Roger Federer

[SusanDoris]

Thank you, NS.

[Nearly Sane]

And for all Dimitrov looking good - out he goes to Rublev who may be a real emerging talent but who knows Slams still seem to be an 'old' persons game.

[Nearly Sane]

Federer drops second set to Youzhny. Apparently the first time he has dropped a set on a hard court to Youzhny for 17 years!  And maybe going 2-1 down. I suspect the back is still dodgy but now Nadal looking better and better

[Nearly Sane]

And now Cilic is out leaving Isner as the highest ranked player in that half of the draw. None of those left have ever reached the final, and I am not sure if any of them have reached a semi final of a slam. Everyone must be thinking that it's a huge chance for them.

[Nearly Sane]

And Isner knocked out last night too. Could Shapovalov make the final?

[Nearly Sane]

To which the answer is No! Valiant effort but Carreno Busta,  Anderson looking good.

[Nearly Sane]

And the too half of the men's draw has Nadal v Rublev and Federer v Del Potro. Three former champions and a teenager. Extraordinary fight back from Del Potro

[Nearly Sane]

So Federer is out, the US Open again misses a Nadal v Federer match up, Spain will have both Men and Women's No.1 ranked players and all the women semi finalists are USican with Venus Williams there at 37. Intriguing tournament but with Murray out for the rest of the year the promoters will be hoping there are no injuries to Federer and Nadal.

[Nearly Sane]

Excellent match from Federer yesterday though while he maintains his record of beating Nadal in each match they played this year you suspect that wouldn't have been the case on clay. Looks like Nadal for the year end No1 with the big question being can he win the year end championship for the first time. It must be one of his best chances with no Djokovic and Murray, both more successful indoors.


Wasn't sure if he was the older winner of a Masters series since Ken Rosewall was still winning tournaments older than Federer is now but turns out he is and by nearly 2 years.

[Nearly Sane]

And Federer wins in Basel to close the gap. You suspect though that it needs either an injury or very bad performance from Nadal in Paris to set this up. The tournament victory takes Federer past Lendl for tournament wins in the Open Era behind only Connors.

[Nearly Sane]

So it's Federer that pulls out of Paris, leaving Nadal almost certain to be year end Number 1.

[Nearly Sane]

And with his win over Chung, Nadal is year end No 1.

[Sebastian Toe]

And with his win over Chung, Nadal is year end No 1.

Who'd have thunk it?
Oh, you did!
👟

[Nearly Sane]

And Nadal pulls out in Paris. I imagine the year end final sponsors are offering prayers. A tournament without the world Number 1, without Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka will be looking to Federer to keep the people satisfied.

[Nearly Sane]

And so the semifinals in Paris are Krajinovic v Isner and Benneteau v Sock. I would be interested what odds you could have got on that at the start of the tournament even in this odd season. Isner would seem to be the most likely here, having reached the final in Paris last year and that would mean he would qualify for the year end finals. But what a story it would be for either Krajinovic or Benneteau to win having been ranked so low at the start of the week.

[Nearly Sane]

So Hyeon Chung wins the inaugural Next Generation Champioships, which with the success of Alexander Zverev was without it's most obvious winner. With the use of first to 4 games in a set it probably freaked out the purists but the innovation seemed to have worked well. It will be interesting to see how the participants progress next year.

[Nearly Sane]

Nadal pulls out of the year end championships after losing the first match. You have to suspect that this was one of his better chances, if he had been fit, yo win of and that it will never be as good again. That said it's been a fantastic and extraordinary year for him.

[Nearly Sane]

A topsy turvy match between Sock and Zverev in a topsy turvy year means that Wawrinka will start next year ranked 9. This leads to a last 16 if seedings play out and no injuries at the AU's Open with Wawrinka, Djokovic, Murray and Del Potro all there to meet top 8 players. I wonder what the odds would have been for a Sock v Djokovic last 16 match with Djokovic being seeded to lose a year ago.


If Federer goes on to win the tournament he would only be 140 points behind Nadal in the rankings. Now, fair enough, he has a lot of early year points to defend but it could be that he sneaks to Number 1 early next year. If Nadal's injury isn't healed for the Aus Open, Federer getting to final would take him to number 1.

[Nearly Sane]

So looks like Nadal will remain No1 for some time. Federer's defeat by Goffin and the loading of his points at the start of the year means unless Nadal gets injured for the clay court season or Federer plays the clay court season Nadal likely to remain till at least the French.


Odds on Goffin v Dimitrov at the start of the year for the years end championship must have been high.