[robinhood]

Originally Posted by Or Levy

I think he needs to add a tournament or two. Nadal is aiming for number one - he's actually going to play on clay now?? The hard court season is coming up!

Nadal is playing on clay before US HC?
Oh well.

The Indy begins in two weeks, doesn't it?
That seems a bit too soon, considering all the grind he went through since the beginning of the clay season.
Then again, all other players are doing it, so why not?

If he doesn't play before Montreal, then I hope he will work himself into form and win as many matches as possible at Montreal and Cincy.

In terms of his ranking points, I didn't think much of it back then,
but those two losses to Canas seem to have done some real damage.

[nobama]

Nadal is stupid if he plays on clay again this year. Yeah it's easy points but overplaying could cause injury again. I'll believe it when I see his name in the draw.

[neenah]

Originally Posted by NYCtennisfan

Agree. If he does win the USO this year, it will mean:

--For the third time he would win three slams in a year. It would mean he would have 3 of the 6 seasons where it happened. Laver's was in a time where he only had to play a few players and played 3 out of the 4 on grass, and Connors did it in a time with fewer good players and the AO a weaker field. By modern standards, Wilander's is the only one that is comparable with higher standards of competiton and the Slams being played essentially on 4 different surfaces.

--4 straight USO's would be a record.

--He would be only the 2nd player to win 2 different slams 4 times in a row. Borg won Wimby 5 times in a row and RG 4 times in a row. Federer would win 5 Wimby's and 4 USO's.

--He would get to his 10th straight final

--He would get to 2nd place by himself on the Open Era all-time list for # of Slams won.

--He would do the Wimby/USO back-to-back for the 4th straight time, far and away the record.

Wow, Fed never plays a Grand Slam without breaking or equaling some record! Good luck, Fed.

[SUKTUEN]

is it too early for this theard?

[WF4EVER]

Originally Posted by mirkaland

Nadal is stupid if he plays on clay again this year. Yeah it's easy points but overplaying could cause injury again. I'll believe it when I see his name in the draw.

Oh, please. Nadal is never injured when it comes to playing on clay. Only when he's losing on HC. And the more he plays to get there, the more he'll have to play to stay there.

Of course, he's desperate to get to No. 1. I'd love for him to get to No. 1 because it will be fun watching him convince himself he's not the favorite.

What's the earliest Roger could possibly lose his No. 1 rank? I'd like for him to at least finish out the year at No. 1 and then let the chase begin.

I know Roger cares about being displaced as No. 1 but at this stage I really don't, as long as he keeps winning those Slams and racking up the total to get past Pete.

Also I think it would take a lot of the pressure off him on and off the court. Maybe without the burden and expectations of being the No. 1 player in the world, he'd actually be able to relax at RG. And watch the pressure and expectations pile on Rambo's shoulders.

Hey, why isn't this thread a sticky? I almost missed it.

[Or Levy]

There was extensive talks about it over at tennis.com and it's nearly impossible to calculate, depends (should Roger not defend his points) - what round he would lose, and whether Rafa wins them all instead - and if not - which round he'll lose in.

But the talks was that there might be a real battle for number one in Shanghai or Paris.

[SUKTUEN]

GOD PLEASE PLEASE Bless Roger healthy to play good tennis in USOpen!!

[robinhood]

Originally Posted by Or Levy

There was extensive talks about it over at tennis.com and it's nearly impossible to calculate, depends (should Roger not defend his points) - what round he would lose, and whether Rafa wins them all instead - and if not - which round he'll lose in.

But the talks was that there might be a real battle for number one in Shanghai or Paris.

That's later than I thought!

[rofe]

Originally Posted by WF4EVER

Oh, please. Nadal is never injured when it comes to playing on clay. Only when he's losing on HC. And the more he plays to get there, the more he'll have to play to stay there.

Of course, he's desperate to get to No. 1. I'd love for him to get to No. 1 because it will be fun watching him convince himself he's not the favorite.

What's the earliest Roger could possibly lose his No. 1 rank? I'd like for him to at least finish out the year at No. 1 and then let the chase begin.

I know Roger cares about being displaced as No. 1 but at this stage I really don't, as long as he keeps winning those Slams and racking up the total to get past Pete.

Also I think it would take a lot of the pressure off him on and off the court. Maybe without the burden and expectations of being the No. 1 player in the world, he'd actually be able to relax at RG. And watch the pressure and expectations pile on Rambo's shoulders.

Hey, why isn't this thread a sticky? I almost missed it.

I would also like Nadal to become #1 at some point ( I would be curious to know how he deals with it) as long as Roger keeps winning a couple of slams every year. However, Roger seems to really want to stay #1 so if he slips to #2, I am not sure how that will affect his psyche. For all we know, he may completely unravel and not win a slam after he becomes #2.

[NYCtennisfan]

Originally Posted by WF4EVER

What's the earliest Roger could possibly lose his No. 1 rank? I'd like for him to at least finish out the year at No. 1 and then let the chase begin.

Hey, why isn't this thread a sticky? I almost missed it.

The earliest he can lose #1 is right after the USO. In fact, the USO can see a swing of 1750 points if Fed doesn't play the USO or 1745 points if Fed plays the 1st round and loses. That means that for the first time since the 2004 Wimbledon, Fed's #1 ranking will be on the line UNLESS he leads by more than 1745 points going into the finals.

On another note, Fed is guaranteed to surpass Graf's record fo 186 straight weeks at #1, the record for men or women. I never thought that record could come close to being touched.

[NYCtennisfan]

Originally Posted by rofe

I would also like Nadal to become #1 at some point ( I would be curious to know how he deals with it) as long as Roger keeps winning a couple of slams every year. However, Roger seems to really want to stay #1 so if he slips to #2, I am not sure how that will affect his psyche. For all we know, he may completely unravel and not win a slam after he becomes #2.

True. He could completely unravel or start swinging freely on the FH again. Anything is possible and it will be very interesting to see how it all goes down.

[NYCtennisfan]

Originally Posted by Or Levy

There was extensive talks about it over at tennis.com and it's nearly impossible to calculate, depends (should Roger not defend his points) - what round he would lose, and whether Rafa wins them all instead - and if not - which round he'll lose in.

But the talks was that there might be a real battle for number one in Shanghai or Paris.

True. We have to wait to see what he does during the summer hard season to see what he needs during the USO to stay #1.

Just to give some ideas though, here are some possible scenarios:

SCENARIO #1

-Nadal wins Stuttgart
-Federer and Nadal both lose in the SF's in Canada
-Federer wins Cincy and Nadal is runner-up

For Nadal to get to #1, Fed would have to lose in the first round of the USO and Nadal would have to win it. If Federer wins one summer TMS event and is runner-up in another, he will be number 1 through the USO no matter what Nadal does.

SCENARIO #2

--Nadal wins Stuttgart
--Federer loses in QF of Canada and Nadal wins
--Federer is runner-up in Cincy and Nadal wins

--If Federer loses in the first, second or third round of the USO, then Nadal becomes #1 by reaching the 4th round.

[World Beater]

LOL

why would federer unravel? It doesnt make too much sense to me. He's had SO MANY HEARTBREAKING losses that he probably would have spiralled down already. Thats the difference between federer mentally and a guy like mathieu or any other talented player. Federer is the most resilient player i have ever seen.He may not be as mentally tough in matches as some of his competitors or other players in history(sampras, borg etc)...but he is the most resilient.

I dont mean to gloat but after federer won wimby 2003 i thought he could win 20 slams. I first saw the guy against ferrero at the usopen and was not overly impressed. But when i saw him play defending champion sampras at wimby at the age of 19. I was like He is the male version of steffi graf.

The only reason he may start to "unravel" is if he loses motivation. From hearing federer speak, he seems to be a guy thinking beyond tennis and will be content to beat sampras record by a hair. Then he may quit.

At the same time i was surprised sampras won 14 slams. so what do i know. Sampras was such an overachiever.

[World Beater]

I have a feeling that fed may not play an optional before canada. But he for the first time in his career will have great peformances at BOTH canada and cincy. Fed knows whats on the line.

[RogiFan88]

Rogi hasn't played a tourney betw Wimby and TMS TO/MTL for some time now... not since he won Gstaad04... he needs his rest before the hc season and all the pts/titles he has to defend: TMS MTL, [Cincy doesn't count for much R] USO, Tokyo, Madrid, Basel, TMC Shanghai... that's a ton of points! It's impossible for Rogi to defend them... even half w be pretty good.

Rafa must be laughing... and he's in Stuttgart trying to over-insure himself v. Rogi's No 1 dominance... he is loco.