Hooray! Murray for the title............again!!!!!

Ricky's predictions:

Semifinal predictions: Murray over Nadal in 3, Djokovic over Federer in 3

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These people are on opposite sides of the draw, how can Murray and Djoko beat Nadal and Federer in the SF?

wow,everyone keeps predicting murray FTW.

@nadline
"These people are on opposite sides of the draw, how can Murray and Djoko beat Nadal and Federer in the SF?"

That is incorrect. Federer and Murray are in a different group to Djokovic and Nadal.Basically,Ricky is predicting murray to top group b,and federer to come second. He predicts Novak to top the group A,and rafa to come 2nd. Hence,the semis are nadal vs murray and federer vs djokovic.(if all of rickys round robin predictions come true)

tj, I see.

so wrong ricky, so wrong
we are headed for a fedal final...

Ricky, I take it that you want to make a point, and think it is an intelligent one: in analysis we have to consider certain facts (what we know), but we can never predict. That is why each tournament surprises us in some way, and that is also why there is room for hope and wishful thinking. That is also when comments starts to change into boo and hurray. It could happen.

I just add one thing. There is plenty room for discussion, though, because one can really dig deep in the presentation of past result. Here, of course, form is crucial. First, we have ranking position. It never lies, and to be in form is to meet the expectations of your ranking, and even to surpass them. Second, we have to considerer player type and head to head statistics: some players have it more difficult/easy with certain players than should be expected from ranking position. Third, we have the form of the player that a certain player has lost to/won over. Fourth, we have the surface. Fifth, we have that thing that can change on daily basis: how they hit the ball, how well they move. I find the complexity of form to lie somewhere between what we know and what we wish, and it make room for a lot of animated discussion.

Ferrer can take a set off Federer, remember Ferrer was beaten by Fed in 3 sets at Cincy 09, fast outdoor hard courts, while both Nole and Murray were soundly beaten by Fed in straight sets. Ferrer also had taken a set off Fed in Madrid this year on clay. Ferrer's style of play, like Monfils, Simon and Murray, can trouble Fed; what he lacks that the other three have is self belief. So I believe Fed will have to beat Ferrer in 3.

I think Fed. Murray and Rafa, Nole will reach the semi, looking forward to Rafa/Murray or Rafa/Nole final with Rafa winning his first WTF title.

I dont think Nole will reach the semis.
His mind looks like is more on the Davis cup, so I think he will be looking to conserve some energy

Rafa and Roddick will reach the semis. Roddick will get beaten by Fed for the 1000th time in the SF's. Murray may or may not beat Rafa - tough one to call

Final will be Fed vs rafa/Murray.
Regardless of who Fed meets, he will get beaten in 3 sets.

Bottom Line: Either Rafa or Murray will win the title.

söderling over djokovic in the final, they are the best players right now.

Federer did not lock up the No.1 ranking in 2009. I think there was a mathematical chance of Rafa getting to No.1 in 2009 before the WTF started.

You are right atul about the 2009 no.1 ranking. Rafa, despite his knee injury, was still second in the rankings come the WTF last year, he was having 9205 points I think. Fed's was leading by a slim margin, I think his points was 10,165 and technically speaking Rafa would still have a chance to overtake Fed had Rafa won the title without dropping a set and if Fed only managed to win two RR matches. We know how things turned out in the end.

This is putting it in a nutshell:

Yannick Noah: "Nadal is in great shape. When this kid is healthy he's unbeatable because mentally he's so strong. It's amazing to watch. Would I say the same for the Australian Open? I would say the same forever - anywhere."


Rafa, the ultimate tennis player

Rafa has become wiser in saving himself for the big events and like in the US Open he has announced that he is "highly motivated" to win. I think he is eager to prove that his dismal show last year was not the norm for him, so he will most probably win. He most definitely will be in the final. His opponent? Murray.

Rafa set his sights on the US Open after the French.
He openly said that after winning French....and look how incredibly he performed at the US open

After winning USO, he again said that his next goal was to win the WTF. That sounds scary...given Rafa's past history of achieving what he sets out to do, I think he could well end up winning the WTF.

Correction atul: I think he said his goal was to 'do well' at the WTF. I have never known Rafa spell out that he wants to 'win' - his usual phrase is 'play my best tennis'. Of course everybody knows that means he has set his sights on winning, lol. Either way he will be determined to expunge the memory of the 0-3 last year. But there are seven other men equally determined to 'do well' who stand in his way! However, as you say, Rafa playing his best tennis is a scary prospect for them.

@ed - I would interpret "doing well" as wanting to win it.We are taking about Rafa (No.1) not some top 50 player...:-)
But completely agree that this will be very difficicult for Rafa to win...coz of the topquality players and the surface.BUT hey,,,we said the same about US Open didnt we??

atul1985 I'm sorry you got the impression I was correcting you. It was a little joke on my part drawing attention to the fact that he never talks up his chances: unlike one of the other players who has stated he thinks he has a good chance of winning.

The understated 'my goal is to do well' is, of course, 'Rafa-speak' for 'I plan to win this if it's humanly possible' !!!

ah get ur point ed, no worries

Sod loses to Murray in 2 - 6.2 6.4

Rafa makes a speech at Carlos Moya's presentation at the O2 - in spanish. When Rafa speaks spanish, he goes at the rate of notts, and there was no interpreter, but he says he finds it hard to speak about Moya in English.

Rafa wins his first match against Roddick and things are on course for him, with another demon vanquished. Vamos!

I hope Dahveed wins this one against Sod so that he gets on the board at least!

Well it was close stu, but Ferrer played way too loose at the end. I would have liked a tie break.

What's the prediction for Berdych/Roddick, surely it must be Berdych over Roddick seeing that Roddick lost Rafa who stands no chance over Djokovic who beat Berdych, so Roddick can't be any good can he, if he can lose to Rafa. A least Berdych lost to Djokovic.

If Roddick executes at least 60% of what he displayed against Rafa he will beat Berdy in straights...

Watching Berdy against Nole I thought he was looking a bit lost and out of his depth: not so today!!

Roddick is sluggish today.

Taking a set off Rafa must have taken the stuffing out of Roddick.

so true, nadline...Rod obviously gave away to much of himself in that match with Rafa...I don't like him losing today, I was hoping for his victory over Berdy...this way Berdy has chances and will fight so hard in the last match vs. Rafa...:(

Berdych beats Roddick - 7.5 6.3

It's amazing how players can be on fire one day and down in the dumps the next.

Pleased for Berdych: sorry for Roddick - he was not a happy bunny today.

I agree with natashao. We have seen this quite often, where a player has to kill himself to stay with Rafa and then has nothing left. I think that match took it all out of Roddick. I have never heard him grunting as loud and as often as he did in the latter stages of that match as he tried to return Rafa's pounding groundstrokes. That's what Rafa does to you, wears you down.

On paper I would have thought this would be an easy win for Roddick. I didn't see the match, but since Berdych has shown nothing for months now, I have to believe that Roddick was all used up.

Do you think Rafa will let someone to win the title he wants so badly?
Noooo!!! He will definetly not.
So, our Rafa to the very end.

From the ATP website:

Group B singles qualification scenarios after the completion of two rounds of the Round-Robin:

Regardless of score:
Federer defeats Soderling + Murray defeats Ferrer - then Federer Wins Group and Murray Qualifies 2nd.

Soderling defeats Federer + Ferrer defeats Murray - then Soderling qualifies as Group Winner and Federer qualifies 2nd.

OR

Scenarios below apply:

Soderling defeats Federer in 2 Sets + Murray defeats Ferrer in 2 sets - then Ferrer eliminated. Order of remaining players determined by % of Games won.

Soderling defeats Federer in 2 Sets + Murray defeats Ferrer in 3 sets - then Soderling qualifies as Group Winner and Federer Qualifies 2nd.

Soderling defeats Federer in 3 Sets + Murray defeats Ferrer in 2 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner and Murray Qualifies 2nd.

Soderling defeats Federer in 3 Sets + Murray defeats Ferrer in 3 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner based on % of Sets Won and Murray Qualifies 2nd.

Federer defeats Soderling in 2 sets + Ferrer defeats Murray in 2 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner; Ferrer, Murray, Soderling tied with a 1-2 record and 2-4 in Sets. Final Spot determined by % of Games Won.

Federer defeats Soderling in 2 sets + Ferrer defeats Murray in 3 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner and Murray qualifies 2nd.

Federer defeats Soderling in 3 sets + Ferrer defeats Murray in 2 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner and Soderling qualifies 2nd.

Federer defeats Soderling in 3 sets + Ferrer defeats Murray in 3 sets - then Federer qualifies as Group Winner and Murray qualifies 2nd.


FRIDAY SEMI-FINAL QUALIFYING SCENARIOS

Group A singles qualification scenarios after the completion of two rounds of the Round-Robin:

Berdych defeats Nadal in 2 sets and Djokovic defeats Roddick in 2 sets = Djokovic Wins Group and Berdych Qualifies 2nd.
Berdych defeats Nadal in 2 sets and Djokovic defeats Roddick in 3 sets = Berdych Wins Group and Nadal Qualifies 2nd.
Berdych defeats Nadal in 3 sets and Djokovic defeats Roddick in 2 sets = Djokovic Wins Group and Nadal Qualifies 2nd.
Berdych defeats Nadal in 3 sets and Djokovic defeats Roddick in 3 sets = Nadal Wins Group and Djokovic Qualifies 2nd.

Roddick defeats Djokovic in 2 sets and Nadal defeats Berdych in 2 sets = Nadal Wins Group and Roddick Qualifies 2nd.
Roddick defeats Djokovic in 2 sets and Nadal defeats Berdych in 3 sets = Nadal Wins Group and Berdych Qualifies 2nd.
Roddick defeats Djokovic in 3 sets and Nadal defeats Berdych in 2 sets = Nadal Wins Group and Djokovic Qualifies 2nd.
Roddick defeats Djokovic in 3 sets and Nadal defeats Berdych in 3 sets = Nadal Wins Group and Djokovic Qualifies 2nd.

Nadline: I swear you have built a spread sheet to compute all this but you still haven't told us who is going to win the bloody thing. Incidentally what has happened to our resident psychic?

ed, I'm flattered that you think I did the spreadsheet, but as pointed out, it came straight from the ATP website.

I think Djoko will beat Roddick, I never forecast Rafa's results unless I'm forced to disagree with people who forecast against him. You never know, I might just be made to do so soon.