Wimbledon 2015 (Men)

[Federberg]

Newsflash, just because we as fans think life revolves around Fedal and every conversation leads back to them doesn't mean professional tennis players think the same way.

This is legitimately one of the most baffling theories I've read here in a while.

:clap
I completely agree! For goodness sakes, Ferrer isn't going to do anything to try to accommodate Rafa. Only Roger has taken more food off his table (I think). He's only thinking about himself and rightly so. It's a big deal to decide to withdraw. I'm sure he thought long and hard, and it must have been a difficult decision

 

[Carol]

Well, if Ferru would have withdrawn the day before or the same day that he had to play against Nadal then this last one would have automatically passed to the next round. Then it would have been more help for Rafa, isn't?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I'm sure this tourney will really miss him

I wouldn't say it's a conspiracy to help Nadal as he'd have no idea who would be in his draw but it still is crappy for someone who would've qualified by rank if he'd pulled out earlier.

The rules are crystal clear. It is a well defined and simple procedure. Isner, who is ranked 17th will be put in Ferrer's slot. Kohly who just missed the cut for seeding would go in to Isner's slot. Kohly's slot would be filled up by a lucky loser (lucky loser is randomly selected from the 16 losers who lost in the final round of qualifying tourney).

While a casual tennis fan may not be aware of these rules, these guys fully well know how things work, after all it is their profession.

 

[Kieran]

^^ So you're saying Ferrer knew he'd be Rafa's potential 4th round opponent?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

He's pretty much always bent over for him before so nothing new there.

Look, the timing of Ferrer's announcement is extremely suspicious. His announcement came within hours after the OOP for Day 1 is made precluding the possibility of rebalancing the draw.

If he had announced before the OOP was announced the draw would have been rebalanced as follows: Isner would have occupied Ferrer's spot. Kohly would have occupied Isner's spot and
Kohly's spot would have gone to the lucky loser Vanni.

If Ferrer thought there is a possibility that he might play, why did not he wait for one more day to announce it. After all, he needs to play only on Tuesday. He could have waited to see his condition improves. He fully well knew that he cannot play. The proper thing for him to do would be to announce that either before the draw is made or at least before the OOP was released thus forcing a rebalancing of the draw.

Not many people are speaking right now. But, this controversy will blow up in case Novak loses to Kohly in the opening round.

Maybe, just maybe, the decision to withdraw from a major is pretty, ermmm...major, so Ferrer wanted to give himself the most time to test whether he'll be able to play?

But no, you're right, there's something "suspicious" about it. Quite what it is, I don't know, since you're kinda implying but back-tracking at some conspiracy BS.

If he is giving himself more time to test his ability to play, why could not he give himself more time and announce may be tomorrow. After all Ferrer is not slated to play until Tuesday, even if he is playing. If it is pretty clear that he will not be able to play, why could not he announce before the OOP is released this morning. It became clear to him exactly one hour after the OOP is relased. Come on, notbody is naïve enough to believe that.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

^^ So you're saying Ferrer knew he'd be Rafa's potential 4th round opponent?

After the draw was made, which was done on Friday, even you and me knew that Ferrer is the projected opponent of Rafa in 4th round. Why do you think Ferrer does not know, when even you and me know it?

 

[Kieran]

^^ So you're saying Ferrer knew he'd be Rafa's potential 4th round opponent?

After the draw was made, which was done on Friday, even you and me knew that Ferrer is the projected opponent of Rafa in 4th round. Why do you think Ferrer does not know, when even you and me know it?

So why wait til Sunday to withdraw? He could have done that on Friday night.

Or Tuesday morning...

 

[brokenshoelace]

Look, the timing of Ferrer's announcement is extremely suspicious. His announcement came within hours after the OOP for Day 1 is made precluding the possibility of rebalancing the draw.

If he had announced before the OOP was announced the draw would have been rebalanced as follows: Isner would have occupied Ferrer's spot. Kohly would have occupied Isner's spot and
Kohly's spot would have gone to the lucky loser Vanni.

If Ferrer thought there is a possibility that he might play, why did not he wait for one more day to announce it. After all, he needs to play only on Tuesday. He could have waited to see his condition improves. He fully well knew that he cannot play. The proper thing for him to do would be to announce that either before the draw is made or at least before the OOP was released thus forcing a rebalancing of the draw.

Not many people are speaking right now. But, this controversy will blow up in case Novak loses to Kohly in the opening round.

Maybe, just maybe, the decision to withdraw from a major is pretty, ermmm...major, so Ferrer wanted to give himself the most time to test whether he'll be able to play?

But no, you're right, there's something "suspicious" about it. Quite what it is, I don't know, since you're kinda implying but back-tracking at some conspiracy BS.

If he is giving himself more time to test his ability to play, why could not he give himself more time and announce may be tomorrow. After all Ferrer is not slated to play until Tuesday, even if he is playing. If it is pretty clear that he will not be able to play, why could not he announce before the OOP is released this morning. It became clear to him exactly one hour after the OOP is relased. Come on, notbody is naïve enough to believe that.

Apparently everyone is naive enough since you're literally the only person buying this theory.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Newsflash, just because we as fans think life revolves around Fedal and every conversation leads back to them doesn't mean professional tennis players think the same way.

This is legitimately one of the most baffling theories I've read here in a while.

:clap
I completely agree! For goodness sakes, Ferrer isn't going to do anything to try to accommodate Rafa. Only Roger has taken more food off his table (I think). He's only thinking about himself and rightly so. It's a big deal to decide to withdraw. I'm sure he thought long and hard, and it must have been a difficult decision

You are missing the point. Nobody is claiming here that Ferrer dropped out to make life easy for Rafa. In fact most do not even believe that Ferrer will beat Rafa (yes even the current Rafa) on grass.
No professional player will drop out to help some other player. Even if it is clear to everybody including Ferrer that Ferrer will lose to Rafa, it is in Ferrer's interest to play as he will get the ranking points and money for reaching the 4th round.

The issue is about the timing of Ferrer's announcement of withdrawal. If he had announced before the OOP for Monday was made, the Wimbledon organizers are bound by the rules to rebalance the draw. If he announces after the OOP was made, they simply replace him by a lucky loser leaving the draw unbalanced.

Given that he announced his withdrawal one hour after the OOP was made, don't you think it is suspicious? This is not about Fedal wars. This is about basic decency of informing the organizers in a timely manner so that they can rebalance the draw. I posted the ITF rules on rebalancing the draw in the Wimbledon preview thread verbatim. You can take a look at it.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

^^ So you're saying Ferrer knew he'd be Rafa's potential 4th round opponent?

After the draw was made, which was done on Friday, even you and me knew that Ferrer is the projected opponent of Rafa in 4th round. Why do you think Ferrer does not know, when even you and me know it?

So why wait til Sunday to withdraw? He could have done that on Friday night.

That is exactly the point. If he had withdrawn on Friday night itself, the Wimbledon organizers would be bound by the rules to rebalance the draw. If he withdraws after the order of play for Monday was made, the organizers can simply replace Ferrer by a lucky loser.

Hence, he waited till OOP came out and then withdrew.

 

[Kieran]

I don't think you've thought this one through. You're not only accusing Ferrer of a form of moral corruption, you;re also saying he's an idiot. If he wanted to somehow help his country-mate's chances, and do it without conspiracy theorists working overtime on it, he would have withdrawn tomorrow or Tuesday. The timing is actually irrelevant, unless you're a cynical sort who thinks so little of a sportsman who is renowned for his fighting qualities and competitive spirit.

It's actually easier in this case to accept things at face value. The conspiracy theory is just like most conspiracy theories: it don't hold water... :chillout::emperor:

 

[Kirijax]

:lolz:

^^ So you're saying Ferrer knew he'd be Rafa's potential 4th round opponent?

 

[GameSetAndMath]

I posted the rules in the other thread. For ease of reference, I am reposting it here. Here are the relevant portions of the ITF rules goverinng the withdrawal of a seeded player after the draw is made. All statements within quotes (".........") are verbatim from the Rules book.

"Any vacancy created by the withdrawal of a seed prior to the release of the Order of Play for the first day of Main Draw shall be filled as follows:

- If the withdrawal is among seeds 1 to 4, the 5th seed is moved into then open position, the 5th position shall be filled by the 17th seed, and the 17th position shall be filled by the next highest ranked player eligible to be seeded. - If the withdrawal is among seeds 5 to 16, the 17th seed is moved into the open position and the 17th position shall be filled by the next highest ranked player eligible to be seeded. - If the withdrawal is among seeds 17 to 32 it shall be filled by the next highest ranked player eligible to be seeded.
The position vacated by that next highest ranked player shall then be filled by the next player on the original entry list if prior to the commencement of the Qualifying competition or by the eligible Lucky Loser if after the commencement of the Qualifying competition.
Any vacancy created by the withdrawal of a seed which occurs after the release of the Order of Play for the first day of the Main Draw shall be filled by eligible Lucky Losers."

As Ferrer is seeded 8th, the portion of the rules dealing with withdrawal of players 5 to 16 applies.
According to that, Isner, who is ranked 17th should be given Ferrer's spot and Isner's spot should go to Kohly who is the highest ranked non-seeded player and Kohly's spot should go to luck loser Vanni.

They did not do it, as the withdrawal came after the OOP for Monday was released. Too bad!
Knowing the rules, Ferrer probably deliberately waited to declare his withdrawal until after the OOP was released to help out fellow countryman who now essentially has the easiest octet of all the eight octets out there. What a conspiracy by the Ironman!:cover

 

[Kieran]

^^ Yeah, it doesn't scan any better the second time you posted it...

 

[Kirijax]

While I personally think Feruuuuuu doesn't give a flying phatootie what Nadal does or has to do, you still have to think he could have been a bit smarter about it.

 

[Kieran]

While I personally think Feruuuuuu doesn't give a flying phatootie what Nadal does or has to do, you still have to think he could have been a bit smarter about it.

Only if he did something wrong, would he have to be "smarter about it." He's not responsible for the way fans think. This is one of the barmiest indirect slurs on Rafa from a Fedfan I've ever seen, and that's going some...

 

[Carol]

The draw is just a "paper" because many things can happen during a tournament. Maybe Ferru is not going to be the only one pulling off (at least he has done in advance) others has done during the matches and I wouldn't be surprised if we will see it in this tournament. Injuries are bad for anyone and they have to take care before it would be too late.
Ferru could have played a couple the matches or maybe not but in those conditions it would have been a silly decision. He is the first one to want to beat Nadal or whoever plays against.
I'd like to know what someone would have said if he would have withdrawn playing against Nadal, blah blah blah instead to put more attention on what his fav is doing or what he will

 

[Front242]

It's gonna be hot as hell next week in London so I'm sure we'll see a few players male and female getting heat exhaustion and underperforming or losing early as a result.

 

[Moxie]

It's gonna be hot as hell next week in London so I'm sure we'll see a few players male and female getting heat exhaustion and underperforming or losing early as a result.

I think "hot as hell" is relative. Maybe for London. Wednesday looks bad, (high 95/35C, and the only day over 90,) but otherwise, high 70s, mid-to-high 80s (26-31C) is not that harsh on tennis players, especially without humidity.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

It's gonna be hot as hell next week in London so I'm sure we'll see a few players male and female getting heat exhaustion and underperforming or losing early as a result.

I think "hot as hell" is relative. Maybe for London. Wednesday looks bad, (high 95/35C, and the only day over 90,) but otherwise, high 70s, mid-to-high 80s (26-31C) is not that harsh on tennis players, especially without humidity.

Actually 72 to 78 is considered ideal temperature for normal living. So, the temps are not really bad. Definitely nothing compared to AO.