Re: 2017 ATP Rankings & Schedule

[Steerpike60]

After the USO Roger will be nearly 2,000 points behind Nadal... Impossible task sorry... Nadal would have to collapse and Roger to have a superlative indoor season...

I agree.  I don't think Roger has any real chance to catch Nadal.  We needed Rafa to not win the USO, but that was never going to happen because he was given the most lucky draw ever.  Sure Roger getting #1 would have been cool, especially YE #1, but one of the reasons this doesn't bug me as much is because Nadal is never going to catch Roger's #1 records.  Rafa would have to be #1 for like 3 years to even come close to Roger.  Never going to happen.

At this point, since #1 is off the table for Roger, my only real wish left this year is for Nadal not to win the YEC.  Of course, given that so many of the top players won't be playing... the only guy who can stop him is Roger.  And knowing Nadal's luck, he'll get the 'easy' RR group in London too.

As great as Roger's first 6 months have been... I fear the second half of the year might be the opposite.  At his age... I think his back will act up a lot more often.

[Lil_Jay]

I hear you on your post but as you know, there wasn't a guarantee that all would be great post clay season either if he decided to take it on, the general view was that when he won so much he wanted to make sure his body stacked up and changed to another mindset...we'll see how this goes, but a fit Roger is def needed for this swing, some important matches coming to restore order

[striker]

>>A Tweet on the forum says Roger may skip Paris Masters. When did he say that??

[Márcia]

>>A Tweet on the forum says Roger may skip Paris Masters. When did he say that??

Till now, I think he never said that. But... I may be wrong.

[Tommymas1]

https://www.google.com/amp/metro.co.uk/2017/09/25/roger-federer-hints-at-schedule-change-amid-rafael-nadal-chase-for-year-end-world-no-1-6953891/amp/

[Cromar]

This Metro article must be the source of the tweet you are referring to, striker...

It am not too surprised that Roger may actually skip Paris, as he realizes that the No 1 spot is probably out of reach now.

I will post the full article in the RF Schedule.

Roger Federer hints at schedule change amid Rafael Nadal chase for year-end world No. 1 https://t.co/I76Z1E5I73

— Metro Sport (@Metro_Sport) September 25, 2017

[Cromar]

From: Tennis(TT)Temple

Il y a 20 ans jour pour jour, le 22 septembre 1997, Roger Federer inscrivait ses premiers points ATP et s'emparait du 803ème rang mondial.
Il y a 5 jours - Pat13

20 years ago to this day, on September 22 1997, Roger Federer registered his first ATP points and became No 803 in the world.

Le saviez-vous ? Roger Federer a accumulé 121 092 points ATP sur l'ensemble de sa carrière, de 1997 à aujourd'hui.
Il y a 4 jours - Fed249

Did you know ? Roger Federer has amassed 121,092 ATP points over his entire career, from 1997 to date.

That's a lot of matches!!  

[Cromar]

Here are the Rankings and RACE standings as of last Monday, Oct. 2nd, following the completion of the Chengdu and Shenzhen tournaments in China, won by Denis Istomin and David Goffin, respectively.

The RACE to London is heating up as we are entering the last part of the 2017 season. There are two Masters and a selection of two 500 and one 250 tournaments left for players to make their mark (a maximum gain of 3250 points in total).

So far, three players have qualified for the trip to the O2: Nadal, Roger and Zverev (he should get his 'official' qualification this week), leaving five spots up for grab (although I think Thiem should soon qualify as well).

The next in line at present (excluding Wawrinka and Djokovic who are out for the season) are:
4 - Thiem
5 - Dimitrov
6 - Cilic
7 - Carreno Busta and
8 - Querrey

However, with only 1000 points separating the 6th from the 13th player, much can still change before London. The likes of Anderson, Goffin, Berdych, Bautista Agut, and even Isner or Kyrgios, are still in contention. Nishikori and Murray (most likely) are also out for the season, while Raonic (just back from a wrist surgery) picked up yet another injury in Tokyo!

We definitively will have new faces in London this year, as out of the 8 players present at the O2 last year, only two - Cilic and Thiem - are set to make a return, plus maybe Goffin, who was alternate.

 

[Cromar]

And also an update of the full Ranking Charts as of Oct. 2, for an overview of the current standing and projected ATP ranking points to the end of the season for the top 18 players.

Note that the players on the chart are in order of their RACE position (at the bottom of the chart) and not according to their ATP Ranking as usual. This gives a more realistic view of the actual standing of this year's top performers, seeing that several players are out with injury (Wawrinka, Djokovic, Murray ?, Nishikori, Raonic ?) and will not be defending the remaining of the points they had accumulated last year.

Roger is guaranteed to finish the year as No 2, with a very remote chance of becoming No 1, and I mean 'remote', if not impossible!... But then again, this year has been an 'impossible' year, that no one in their wildest dream could have predicted, so, as the saying goes, never say never!  
   

2017 ATP Ranking Chart #4 (5 October) by RACE positions

- Roger N° 2


1/3: 2017 Ranking Chart #4 - RACE #1-6




2/3: 2017 Ranking Chart #4 - RACE #7-12




3/3: 2017 Ranking Chart #4 - RACE #13-18

[Tommymas1]

Had Rafa lost in the first round against Pouille in China when Lucas had 2 match points against him and missed an easy forehand on one of them it may have helped in the points area and against Rafa's confidence. Now, Rafa is in the semis and has picked up his play, making him harder to beat. Even more remote for Roger to catch him now.

[Cromar]

Here is the official announcement of Zverev qualification, as mentioned in my earlier post (re: 'Rankings and RACE'):

Alexander Zverev Qualifies For Nitto ATP Finals


Oct 06 2017 - ATP Press Release

Youngest qualifier since del Potro in 2008


Twenty-year-old Alexander Zverev is set to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 12-19 November at The O2 in London. A winner of two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titles this season, the German joins Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the 2017 field, leaving five places up for grabs with six weeks to go until the season-ending tournament.

“I think it's great for any player to qualify for a prestigious event that we have in London,” said Zverev, who attended the tournament in 2015 to receive his ATP Star of Tomorrow Award presented by Emirates. “It's really an award for, I think, every player that shows that you've been one of the best players, not only for one or two weeks in a year, but you've been one of the best players for the whole year. That's something special. That's an amazing achievement for me, and I think for all the other guys, as well.

“The atmosphere is amazing in London. I've been there for the award that I got two years ago. So hopefully it’s going to be similar to that. I know it's going to be very special event for me.”

Zverev, who qualified by reaching the semi-finals at the China Open in Beijing, is the youngest player to clinch a berth at the season finale since a 20-year-old Juan Martin del Potro in 2008 and the first German singles qualifier since Rainer Schuettler in 2003.

One year since lifting his first ATP World Tour trophy at the St. Petersburg Open, Zverev has won five in 2017 – tied with Nadal and Federer for the most singles titles this season. With his triumphs on clay at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome (d. Djokovic) and on hard court at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal (d. Federer), he became the first player outside the ATP’s ‘Big Four’ to win multiple Masters 1000 titles in a season since David Nalbandian in 2007.

Zverev additionally won the ATP World Tour 500 title at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., and claimed a pair of ATP World Tour 250 titles – at the Open Sud de France in Montpellier and BMW Open by FWU in Munich. In Montpellier, he also teamed up with older brother Mischa Zverev to win the doubles title.

The Nitto ATP Finals welcomes more than 250,000 fans to The O2 arena each year, as well as generating a global TV viewership of more than 100 million, as the ATP’s best eight singles players and doubles teams compete over eight days at the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

[striker]

^^^
So Alex gets to be in two year end finals? Including the Nexr Gen One? Will that be allowed???

[Cromar]

There seems to be no restriction for participating in both Finals. However, if qualified for both, a player would be allowed to skip the Milan Finals, the ATP Finals seemingly taking precedence (attendance to the London Finals is mandatory for players who qualified).

Info found in several press articles (eg.: skysports.com)

Zverev has also qualified for the inaugural Next Gen Finals in Milan the previous week and must now decide whether to play in both.

Players are allowed to skip the Next Gen event, featuring the leading seven players of the year aged 21 and under plus one wild card, if they are in the field for the ATP Finals.

[Cromar]

"Round-by-Round" Chart for Shanghai 2017

The players are sorted according to their points at the start of the Tournament (Live Rank): Current ATP ranking points minus their points to defend from last year. The seeding was based on the rankings of Oct. 2nd.

This being the second-last Masters of the year, the results here will bear a major impact for those who are in contention for the remaining five spots at the London Finals.

[ph∞be]

I, like everybody else, wish that Roger could be year end No 1 but, looking ahead to 2018, I think the most important thing is that he doesn't get injured again. He has a lot of points to defend and I am hoping he will remain healthy and strong. If that means he has to skip Paris, so be it.

[Cromar]

(Also posted in the Basel 2017 tournament thread)

Here is the "Round-by-Round Chart" for Basel/Vienna...

As the Race to London heats up, all top players not injured are in action this week. Even Dimitrov, who wasn't scheduled to play, took a WC in Vienna!  

The most important right now for the top players, at least, is obviously their position in the Race. Four have officially qualified so far (Nadal, Roger, Zverev, Thiem), and Dimitrov and Cilic are practically there too, so the remaining spots are scarce (2 + an alternate). But with about half-a-dozen players still in contention, all vying hard for a trip to the O2, this makes the end of this season rather exciting.  
   
For these reasons, this chart is actually showing the RACE points (and Race order) rather than the usual Ranking points.

Enjoy the week!  

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