[abraxas21]

Originally Posted by rocketassist

I would love this. Djoker-Nadal not the final would be superb.

it's still good to see nadal extending his losing streak in finals though

[masterclass]

Let's postulate that Mr. Federer does get to #2 at some point (maybe not by RG, that's a stretch, unless Nadal is injured).
The situation becomes quite favorable for Federer if Nadal is in Djokovic's half of the draw for the SF, no?

Respectfully,
masterclass

[FedvsNole]

I think fed needs to win one of the masters 1000 before RG if he has any realistic chance of getting it back before the french open. Madrid is prolly his best chance.

Getting to the final in dubai will get him 300 points. Murray is getting 500 so they may both have a shot.

[FedvsNole]

Originally Posted by masterclass

Let's postulate that Mr. Federer does get to #2 at some point (maybe not by RG, that's a stretch, unless Nadal is injured).
The situation becomes quite favorable for Federer if Nadal is in Djokovic's half of the draw for the SF, no?

Respectfully,
masterclass

After all the attention australia got with a nadal-nole final, NO WAY IN HELL WILL nadal and nole be in the same half. If fed is somehow number 2, nadal will "find" his way into his half. Remember its a BUSINESS first. And right now nole-nadal is whats in the news = money.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by FedvsNole

I think fed needs to win one of the masters 1000 before RG if he has any realistic chance of getting it back before the french open. Madrid is prolly his best chance.

Getting to the final in dubai will get him 300 points. Murray is getting 500 so they may both have a shot.

May I borrow your crystal ball?

Respectfully,
masterclass

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by FedvsNole

After all the attention australia got with a nadal-nole final, NO WAY IN HELL WILL nadal and nole be in the same half. If fed is somehow number 2, nadal will "find" his way into his half. Remember its a BUSINESS first. And right now nole-nadal is whats in the news = money.

They would still get Nole-Rafa, just in the SF.
If at Roland Garros, then it would be Federer vs. Nadal in the final. They would get 2 big rivalry matches.
Somewhere else? Well...I guess it depends...

Respectfully,
masterclass

[FedvsNole]

True. But i'll be shocked if i see anything but a nole-nadal in separate halfs. I just think thats what they'd prefer. Fed-nadal roland garros final has been done to death with the result NID.

[MIMIC]

Murray is defending like 6 or 7 points from now until the the French. He's more likely to become No. 2.

[masterclass]

Originally Posted by MIMIC

Murray is defending like 6 or 7 points from now until the the French. He's more likely to become No. 2.

Perhaps so, but it still mostly depends on Nadal's play during the slow hard court and clay season. He has opportunities to pick up points himself where he lost to Djokovic last year. Of the 4, Djokovic has the most to defend, followed by Nadal, then Federer, then Murray.

It should be interesting. I'm curious to see how ready Nadal will be for Indian Wells. I think if he can do as well there as he did last year and not lose points on the hard courts, he'll be fairly happy. And then he should be primed for the clay court season. But if Djokovic and Nadal meet in both of those slow hard court finals, and play like they did in the Australian Open, I think one or both would be lucky to escape without some kind of injury. Hopefully, they'll stay relatively healthy. Mr. Federer is probably hoping to defend whatever points he has up to the grass court season, plus maybe taking a clay tournament like Madrid. But he definitely is preparing himself for the major grass events.

Respectfully,
masterclass

[Roamed]

I don't think so, unless he wins a Masters and Rafa loses early at several. I made a chart a while ago and sensibly guesstimated their upcoming results with the potential for Fed to get #2 back by maybe being a bit conservative on Rafa's side and generous on Fed's and he can get close in that scenario by playing the Asian swing but he didn't get it.

[henke007]

Originally Posted by reery

No.

Murray is more likely. He is defending very few pts. until RG.





Agree.

[nalbyfan]

Arrogant Mr Vavrinec will never be N°1, or N°2, he's more likely to become N°4, then N°5...

[Horatio Caine]

Good question.

The current gap is 2,200pts, and Federer has already reduced that by 300pts this week (500pts if he beats Murray today).

That still leaves a sizeable gap, though, and it is questionable whether Nadal will lose many points (if any at all) over what is his favourable time of the season. He can lose matches over this stretch, but he is much less prone to earlier exits than Federer.

Federer has room to improve, but not by much imo. He defends SF at IW and Miami and, as he isn't likely to win either title imo, he could only improve marginally on those points. It is questionable whether he will play Monte Carlo and, whilst he could improve on the Rome R16, he isn't able to improve much on the Madrid SF.

#3 is the more likely scenario, heading into RG.

After that, Federer has a more realistic chance to make up significant ground, particularly over late June-September.

[RIboy]

hell NO!!!!

[teamvip]

Murray has a better chance at taking #2 than Federer since he has almost nothing to defend. Slam-wise, this is still a great scenario for Fed since Nadal would drop to 3 and can get drawn into Djokers half.