Obviously you're right about how Andy's career will be looked back on and I doubt that wanting to be no. 3 is what drives Andy to win matches, but as a stepping stone on the way to being no. 1, moving into the top three must be at least a bit significant, especially when it's something that nobody from your country has ever managed before ... and whether or not it matters to a particular player, isn't a bit of speculation like this part of the fun of being a fan?
> Take what Fed-ex said last year when Djokovic was on the verge of getting to #2, he said to him if he is not #1 it doesn't matter to him if he is ranked 2, 3, 4, 5 or wherever.
I'm sure that once you have been no. 1, it's true that all the other positions seem as 'bad' as each other, but to most players on their way up (who don't know if they'll ever be no. 1), I'd have thought making the top 100, top 50, top 10, top 5, top 3 are all significant milestones, even if they are just numbers.
Anyway, for those who do like following this and the outlook for the top four at the end of 2009, the 'race for the top three' (and 2 and 1!) graph (reproduced below) and table have been extended to cover the rest of 2009 at http://www.britishtennis.net/top4a.htm?n=1 (for future reference, this new page is linked from the stats page through the original table)
N.B. The final (7 Dec 2009) value shown for each player is automatically equal to the number of points added in 2009 up to the date the graph was last updated, except for any points that it is already certain will not be countable at the end of the year, e.g. if a player has points from more than four '500' events or more than two 'other' events played in 2009.
-- Edited by steven on Friday 17th of April 2009 08:55:04 AM
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I'm not sure there is much significance of being number 3 or 4, but surely there is a big difference between those places and being ranked 2. It impacts where you are in the draw. If Murray were ranked second during the clay court season he wouldn't have to meet Nadal until the finals, so he stands a better chance of picking up more points and getting closer to being number 1.
Not playing Nadal is obviously an advantage, but I would think that Murray would be doing much better than expected if he made it to the semi final anyway.
Who do you think the number 2 player on clay is? There dont seem to be any stand out players in Mote Carlo!
On clay, I'd say Federer or Djokovic are the 2nd best players - their results on the surface don't lie, but given Federer's recent form, then it's probably Djokovic even though he doesn't seem 100% suited to it.
I'm sure Steven could tell us who's the second best clay court player. It does seem like a surface that produces some very odd results. High ranking players sometimes seem to drop out early and players ranked much lower suddenly do well. So it's easy to see why they say some players are clay court specialist.
I thought the same, but it was interesting to see that Verdasco started as a slight favourite against Djokovic. Although perhaps that was more based on his Davis Cup performances than on the actual form of Djokovic.
It's great to see qualifiers getting so far in the draw though, Beck has had a lovely draw (as well as playing v well)
I've never seen Andreas Beck play, so will be good to watch. He's done well to get this far. Djokovic is playing annoyingly well today just when Murray is nipping at his heels in the rankings. But there is still a chance for Murray to progress as Davydenko is likely to be feeling a bit knackerd after such a tough match.
GavinUK wrote:I'm sure Steven could tell us who's the second best clay court player. It does seem like a surface that produces some very odd results. High ranking players sometimes seem to drop out early and players ranked much lower suddenly do well. So it's easy to see why they say some players are clay court specialist.
If we're just talking points scored on clay in the last 12 months (not including this week), the top 14 (those with over 1000 clay points) are:
4610 Rafa 3400 Fed 2800 Nole 1860 Robredo 1840 Davydenko 1835 Almagro (83% of his total points) 1830 Ferrer 1510 Monfils 1350 Wawrinka 1299 Montanes (84% of his total points) 1250 Gonzo 1210 Verdasco 1110 Potty 1108 Vass-Arg. (89% of his total points - pray that a GB WC draws him in R1 at Wimby! ) edit: he actually beat Minar in 5 sets at last year's Wimby LOL
Robredo through to Ferrer in 4th to 7th are almost level with each other.
Muzza was way down at no. 67, but that will improve a fair bit after this week.
-- Edited by steven on Friday 17th of April 2009 12:06:13 PM
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GB on a shirt, Davis Cup still gleaming, 79 years of hurt, never stopped us dreaming ... 29/11/2015 that dream came true!
the amount of info Steven has at his finger tips. all i can say is that man must have big fingers.
well in fact he does, i have met Steven in the really real world and his hands are like those giant foam hands, except all the fingers are like it not just one
(don't even ask about the size of his keyboard)
-- Edited by Count Zero on Friday 17th of April 2009 12:49:08 PM
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Count Zero - Creator of the Statistical Tennis Extrapolation & Verification ENtity or, as we like to call him, that steven.
Nole breaks, although there was an element of verdasco wasting some of those points as well.
Nole is playing pretty well, especially on serve. Verdasco is playing some silly shots including some Murray type drop shots from well behind the base line.