[masterclass]

The 2012 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships - a 500 level tournament - has a Masters level lineup.
8 of the top 10 players are scheduled to play. Only #2 ranked Rafael Nadal and his countryman, #5 David Ferrer, are not entered.

I'll leave the poll open till the tournament starts for people who like to see the draw, but we know that Mr. Djokovic and Mr. Federer will head their halves.

Who will win?

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[Clay Death]

good stuff masterclass.

i am liking fed`s chances if these courts are playing fast and the bounce is low.

 

[Johnny Groove]

The pressure is all on Djokovic to continue to produce.

Also, Rafa is smart to skip.

 

[Clay Death]

affirmative. and that pressure just went up some more:

now he says he wants RG and the gold. well now we will see if he can produce.

and he still has everything under the sun to defend.

 

[Certinfy]

Hoping for a Berdych vs Federer QF here.

 

[masterclass]

The pressure is all on Djokovic to continue to produce.

Also, Rafa is smart to skip.

Yes, definitely smart. But they can't skip the Masters events...so both Djokovic and Nadal still have a difficult road ahead.

And yes, Djokovic is defending here. It will be interesting if it is a Djokovic-Federer final.
Last year Djokovic's return game was just too good and Federer didn't do enough.

I also think it didn't help Federer to have an easy draw:
R32 Somdev Devvarman (IND) [79] W 6-3, 6-3
R16 Marcel Granollers (ESP) [53] W 6-3, 6-4
Q Sergiy Stakhovsky (UKR) [43] W 6-3, 6-4
S Richard Gasquet (FRA) [28] W 6-2, 7-5
F Novak Djokovic (SRB) 3 L 3-6, 3-6

Djokovic:

R32 Michael Llodra (FRA) [27] W 6-3, 6-3
R16 Feliciano Lopez (ESP) [41] W 6-3, 2-6, 6-4
Q Florian Mayer (GER) [38] W 7-5, 6-1
S Tomas Berdych (CZE) [7] W 6-7(5), 6-2, 4-2 RET
W Roger Federer (SUI) [2] W 6-3, 6-3

But with Murray and Tsonga added to the mix this year, anything can happen.

Respectfully,
masterclass

 

[EddieNero]

Federer will pull out from this one probably. I know he's seeking the number one spot but playing here would be unreasonable, the field appears really strong this year and the probability of facing a tough opponent in QF is very high.

Roger should take a couple of days off and focus on the IW/Miami double, he can easily gain some points over there with a favourable draw.

 

[JurajCrane]

Line-up of this tournament tells you which is the best ATP 500 tournament. Barcelona ? No thanks.

 

[Clay Death]

fed should play. rotterdam was indoors and he got it done pretty easily there. russian pest pushed him just a bit but it was like a little workout session anyway.

he is also on a bit of roll again. so this is a good time to strike.

 

[Alex999]

Federer will pull out from this one probably. I know he's seeking the number one spot but playing here would be unreasonable, the field appears really strong this year and the probability of facing a tough opponent in QF is very high.

Roger should take a couple of days off and focus on the IW/Miami double, he can easily gain some points over there with a favourable draw.

Rog is not getting to #1, as simple as that. It's not happening. also, all above comments about Novak defending his points are really silly. I ask this again, who's gonna stop him? as of now, he is holding W, USO and AO. he's been always very successful at IW and Miami even when he played utter sh!t tennis. Dubai simply is not that important tournament. I couldn't care less if Nole loses his first round match... and that's not gonna happen.

I simply think that too many people here speculate too much. also, too many guys have this obsessive love for their favorite players and they are not objective at all. again plain stupidity. Djokovic will probably kill Rog in the final. you may not like it but that's probably what's gonna happen.

 

[SERBINATOR]

Novak to Win his 4th Dubai crown :angel:

 

[Clay Death]

why do we even have to have this event?

why not just send nole the trophy right now and move on to the next event.

also send him the trophies for indian wells and miami masters. and we can just move on straight to rome masters. oh wait. he won there too so mail him the rome masters trophy also.

and won madrid too so surely he will kill them all again. send him the trophy for madrid asap.

he has now declared he wants RG and the olympic gold. i say they should just send him the hardware asap and be done with it.

why the hell are we even having tennis this year? he won wimbledon and the u.s. open too so send him his hardware pronto and be finished with it.

that is about the only way we can keep these nole fans happy here.

 

[GOAT in progress]

Rog is not getting to #1, as simple as that. It's not happening. also, all above comments about Novak defending his points are really silly. I ask this again, who's gonna stop him? as of now, he is holding W, USO and AO. he's been always very successful at IW and Miami even when he played utter sh!t tennis. Dubai simply is not that important tournament. I couldn't care less if Nole loses his first round match... and that's not gonna happen.

I simply think that too many people here speculate too much. also, too many guys have this obsessive love for their favorite players and they are not objective at all. again plain stupidity. Djokovic will probably kill Rog in the final. you may not like it but that's probably what's gonna happen.

Federer & Naldal are simply too strong for the rest of the tour, and Djokovic was too strong for them. Short but effective

 

[DemiCrayanhan]

really depends on the draw but i can easily see a murray/djokovic final. during nole's beast mode, andy won the most outdoor-hard titles among the rest of the field.

 

[Time Violation]

why do we even have to have this event?

why not just send nole the trophy right now and move on to the next event.

also send him the trophies for indian wells and miami masters. and we can just move on straight to rome masters. oh wait. he won there too so mail him the rome masters trophy also.

and won madrid too so surely he will kill them all again. send him the trophy for madrid asap.

he has now declared he wants RG and the olympic gold. i say they should just send him the hardware asap and be done with it.

why the hell are we even having tennis this year? he won wimbledon and the u.s. open too so send him his hardware pronto and be finished with it.

that is about the only way we can keep these nole fans happy here.

Lol, you're not the one who should complain. You keep saying all the time Nadal is a lock to win RG and everything else on clay, so no one should bother playing RG, right? What goes around comes around

 

[Alex999]

why do we even have to have this event?

why not just send nole the trophy right now and move on to the next event.

also send him the trophies for indian wells and miami masters. and we can just move on straight to rome masters. oh wait. he won there too so mail him the rome masters trophy also.

and won madrid too so surely he will kill them all again. send him the trophy for madrid asap.

he has now declared he wants RG and the olympic gold. i say they should just send him the hardware asap and be done with it.

why the hell are we even having tennis this year? he won wimbledon and the u.s. open too so send him his hardware pronto and be finished with it.

that is about the only way we can keep these nole fans happy here.

lol CD. you are a bit frustrated. of course he wants RG and Olympic gold. it's sport. he is simply doing his job. will he get there? we'll see .

 

[Clay Death]

of course i am not frustrated alex.

i am thinking about sending you a case of blended scotch so you can drown your sorrrow when all this doesnt happen.

 

[Myrre]

why do we even have to have this event?

why not just send nole the trophy right now and move on to the next event.

also send him the trophies for indian wells and miami masters. and we can just move on straight to rome masters. oh wait. he won there too so mail him the rome masters trophy also.

and won madrid too so surely he will kill them all again. send him the trophy for madrid asap.

he has now declared he wants RG and the olympic gold. i say they should just send him the hardware asap and be done with it.

why the hell are we even having tennis this year? he won wimbledon and the u.s. open too so send him his hardware pronto and be finished with it.

that is about the only way we can keep these nole fans happy here.

:worship::worship::worship:

 

[Clay Death]

Lol, you're not the one who should complain. You keep saying all the time Nadal is a lock to win RG and everything else on clay, so no one should bother playing RG, right? What goes around comes around

well done Taejin.


good post. i like it.

as for RG, he is the king of clay last time i checked. and will be until proven differently.

 

[Clay Death]

:worship::worship::worship:

these nole fans are a strange breed.

they want the damn hardware without playing any of the events.

i am just thinking about sending them cases and cases of liquor. it will serve them well in times of great distress and frustration.