ATP Tennis/Non-India Davis Cup

[Varma]

...I don't see why they aren't adopted at the season-ending tournament where there are just 8 players. Surely a double elimination there makes sense, 14-15 matches over the week, lots of pressure on the guys with one loss etc.

Season-ending tournament is played as round-robin with 4 players in each group. Top-2 from each group move on to semi-finals. That's fair enough for a high-stakes tournament with a small pool of players.

- Varma

[prasen9]

...I don't see why they aren't adopted at the season-ending tournament where there are just 8 players. Surely a double elimination there makes sense, 14-15 matches over the week, lots of pressure on the guys with one loss etc.

Season-ending tournament is played as round-robin with 4 players in each group. Top-2 from each group move on to semi-finals. That's fair enough for a high-stakes tournament with a small pool of players.

- Varma

Well, I don't know about "fair enough", but, I would prefer a straight league among the 8 players with whoever won the most wins the title. In the event of a tie, declare joint winners. Or we can design some tie-breakers if you really prefer single answers.

In the current format, I have seen people scrape through with a 1-2 record in the group and then win 2 more matches. An overall record of 3-2 winning the title. That is not convincing to me. And, I think it results in giving more of a chance to the less deserving players to win by fluke than what a straight league would produce.

[Varma]

Delpo packs off Fedex! Now I really want this guy to go all the way and win it. After all the hardships he had been through, he deserves it for the grit and determination he had shown in coming back on to the tour. After his magnificent come back last year to win the silver at Rio (beating Djoker and and Rafa before losing the gold to Murray in 4 sets), and make QFs at the open, he could only play a limited number of tournaments. With 4 wrist surgeries, I thought he is certainly past his prime...and that sliced backhand only reiterated my belief. But with the resilience he had shown in R4 against Thiem and his dominance of Roger today, Delpo seems to be back in contention for big titles. What a year 2017 has been! Who would have thunk these old guns would make such a spectacular come back!

- Varma

[jaydeep]

Yes, Delpo took full advantage of Fedex's patchy game.

[S_K_S]

Fed was brutally honest in his interview when he said that he knew that if he ran into a player who was hot on his day then he would be in trouble. Did well to make it to the QF.

[Varma]

Yes...brutally honest, he was!

Federer Post-match interview

Juan Martin deserves it more. I feel I have no place in the semis and he will have a better chance to beat Rafa, to be honest. The way I played or playing right now, it's not good enough in my opinion to win this tournament. It's better I'm out and somebody else gets a chance to do better than me.

- Varma

[Prashant]

Another reason to love Federer. Never minces words. No false humility when he wins, no excuses when he loses. Andy Roddick was the same, and I always liked him for it too.

[prasen9]

Another reason to love Federer. Never minces words. No false humility when he wins, no excuses when he loses. Andy Roddick was the same, and I always liked him for it too.

Yes, I love his humility. I do not think it is false. Even when he wins, he gives credit to the loser if the loser played a good match.

[prasen9]

Juan Martin deserves it more. I feel I have no place in the semis and he will have a better chance to beat Rafa, to be honest. The way I played or playing right now, it's not good enough in my opinion to win this tournament. It's better I'm out and somebody else gets a chance to do better than me.

Technically, he does not have a place in the semis. But, he used "I feel". So, the sense maybe that he does not deserve to be in the semis. I beg to disagree. I believe all three Nadal, del Potro, and Federer should have been in the semis. The rankings and the withdrawals screwed things up.

Do you think Nadal-Del Potro is possibly the true final? Stranger things have happened. So, one can never say never ... but, most possibly it is.

[S_K_S]

Do you think Nadal-Del Potro is possibly the true final? Stranger things have happened. So, one can never say never ... but, most possibly it is.

Very unlikely for Anderson/Busta to win - Who was the last male player to win a slam on their first appearance in a final?

<edit> after a bit of research turns out not that uncommon. Cilic, Stan, Del Po and Nadal to name a few. Mind you one could argue that Anderson and Busta are not in that category.

[prasen9]

We always think they are not in that category before they break out. But, one check for that is what their ages were. I think Cilic, Nadal, Del Po, Stan won when they were rather young. But, maybe I am wrong and their age was not that much less than that of Anderson/Carreno-Busta.

BTW, you know that you are being sexist by calling him just Busta right?

[Sin Hombre]

Another reason to love Federer. Never minces words. No false humility when he wins, no excuses when he loses. Andy Roddick was the same, and I always liked him for it too.

Yes, I love his humility. I do not think it is false. Even when he wins, he gives credit to the loser if the loser played a good match.

Federer and humility don't go together.

Maybe these days but certainly not when he was younger and during most of his prime.


Stan was almost 29 when he reached the AO14 final.

[prasen9]

Federer and humility don't go together.

Maybe these days but certainly not when he was younger and during most of his prime.

Hmm, you have any quotes? I have found all four "greats" to be quite humble and gentlemanly. But, as I always acknowledge, my memory is not my strongest suit. And, I do not watch every tournament or every match in every tournament. I liked Nadal's focus when asked about the potential meeting with Fed. I am paraphrasing, but, he said that he is focusing on Dolgo, who had beaten him in the last two encounters.

[Prashant]

I didn't say humility, I said "false humility". Federer has always been willing to talk objectively about his game. If he crushes someone & plays completely brilliantly, he will say so. If he sucked on the day, he will say so with the same equanimity. This is what I like. He is honest both when he is amazing & when he is not.

[Sin Hombre]

That's very far from the truth.

For a very long time, Federer refused to acknowledge his losses and very ungracious in defeat.

He in fact kept refusing to acknowledge that Rafa was the better clay courter (leave alone on other surfaces) even in 2011 - this is after the 2011 final and Rafa's 5th FO

"Obviously, I’m the one that’s playing with smaller margins, so obviously I’m always going to go through a bit more up and downs; whereas Rafa is content doing the one thing for the entire time.

"So it’s always me who’s going to dictate play and decide how the outcome is going to be. If I play well, I will most likely win in the score or beat him; if I’m not playing so well, that’s when he wins."

There are many more ungracious quotes about Djokovic, Murray, Nadal, Stan below
https://www.murraysworld.com/columns/article/20600/
https://tt.tennis-warehouse.com/index.p ... er.511810/


It is fine to be arrogant; I don't have a problem with it. Let's not fall to a PR generated image of Federer being this humble gentleman though.

Del Potro is a genuinely nice guy by all accounts.