[hhx]

Now Sampras has 35 points ahead of Johansson, while the latter seems to play more in the remaining of the season.

 

[Tryphon]

Isn't Thomas injured anyway?

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

I don't see Costa finishing in top 7 either so Pete just needs to overtake him, and i think he will when the Masters-Series comes.

Madrid should have made it indoor clay

 

[Jorge]

the rankings are useless this time. The rules of the masters cup says that if one winner of a grandslam ends the season inside the top 20, he has his berth clinched to compete in the masters cup, so even if Johannson, Costa and Sampras finishes the year out from the top 8, they will be playing in Shanghai.
Hewitt is the exception, surely Agassi will be there. so the fight for the Sixth, seventh and eighth spot will be rough between Marat, Tim, Ferrero, Moyá, Haas, Andy, Roger, and even Jiri Novak is not too far away.
Cañas won't be there because is injured, and the rest of the players are too far.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Jorge you are wrong

Only if they finish inside top 7 are you guaranteed a spot in Shanghai
if the slam winners finish outside the top 7 then the highest ranked one will qualify for Shanghai.

 

[hhx]

The top seven finishers in the ATP Champions Race qualify for the Tennis Masters Cup. The eighth place will go to the highest-placed Grand Slam champion who finishes between eighth and 20th.

Roland Garros champion Albert Costa (393) is currently locked in a three-way tie for fifth place. US champion Pete Sampras (347) is 12th in the Race. Australian Open champion Thomas Johansson (312), who missed the US Open due to injury, is in 14th place.

However, i saw Johansson has committed Moscow, Lyon and Madrid while Sampras only committed Madrid at the moment.

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Pete will play Basel and Paris too

 

[Daniel]

mmm COsta

 

[Vera]

When's Pete's baby due, doesn't he has to attend to the baby???

Well. Pete is beccoming unpredictable. Normally, with the indoor season coming, I'll say he has a good chance overtaking Costa. But he didn't do much last year after USO. He won this year so maybe there's some extra motivation.

Everyone is playing Basel, it's gonna be tough. But then, between Madrid and Paris, what you gonna do, fly back to American in between? I wonder if Agassi is gonna join the Basel group later.

Anyway, I'll still put my money on Costa. Not because I think he will get anywhere from here. Just that Pete might pull out in any 3 of the tourneys remained because of the baby thing. Hey, I can't imagine him not sticking around with his first baby, but I might be wrong.

 

[ys]

When's Pete's baby due, doesn't he has to attend to the baby???

Yes, he has to.. If it is his baby. But if it is not, he might opt for Masters..

 

[Jessi]

[email protected]!

 

[kalforpete]

When's Pete's baby due, doesn't he has to attend to the baby???

Well. Pete is beccoming unpredictable. Normally, with the indoor season coming, I'll say he has a good chance overtaking Costa. But he didn't do much last year after USO. He won this year so maybe there's some extra motivation.

Vera,

I haven't seen an exact date the baby is due, but one article I read said a month before the AO. Most just say towards the end of the year. My guess is around the end of November toward the middle of December. If that's the case, than the Masters Cup will have already been played.

Pete usually plays two or three tourneys before the Masters Cup, even if he has already qualified for the MC, which this year, he hasn't. When he played in a tourney last year, forgot which one it was, and lost to Mirnyi with a "dead arm" which caused him to not be able to serve (Anyone who saw that match would have seen Pete serving under 100 mph on every serve) , he went home and had his shoulder seen about. It turned out he had a weak rotator cuff. He withdrew from all the tournaments he was scheduled to play and didn't try to qualify for the Masters Cup which he had still been in contention for. He worked on rehabilitating his rotator cuff all during the winter months (got that info from Johnny Mac commentating during the USO-though I had already known about the rotator cuff problem).

He is on the committment lists for Madrid, Paris and Basel. Since he has no points to defend, if he does half way decent, he may end up qualifying for the Masters Cup.

 

[Vera]

Oh, thx for the info. I don't quite follow Pete so I didn't know what happen last year, only remember that he didn't make much splash. Well, in that case (and since the baby is due December), then I will change my pick to Pete, for sure he will do better indoor than Costa. But kinda want Costa to be in though, since it's probably his last chance. Well, last chance for Johansson too but he's still having that injury.

BTW, Andre won't be playing Basel, cos I just found that he's committed to St. Petersburg at the same week.

 

[kalforpete]

Fiddlesticks!! Wish Andre was playing Basel. Pete always plays better when he gets the chance to play Andre. Oh, well, there's still a lot of other good players he can continue to gather confidence from by beating them. Hopefully anyway! Gonna be interesting to see how he does after winning the USO.

 

[tennischick]

as long as the Android is shut out of Shanghai, i can live with that...:angel: :angel:

 

[kalforpete]

TC,

I wouldn't count Pete out of Shanghai just yet. He's the best carpet player around. Or he used to be. Now we'll just have to wait and see how much of the "in form" Pete we saw at the USO still exists.

Either way, he can only gain points while the others ahead of him can lose if they don't defend points from last year.

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Either way, he can only gain points while the others ahead of him can lose if they don't defend points from last year.

This is totally irrelevant in terms of the champions race positions, where they can all do nothing but gain.

Seeing as the race determines who will be in the final 8, that is all that matters for this discussion really.

 

[claudine140]

TC,

I wouldn't count Pete out of Shanghai just yet. He's the best carpet player around. Or he used to be. Now we'll just have to wait and see how much of the "in form" Pete we saw at the USO still exists.

Either way, he can only gain points while the others ahead of him can lose if they don't defend points from last year.

It is not the entry list who counts for the participation of the masterscup, but the championlist. And in that list you can only earn points, but not loose points.
So if Sampras doesn't earn points during the next tournements he wont get more points and could be passed by other players.

 

[Mimi]

who is Android

 

[TheBoiledEgg]

Android =Pete

both the entry list and Champions Race should correspond with each other at end of season but it doesn't happen.
players with Challenger results near top level stuff that up but those Challenger pts don't count on race.

last yr there was still some mishaps with pts tallies
even this yr they did some major cockups