Andy now playing, up 3-0 with 1 break of serve, 1st set.

2-0 up in the second set

I didn't get in in time to see all the first set, but at least with tennistv I can go back and see what I missed.

Apart from the lack of concentration to get broken back near the start of the second set, it was a very comfortable win. The match-up with Raonic will be interesting.

Madeline wrote:

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And it will be first match on tomorrow, 11.30 UK time.

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Just time to watch Andy win before I set off to Barcelona for the semis and final.  Can't wait.

I sometimes wonder what the point of Andy employing a coach is?

Edit: I actually always wonder this.

-- Edited by wolf on Friday 27th of April 2012 12:51:01 PM

steven wrote:

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Madeline wrote:

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That's just what I mean - the ATP include Monte Carlo among the mandatory Masters, and though I know perfectly well it isn't mandatory, I forgot to look further than the 500s and 250s!

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Oh I know, ridiculously 'fan-friendly' isn't it!

No doubt the root cause of all the confusion is that they started out with a relatively simple system, perhaps even simpler than before, but when they made all the tweaks they needed to make for commercial reasons to keep various tournaments 'happy' (e.g. MC a non-mandatory Masters, year-end top 30 having to play at least four 500s including one post-USO, additional rules re zero-pointers and appeals), it suddenly got massively more complicated.

Add in the extra complication of half the tournaments not being in the same week as last year, meaning that the number of mandatory tournaments in the previous 52 weeks keeps going up and down by 1, and you end up with something that is virtually opaque.

If they can't change the commercially-driven stuff, they could at least simplify things a bit by deeming that last year's points for tournaments that move less than, say, 2 weeks in the calendar from year to year come off at the same time as the new points for the same tournament go on.

 

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In my opinion while the number of 500s you must play and when in the year can be a bit complicating I personally don't have any issue at all with how the rankings deal with the mandatories moving by a week ( or even more ), moving back and forward between ( at the moment ) the normal number and one less mandatory counting.

It's not ideal but inevitably going to happen some years given we don't have an exact number of weeks in the year so date starts move and unless you can get every mandatory to move the same way...

My view would be that this aspect is not that much of a hastle and I prefer how they deal with it now ( eg. add in or take out a non mandatory as the number of mandatories change ) rather than have tournaments that are now in different weeks coming off and adding at the same time, which I could see in itself being pretty confusing, being against the general way how tournaments come off and add on.

-- Edited by indiana on Friday 27th of April 2012 09:12:15 PM