ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[Prashant]

PKB, Federer & Wawrinka WON the DC for Switzerland a few seasons ago, and then decided to quit. That is a little different from Raonic's situation.

And I think you are all giving Shapovalov a bad rap. He is a hugely talented 17 year old, who is immature just like the overwhelming majority of 17 year olds in the world. He does not seem to intend anything bad towards the umpire - just a frustrated swipe gone horribly wrong. He apologized profusely both immediately and later. Give the kid a break.

[PKBasu]

Yes I know they won it a couple of years ago (2014 on French indoor clay). But it's a pity that Federer has had so little commitment to Davis Cup over time (or so it seems, although Federer is the all-time leader among Swiss players for DC singles wins and overall rubber wins). Wawrinka used to play more, but has also reduced his commitment. I think it's sad.

Shapovalov is a disgrace. Hitting the ball at the crowd in frustration is bad enough (and totally unacceptable), that he hit the umpire is totally, wildly reprehensible. Being 17 is hardly an excuse for violence on a tennis court.

[PKBasu]

By the way, on the GOAT debate, prasen9's hero Nadal has never won the Year-end ATP championship. In fact, he has just made 2 finals of the year-end championship. It is a bit bizarre that the most important tournament of the ATP year (except the Slams, which aren't run by the ATP but by ITF) is not taken into consideration by the Nadal advocates. If you're not even the best in the world in any given year, how can you be the greatest of all time? Nadal has serious weaknesses on indoor hard courts.

[PKBasu]

Prashant's post led me to re-examine my understanding of Federer's commitment to Davis Cup. My impression was that he frequently skipped Davis Cup action, but Federer turned out to be the leading Swiss DC player of all time, with a 40-8 win-loss record in singles (and 52-18 overall, also the Swiss record). That compares with Djokovic's 30-7 win-loss record in singles, and Nadal's 22-1 win-loss record.
I always thought that Nadal played a lot of Davis Cup, but that is the exact opposite of the reality! He can afford to pick and choose because Spain has had so many good players in his era -- for all surfaces. So Nadal could just afford to play at key strategic moments -- and Spain won four Davis Cups in his era.

[prasen9]

Sorry to pinprick the GOAT balloon. I have no problem saying that Federer is the GOAT if you want to. I have said that a few times --- maybe on FB. I don't really believe that any one person is undoubtedly the best over all time because the difference between the different players is actually small shown by the umpteen number of five setters when these players play. I think the Federer fans are obsessed with the GOAT issue. I do wonder why. Maybe it is their insecurity because of Federer's record against Nadal that they cannot accept. Whatever! I think any ranking metric can be tweaked to give a different result if the players are pretty close wrt their play/record. I also never thought that the year-end ATPs are that important. I don't really remember who won what when. I don't remember much of the Slams either now getting older and more forgetful (on my way to Alzheimers?). Anyway, maybe that is an effect of the ATP year-ends not being that important when we started following tennis as youngsters. But, hey, sure it is an important tournament. And, I believe Federer has won a bagful of those. So, yes, Nadal has weaknesses on certain surfaces. Or hey, maybe he is not that good a player. I am fine with any of these observations and will not go to the mat.

I also like Nadal more I guess because of the work his Foundation has done in India that I know of. I know Federer also has a foundation and it has done some good work but I don't know of it.

Also, I have always liked to watch clay-court tennis because of the tension the rallies create. I love the artistry of a beautiful volley or a drop shot too. But, when I grew up, Becker killed Wimbledon by virtue of his brute-force. That killed my love for grass-court tennis, although, I want it to exist for the sake of diversity. The clay court gave small players like Michael Chang a chance and that was exciting to me. I don't really like seeing aces. So, I have a bias for clay-courters. I do admire the beauty in Federer's game but which foreign player you like is not really a rational choice; it is a gut-feeling. I don't know why I started liking Nadal. I have also always liked the underdog to do well. Hence, maybe I did not want Federer to win that many. Supported the underdogs --- Nadal and Djokovic.

Anyway, my support for non-Indian players is weak. So, I am fine with what our resident fan(atic?)s say wrt GOAT.

[S_K_S]

The fine is looking even more lenient now! http://www.daviscup.com/en/news/254775.aspx

[Varma]

This guy, Victor Estrella Burgos from Dominican Republic, is really a strange phenomenon. Ranked 156 last week, he went on to win Ecuador Open title for the third time in as many years. This 36 year old turned pro way back in 2002 and only has these 3 titles to his credit. I don't know what happens to him here in Quito, but he has been punching a lot above his weight for the past 3 years. His prized scalps include Feliciano Lopez, Ivo Carlovic, Martin Kilzen et al. It is true that rankings go for a toss when you follow clay court tournaments in South America, but his trio of victories here at Quito is really noteworthy. His earnings just from these 3 victories alone amount to ~14% of his entire career earnings over the last 15 years!

- Varma

[prasen9]

Interesting. Does it have anything to do with Quito's high altitude? Maybe he has a weird lung or something that works better there? High altitude tennis adjustments If you follow baseball, people hit a lot of home-runs in Denver because of its high altitude. Maybe the ball goes faster and he likes it. I have no clue if that is the case. What is his hometown? Was he born in high altitude?

Update: I did a quick search. He was not born in a high-altitude city. But, I got this: High altitude GOAT. Don't know how scientific it is. But, it seems he has done well in high-altitude challengers too. It is possible that this tournament is the only one played at high altitude. At least others are thinking it is the high altitude too.

[PKBasu]

When Victor Estrella-Burgos first reached the top-100 at the age of 34, it was considered extremely newsworthy, especially because he also won his first ATP tour title at that age. He made R2 at this year's Australian Open, but now this isn't really big news any more, given that the Australian Open title this year was won by someone who is just a year younger than Estrella-Burgos

[Varma]

Gilles Muller won his first ATP title last month at the age of 33...a long 16 years after turning pro!

- Varma

[Varma]

Interesting. Does it have anything to do with Quito's high altitude? Maybe he has a weird lung or something that works better there? High altitude tennis adjustments If you follow baseball, people hit a lot of home-runs in Denver because of its high altitude. Maybe the ball goes faster and he likes it. I have no clue if that is the case. What is his hometown? Was he born in high altitude?

Update: I did a quick search. He was not born in a high-altitude city. But, I got this: High altitude GOAT. Don't know how scientific it is. But, it seems he has done well in high-altitude challengers too. It is possible that this tournament is the only one played at high altitude. At least others are thinking it is the high altitude too.

Your theory got me thinking, Prasen. Fresh from his exploits last week, Estrella-Burgos lost (2-6, 1-6 ) in R1 at Beunos Aires to 84th ranked Brazilian, Thiago Monteiro!

- Varma

[prasen9]

BTW, I have no clue. It is just a conjecture. Maybe someone should do a lung capacity test or whatever else helps and/or whatever deficiency is masked in high-altitude. Does he have a record there before these 3 wins? I'll check.

[Varma]

Back in 2014, he won a Challenger in Ecuador around the same time (Last week of Feb thru 1st week of March), made it to QF in 2 other challengers (in Ecuador) the year before in 2013.

- Varma

[prasen9]

There must be something to it. Too many data points to be random, imho.

[Kumar]

wow...it took Federer and Nadal play a final to end your hiatus ? Good to see you back, Kumar! You should post more often. I miss many of the old timers. You, Ashish, Arun et al. Wonder how they are all doing!

- Varma

Thanks Varma.. I still religiously peruse sports-india.com without logging in.. There have been times i have wanted to login and comment, but then trying multiple of potential passwords takes that desire away