The complete collapse of Rome.
Rome F: [3] N. Djokovic d. S Wawrinka 46 63 63
No, no. One of the top seeded players won, so it wasn't a complete disaster. But...
As a tennis fan, I do not want to remember what happened yesterday afternoon in Rome and the injury-plagued tournament in general.
As a Federer fan, I do not want to remember him losing on Friday afternoon, thus giving Djokovic a free pass into the final. (Bloody Stepanek and his hangover. I wouldn't be so pissed off if he'd played well against Djokovic and lost.)
As a Roddick fan, I am hoping he's well enough to put in one or two matches at Roland Garros.
There's enough disaster in there to last me for a year. However,
As a newly-minted Wawrinka fan (ca. Barcelona '08), I hope his stay in the top ten is a long and fruitful one.
Now for the match itself. Djokovic had a slow start, allowing Wawrinka to take the first set 6-4. However, to his credit, the Serb stepped it up in the second, leaving Wawrinka with fewer options for the rest of the match. I only tuned in somewhere in the second set, and only sporadically because the feed was cutting in and out, which is only one step better than not working at all. Anyway, Wawrinka was solid enough (I love the fact that his groundstrokes off both wings all fly high over the net and go in... never mind), but still lacks the killer instinct that makes the top players what they are/were. I'm still amazed by his run here, and wasn't particularly expecting him to win this match. Hope he keeps this up (maybe not in Hamburg, but Roland Garros?) and cements his position in the top 10. Even if he doesn't, he's probably going to be in the 10-20 range for the next year or so, which is quite respectable.
Roundup
1. The points race heats up. Federer is safe till Roland Garros, but Nadal has got his work cut out for him in Hamburg. As I mentioned in an earlier post (rounding up Monte Carlo a fortnight ago), it is mathematically possible for Nadal to slip to #3 in the rankings based on results in Rome and Hamburg. I pooh-poohed it then, but the reality is that one of the worst-case scenarios I plugged into my little Excel document came into being this week: that of Nadal being booted out of Rome in the opening round and Djokovic winning the same tournament. Now the points difference between Nadal and Djokovic is a mere 315. Since Djokovic and Nadal have been drawn in the same half at Hamburg, they'll very likely meet in the semifinals (barring another premature exit by either or both). Whoever wins that match will be the second seed at the French Open.
2. Projected ranking points tomorrow:
Federer: 6825 (guy's in a bloody slump and somehow managed to gain 500 points post-Dubai...)
Nadal: 5435 (OUCH.)
Djokovic: 5120 (Ajde!)
Davydenko: 3290
Ferrer: 2780
Roddick: 2410 (should play more clay tournaments)
Nalbandian: 2115
Blake: 2055 (same as Roddick)
Gasquet: 1660
Wawrinka: 1545 (congrats, Stan!)
3. Hamburg. The pressure is all on Federer here, as he defends 500 points from a win last year. His is a quarter of middling difficulty; bunch of solid claycourters mixed in with hardcourters, as well as an unknown quantity in Tsonga (coming back from injury, but otherwise had a good match against Simon in Rome which he lost). It's topped off by a potential QF encounter with David Ferrer. Lurking in the semifinals might be Davydenko, Gasquet, Monaco or Mathieu; Wawrinka is in this quarter as well, but he's probably had his fair share of excitement between Barcelona and Rome. Maybe not a first-round exit, but if he even gets as far as Davydenko in the third round I'd be thrilled enough. In Nadal's quarter I don't see anyone who can threaten him too much, but he's still got them blisters on his feet, so. Djokovic's got a decent shot at the semis, too, IMO.
4. Challenge Bracket: Oh, quelle disastre. I almost made it into the top 100 at one point, but the numerous upsets put me in the lower half of the field eventually. NOT happy. I ended up 7867th out of 12061 with 43 points. Breakdown as follows:
R64: 17 of 24
R32: 9 of 16
R16: 2 of 8
QF: 0 of 4
SF: 0 of 2
F: 0 of 1
5. Round-by-round predictions went overall 6 of 15. Can't say I'm surprised.
R16: 3 of 8
QF: 1 of 4
SF: 1 of 2
F: 1 of 1
EDIT: People are now seriously talking about Djokovic winning the calendar Slam............
No, no. One of the top seeded players won, so it wasn't a complete disaster. But...
As a tennis fan, I do not want to remember what happened yesterday afternoon in Rome and the injury-plagued tournament in general.
As a Federer fan, I do not want to remember him losing on Friday afternoon, thus giving Djokovic a free pass into the final. (Bloody Stepanek and his hangover. I wouldn't be so pissed off if he'd played well against Djokovic and lost.)
As a Roddick fan, I am hoping he's well enough to put in one or two matches at Roland Garros.
There's enough disaster in there to last me for a year. However,
As a newly-minted Wawrinka fan (ca. Barcelona '08), I hope his stay in the top ten is a long and fruitful one.
Now for the match itself. Djokovic had a slow start, allowing Wawrinka to take the first set 6-4. However, to his credit, the Serb stepped it up in the second, leaving Wawrinka with fewer options for the rest of the match. I only tuned in somewhere in the second set, and only sporadically because the feed was cutting in and out, which is only one step better than not working at all. Anyway, Wawrinka was solid enough (I love the fact that his groundstrokes off both wings all fly high over the net and go in... never mind), but still lacks the killer instinct that makes the top players what they are/were. I'm still amazed by his run here, and wasn't particularly expecting him to win this match. Hope he keeps this up (maybe not in Hamburg, but Roland Garros?) and cements his position in the top 10. Even if he doesn't, he's probably going to be in the 10-20 range for the next year or so, which is quite respectable.
Roundup
1. The points race heats up. Federer is safe till Roland Garros, but Nadal has got his work cut out for him in Hamburg. As I mentioned in an earlier post (rounding up Monte Carlo a fortnight ago), it is mathematically possible for Nadal to slip to #3 in the rankings based on results in Rome and Hamburg. I pooh-poohed it then, but the reality is that one of the worst-case scenarios I plugged into my little Excel document came into being this week: that of Nadal being booted out of Rome in the opening round and Djokovic winning the same tournament. Now the points difference between Nadal and Djokovic is a mere 315. Since Djokovic and Nadal have been drawn in the same half at Hamburg, they'll very likely meet in the semifinals (barring another premature exit by either or both). Whoever wins that match will be the second seed at the French Open.
2. Projected ranking points tomorrow:
Federer: 6825 (guy's in a bloody slump and somehow managed to gain 500 points post-Dubai...)
Nadal: 5435 (OUCH.)
Djokovic: 5120 (Ajde!)
Davydenko: 3290
Ferrer: 2780
Roddick: 2410 (should play more clay tournaments)
Nalbandian: 2115
Blake: 2055 (same as Roddick)
Gasquet: 1660
Wawrinka: 1545 (congrats, Stan!)
3. Hamburg. The pressure is all on Federer here, as he defends 500 points from a win last year. His is a quarter of middling difficulty; bunch of solid claycourters mixed in with hardcourters, as well as an unknown quantity in Tsonga (coming back from injury, but otherwise had a good match against Simon in Rome which he lost). It's topped off by a potential QF encounter with David Ferrer. Lurking in the semifinals might be Davydenko, Gasquet, Monaco or Mathieu; Wawrinka is in this quarter as well, but he's probably had his fair share of excitement between Barcelona and Rome. Maybe not a first-round exit, but if he even gets as far as Davydenko in the third round I'd be thrilled enough. In Nadal's quarter I don't see anyone who can threaten him too much, but he's still got them blisters on his feet, so. Djokovic's got a decent shot at the semis, too, IMO.
4. Challenge Bracket: Oh, quelle disastre. I almost made it into the top 100 at one point, but the numerous upsets put me in the lower half of the field eventually. NOT happy. I ended up 7867th out of 12061 with 43 points. Breakdown as follows:
R64: 17 of 24
R32: 9 of 16
R16: 2 of 8
QF: 0 of 4
SF: 0 of 2
F: 0 of 1
5. Round-by-round predictions went overall 6 of 15. Can't say I'm surprised.
R16: 3 of 8
QF: 1 of 4
SF: 1 of 2
F: 1 of 1
EDIT: People are now seriously talking about Djokovic winning the calendar Slam............