2013 Race to #1

Rafa missing AO to do some protectings of his h2h against me means he will not do any becomings of #1 this year. You're welcome.

Although I'm honoured that the great one himself posted in MY thread, I can't help but wonder why the powers that be would ban him!
 

Cosmic_Colin

Professional
I expect him to defend his clay points but, sure, that's not what could give him top ranking back. That's why I said Wimbledon is gonna be crucial.

I'd go as far as to say he needs Wimbledon, US Open + at least two hard court masters (or WTF) to retake #1 this year. Djokovic is only defending SF and F in the two slams mentioned yet he has a huge stack of points.
 

Vrad

Professional
Good post by the OP. Looking at how many points Novak racked up at the end of last year, points which will stay with him for most of this year, it will be very hard for anyone to cross him in the first half of the year. Besides wins, his opponents need him to potentially lose early at RG or Wimby.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
I'd go as far as to say he needs Wimbledon, US Open + at least two hard court masters (or WTF) to retake #1 this year. Djokovic is only defending SF and F in the two slams mentioned yet he has a huge stack of points.

He doesn't need BOTH Wimbledon and USO, he needs 1 of the 2. Djoko has 1 slam . If Rafa won RG + another slam (+ a couple masters on clay), he would be in a good position to get back to the top 2 at least.
 

Cosmic_Colin

Professional
He doesn't need BOTH Wimbledon and USO, he needs 1 of the 2. Djoko has 1 slam . If Rafa won RG + another slam (+ a couple masters on clay), he would be in a good position to get back to the top 2 at least.

I'm talking about #1 here. Djokovic has over 12k points and Nadal has less than 7k, and that's only if he wins everything up to the french that he won last year.

Maybe 2 masters is a bit overboard as he will pick up points for finals, semis etc. for the rest of the year. But I really think that to retake #1 this year he needs both slams plus after the french, or lots of masters....

...or for Djokovic to do badly.
 

Joseph L. Barrow

Professional
I'm talking about #1 here. Djokovic has over 12k points and Nadal has less than 7k, and that's only if he wins everything up to the french that he won last year.

Maybe 2 masters is a bit overboard as he will pick up points for finals, semis etc. for the rest of the year. But I really think that to retake #1 this year he needs both slams plus after the french, or lots of masters....

...or for Djokovic to do badly.
We're talking about the race-- the accumulation of points that begins with the start of a calendar year and goes toward determining a player's year-end ranking-- and not the current point totals; those are irrelevant to the year-end ranking, except for the ones that have been earned this year. In the ATP race, Djokovic has 2040 points (2000 for the Austrailan Open plus 40 for Davis Cup) to Nadal's 150 (250 if he wins the Vina Del Mar final).
 
We're talking about the race-- the accumulation of points that begins with the start of a calendar year and goes toward determining a player's year-end ranking-- and not the current point totals; those are irrelevant to the year-end ranking, except for the ones that have been earned this year. In the ATP race, Djokovic has 2040 points (2000 for the Austrailan Open plus 40 for Davis Cup) to Nadal's 150 (250 if he wins the Vina Del Mar final).

And historically, Djokovic has outperformed Nadal in the second half of the season. All my friend above is saying is that Nadal will have to do far better then Novak at the end of the season in order to become #1.

Whether or not he has to win all 3 of the remaining majors? I think if he wins 2 and reaches the semis of 1 he'll be good, but beating Novak in the RG QF will go a long way to help him! :)
 

Cosmic_Colin

Professional
We're talking about the race-- the accumulation of points that begins with the start of a calendar year and goes toward determining a player's year-end ranking-- and not the current point totals; those are irrelevant to the year-end ranking, except for the ones that have been earned this year. In the ATP race, Djokovic has 2040 points (2000 for the Austrailan Open plus 40 for Davis Cup) to Nadal's 150 (250 if he wins the Vina Del Mar final).

I'm aware of that, but was responding to the idea that Nadal would retake the #1 ranking after Wimbledon or the USO.
 
What do you guys think about Rafa's return so far? Where do you think Grigor Dimitrov is gonna go? Do you think Fed will have more losses like the one today, or do you think he'll take it as a wake up call?

Discuss :)
 

Ico

Hall of Fame
Federer and Nadal seem to be on a similar trajectory downward. It's a new era for tennis, one I can't put myself through.
 

Onehandedbackhand

Professional
Nope...

We'll pretty much see the same people win the slams...at least one more year.

I don't use a 500 or 250 tourney as Federer's or Nadal's downturns.
 
So, Roger lost a lot of ground on Novak after Rotterdam and Dubai.

-Novak leads by 3754 in the rankings now, and he's leading the race (It's too early in the season for it to be relevant, but still)

-Roger is in danger of losing the #2 ranking @ Indian Wells, and a good result here would go a long way to helping out later. I know there's the theory that he doesn't want to play Miami because it's an IMG event, but after poor showings at Rotterdam and Dubai I think he might want to play.

-Murray is in a great spot for IW, as he is defending basically nothing. He could easily be #2 after IW, which is what happens when you win a major, reach the finals of 2 others, and win the olympics

-Rafa is making a good comeback so far, the highlight IMO his win over Nico Almagro. He's a tough clay-courter that Rafa handled like the usual Rafa. His final against Ferru could be a good indicator of how the clay season will go.

-IW and Miami should be fun, with a lot going on!

Any thoughts from team TTW?
 

mattennis

Hall of Fame
By the way, next week will be week nº 71 (in total) of Djokovic at nº1 in the ATP rankings.

In the following weeks and months he will surpass Edberg ( 72 weeks ) and Hewitt ( 80 weeks ).

If he stays at nº1 till around September, he will surpass Agassi ( 101 weeks ) and Nadal ( 102 weeks ) also, and if he stays nº1 for the whole 2013, he will also surpass Borg ( 109 weeks ).

After that, McEnroe ( 170 weeks ), Connors ( 268 weeks ), Lendl ( 270 weeks ), Sampras ( 286 weeks ) and Federer ( 302 weeks ) are all too far away for the moment.
 
By the way, next week will be week nº 71 (in total) of Djokovic at nº1 in the ATP rankings.

In the following weeks and months he will surpass Edberg ( 72 weeks ) and Hewitt ( 80 weeks ).

If he stays at nº1 till around September, he will surpass Agassi ( 101 weeks ) and Nadal ( 102 weeks ) also, and if he stays nº1 for the whole 2013, he will also surpass Borg ( 109 weeks ).

After that, McEnroe ( 170 weeks ), Connors ( 268 weeks ), Lendl ( 270 weeks ), Sampras ( 286 weeks ) and Federer ( 302 weeks ) are all too far away for the moment.

Good for Nole! He keeps making his mark on the record books!

I'm not sure if he'll have #1 in September though, I think it depends on Murray and Nadal, as Nole might lose in the semis more often with 4 big guns instead of 3.
 

Relinquis

Hall of Fame
i think novak is in a good place in terms of his ranking and ending the year no.1. This is his best chance to rack up the weeks at no.1.

murray not playing enough to really make a challenge to Nole.
 

Ico

Hall of Fame
Nadal, skipping the first slam of the year, is already at Number 2 in the ATP Race. And now it's time for the clay season. Watch out, everybody else.

Meanwhile, Federer is 7th and not playing until May.
 

clayman2000

Hall of Fame
^^
When healthy, Nadal is the no 2 player in the world. IMO when he passes Murray and Federer after Wimbledon it should come as a shock to no one
 

Mike Sams

G.O.A.T.
^^
When healthy, Nadal is the no 2 player in the world. IMO when he passes Murray and Federer after Wimbledon it should come as a shock to no one

Don't discount Murray and Federer. If Nadal has to play these guys back to back on grass or play Djokovic, Del Potro, Murray in consecutive matches anywhere, it could be major trouble.
Del Potro is the dangerous floater here.
 

veroniquem

Bionic Poster
That's what I think too :) (although to be fair, it could be closer to 2000 after Miami but I'm pretty sure he can make that up by the end of W anyway)
 
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xan

Hall of Fame
even Sutil was leading race at some point yesterday, but everyone knew he wouldn't win regardless.
 
So here we are, after Monte Carlo, and it's already looking like a Djoko kind of year.

Novak leads the pack with 4120 points
Murray is #2 with 2720
Rafa is a close third with 2500
And Roger is in 9th (haha) with 1170

I can see Roger being back in to the top 4 in the race by the end of RG, but he's got to get some good results going, and a title would help.

If Novak can keep up his clay form from MC, we could see a dominant clay season for the man, and a HUGE lead in the race.

If Rafa loses more finals and doesn't perform well at Madrid, we could see him be in trouble to get back to the top 4.

Murray needs some good clay results to prevent a Djokovic-Demolition.

What do you guys see happening in the clay season?
 

Goosehead

Legend
djokovic looks like staying world no1 for the rest of the year..

nadal is marooned as world no5 rank till after Wimbledon at least..the rest ?..meh.
 

tennis_pro

Bionic Poster
Nadal is now #2, 1000 points away from Djoko. Murray #4 and Delpo graduated to #5. Fed dropped to #7. Ouch.

Rafa can make up those 1000 points in the clay season. Rafa will be #1 by Roland Garros!

Djokovic has other plans.

NovakDjokovicHead-600x450.jpg

187133-topshots-tennis-fra-open-roland-garros.jpg
 
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N

NadalAgassi

Guest
Barring a catastrophe Djokovic will end the year #1. That was already evident a month or two ago. Year end #2 will probably come down to Murray and Nadal. Will be interesting to see if Federer can even end the year at #4 or if he will be lower than that. Also will be interesting to see if Ferrer drops out of the top 5.
 

mattennis

Hall of Fame
Tomorrow starts week nº 81 of Djokovic at nº1. He surpasses Hewitt's score of 80 (total) weeks at nº1. Next one to be matched would be Agassi with 101 total weeks and Nadal with 102 total weeks. The ones still ahead of Djokovic in this stat:

Federer: 302
Sampras: 286
Lendl: 270
Connors: 268
McEnroe: 170
Borg: 109
Nadal: 102
Agassi: 101
Djokovic: 80
Hewitt: 80


It is interesting because in the 2013 Race, Djokovic and Nadal are almost even ( Djokovic 4140, Nadal 4010 ) and it is possible they both (along with Murray) will fight to finish 2013 season as nº1, and Djokovic will almost sure stay at nº1 till Autumn, nearing Agassi's and Nadal's total weeks by then.

It is possible that, just when Djokovic will be about to surpass Nadal's 102 total weeks (by the end of year) Nadal may be fighting to take the nº1 from Djokovic.

We will see.
 
Well, Fed is in big trouble! He's got to get his sh*t together if he's going to end the year #2 or #3, his shot at #1 is all but over until next year.

Rafa has pulled really close to Novak out of seemingly nowhere, if he keeps it up after the clay season maybe we'll have a 3 horse race to the finish (Rafa vs. Novak vs. Andy).

2013 has been an interesting year so far, let's hope that continues!
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
Well, Fed is in big trouble! He's got to get his sh*t together if he's going to end the year #2 or #3, his shot at #1 is all but over until next year.

Rafa has pulled really close to Novak out of seemingly nowhere, if he keeps it up after the clay season maybe we'll have a 3 horse race to the finish (Rafa vs. Novak vs. Andy).

2013 has been an interesting year so far, let's hope that continues!

Lets be real here. Federer will never be #1 again. Not only does he no longer have the ability to get there, but I doubt he would even try to get there anymore. It is quite possible once he drops to number 4 or lower (sometime this summer at the latest) he might never be ranked in the top 3 ever again as well.
 

Joseph L. Barrow

Professional
Barring a catastrophe Djokovic will end the year #1. That was already evident a month or two ago. Year end #2 will probably come down to Murray and Nadal. Will be interesting to see if Federer can even end the year at #4 or if he will be lower than that. Also will be interesting to see if Ferrer drops out of the top 5.
How so? Djokovic is only 130 points ahead of Nadal in the race with more than half the season to go. It is very plausible that Nadal will win Rome and the French Open, in which case he will be well ahead of Djokovic in the race midway through. Nadal has a better history at Wimbledon than Djokovic does; it would not be bizarre if he did better this year. The US hardcourt swing and year-end indoor events are typically more Djokovic's forte than Nadal's, but we would only need a slight dip in results from Djokovic or slight improvement (over the usual) from Nadal in order for him to end the year ahead of Djokovic in this scenario. There doesn't need to be any "catastrophe."
 
N

NadalAgassi

Guest
How so? Djokovic is only 130 points ahead of Nadal in the race with more than half the season to go.

I guess anything is possible but even if Nadal wins Rome, the French, and Wimbledon (a big ask obviously, although feasible) he probably would not do well enough in the remaining part of the year, especialy post U.S Open to finish ahead of Djokovic. Who knows though.
 
Lets be real here. Federer will never be #1 again. Not only does he no longer have the ability to get there, but I doubt he would even try to get there anymore. It is quite possible once he drops to number 4 or lower (sometime this summer at the latest) he might never be ranked in the top 3 ever again as well.

I was just mentioning that he has all but no chance this year- even if he cleans up the rest of the year.

He can still win the big events, he's just in a little slump. I wouldn't be writing his obituary yet ;)
 
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