Pete Bodo is still on vacation, but the top players in the ATP are having a tournament anyway.
Morning, all.
Although three of the four 2009 GS tournaments are behind us, there are still more than 50% of the points in Masters 1000s tournaments + the YEC to be awarded to the top players in the ATP.
After a five week break for the ATP's big 4, the second half of the Masters season gets underway today in Montreal. Cincinnati follows next week, then Shanghai in October, with Paris and the London YEC drawing the season to an exhausted close in November.
Because of the timing of the Beijing Olympics last year, the Rogers Cup in Toronto and Cincinnati tournaments began earlier in 2008, so ATP Ranking Points for these events have fallen off players' totals. Roger Federer now enjoys a nearly 2000 point advantage over his nearest rival, Rafael Nadal. Nadal will surrender the 800 points awarded with his Olympic Gold Medal later this August, but apart from Beijing he's defending fewer points than the next player in the rankings, Andy Murray, who still counts a USO F, Madrid W and St Petersburg W in his tally. Novak Djokovic is 880 points behind Murray; he'll qualify comfortably for London, but it's hard to see him threatening the top two spots unless he goes on a tear and his rivals falter badly.
!Delpoarod1 The next two players behind Djokovic in the rankings, Andy Roddick and Juan Martin Del Potro, played an enjoyable if sweaty match yesterday in Washington DC. It was a hot and humid day - while match calling I thought I saw more paper fans than you get at a Gone With The Wind convention. It took a virtual coinflip in the end: each player had won 98 points as they changed over at 6 all in the final set TB, but Del Potro took the next two points with an ace and a winner that caught 10% of the deuce sideline. From the Washington Post:
So Roddick found himself in the runners up slot again. This wasn't lost on the suit from GEICO, who thought that the otherwise interminable trophy presentation was just the right moment to console Roddick for finding himself standing once again in the same spot as he had after the epic Wimbledon final. Roddick cheerfully made the fellow suitably uncomfortable, thanking him for reviving that wonderful memory.
I don't know about others in the Tribe, but I have a sense that it's all to play for in this third part of the 2009 season. Federer has some momentum, but (ahem) other matters to begin to attend to. Nadal is almost restarting his season, and no one can predict what level he'll be able to find, and more importantly maintain, over the next weeks and months. Murray and Djokovic have still to show that they can reach the very top levels. And Roddick and Del Potro have reminded us that the next tier has some very good and hungry players. Some good tennis ahead, I think.
As with all Crisis Centers (Centres de Crise), please use this thread for tennis related conversation, after which it's OK to go mildly off topic. Enjoy today's tennis!
-- Andrew Burton
As at 11:30pm ET, an Overflow post is up - Andrew
*
Overflow *