ILE rolling non-slam Tennis thread

Seeing as this is supposed to be the Ryder Cup of tennis, perhaps some Ol' Team Spirit will enable World to prevail, seeing as Europe kept beating USA in the golf with ostensibly inferior players. Strokeplay is not like matchplay, mind, whereas this is still regular tennis scoring.

Weird format though. Matches are worth progressively more over the three days. Europe could win the first eight rubbers, but lose Sunday's four, and it would go to a doubles single-set play-off.

I'm admittedly excited to see if Federer and Nadal will play doubles, which is the first time I've been excited about anything to do with Fedal in years.

This Nadal/Berdych doubles pairing will be interesting, pretty sure they used to hate each other.

Anyone else watching this? Loving the team reactions tbh, a bit like watching Davis Cup but with players you don't normally expect to interact with each other.

I'm admittedly excited to see if Federer and Nadal will play doubles, which is the first time I've been excited about anything to do with Fedal in years.

I take this back btw, all the Fedal shipping posts/gifs on tennis Twitter are getting on my nerves.

its reasonably fun..world really needs this pt as w/e singles matchup they structure tmorrow arent v favorable

berdych is p decent @ the net

this is what it looks like when a mortal swiss player (chiudinelli) fights off retirement

Fed withdraws from Paris, which was always on the cards, but it means the race for #1 is essentially over. Unless Rafa gets a season-ending injury in round one.

Bit of a shame, as, with the return of Djokovic, Murray, Wawrinka and Nishikori next year (plus the likely Slam-level breakthrough of Zverev et al), I can't see Fed defending all those early-2017 points. So this was likely his last shot at #1. But I think I said that in 2012. He could potentially end the year with just four defeats, eight titles and a six-win streak over Nadal and still be only #2. Can't quite recall how the old pre-1990 rankings used to work (specifically the minimum tournament divisor), but I'm pretty sure he'd have #1 in that system.

I've come round to the idea that year-end #1 for Nadal at 31 is the greater achievement anyway (I'm sure you are all relieved, it's been a journey). He's played the full mandatory schedule, risking injury and fatigue, not just cherry-picking like Fed. Fed's only regret at this point is probably not that he skipped the clay-court season but that he played slightly *too much*. Pulling out of the Montreal final (or Montreal altogether) and he might have made the final at Flushing Meadow. I wonder if he'll refine this into his 40s, so he basically just sits out 48 weeks, takes wildcards at Halle, Wimbledon and Basel, and wins them all.

https://deadspin.com/look-at-god-1819922487

^was watching that live

krajinovic is doing his best novak impersonation, into the qtrs of paris

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tennis/2017/11/03/rafael-nadal-pulls-paris-masters-could-miss-atp-world-tour-finals/

isner is tough indoors

semi of isner v kraj ~

star power esp w rafa now withdrawn is really lacking, everyones gonna be pulling for benneteau

benneteau !

RIP Jana Novotna

monfils is insane

mo v de minotaur is fun

sebastian kordas 1st tour match... looks great tbh

must take after his mother then (boom tish)

fed's path to #1 is Bemelmans > kohlschrieber > stan (probably)

actually n/m ~ he only has to *get to* the semis match vs stan

nnng scratch that, was right the first time!!

Funny that he's decided to play here - think the first footage I ever saw of Federer was his QF vs Kafelnikov in Rotterdam in '99. On...TransWorldSport or something, C4 Sunday morning? Ah, Kafelnikov - now there's a guy who wouldn't let 32 defeats in a year, six of them in a row, stand between him and the #1 ranking. He would scoff at this cherry-picking approach to schedule. Play all of the tournaments, two at a time if possible.

lol & a clearly not 100% back yet stan goes out to tallon griekspoor 1st rd btw; a def theme of roger's re-ascendancy is draws being p accommodating/fortuitous

kevin anderson 6-1 1st set over nishikori in 21 minutes, only dropped 4 pts on serve o_o

Poor Goffin - match vs Dimitrov was warming up to the level of their O2 final, when an attempted volley ricocheted off his frame full into his eye. Couldn't continue.

Love that Fed's #1 again but, aside from lucky draws, I do feel like he's been treated like #1 ever since he came back. Never gets messed around by schedulers, gets to play most outdoor matches under lights where there's an evening session (no struggles in 41C Melbourne heat for Roger), etc. He's played all four matches in Rotterdam *at exactly the same time*. Who gets to do that?

I assume he's skipping Dubai now; if he beats Dimi tomorrow I don't think Rafa can overhaul him by winning Acapulco while Fed is idle. (No idea if/when Rafa is playing again; Djokovic returning for Miami/Indian Wells, I'm guessing?)

yea goffin seems a lil snakebit

nishi always comes back in these matches

fed goat

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DW7itMLXUAEwoKM?format=jpg&name=large

@josemorgado
3h3 hours ago

OUT of Indian Wells

#2 Nadal (also OUT of Miami)
#7 Goffin
#12 Wawrinka (also OUT of Miami)
#21 Murray (also OUT of Miami)
#36 Tsonga
#37 Gasquet

kvitova 18 double faults, advances

1st main draw win for auger-aliassime, next plays raonic

First set tie-break between Marterer and Karlovic a couple of nights ago: first 27 points went with serve. I’m guessing it ended on a DF.

Was thinking that all these wildcards that Tiafoe seems to get wasn’t really doing him any good - needed a solid run of Challenger-level wins - but then he went and won Delray Beach ATP250 from a ranking of 91. And now first round defeat here, so reversion to the mean.

serenas def not completely herself yet but also still looks damn good, considering

vs venus next rd, shd be a great match

novak struuuggling v taro daniel, who i like but has no real weapons

& now not running for balls, rip

this fed/delbo set is p hi level

Wait, when did Nishikori pull out? Bemelmans suddenly dropped into the L64 draw as a lucky loser (and the qualies finished on...Wednesday?), and then lost to Mayer anyway.

Djokovic - 61 UEs? Ugh.

yea kei pulled out like ~6 hrs ago, illness

id guess djoko wont play miami now, hes just not match ready at all yet imo

caroline dolehide 6-1 over halep set 1 o_o

fascinating match, lest of all cuz dolehide has the uh ample chest that halep once did before the surgery

corics results thus far are eye-opening

6-0/6-2 // 6-0/6-3 // 6-1/6-3

Finally Coric comes up short in a bit of epic vs Fed. A set and 4-2 up, and later twice a break up in the decider. But Roger chugs on, 17-0 for the year. Look forward to highlights of that.

I've been wondering after which round I should state the bleedin' obvious about Kasatkina being The Real Deal, and now it's too late, cos it's too Real. But so is Osaka and I think she'll win.

so osaka has arrived

It's getting to the point now where Paire can beat Novak in straights and no one even notices. Kokkinakis though! So Rafa gets to be #1 through the spring until such time as he loses a match or pulls out of an event. Only 4680pts to defend, no pressure. Fed not bothering with clay again. Meh.

wow @ danielle collins