http://www.theworldoftennis.com/
July 23, 2007
Is Roger Surrendering No. 1?
I got to catch a little tennis Sunday morning, just enough to see world No. 2 Rafael Nadal pick up yet another title on clay, this time at the expense of Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka.
The match of course got me to thinking of Swiss (and world) No. 1 Roger Federer, who is apparently resting and/or training after capturing his fifth straight Wimbledon title and readying himself for the hard court season. I also checked out Federer's Web site and noticed something rather startling: For the rest of the season, Roger is planning on playing just two tournaments (Tokyo and Basel) that are not either Masters Series or Grand Slam events. Unless he makes some last-minute changes to his schedule, that means that for the year he will have played a grand total of just three minor tournaments, out of five "other countable tournaments" that he could count toward his ranking.
Meanwhile, his archrival, Nadal, has already played six of these minor tournaments as well as also - like Federer - having played all the major tournaments. Considering that Rafa at this very moment enjoys a sizeable 135 point lead over Federer in the Champions Race, it does beg the question: Is Roger surrendering his No. 1 ranking? Surely he can't be counting on the other players to knock Nadal out of the hard-court events early like they did last year? Because it would be absolutely shocking to me if we don't at the very least see Nadal in the final of one and probably two of the big U.S. summer hard court events. And if Rafa wins one Masters Series and loses in the final of the U.S. Open to Federer, it's certainly possible that Rafa could finish No. 1 even with Roger winning three Grand Slams. Of course, at this point, if Nadal wins the U.S. Open, the No. 1 ranking is going to be changing hands for sure.