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BGonline.org Forums
OT - US Open Tennis Draw (Federer)
Posted By: Stick
Date: Monday, 4 September 2017, at 1:44 a.m.
I'm not sure how many people follow tennis closely around here but a couple things that were interesting happened this year at the US Open. First, there was the seeding + draw. I think the Majors (Australian, French, Wimbledon, US Open) reserve the right to alter their seeding instead of going strictly by the ATP Rankings. By and large though they adhere to the ratings, which I believe they should.
This year however, they somehow, inexplicably, Kept Federer ranked #3 and Murray ranked #2. The difference in ATP points? 5. 5 is the smallest possible gap. This alone doesn't mean they should swap them of course but the year Federer had had coming into the US Open (won 2 Majors, 3 Masters 1000 events, 38-3) compared to the year Murray is having (1 title, Dubai, 25-10) is a joke. It's really mind boggling to me how they let this happen.
In not changing Federer to #2 they assured that Federer and Nadal would be in the same half of the bracket meaning the match everyone would love to see, Fed v. Nadal in the finals, is not possible. Federer and Nadal have never actually played in the US Open and given the standout comeback year both of them are having it would have been Sugarpova sweet in so many ways if they were to clash in the finals. Fantastic for ratings, for tennis, and for money making. Win, win, win. The best that can happen now is they're on a course to meet in the semis which will be the virtual finals.
What ended up happening after they screwed the pooch on the seeding is that Andy Murray pulled out of the tournament! Not only did he pull out, but basically right after the draw was posted he said "PEACE, I'M OUT!" If he knew he wasn't going to be able to play he should have pulled out before the draw. That would have allowed the US Open to reseed the players and we could have had our dream finals match up. But that cockhole for some reason did it Saturday morning. If you're going to pull out because of injury you either do so before the draw or if you don't know by then, you wait until the last possible moment to see if you're going to be able to play.
Once the draw was posted the ATP had no choice in the seeding/pairings as there's a ruleset specifically designed for these situations believe it or not.
Anyway, on to interesting point #2. There is luck in professional tennis. One such small piece of luck is the draw. For example as we were just discussing, if Federer and Nadal are on opposite halves of the draw it's better for both of them as it's a lot less likely they'll have to face one another because of the chance of someone else upsetting one of them before the finals.
Well, the draw as it has gone down so far for Roger Federer has been, opponent and Roger's lifetime record against them coming into the US Open)
- Frances Tiafoe (had never played but Tiafoe being #70 in the world and only 19 had Federer a monstrous favorite)
- Mikhail Youzhny (Fed leads 16-0)
- Feliciano Lopez (Fed leads 12-0)
- Phillip Kohlschreiber (Fed leads 11-0)
In short, Federer was 39-0 against 3 of 4 of his first four rounds of opponents. This is unheard of. Not only is it lucky in a sense, but it gives a glimpse of why Federer is the greatest ever. It's a rare occurrence that Roger loses to 'no name' players. With any luck he'll get del Potro in the quarters who he is only 16-5 against.
Stick
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