RANKINGI ATP vol I

[jaccol55]

06.08.2012

Spoiler:

[jaccol55]

13.08.2012

Spoiler:

[Samurray]

Djokovic Challenges Federer For No. 1



Novak Djokovic will challenge Roger Federer for the No. 1 South African Airways ATP Ranking this week at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. If Federer reaches the final, he will retain the No. 1 spot regardless, but anything less, and he will find himself under pressure from the No. 2-ranked Djokovic.

Federer retook No. 1 from Djokovic after winning his 17th major title at The Championships, Wimbledon. A week later, he broke Pete Sampras’ record for most weeks at No. 1 with 287 weeks. However, the Swiss was forced to withdraw from the Rogers Cup last week and, following Djokovic’s success over Richard Gasquet in the Toronto final, Federer now finds himself just 75 points ahead of the Serb.

Nevertheless, with Djokovic dropping 600 points this week, having reached the Cincinnati final last year (l. to Murray), Federer does still hold the advantage. After bowing out in the quarter-finals last year (l. to Berdych), the Basel native is only dropping 180 points from his total.

If Djokovic is to re-ascend to No. 1, he must reach the final and hope four-time former champion Federer loses before the quarter-finals. If Federer were to reach the quarter or semi-finals, Djokovic could overtake the Swiss by winning the title.

Federer and Djokovic are the Top 2 seeds at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 hard-court tournament in Cincinnati. Djokovic finds himself in the same half of the draw as defending champion Andy Murray, Juan Martin del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic, while Federer could come up against David Ferrer, Tomas Berdych or Mardy Fish on his route to the final. Both players have first-round byes.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/News/Tennis ... attle.aspx

[robpal]

Chyba można śmiało założyć, że obecne Top 6 w Race zapewniło sobie już awans do WTF. Cała szóstka (Top 4+Ferru+Delpo) wyraźnie przekroczyła zeszłoroczny próg.

[Wujek Toni]

Który to tydzień liderowania rozpocznie się dla Federera w poniedziałek?

[Joao]

292. tydzień

[DUN I LOVE]

292. tydzień

O ile się nie mylę to 293. Dzisiaj zamyka 292 tygodnie, a będą kolejne. Dzisiejszy sukces w finale Cincy ma też takie znaczenie, że Federer utrzyma "jedynkę" po US Open. Novak stracił dziś szansę na przegonienie Szwajcara po turnieju w Nowym Jorku, nawet w przypadku obrony tytułu i szybkim wylocie Helweta w ostatniej lewie tegorocznego WS.

[Wujek Toni]

Czyli innymi słowy złamanie bariery 300 tygodni to kwestia czasu, bowiem nie nadarzy się prędko okazja dla Novaka do przegonienia Szwajcara. Chyba, że Novak zacznie igrać ze swoim zdrowiem i postanowi wystąpić w Shanghaju, który ostatnimi laty pomijał.

[DUN I LOVE]

Czyli innymi słowy złamanie bariery 300 tygodni to kwestia czasu, bowiem nie nadarzy się prędko okazja dla Novaka do przegonienia Szwajcara. Chyba, że Novak zacznie igrać ze swoim zdrowiem i postanowi wystąpić w Shanghaju, który ostatnimi laty pomijał.

300 wypada chyba w okolicach Bazylei, więc Azja zadecyduje o wszystkim (możliwe, że USO). Nole rok temu odpuścił te turnieje, ale 2 lata temu zagrał znakomicie: Pekin plus semi Szanghaju. W race prowadzi cały czas Serb:

1 Novak Djoković SRB 8710
2 Roger Federer SUI 8545
3 Rafael Nadal ESP 6840

[jaccol55]

20.08.2012

Spoiler:

[DUN I LOVE]

Roger ma zagwarantowane 298 tygodni we wiadomej statystyce (do turnieju w Pekinie/Tokio). Aby przekroczyć 300 musi pozostać na tronie do końca mini-sezonu w Azji. Wszystko w jego rękach - lepszy wynik od Djoko na USO powinien dać mu to, czego żądają jego fani.

Po US Open na szczycie rankingu raczej nie zajdą zmiany. Tylko Murray może przeskoczyć Nadala. By to uczynić musi zrobić finał w Nowym Jorku.

[Joao]

Z moich obliczeń wynika, że ten tydzień jest jednak 292. na szczycie (285+7). w takim układzie 300. tydzień rozpoczynałby się 15. października.

[jaccol55]

27.08.2012

Spoiler:

[jaccol55]

10.09.2012

Spoiler:

[sheva]

Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic Locked in a Battle for the Year-End No. 1 Ranking





The U.S. Open has made things very interesting at the top of tennis.

For just the second time in 10 years, neither of the top two seeds took home the title—that honour went to third-seeded Andy Murray. It leaves the top two ranked players, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, locked in a struggle for year-end supremacy.

Federer had gained the top spot after winning Wimbledon and needed a strong showing over the following few weeks to stand any chance of maintaining it.

Let us not forget the significance finishing the year with the ranking has always had for Federer, who has in fact never failed to retain the year-end ranking after having gained it. He chases history—aiming to tie Pete Sampras as the only man to have finished ranked No. 1 for six years.

Sampras' record will probably remain unbroken for a long time, because he held the year-end ranking six years in a row.

But six, still, must surely be Federer's goal deep in his heart.

The man who does stand a chance of equalling Pete Sampras is Novak Djokovic. He finished the rankings leader in 2011, having won just about everything but the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

He has had a tough time following it up, defending only his Australian Open crown, of the three he captured last year, and in losing the U.S. Open final lost quite a few ranking points, as well.

The struggle for the No. 1 ranking begins in this post-U.S. Open period, because Federer and Djokovic enjoyed differing fortunes at this stage of 2011.

After losing to Djokovic in the U.S. Open semifinal last year, Federer raced away with an unbroken streak and a string of three straight titles at Basel, Paris and London. A year later some of this success comes back to haunt him—he has some 3,000 points to defend for the rest of the season.

Djokovic's victory at the U.S. Open in 2011 saw him at the peak of his powers, but it failed to propel him any higher. As they say, there is nowhere but down to go at the very top, and that is where Djokovic went—a stunning loss in the Basel semifinal (dropping a bagel to Kei Nishikori) was followed up by a quarterfinal withdrawal at the Paris Masters and a disappointing World Tour Finals in London, where he lost two matches (thereby marring at the last hour an impeccable season win-loss record).

He thus has only 560 points to defend.

Federer leads Djokovic by nearly 1,500 points at this moment, but the points differential between now and the close of the 2012 season is 1,000 points more than that.

What it means essentially is that for Federer to remain top dog, he will have to repeat his heroics of last year and hope at the same time that Djokovic manages nothing better than a final at Basel or Paris. A lot could hinge on either man's performance at the year-end championships, where Djokovic has more than 1,000 points to gain and Federer, the same amount to lose.

It is possible that Djokovic could go on another end-year slide, but nothing suggests in his results of late that he should have anywhere near the same reasons as last year to do so. It just makes the next Masters Series event at Shanghai all the more significant, because neither Djokovic nor Federer played there last year, and they both have much to gain there this year.

The race for the year-end No. 1 ranking is likely to be decided there and at the Barclays World Tour Finals.

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1334 ... -1-ranking

[jaccol55]

17.09.2012

Spoiler:

[jaccol55]

24.09.2012

Spoiler:

[sheva]

Can Federer hold off Djoker for world No. 1?

Fall is the time when tennis takes a nosedive off the radar, even though the calendar is no less loaded than at any other time of year -- and not just with ATP 250 and 500 events. Two of the nine Masters events (Shanghai and Paris) take place in the fall, and then there's the year-end ATP Tour championships and Davis Cup final.

But then, the Grand Slams are behind us and the players run out of steam as fatigue and injuries accumulated throughout the year take their toll. All of that is good news for those who are opportunistic, strong, healthy and willful enough to suck it up and make an effort to beef up their resumes and bankbooks.

Last year, Andy Murray -- already an established top player if not yet a Grand Slam champ -- went on an autumn tear, winning three events (including Shanghai) and set himself up for what would be the best year -- by far -- of his career. But lesser lights can also flourish in the fall, as Janko Tipsarevic demonstrated in 2011.

Tipsarevic was 27 and had yet to win his first ATP singles title at this time last year. Then he won at Kuala Lumpur and Moscow, and he added a final in St. Petersburg -- wins that set him up for entry into the vaunted top 10 by the following spring. He's done a good job remaining there, although the hard part comes now, when Tipsarevic has to defend all the ground he gained.

So let's look at three intriguing storylines that could mature and heat up by the time the tour wends its way to London and the ATP World Tour finals.

1. Can Novak Djokovic surge and overtake Roger Federer to finish the year ranked No. 1? Presently, Djokovic trails Federer by fewer than 1,400 ranking points. If he wins one fall Masters and loses in the final of another, he'll earn enough points (1,600) to surpass Federer's current total.

Granted, Federer has added Shanghai to his schedule this year; any points he earns there will be added to his total. But he also has to duplicate his wins in Basel, Paris and at the World Tour Finals in order to not lose any points; that's a whopping total of 3,000 points he has to defend, while Djokovic is defending just 560.

Right now, Djokovic is entered in just the two Masters events and the World Tour Finals. He doesn't have much room for error, but anything less than another outstanding fall will leave Federer vulnerable if Djokovic plays up to form.

2. Is there another Tipsarevic out there, ready to step out and make a fall breakthrough? The list of suspects is a long one, given that the baseline objective is cracking, or re-entering, the promised land of the top 10.

Richard Gasquet has been as high as No. 7, and at No. 12 presently, he'd like nothing better than getting back into that elite company. Tommy Haas, once as high as No. 2 but never a Grand Slam champ, has had a remarkable comeback. (He's now No. 21 and has been playing terrific tennis.)

Sam Querrey, No. 26, also is still on the comeback trail and recovering the form that once had him at a career-high No. 17. The current No. 17, Kei Nishikori of Japan, is an icon in Asia, and that ought to inspire him. But the player I see as the best candidate for an autumn breakout is Milos Raonic, who's just 21 and at a career-high No. 15.

3. Can Murray sustain his momentum and close the significant gap that still separates him from Djokovic and Federer? It seems a tall order, but then Murray had to pull out of last year's tour finals, and he's defending just a little over 2,000 points. He ought to be able to accumulate that many if he puts his mind to it, and anything more could put him in position to make the most of any lapse by Djokovic (whom he trails by about 2,000 points) or Federer (who has a lead of more than 3,000 points on Murray).

The problem for Murray is likely to be motivation. He's had an eventful year, becoming an Olympic gold medalist in singles and -- finally -- a Grand Slam champion.

The leaves in many parts of the world are already turning colors, but it's always summer somewhere, and for a tennis player, that's both the dilemma and the opportunity.

http://espn.go.com/tennis/blog/_/name/b ... k-djokovic

[jaccol55]

01.10.2012

Spoiler:

[jaccol55]

08.10.2012

Spoiler: