Tennis

[Guest crystal_t33rs]

Since Nadal won RG, wouldn't that put him at an even higher advantage of keeping his position at No.2? These point systems are driving me crazy!

Fed HAS to win Halle! lol. He's been winning that consecutively like he did Wimbledon except last year since he opted out of it. I think Berdych won last year, but he lost in the first round to Soderling.

I know it might sound like a stupid question, but if players get to the final, how many points do they get for that? I'm guessing the reason why Djoko and Nadal are so closely nit together point-wise is because of Djoko's consistency in getting to semis?

(Just checked the live scoring from the gerry weber open site, Fed won the first set )

[Guest dOotsiez]

Hahaha the points system drives me crazy too. I still only semi get it. From my understanding, you have to defend your points. If you equal your performance last yr, you get points, if you don't then you lose points.

Nadal won RG last year, so when he won this year, he gets no points because he simply equalled his performance. Likewise for Federer because he was the finalist last year too, and Djokovic because he got into the SF last time. If say Nadal didnt win, he would've lost points for that.

Which is why the rest of the year is gonna be a richard simmons for Fed because he virtually goes into every tournament as the defending champion or the finalist, so he has to defend all his points, while Nadal has little points to defend due to his poor hard court season, so plenty of room to move head, while Djoker has the second most points to defend after Federer, because he had a good run towards the end of last year. So even if Djoko moves ahead of Nadal before or after Wimbledon, I doubht he'd hold onto no 2 for long if Nadal pulls his hard court game together.

So much for Djoker aiming to be no 1 by the end of the year. Dont see it happening unless he-who-has-a-55-match-winning-streak-on-grass crashes and burns for the rest of the season. Nadal on the other hand...

[Guest wonderbang]

^You explained it pretty well, dOotsiez. I know the ranking system drives even the most hardcore fan crazy!

Basically, because the ranking system operates on a 52-week system, each week's points replaces the points you had earned a year ago. So if, for example, you are Federer and you win Wimbledon again this year, you don't actually GAIN any points because a year ago you had already won it. It's just called "defending" your points because you had "already earned them" if that makes sense. On the other hand, you DO LOSE points if you don't to get at least the same round that you got to the year before. So, like Federer, if he loses at any stage of the tournament at Wimbledon, he automatically loses a certain amount of points because 52 weeks ago he had won the whole thing.

It's bizarre but that's the world of tennis for ya.

[Guest crystal_t33rs]

I'm a bit confused. Are there TWO grass tournaments going on right now? I turn on Tennis Channel and they keep showing this Artois Championships or something(Nadal, Roddick, Nalbandian, & Djoko to semis). On the other hand, TMF's playing at Halle. So . . . HUH???? Fed did beat Bagdhatis today, so that means he'll be facing Kiefer tomorrow @ semis.

And thanks much dOotsiez, & wonderbang for explaining the confusing tennis-points-ranking system. Sheesh, I don't like it, but whatever, man.

[Guest dOotsiez]

Yup there are two grass tournaments on at the moment. The Artois championships is the commercial name for Queen's Club, which is played in the UK, and then Halle (or the Gerry Weber Open) is played in Germany. The grass season is a bit bizarre coz none of the tournaments are in the ATP master series, so they're not so coordinated, and players generally go to whichever one they prefer.

Most of the top seeds end up going to Queens Club because they want to be in the UK in the lead up to Wimbledon. Federer prefers Halle because the German crowd adores him and treat him as one of their own, and also bcoz each time he's won Halle, he's gone on to win Wimbledon. The year he didnt play, which was last year, was the year that he came closest to losing his wimby title so maybe it's a superstitious thing

It's still annoying to have Queen's and Halle on at the same time though. I have to watch one, and have the other scoreboard up! Anyone heard of Kei Nishikori? I knew he had some success earlier in the year, but saw him play for the first time against Nadal. Impressive. Def top 20 material if he keeps going like that. Poor Nadal's had two 3-setters in a row. Doesnt look any easier with Andy Roddick tonight.

Anyway, just came across this and was slightly traumatised....roger's not the only one who went through a bad hair stage.

[Guest crystal_t33rs]

^ LOL. You never saw that before? Isn't that Agassi? Anyways, my mom was telling me all about the time Agassi had his strange mullet days. She always made fun of him, saying he trying to be an "Ah Gah Ssi" which translates to "young lady" in Korean. XD (That last bit of his last name 'ssi' is pronounced 'shi' in Korean, so yeah. There's the word pun for you. ^^

Ooh! Nadal & Djoko meeting at finals tomorrow! Huh. Nadal won against Roddick 7-5 & 6-4 while Djoko pretty much creamed Nalbandian 6-1 & 6-0. Jeez, if Djoko's that impressive on grass, I wonder how he'll fair at Wimbledon this year!

So the question is . . . #2 ranking on the line again?

And TMF beat Kiefer 6-1 & 6-4 to go to the finals tomorrow I was watching highlights on youtube the other day, and DAMN! He was seriously cranking out those aces like nobody's funny business!

And look at this shot by Fed! Lucky, indeed!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=3E1tasVMRMw

EDIT:

Oh! It's just as you said, dOotsiez! Here's what Roger said after winning semis:

"Nobody had Wimbledon after the Gerry Weber Open before me," Roger said. "I hope I can do it again this year."

(Can Borg be so wrong with his predictions? Please??)

[Guest dOotsiez]

LOL yeah Agassi circa 1990, when I was still speaking gibberish. some people are just not meant for hair. *cough* james blake *cough*

Nice to see TMF finishing all his matches in about an hour, his serve is def coming along nicely, but he's still shanking a lot of easy volleys *cringe*. It's hard to say how well he's playing at the moment compared to the other guys though. thanx for the vid btw, nice to see him playing those shots.

Have a bad feeling about Nadal and Djerk tonight. Want Nadal to win, but Djerk absolutely creamed Hewitt and Nalbandian, while Nadal has struggled against Nishikori, Karlovic and Roddick. To be fair, Rafa did have the harder half of the draw, while Djerk had a couple of the oldies. But everyone's so obsessed with Rafa finally winning Wimbledon that they've temporarily forgotten how much better Djerk has gotten over the last few months, and I give credit where credit is due. Wimby's so open this year, although I'd be devastated if you-know-who didn't win it for the 6th time. As far as I know, Djerk would not be able to reach no 2 at Queens even if he wins, both he and Nadal gained points for reaching the final. Wimby however...

[Guest wonderbang]

Been busy the last couple of days....thanks for keeping me updated!

crystal t33rs, you're welcome! I love the "Ah Gah Ssi" pun.....that's pretty nifty! lol

dOotsiez, I've actually seen Nishikori and that big breakthrough at the Delray tournament....I'm really impressed and I think he can definitely break the record for the highest ranked Japanese male player soon (the highest was 46 I believe....)

Anyhow, lots of good action going around and the top players seem to be right on target......Wimbledon should shape up nicely......no? (I couldn't help myself )

[Guest dOotsiez]

Yeah Kei said he aims to break it into the top 50 this year. Nadal says he reckons Kei could be in the top 5, but we all know Nadal can be a little... err ... overly humble at times. But definitely watching out for Nishikori in the future, nice to know there are promising Asian players out there, unlike Udon choke (or whatever that Thai player's name is) that Hewitt creamed at the Davis Cup match in Aus this year.

Djoko and Nadal meet for the fourth time this year. Exciting much! Djoker in 3 sets I think/jinx. Well we all know what the next great tennis rivalry is going to be between.

[Guest joyeux]

Nadal won! 7-6 & 7-5! It was a great match! Splits from Djoko and a leap from Nadal! Entertaining, indeed!

[Guest crystal_t33rs]

^ Shoot, I was on my cousin's username XD

ROGER WON HALLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 6-3 & 6-4!

So quick q: What's the next tournament? Is it just Wimbledon, now for grass? If that's the case, boo hoo! There's not enough grass tournaments >

[Guest dOotsiez]

The grass season is really short, I would love for it to be a lot longer tho, but unfortunately the next tournament is Wimby. Roger's taking the next week to practice, and Rafa's going to...play golf in Spain.

WOOO! Go Roger and Rafa! I seriously didn't expect Rafa to win at Queen's though, especially after Djoko demolished Nalbandian in the semis. Fed better watch out for these two at Wimby, coz they were playing some phenomenal tennis last night. On the brighter side, so was Federer A whole tournament without dropping serve is no mean feat, thought he looked quite tuned in last night, as opposed to down right bored in some of the matches earlier in the week.

[Guest wonderbang]

If this is any indication, I think Wimbledon will be pretty exciting to watch........is this going to be Nadal's year?

[Pogichinoy]

If this is any indication, I think Wimbledon will be pretty exciting to watch........is this going to be Nadal's year?

I believe!!

Federer is getting chubbs.

[Guest dOotsiez]

I hope not. Federer's grass game is a lot more complete than Nadal (actually that applies to all surfaces, but one). And plus Federer's only won Wimby 5 times, that's not enough!

Nadal hasn't beaten Federer on a non-clay surface for the last 2.5 years. On top of that, sure he knows how to deal with Djerk and Feddy, but Im not convinced that he knows how to handle the likes of Karlovic, Soderling, and Mahut. He has more trouble getting through the early rounds, and then eases more and more. But hopefully, another Federer v Nadal final.

How BORING is the WTA at the moment, with all the top seeds pulling out of grass season warm ups. tut tut...

[Guest wonderbang]

lol....well maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder? we'll be all the more excited to see them at wimbledon......

wimbledon doesn't have a sunday start right? that's only the french.......

[Guest dOotsiez]

No it starts on the monday, although they SHOULD start on the Sunday. Safina still going strong in Ordina. Think we might see her 'rise' this year. Interesting to see how the women's seeding would work out. Trust the Brits to come up with something different to everybody else, just for the sake of it.

Not a lot of great tennis on this week, off to watch golf now

[Guest Ukr_Ital_Traceour]

Nadal won! 7-6 & 7-5! It was a great match! Splits from Djoko and a leap from Nadal! Entertaining, indeed!

I am not surprised, he is a new star right now. Amazing tennis player. I love nadal

[Guest dOotsiez]

^ I was. Before the match, I gave it to Djerk 60-40 though I wanted Nadal to win. Very close, and in a best of five, I'm not sure who I'd pick.

[Guest wonderbang]

No it starts on the monday, although they SHOULD start on the Sunday. Safina still going strong in Ordina. Think we might see her 'rise' this year. Interesting to see how the women's seeding would work out. Trust the Brits to come up with something different to everybody else, just for the sake of it.

Not a lot of great tennis on this week, off to watch golf now

GOLF?! Traitooooooor............ok, I'm kidding

I actually like the fact that the Wimbledon committee arranges their own seedings despite what the rankings say. I think that makes the tournament better because you simply can't have a player like Venus Williams as the 26th seed or whatever ghastly number she was when she won a few years ago. Honestly, the French Open needs to employ the same strategy because a lot of the dirtballers should be given higher seeds while players like Roddick aren't necessarily the top 6 or 7 clay courters in the world. People like to argue that it's unfair to tamper with the seedings but I think it actually makes it fairer in a sense. Anyhow, yet another one on the laundry list of things that the tennis tours should work on (but will never get around to)

EDIT: Oh I topped.......surprise surprise. Well here's a gift (or consolation prize) to the English, who have waited 72 years and counting for a home male winner

^That's Tim Henman every time he plays at his home slam..........UTTERLY, TOTALLY, AND COMPLETELY FRUSTRATED. I'll remember you Tim!