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Iga Swiatek Now The No. 2 Player In The World After Indian Wells Triumph

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Iga Swiatek of Warsaw, Poland jumped to the second place of the WTA Tour rankings after defeating Greek Maria Sakkari 6-4, 6-1 in the BNP Paribas Open final in Indian Wells.

“I did not expect to be in this place. This is something crazy. I didn’t think I could play on this level from tournament to tournament,” said Swiatek. “Every game with Maria Sakkari is amazing, I would like to thank you very much. Hopefully we will face each other in the finals for the next 10 years.”

The Pole started nervously going down 0-2 quickly. The first set was very tight but it was the 20-year-old who rebounded to win it 6-4.

Both players had to cope with very demanding conditions and strong wind in the second set while Swiatek turned the pace after a bad start and took control on the court. The 2020 French Open champion broke Sakkari twice to end her hopes to turn the game into her favor, winning 6-1 to seal her fifth WTA title.

“Right now, it’s too surreal to describe it, honestly. But of course I want to go higher because I feel like taking first place is getting closer and closer,” said Swiatek.

Swiatek extended her winning streak to 11 matches and improved her WTA Tour record this season to 20-3.

“Especially winning after playing so well in Doha is giving me a lot of confidence and kind of belief that I can do it, because I wouldn’t think of myself as someone who’s ready to play two tournaments in a row and win it,” she added.

Iga Swiatek
Iga Swiatek

Indian Wells will be livestreamed in full on The Tennis Channel

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Tennis Channel and its affiliated platforms will be the only places to watch the prestigious BNP Paribas Open – known as one of the sport’s “Fifth Slams” – when it returns to Indian Wells, Calif., October 6-17, after a two-and-a-half-year hiatus due to the worldwide pandemic. This will mark the first time in the network’s 18-year history that it will be home to the entire event, from first ball to last. While Tennis Channel has held the lion’s share of live coverage for many years, in 2021 it will add championship weekend and all matches to its lineup.


The milestone comes with the BNP Paribas Open’s return to the tennis calendar after missing its usual place in March the past two years. On the eve of the 2020 tournament, with COVID-19 cases rapidly expanding in the United States, the cancellation of the event for the first time in its history was the first in a domino effect that saw the unprecedented shutdown of amateur and professional sports activity across the country within days for health and safety purposes. Though not being held in the springtime this year, the 2021 BNP Paribas Open in October is, for some, a long-awaited restoration of that original American sports-landscape loss and a much-needed balm.


From Opening Day Wednesday, Oct. 6, to Championship Sunday, Oct. 17, Tennis Channel will be the round-the-clock home of the BNP Paribas Open, with live 12-hour blocks most days followed by all-night encore replays. In all, the network plans 120 live hours of coverage on air, with another 145 hours of encores for close to 170 hours overall from the Indian Wells Tennis Garden. Streaming service Tennis Channel Plus will offer live men’s and women’s competition daily and on-demand matches throughout the event, including the opportunity for subscribers to choose from multiple courts each day.


Live coverage begins Wednesday, Oct. 6, at 1 p.m. ET, and will run through approximately 1 a.m. ET (complete schedule below). Encores will air from 1 a.m. ET to 1 p.m. ET. The schedule will be similar throughout the event, with telecasts starting every day at 1 p.m. ET other than Championship Sunday, Oct. 17, when the women’s singles final begins at 4 p.m. ET and the men’s singles final takes place at 7 p.m. ET.


Tennis Channel Live at the BNP Paribas Open will introduce each day’s coverage at 1 p.m. ET daily except for Championship Sunday, Oct. 17, when it will take place between the women’s and men’s singles finals. Hosted by announcer Steve Weissman (@steve_weissman), the hour-long show will feature commentary, opinion and special reports from on-air team members, along with interviews and guest appearances. The network’s on-site studio is based inside the tournament’s main court, Stadium 1, with a wide, glass backdrop overlooking the spectator viewing section on the lawn below.


Parent-company Sinclair Broadcast Group’s Bally Sports regional networks (RSNs) will also provide live coverage seven of the BNP Paribas Open’s 12 days, making more of the tournament available on television than ever before. Starting at 2 p.m. ET daily, from Thursday, Oct. 7, to Wednesday, Oct. 13, the RSNs will have access to four-hour blocks of exclusive matches from courts that will not appear on Tennis Channel. Fans will be able to choose between two different live matches on Tennis Channel or their regional sports network during these time periods.

On-Air Talent for the Tennis Channel

Combined, the members of Tennis Channel’s 2021 BNP Paribas Open on-air team have won 14 championships in the Southern California desert. Hall of Famers Martina Navratilova (@Martina), Jim Courier and Lindsay Davenport (@LDavenport76) return to the event in 2021 as Tennis Channel analysts. Navratilova won back-to-back singles championships in 1990 and 1991, while Courier took the singles and doubles crowns in 1991, and another singles title in 1993. Davenport claimed singles trophies in 1997 and 2000, and doubles victories in 1994, 1995, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2003.


They will be joined by fellow analyst Chanda Rubin (@Chanda_Rubin), who won the event’s 1996 doubles championship. Former players James Blake (@JRBlake), Paul Annacone (@paul_annacone) and Prakash Amritraj (@PrakashAmritraj) are also back on Tennis Channel’s BNP Paribas Open on-air team. They will be joined by newcomer and current player Genie Bouchard (@geniebouchard), who is recovering from shoulder surgery. This is Bouchard’s first time in Indian Wells as a part of the network’s analyst team. This summer she offered commentary for the network for the first time during coverage of events in Washington, Montreal and Toronto. Three-time ATP tournament winner Jan-Michael Gambill (@JanmikeGambill) has offered analysis for Tennis Channel multiple times in the past and will offer commentary for the Bally Sports regional networks’ matches at Indian Wells for the first time this year.
Brett Haber (@BrettHaber) is a longtime Tennis Channel host and announcer and will handle play-by-play responsibilities during the BNP Paribas Open. This is Hall of Famer Pam Shriver’s (@PHShriver) first time as a Tennis Channel announcer in Indian Wells. Along with Navratilova, she is part of the only women’s doubles team to win all four majors in a calendar year, in 1984. Former players Leif Shiras (@ShirasLeif) and Jason Goodall round out the network’s announcer lineup. Shiras will call matches that appear on the RSNs, while Goodall is in his first appearance with the channel at the event.


In addition to hosting Tennis Channel Live at the BNP Paribas Open, Weissman will anchor the network’s desk throughout the tournament.

Digital Tennis Channel broadcasts

Streaming service Tennis Channel Plus is available to everyone in the United States regardless of whether or not they subscribe to the television network, and will offer all BNP Paribas Open men’s and women’s matches live and on demand. Additionally, the network’s new Tennis.com website and app are free to anyone anywhere, and provide tournament information, scores, rankings, news, win-probability rates, head-to-head results, highlights, estimated start times, and scoreboard links to replays and live matches for Tennis Channel and Tennis Channel Plus subscribers.
The network’s social media team will offer behind-the-scenes looks at the tournament as well, and will work with Bouchard and other on-air team members to provide original videos, Instagram takeovers and exclusive fan-oriented content. Fans can stay tuned on Tennis Channel’s Instagram (www.instagram.com/tennischannel), Facebook (www.facebook.com/tennischannel), Twitter (www.twitter.com/tennischannel) and YouTube (www.youtube.com/user/tennischannel) pages, and Tennis.com’s Facebook (www.facebook.com/TennisMedia) and Twitter (www.twitter.com/Tennis) pages.

In His Latter Years, Roger Federer Can Accept Losing Just As Much As Winning

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by Rajagopalan Rohinee

Since his comeback in 2017, after sitting out for the latter six months of the 2016 season with a knee injury, Roger Federer has been riding on the wave of unpredictability to the fullest. Not that it was not the case before the ill-fated 2016 season, but his professional timeline has come to be cleanly divided along the ever-in-vogue theme of before and after.

That Federer turned back time and continued to do that for much of 2017, and for extended portions in 2018, which included him adding a couple of more weeks to his already existing record as the world No. 1, then, extinguished the idea of the Swiss player being done for good on the ATP Tour. Alongside, it also left many wanting more from him in terms of his results – as if seeking a reassurance that the Federer of old, harking back to his peak in the early 2000s, had finally returned.

Reality, however, has been quite different from such labeling. For while, Federer did seem to control time at the start of 2017, it caught up with him as the months sped by. And across these months, the two have been engaged in the tussle that marked Federer’s career right up to the time his knee gave away.

What we now see when he takes to the courts is a tangible demonstration of him trying to wrestle time trying to reassert his say over an entity that answers to none. Ergo, the display of good days and bad days of play in matches.

Euphoria of him holding aloft his 100th title at the Dubai Open left behind any naysaying the Australian Open fourth-round loss to Stefanos Tsitsipas – who, incidentally was the same player who had ended his two-year run of dominance at Melbourne Park – but it only briefly covered the weaknesses in his game, which once again made themselves known at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, especially in the final.

The title in Dubai conveniently camouflaged the fact that it took Federer a couple of matches to settle in, in the tournament. It also tamped down on the certainty that the 37-year-old had started to miss a step or two, even though he more than made up for it with experience-filled subtlety and shrewdness. And while, Federer did well to make it to the Indian Wells final, this dissonance proved to be one time too much.

The aftermath of the result in Indian Wells has heightened the murmuration of dismay around the 20-time Slam champion. And though it has not yet risen to the level as seen before-2016, it is no less vehement than how it used to be then. This cacophony of scepticism growing louder, then, forms the crux of the matter at hand. As to Federer being held to such high standards which essentially omit the basic fact that he is human like others – prone to getting beaten and sidestepped by time – which include facing losses, as an athlete.

One aspect where Federer has made his peace with time can then be seen in how he puts his defeats in perspective. Where before, the champion in him scoffed at losses as if he were unable to bear that stain clotting his otherwise pristine scroll of wins, he now understands that defeats are the other side of victories and there is nothing wrong in accepting them as such. ‘

Federer’s statements in his post-final press conference in Indian Wells reiterated as much. “Maybe that’s why I’m okay with it…, because I felt like I’m actually playing, you know, good tennis. Like, in Australia, I wasn’t too down on myself because I feel like my game is there, my body is there.” He added, “I think when you feel that way, you know, you take it more, how do you say, positively? I don’t know how to explain, but it’s just not as dramatic. Whereas, when you’re hurt and things are difficult and, you know, that maybe those hurt more. I’m not sure.”

When seen from this context, Federer’s career has come to epitomise If’s verse that is well-known among the sport’s followers. And if, Roger Federer can meet with triumph and disaster and treat those two imposters just the same, why cannot the world, too?

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

Indian Wells Kicks Off 30th Year of ATP Masters 1000 Tennis

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The 2019 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California ushers in the 30th year of the ATP Tour branding these elite events as “Masters 1000” events. Remember when they were called “The Super Nine?”
Indian Wells is one of seven of these such events that have been part of this elite status since the start of the modern-day ATP Tour in 1990, along with Miami, Monte Carlo, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati and Paris.

Both Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are vying for a record-breaking sixth Indian Wells title and Djokovic will also be looking to equal Rafael Nadal’s record of 33 ATP Masters 1000 titles. Nadal also seeks a sixth trophy overall in the desert, but he has only won three singles at Indian Wells to go with two doubles titles.

Last March in Indian Wells, Novak Djokovic lost his opener to 109th-ranked qualifier Taro Daniel of Japan. Djokovic returns in 2019 as the world No. 1 and champion of the last three major tournaments and two of the last three ATP Masters 1000 events. Djokovic has not played since winning his seventh Australian Open title on January 27.

Federer held three championship points to make it six titles in Indian Wells before losing to Juan Martin del Potro in 2018. Federer enters the event on a hot streak after winning the 100th title of his career in Dubai on March 2 defeating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. Federer has defeated 50 different opponents for his 100 titles — 25 of whom are now retired. A fascinating stat regarding Federer and his chief rival Nadal – this marks the first time these two are playing at the same ATP Tour event (non Grand Slam event) for the first time since the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. Federer is on a five-match win streak against Nadal, including a 6-2, 6-3 victory at 2017 Indian Wells. The two rivals could meet in the semi-finals on 16 March.

Indian Wells
Indian Wells

Absent From Indian Wells and Miami, Rafael Nadal Targets Clay-Court Season

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Much to his disappointment, Rafael Nadal will miss out on the Indian Wells and Miami Open tournaments due to injury. Nadal made the announcement on Friday, March 2nd, the day after he withdrew from his first match in the Mexican Open. After suffering an injury pre-match at Acapulco, Nadal said that he needed more time to recover. He will take a month off, missing at least two major tournaments. Apparently, the injury is in the same area as a previous injury that Nadal picked up at the Australian Open last year.

“The injury I suffered in Acapulco before starting the tournament is the same area as the one suffered in Melbourne,” said Nadal.

Nadal was leading by two sets to one against Cilic at the Australian Open in Melbourne. At the end of the third set, he fist-pumped the air and cried out in joy as he took the lead. Yet Nadal struggled to keep pace in the fourth set and went down 4-1 before calling a medical timeout and receiving treatment on the court. Defeated, Nadal retired in the final set, leaving the crowd wondering what had become of the then world number one.

The following day, Nadal’s team made an announcement that the tennis legend had a serious injury. An MRI scan showed a grade 1 strained iliopsoas, a muscle of the inner hip. Nadal missed the Davis Cup but was expected to make a triumphant return at the Mexican Open on February 24th. Though Nadal did make the trip to Mexico, he withdrew before his first match. Tennis may require the wits of poker, but it also requires a top physical form, and Rafael was not up to the job.

The Mexican Open was the 8th straight tournament that Rafael Nadal has pulled out. Last month, he lost out on his number one ranking to Roger Federer, who went ahead to win more matches and titles. Federer now sits ahead as the world number one, just 600 points ahead of Nadal. He will need to make the semifinals in the Indian Wells to maintain his lead.

Due to the hip injury at the Mexican Open, which seems related to his original injury at the Australian Open, Rafael Nadal will also miss the Indian Wells, which is now in progress, as well as the Miami Open. Both are hard-court Masters 1000 events, the highest tier below Grand Slams.

“I won’t be able to play in Miami or Indian Wells as I need to recover,” said the world number two.

Last year, Nadal lost out to Roger Federer in the fourth round at Indian Wells, and again to Federer in the final of the Miami Open. As it stands, there will be no highly anticipated rematches at this year’s events. Federer has expressed disappointment that Nadal won’t make the tournaments.

“Rafael Nadal deserves this place, he had an amazing season. I am disappointed that he is injured and that he is not here for the tournament,” said Federer at the Indian Wells.

The pair has played each other 34 times since 2004. Nadal was the winner in 23 of those meetings, though Federer has more Grand Slam titles and now holds the number one spot, at least until Nadal comes back from injury.

The Indian Wells started on Monday, March 5th. Federer won his rain-delayed first round while Novak Djokovic took an unexpected early exit. The Miami Open, however, starts on March 19th.

Nadal’s injuries and problems are a growing concern for fans and tennis experts. He suffered the same injury at the Mexican Open as he did at the Australian Open. Last time, Nadal received anti-inflammatory treatment and physiotherapy for the injury, and so it is assumed he will be undergoing similar treatment this time alongside a game or two of poker from what we hear.

Although much of Nadal’s focus will be on recovery right now, he is likely upset that the injury has slowed down his season already. After such a solid performance last year, Nadal would have wanted to carry on his form early this year. Aside from rest and physiotherapy, Nadal is known to be an avid poker player and has previously enjoyed games of poker at the Indian Wells as well as the usual tennis tournaments. He is also a known Texas Hold ‘Em player who is said to have an aggressive style.

Although no confirmation has been made as to when Rafael Nadal will be back in action, he is now preparing for the clay-court season, which begins in April. The Monte-Carlo Masters on April 14th may be the first tournament that we see Rafael back in action. Usually, this is the first date on his calendar for clay matches.

Nadal has also confirmed that he will be playing at the Queens pre-Wimbledon tournament, which he won 10 years ago in 2008 — one of Nadal’s best years to date, as he also won Wimbledon as well as the French Open. Unfortunately, the chances of seeing Nadal at the Miami Open are about as slim as the world ending via a solar flare, which according to the 888 Poker infographic is pretty much impossible.

As Rafael Nadal’s career progresses, the 31-year old, who has an impressive 16 Grand Slam titles to his name, may have to pick his tournaments more carefully and play fewer games to stay strong and win the competitions that he does play in. It’s an approach taken by rival Roger Federer, who now enjoys a lighter season. Nadal suffered a minor wrist injury in 2016, but this hip injury appears to be a recurring concern.

Many tennis stars of Nadal’s generation are starting to show signs of strain. Thirty-year-old Andy Murray had hip surgery earlier in the year, Djokovic has been affected by recent injuries and Stan Wawrinka will also miss the Indian Wells and Miami Open. Still, Nadal is one of the top tennis players in the world. Only last year, he won the French Open without losing a set! He should be able to take the top spot again when he gets back into his stride. Either that or he’ll have to find an alternative career as a poker player! I wonder if he’s any good at Omaha Hi-Lo.

Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal

Indian Wells Odds And Outrights

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The BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells is approaching the final rounds and finding value in the remaining matches and outrights is the name of the game for bettors.

On the men’s side, Roger Federer’s dream draw at Indian Wells continues: his path to the final involves a group of players he is 27-1 against. The only opponent on his side of the draw to ever record a win against him is Jeremy Chardy, his round of 16 opponent, who beat him on clay in 2014. Not surprisingly, Federer is a heavy favorite to win the tournament outright, currently listed at about 8/13, which reflects his dominant play in 2018 and the leisure walk of a draw he’s faced with. If you are thinking about a Federer wager, I would recommend visiting this top-list of offshore sportsbooks to find the best price, as the odds given previously are just the average.

In the final, itself, he’ll meet one of a group of players he is 10-50 against, and of those, his most likely opponent is Juan Martin Del Potro. Del Potro is a legitimate threat to Federer. He has beaten him three times in hardcourt finals and has a winning record in those circumstances. Federer would likely be the favorite still, as he’s unbeaten in 2018 and the best player of all time, but Del Potro won’t be a longshot by any means.

The women’s draw is a little more even. Venus Williams eliminated her sister, Serena, but is still a longshot to win the tournament at around 9/1. World #1 Simona Halep is unsurprisingly the betting favorite (at roughly 5/2). She made it through a nightmarish draw at the 2018 Australian Open, before falling in three sets to Caroline Wozniacki in the final. Halep’s draw from the quarterfinals is mostly favorable, likely facing Karolina Pliskova in the semis, against whom Halep is on a three-win streak and hasn’t lost since 2016. Pliskova’s opponent in the quarterfinals, Naomi Osaka, is something of a hot bet right now, with bettors seeing value in the 16/11 underdog.

As far as finding value in outright bets, it’s hard to go against Roger Federer, even as an odds-on favorite. If you’re feeling flighty, Del Potro at 4/1 is a reasonable option, considering both his decent record against Federer and his play in 2018. On the women’s side, Venus is worth a look at her longshot odds, as beating Serena is very promising and, as Halep herself has conceded, Serena probably should have been the 1-seed in the draw. Angelique Kerber at 11/4 doesn’t make a lot of sense given her record against Halep, and Pliskova has the toughest path the final.

Roger Federer
Roger Federer

After Delray Beach Return, Juan Martin del Potro Faces Next Test In Indian Wells

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Kevin Craig

@KCraig_Tennis

 

Juan Martin del Potro made his return to tennis last month in Delray Beach, Florida after an 11-month absence due to recurring wrist problems. While he didn’t win the tournament, which nobody, not even himself, should have expected, he came out of the event with a very positive outlook and is eager to continue his progression towards playing full time on the ATP World Tour again.

In his post-match press conference after his loss to Sam Querrey in the semifinals of the ATP 250 event, del Potro was clearly disappointed, yet still exclaimed his satisfaction with the overall result he came up with this week. Beating a Top 30 player, a promising young American, and an inspired qualifier en route to the semifinals in Delray Beach were all impressive results for the Argentinian in his return event. While Denis Kudla and Jeremy Chardy didn’t play their best tennis in their matches against del Potro, it was still an impressive feat for him to knock out two Top 70 players in his first live match action since Miami in 2015.

In the loss to Querrey, the American was able to dominant his service games and crush the ball from anywhere on the court, forcing del Potro to move around and hit more backhands than he would have liked. The American only lost nine points on serve throughout the match and didn’t have to face a single break point, allowing him to relax on del Potro’s service games and apply pressure. The pressure built up at the latter stages of both sets, allowing Querrey to break at 5-5 in both sets, giving him the 7-5, 7-5 win. Querrey’s high level of play in the match can give del Potro some relief as it was arguably the best match that Querrey had played all week.

Despite the loss, Del Potro stated in his post-match press conference that he felt as if he had “won more than a tournament,” a sign that he is more than happy with where his game currently is. The 2009 US Open champion confirmed that he will be accepting a wild card to play in the masters level event in Indian Wells, and is well aware of what he needs to work on to improve his game before then.

The competition in Indian Wells surely will most likely be tougher than what del Potro came across in Delray Beach, and will possibly give a better test as to where he truly is with his game. While the entire tennis world is glad to have one of the best players in the world back on tour, no one is happier that del Potro is back on the court than del Potro himself, stating that he is “so glad to play tennis again.” After both his quarterfinal and semifinal matches, he expressed how tired he was, but his happiness could not be hidden behind his exhaustion.

Del Potro stated that he has “many positive things to take from” his experience in Delray Beach as he looks forward to continuing to take the next steps in his comeback.

Juan Martin del Potro
Juan Martin del Potro

A Mighty Quartet: How Dominant Are the Big Four?

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(Photo: Stephen Dunn/Getty Images North America)

With his victory at the Indian Wells Masters 1000, Rafael Nadal has contrived a brief return to the No.4 ranking, thereby granting men’s tennis a momentary break from the odd configuration whereby the Big Four aren’t its top four. At a stroke, Nadal has reasserted the validity of the Big Four as a concept, and realigned it with the actual rankings. Given that this was the first tournament they all contested since June last year, it’s frankly convenient.
To say this is hardly to lavish undue disrespect on David Ferrer, who is generally the first to concede his compatriot’s superiority. Lest Ferrer had forgotten the pecking order, there was the Acapulco final several weeks ago to remind him, in which he managed only two games, which was at least one more than he deserved. The point was further rammed home when he fell in his opening match at Indian Wells. The rankings will switch back after Miami, since Nadal isn’t playing there and Ferrer is. Nadal will inevitably subside back to the number five ranking. That’s just the way the rankings work.
I presume I do not astonish anyone by saying that the top four’s current dominance of men’s tennis surpasses anything that has gone before. You don’t need to know much about the sport to know that. In a way, it is a coincidence that there are four supremely good players at the top of the men’s game, although this is also a number reinforced by the structure of tournament play. Even if there was a fifth player with similar abilities, he would find it hard to break in.
It relates directly to seeding. The top four seeds will always be drawn to face a seed between five and eight at the quarterfinal stage. This can be a mixed bag: that top seed might draw Tomas Berdych in a monstrous mood, and potentially lose, but he might also face Janko Tipsarevic or Ferrer having a bad day, and cruise. On the other hand, someone seeded between five and eight will always draw a top four player in the quarterfinals, and, in the current era, those guys almost never have bad days. You might take out one of them, or even two, but then you’ll find another one lurking in the final. (This is what Juan Martin del Potro discovered in Indian Wells, although I’m sure he was already conversant with the theory.)
Consequently, on average the top four are more likely to reach the semifinals not only because they are by definition better at tennis, but also because they face lesser opponents to get there. Once there they are awarded more points – at the same time denying those points to other players – thereby reinforcing their position.
And the points are crucial, since in order to be in the top four, you must regularly accrue the kinds of points that are allocated for semifinals and above. As a general rule, the amount of points rewarded for each round at an ATP tournament doubles as you progress, until the semifinal. For example, the points allocation for a Major is as follows.

  • 1st Round: 10 points
  • 2nd Round: 45 points
  • 3rd Round: 90 points
  • 4th Round: 180 points
  • Quarterfinal: 360 points
  • Semifinal: 720 points
  • Final: 1,200 points
  • Winner: 2,000 points

As you can see, the points from each round apart from the first round are doubled in each subsequent round, until you reach the semifinal. These proportions are retained for every tournament of each level. A Masters 1000 event is called that because the winner receives 1000 points; aside from the early rounds, which are riddled with byes, every round awards half what a major does . You can therefore guess why 500 and 250 events are named as they are, and what the point allocations are.
At the Majors (and to a lesser degree Masters), the jump from the quarterfinals (360 points) to the semifinals (720 points) represents a break point of sorts. Consistently reaching the semifinal stage at those events bestows enough points that you can reach the higher ranking, while at the same time denying those below you the chance to do so. To be ranked in the top four in the current era requires a lot of points, more than ever before, and it requires reaching a lot of semifinals as a baseline, with regular titles and runner-ups thrown in.
To take an extreme example, world No.1 Novak Djokovic currently has 13,280 points, while No.2 Roger Federer has 8,715. The gap between them is therefore 4,565 points. That is greater than the points gap between the world No.7 Juan Martin del Potro and the world No.182 Agustin Velotti. Of course, Djokovic’s current points lead is enormous, while Federer has shed thousands of points in the last six months, but my point is that there is an enormous concentration of points in the top few spots, especially at the moment, and that in order to achieve those points hauls you have to be consistently reaching the semifinals.
So just how many points are concentrated at the top? Well, there are various ways to look at it. One useful metric is to examine the absolute maximum number of points the top four players can have, which would be achieved if all four of them reached at least the semifinal at every event for twelve months. To keep the comparison consistent we can limit this to ‘mandatory’ events, meaning the four Majors, the nine Masters and the World Tour Finals. For the record, the maximum number of points that four players can accumulate from all these events is 42,740. The present top four have actually accumulated 32,450 points between them, which 75.92% of the maximum possible. Bear in mind that this number is lower than it could be, given Nadal was absent for seven months, a period that included two Majors, four Masters, and the WTF.
The following graph demonstrates how this data compares historically, against year-end data going back to 2000.

As can be seen, the dominance of the top four has increased dramatically in that time, peaking in 2011. There has been a slight tail off since then. Nadal’s recent absence had something to do with this (the main beneficiary was Ferrer), as well as general improvements from del Potro and Berdych.

It is interesting to note that over that same period, similar data for the top ten reveals a slighter though still noticeable increase:
The points are increasingly concentrated at the very top, which means the so-called Little Four (Ferrer, del Potro, Berdych and Tsonga) are maintaining their positions with relatively modest results (although Ferrer’s results, as mentioned, have been slightly inflated). If anything, this makes it even more surprising that the top ten is as stable as it is: it’s currently the same as it was last December.
The Little Four only require consistent quarterfinals and the odd semifinal in order to stay where they are, and the wonder is that they’re managing to do precisely that. They managed to fashion a rather stable camp just below the rankings summit. In some ways this is far more startling than the news that the Big Four are so dominant, which isn’t really news at all, any more.

Federer v Nadal – An Old Rivalry

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By James A. Crabtree

Before, it was Laver and Rosewall, McEnroe and Borg, Agassi and Sampras.
For the past year it’s been more about Djokovic and Murray.
One hundred years from now the beginning of this millennium will be remembered for clashes shared by Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal.
The biggest headline in tennis once again took centre stage at Indian Wells in the men’s quarterfinal.
Federer will undoubtedly be remembered as the greatest player of all time. What will perhaps be forgotten is that Federer has been consistently owned by the man who chased him in the rankings for so long, Rafael Nadal. Nadal leads the Federer/Nadal conflicts with 19 wins to 10, and significantly by 8 wins to 2 in grand slams.
The most recent encounter between these two at Indian Wells had the build-up.
Federer has not won a title since August last year and in many ways is playing a match in a more timid style than that of which we are accustomed to seeing.
Nadal, as we all know, is back after a very lengthy absence and has a point to prove on hard courts and in a tournament in which he lost to Federer last year.
When Federer beat Nadal in the Indian Wells 2012 semi-final it was his first victory against the Spaniard on an outside hard court since Miami in 2005. The 2013 display went back to the script of old whilst Federer and his army of fans searched for answers with no more imaginative excuses than his age and injury.
Nadal’s display of aggression after a lengthy layoff from injury was significant although Federer’s lack of hostility on court, faltering serve and inconsistency was disheartening. Federer’s main hard court weapons, the flatter forehand and faster serve have all but eluded him so far this year.
These players know each other’s games inside and out and new strategy is almost impossible. Like a childhood sibling fight all tactics have been used before, only a heightened level of spite could prove a difference.
A spite that was missing for Federer resulting in the 28th encounter being an epic anticlimax.

Nadal’s biography ‘RAFA’ is as much about Federer as it is about Nadal, with detailed schemes of how the Spaniard would overcome the Swiss inundating the text. More than simply a great matchup Nadal treats the issue with obsession, a mountain he must climb. In contrast for Federer to play Nadal seems like an exhausting chore and whether he admits it or not, one he would rather avoid.
Indeed, in their most recent battle, Federer seemed more fatigued by an opponent that has always troubled him. For some reason Nadal always thinks of himself as the underdog. And these may have been the prevailing issues rather than any of the subplots leading up. Federer struggles against Nadal, always has, and perhaps, always will.
This rivalry has been going on a long bloody time, nine years to be exact. They have met 29 times, have played seven exhibitions of which Nadal has won five, will meet a few more times before they retire and then will undoubtedly play each other a further absurd amount of times more on the Champions tour.
If the current game plan remains the same, it would be hard to imagine a reversal of fortune for the greatest player of all time.

Kirilenko's Career Week

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Maria Kirilenko has reached the semifinals at Indian Wells for the first time in her career.

“So I’m just enjoying, you know, to play out there.”
Perhaps Maria Kirilenko has enjoyed playing tennis under the scenic desert skies of the Indian Wells Tennis Garden just a bit too much.
Kirilenko won her fourth consecutive three-set match at Indian Wells against Petra Kvitova on Wednesday, advancing to the semifinals of a WTA Premier Mandatory event for the first time. In those four consecutive victories against Christina McHale, Mallory Burdette, Agnieszka Radwanska and Kvitova, Kirilenko has logged a whopping nine hours and 31 minutes on court.
Having turned professional in 2001, Kirilenko was long considered just another “glamor girl” of women’s tennis. She was “the other Maria from Russia,” the original face of the Adidas by Stella McCartney line, and also appeared in the 2009 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. On the court, the Russian has always been dangerous, but rarely had a chance to make the next step. However, she’s made a firm statement with her racket over the past 18 months. She took home a bronze medal with Nadia Petrova at the London Olympics, won her first singles title since 2008 in Pattaya City in February, and is knocking on the door of the top 10.
While Kirilenko’s game might not feature a single defining weapon, she does everything well. She combines athleticism and court craft, injects paces when she needs to and possesses a steely resolve and will to win. She rallied from a set down against McHale, a set and a break down against Kvitova and came through with flying colors in an extended third set against Radwanska. That is what has made her run in Palm Springs all the more impressive; when down and out, Kirilenko has dug in her heels and found a way to win.
The win against No. 4 Radwanska was Kirilenko’s best in terms of ranking. The win against Kvitova was her second consecutive against a top 10 opponent. Despite the contrasting styles of play of those two opponents, each match had a similar theme. She was the underdog.
Kirilenko has always been capable of pulling off a long, grinding upset in her WTA career. Who could forget her three-hour, 22-minute marathon win against Maria Sharapova in the first round of the Australian Open in 2010? Or how she and Samantha Stosur played the longest tiebreak set, 17-15, in Grand Slam history at the US Open in 2011? However, it has been Kirilenko’s body, perhaps her greatest strength, that has let her down in the past. A full slate of singles and doubles matches always caught up to her in the end. Earlier this season, Kirilenko made the decision to forego doubles to work on improving her singles game.
It’s clearly helped. Many of Kirilenko’s victories are punctuated with a smile, a fist pump and a shriek of delight. She radiates pure, unadulterated joy, as if she wants to let the fans know just how much all the hard work means to her and how much it’s finally paying off.
On a day in Stadium 1 where Stanislas Wawrinka and Ernests Gulbis came tantalizing close to pulling off upsets over Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal for what seemed like the umpteenth time, only to fail in the clutch, Kirilenko showed once again that she hasn’t backed away from the pressure moments this week.
Instead, she’s embraced them.
“I feel I can be on this level. Nothing is scary out there now. I can compete with them and win.”