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Tennis - General Discussion

Diamond

Member
Looks like Federer could pass Nadal till the end of the year. What do you guys think, who will be in the Top8 in the World Tour Finals?

Djokovic, Nadal, Federer & Wawrinka for sure, but what about the other 4?

A Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Wawrinka, Nishikori, Cilic, Raonic, Murray would be my prefered line up.

I think Murray is not done yet. He can pass Raonic, but also Berdych. Both have pretty much the same amount of points. He "just" has to close a 200 points gap to overtake one of them. If he plays well it's doable, even if he loses against Djokovic in quarterfinals this week.
Ferrer is in the same position but he's not in the same form as last year. Murray is fresh.

Also yeah, if Cilic doesn't win anything, it'll be a problem for him. Always hard to find the motivation after a big title.
With the old qualifying rules he'd be in already !
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Shit, he lost already?

Well, that sucks :p

Told you he was a shot in the pan. At least Wawrinka had a reasonable history of performing well, Cilic is this decade's Gaston Gaudio.

EDIT: Cilic already is in. The highest ranked slam winner inside the top twenty inclusive but not within the top seven inclusive replaces the eighth ranked player as the final qualifier, unless the eighth ranked player is also a slam winner. The only scenario where he doesn't qualify is if at least one of Wawrinka, Djokovic or Nadal fall to no.8 or below, and he is ranked below them. I think that's impossible at this stage.
 

Diamond

Member
Just a post slam win slump. Nothing to worry about

Told you he was a shot in the pan. At least Wawrinka had a reasonable history of performing well, Cilic is this decade's Gaston Gaudio.

Nice analysis guys ! :D
I think it's pretty unpredictable at this point. It's up to Cilic to carefully choose his next career goals. He has the game to win more slams. Does he have the motivation, that's the question.

EDIT: Cilic already is in. The highest ranked slam winner inside the top twenty inclusive but not within the top seven inclusive replaces the eighth ranked player as the final qualifier, unless the eighth ranked player is also a slam winner. The only scenario where he doesn't qualify is if at least one of Wawrinka, Djokovic or Nadal fall to no.8 or below, and he is ranked below them. I think that's impossible at this stage.

Thought it was the case but didn't find any article speaking of that (hence the last sentence in my last message). Even the official site doesn't show Cilic as a qualified player. That's why I assumed the qualifying rules were changed, but maybe they just want to maintain the suspense. Would be interesting to have the official word on that.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Nice analysis guys ! :D
I think it's pretty unpredictable at this point. It's up to Cilic to carefully choose his next career goals. He has the game to win more slams. Does he have the motivation, that's the question.



Thought it was the case but didn't find any article speaking of that (hence the last sentence in my last message). Even the official site doesn't show Cilic as a qualified player. That's why I assumed the qualifying rules were changed, but maybe they just want to maintain the suspense. Would be interesting to have the official word on that.

He's not officially qualified because the point distribution is such that Wawrinka can still technically fall to 8th and Cilic out of the top 8 entirely - but it would basically involve them not playing a single match more and Berdych, Murray, Raonic and Dimitrov GOATing every single remaining tournament distributing the points amongst themselves perfectly.
 

Faith

Member
Wawrinka has to withdraw Shangai & Paris Masters to be able to fall back to #8. And even then it's almost impossible. Btw remember last years Shanghai Masters?

234234ulq9q.png


I miss Delpo :/

He will loose another 600 points and fall back to #30 or something like that.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I think as soon as Wawrinka has won 2 matches at Shanghai, Cilic is 100% confirmed, as it's not possible for him to leave the top twenty or Wawrinka the top seven.
 

Diamond

Member
He's not officially qualified because the point distribution is such that Wawrinka can still technically fall to 8th and Cilic out of the top 8 entirely - but it would basically involve them not playing a single match more and Berdych, Murray, Raonic and Dimitrov GOATing every single remaining tournament distributing the points amongst themselves perfectly.

I see, he's not mathematically in but there's no way he won't be there.
The WTF rulebook confirms the rule is still in use >>> http://www.atpworldtour.com/~/media/71E39ED5C014405787E457E5466B87ED.ashx
So that means 8th player in the world won't qualify. That doesn't sound good for Murray.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
I see, he's not mathematically in but there's no way he won't be there.
The WTF rulebook confirms the rule is still in use >>> http://www.atpworldtour.com/~/media/71E39ED5C014405787E457E5466B87ED.ashx
So that means 8th player in the world won't qualify. That doesn't sound good for Murray.

The 8th player will qualify unless Cilic is no.9 or below, which is unlikely - he's 6th in the race, iirc, with a fair lead over Berdych. I don't really think Murray has to worry about Cilic or Wawrinka tanking, his main concern especially given Shanghai's draw is Raonic and Berdych, who got much kinder routes than he did. Either Murray has to beat Djokovic in Shanghai, or take a wildcard into a smaller tournament, or he's not making it. It's annoying because Berdych only got that far ahead due to Klizan's gift, he should have been well within range of Murray.
 

Diamond

Member
The 8th player will qualify unless Cilic is no.9 or below, which is unlikely - he's 6th in the race, iirc, with a fair lead over Berdych. I don't really think Murray has to worry about Cilic or Wawrinka tanking, his main concern especially given Shanghai's draw is Raonic and Berdych, who got much kinder routes than he did. Either Murray has to beat Djokovic in Shanghai, or take a wildcard into a smaller tournament, or he's not making it. It's annoying because Berdych only got that far ahead due to Klizan's gift, he should have been well within range of Murray.

Haha, yeah, for a minute I forgot Cilic is already in top 8. Can't think straight at work...
It'll be hard for Murray if he doesn't play between Shanghai and Paris, I agree. Still, 200 points with two M1000 to come... I'd say it's doable, if he plays particularly well of course. Raonic and especially Berdych can lose early in both draws.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Haha, yeah, for a minute I forgot Cilic is already in top 8. Can't think straight at work...
It'll be hard for Murray if he doesn't play between Shanghai and Paris, I agree. Still, 200 points with two M1000 to come... I'd say it's doable, if he plays particularly well of course. Raonic and especially Berdych can lose early in both draws.

Actually, Cilic isn't in the top 8 right now, he's no.9. H's only no.6 in the race, as he isn't defending any points from here on pretty much. :p
 

Faith

Member
Btw, Nadal just has a 285 atp points lead over Federer. And he has to defend a semifinal in Shanghai, so 360 points. Federer just 90 points.

He could be #2 again xD
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Worrying for Nadal, the number 2 seed is important for him at the AO.
 
That was a political message.

I don't know about that. Considering he was playing a Chinese player in China, I imagine the crowd was fully behind the China man, perhaps cheered at inappropriate times, and that irritated Fognini. Here's the video we've all been waiting for of the event. You be the judge, but I think the entire event is overblown. His middle finger isn't even raised to the sky



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQhyR7lcoSg
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Man, I have no idea why Nadal is even playing. He looks visibly green, he's barely moving, he's dripping with sweat, and he's clearly struggling to play. He must be desperate to keep the no.2 ranking for the AO, I can't think of any other reason.

The saddest part is that he's actually leading Lopez in the second set despite all this. smh.

EDIT: Lopez is sub-challenger level at the moment. I've seen amateur players with better serves and I'm not one to exaggerate about such things.

EDIT: I think this the lowest quality Nadal match I've ever seen and that includes the 2008 French Open final
lel
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
No way Nadull has an appendicitis.

Maybe not appendicitis, or he definitely wouldn't have played, but there is clearly clearly something wrong with the guy. If you've only just tuned in, the only reason that the match has gone this far is because Lopez was donating gifts like his name was Father Christmas.

EDIT: Lopez found his serve for the first time in about 12 games.

EDIT2: Lopez decides the best strategy when playing Nadal is to try and out-moonball him.

EDIT3: Nadal's return of serve doesn't even exist. It's not there.

EDIT4: My god, Lopez, what is wrong with you? Why is this match not over? How can you choke so many neutral balls?

EDIT5: Double faults to give Nadal set point. Incredible.

EDIT6: saves it with actually quite a good point. moderately surprised.

EDIT7: And Lopez wins. should have won quicker, but was not a surprise at all.

EDIT8: lol, Murray is fucked, the Shanghai draw's bottom half is hilarious now.

Berdych-Karlovic
Simon-Jaziri
Youzhny-Monaco
Lopez-Isner

EDIT9: woooooah, except Raonic has withdrawn. If Murray beats Ferrer, he overtakes Raonic. Craaazy. The race is going to go right down to the wire, Murray, Raonic and Ferrer are all contenders, maybe even Dimitrov.
 

Reyne

Member
Future of tennis sure is looking bright... Cilic, Nishikori, Dimitrov and Raonic all out of Shanghai. smh.
Wawrinka continues to not live up to expectation.

I am just happy Lopez didn't choke and actually got the job done in straight. Roger up next.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
This is the closest race of my tennis watching days, I think. It may be live right down to the very final tournament. There's a 250 left, a 500 left, and the Paris Masters, but they're all consecutive and I doubt anyone will play three weeks solid, have one week off, then go to the WTF, they'd just die. Who knows, though - preventing your rivals from capitalizing on the WTF and getting extra points before Australia is a big deal, maybe someone will run the full gauntlet. Either way, exciting.
 

Reyne

Member
So basically they could give Djokovic the trophy right now?

Actually, all of the competition is loaded on his side of the draw. Murray or Ferrer, Federer... Djokovic will need to keep playing well to reach the final.

But if he beats all those and meets that chump Berdych in the final then yeah, just hand him the trophy already.
 

MIMIC

Banned
Why can't Nadal lose this early at the French? lol

Also, was playing today and did something that would have made the blooper reel Hall of Fame: I was going for a smash. Completely missed it. And since I'm so quick, I darted backwards for another try. I missed it again.

It was so embarrassing, lol. Thankfully my partner and I still won the set.

EDIT: From MTF

940644GrigorDimitrovTennisPlayersTennisATPWorldTour.png


LMAO! That should be his actual ATP profile
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
Nadal going to get knee-surgery following the WTF to try and stem the recurring inflammations. Could miss the AO depending on how it goes. Federer just has to hope Murray doesn't make the no.8 seed and he'll have his best chance since, uh, the US Open, for no.18. :p
 
Jack Sock def. Nishikori-san in straights.
Porcelain Samurai brah. It's embarassing for him to lose to players like Sock. Tomic backhand two handed bachanded has to be the worst shot in the top 200, I don't think he was ever able to hit one cross court enough to Sock's baxkhand.



Nadull is not missing the AO.m
 

John Dunbar

correct about everything
Nadal going to get knee-surgery following the WTF to try and stem the recurring inflammations. Could miss the AO depending on how it goes. Federer just has to hope Murray doesn't make the no.8 seed and he'll have his best chance since, uh, the US Open, for no.18. :p

i'm seeing news about him having his appendix removed, but i'm not seeing anything about knee-surgery.
 
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Deleted member 231381

Unconfirmed Member
The difference between Murray in that first set and then in the second and third sets was enormous. He's still doing that thing where he'll play really well for stretches and then just totally disappear, only this time was particularly bad as he never came back. Seems more mental than physical.
 
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