Tennis Forever

[Arvind Srinivasan]

A lot of things have transpired over the past week huh.... While it would have been great for him to get the number one ranking albeit without the slam, I always had the small thought of as to whether Federer was guilty of overplaying...He should have skipped either Basel or Paris. Opting to go for the YE No.1's come to bite him back. it Hope it doesnt have a big repercussion going into 2015.

[JamesDap]

Drubbed by Monfils in his singles rubber, though Wawrinka beat Tsonga. Suddenly, the final has become a tricky affair.

As for no.1, well, if he had given up Paris, he would have fallen even further behind in the race. But it was a red herring chase banking on the hope that Djoko's form would flag, which it didn't. If Fed had won either of Wimb or USO, he would have probably BECOME no.1 anyway. He should have given up the pursuit then and there. There's no great honour in getting to no.1 without a slam for the year. In a way, it's good because his feat might have got equated to the slamless no.1s of WTA like Wozniacki, Jankovic, Safina, etc. It seems, however, that it was Edberg who convinced him to just keep playing on because after a certain age, not playing, and the resulting rustiness, is more likely to cause injuries than fatigue from playing too much.

[JamesDap]

Switzerland win the DC. Tsonga got injured and Gasquet filling in was easily put away by Fed in the reverse singles. So that's a tick against one column that was blank: a DC title. Olympic gold quest remains, but, barring mass bunking by the rest of the big four, is probably out of reach. Good job, Swiss are not going to get another DC title in a hurry, unless Fed-Wawrinka pull off a repeat in the remainder of their careers.

[Arvind Srinivasan]

Guess the bait of facing the opener against Monfils payed off. Though he lost badly, it gave him the much needed match practice and time to test his battle-worn back. He looked all imposing over Gasquet. Gasquet would have got the call for his two clay wins over Federer one as recent as the 2011 Rome masters. Wonder how good an opponent Julien Benneteau would have been. He's given Federer some headaches in the past.

[raagadevan]

Congratulations to the Swiss team for winning a a strategically played Davis Cup Finals! The last minute switch in the doubles team and Tsonga's reported injury also helped. Federer reportedly didn't feel he had to "tick against one column that was blank". As tweeted by Barry Flatman of Sunday Times,

Barry Flatman @Barry_FlatmanST

Federer: I've won enough in my career, I didn't need to tick any empty boxes. This was for the boys.

9:12 AM - 23 Nov 2014

[raagadevan]

Roger Federer arrives in India to play in IPTL

Tennis "legend" Roger Federer arrived in the capital to play his first match in Indian soil when he turns up for Indian Aces during the third leg of [Mahesh Bhupathi's] International Premier Tennis League (IPTL).

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/s...w/45401313.cms

[ajithfederer]

This whole ITPL is an unwanted nuisance matter. These guys complain the whole year that they need breaks but right at the year end they are ready to play this. What happens if one sustains injuries in the process?. Not to mention this whole team/franchise model which has corrupted every sport in the planet now has come to Tennis also. Really pathetic.

[VinodKumar's]

I said this when this tournament was announced ...tennis will be ruined ...

[ajaybaskar]

I kinda like it, guys. They are not going to spend time playing more than a set or two a day and injury concerns will be less i believe.

[JamesDap]

One set of tennis really isn't very taxing, especially so in doubles. Believe me, I am a non athlete and I play a set and sometimes two, time permitting, everyday and I haven't got injured at all in the last several months.

And the rules kind of force players to attack and take the net. I'd really like the 20 second timer to be implemented in ATP also. It's not just about serving within a certain point of time. Players will expend less energy on long rallies if they know they won't be given too much time to catch their breath thereafter.

At the moment, tennis is too wealthy and too strong a sport to be really affected by a league at the end of the season. The 'fun' will start when say Fed retires and Djoko and Nadal cross 30, Serena retires, etc. Unless new players become stars and keep interest alive, the official tour will start to struggle. And then, IPTL will actually become competition. At the moment, it's just a fun tournament that brings tennis to non traditional centers. This tournament also shows that people will actually come to watch doubles and enjoy it very much...IF the big singles stars also play in it.