... errr... right! And on the 7th day, he bade the sun shine out of his behind, and there was light in the world!

 

[NADAL2005RG]

Hard work is usually noble (or relatively easy work, in this case......any work) when it benefits innocent people so massively :clap

 

[Kieran]

Where is it benefitting anyone other than Rafa? Do you have a link that'll help me out here?

 

[NADAL2005RG]

^ You seriously aren't aware of Nadal's school in India for dalits (untouchables)?

The more Nadal earns, the better off that school is (whether all his earnings go to it, or just a fraction) :clap

Whereas what does prioritizing the AO do for the dalits?

 

[Kieran]

^^ I'm absolutely unaware of it. Do you have a link?

Cheers!