Men Tennis Update – Madrid Thursday, May 9, 2013

Written by: Staff on 8th May 2013

Sony Open tennis tournament on Key Biscayne

Men Tennis Update - Madrid Thursday, May 9, 2013

epa03642991 David Ferrer of Spain returns the ball to Juergen Melzer of Austria during their quarter final match at the Sony Open tennis tournament in Miami, Florida, USA, 27 March 2013. EPA/ERIK S. LESSER |

Madrid

Singles – Second Round: (4) D Ferrer def. D Istomin 7-5 6-2

Rafael Nadal still has a mathematical chance at the #4 Roland Garros seed, assuming he wins both Madrid and Rome and David Ferrer does nothing much else. But Ferrer doesn’t seem to want to cooperate.

Singles – Second Round: (5) R Nadal def. B Paire 6-3 6-4

Ferrer may not be helping, but Rafael Nadal is doing all he can…. Benoit Paire is around #36; we’d guess he’ll need a Rome quarterfinal to earn Roland Garros seeding. Barring withdrawals, anyway.

Singles – Second Round: (6) T Berdych def. J Janowicz 6-7(3-7) 6-3- 6-2

A tough start for last year’s finalist, who needs one more win to keep the #6 ranking, but at least he’s alive. He leaves Jerzy Janowicz still no better than #24.

Singles – Second Round: (7) J Tsonga def. (Q) R Haase 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-2)

So far, the clay is being kind to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Perhaps the fact that it is so well-maintained is helping.

Singles – Second Round: M Youzhny def. (11) N Almagro 7-6(7-4) 4-6 6-2

This isn’t something you see very often: Mikhail Youzhny playing his best at a required event. This should put him back in the Top Thirty, replacing Martin Klizan; Nicolas Almagro will rise to #11 but loses his Top Ten chance.

Singles – Second Round: (13) T Haas def. T Robredo 6-3 7-5

Tommy Haas is clearly the top Tommy on the ATP right now…. It appears Tommy Robredo will be #34, so he still needs a little more to earn a Roland Garros seed.

Singles – Second Round: (14) K Nishikori def. V Troicki 7-5 6-2

An interesting contest: A clay-hater versus a guy in a seemingly permanent slump. The slump apparently was the bigger problem. Viktor Troicki remains below #40; his faint chances of a Roland Garros seed appear all but gone.

Singles – Second Round: (15) S Wawrinka def. (Q) S Giraldo 6-3 6-3

One more win will clinch Stanislas Wawrinka’s Top Fifteen spot. He has already defended his points.

Singles – Second Round: K Anderson def. J Monaco 7-6(7-5) 3-6 6-4

Janko Tipsarevic lost to Juan Monaco. Now Monaco is out to Kevin Anderson. On clay. Something is wrong with this picture…. We’d guess Monaco will end up at #18, with Anderson trying to hit the Top 25.

Doubles – First Round: Isner/Querrey def. Benneteau/Zimonjic 6-2 6-4

A few years ago, Isner/Querrey were a strong enough doubles team to win even on clay. Then… they cut back their doubles. We thought that was that. But this is quite a good win.

Doubles – First Round: Haas/Stepanek def. Dimitrov/Raonic 6-4 6-4

Amazing to see Tommy Haas playing singles and doubles here. Even more amazing to see him winning at both. Let’s hope he doesn’t burn himself out before Roland Garros.

Doubles – First Round: (Alt) Monaco/Zeballos def. Llodra/Simon 6-2 2-6 11-9

Doubles – Second Round: (3) Lindstedt/Nestor def. Cilic/Dlouhy 7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-3)

Doubles – Second Round: Chardy/Kubot def. (4) Qureshi/Rojer 6-2 7-6(7-4)

Doubles – Second Round: (5) Mirnyi/Tecau def. Knowle/Polasek 3-6 6-4 11-9

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

Bluer than Blue

It doesn’t sound as if there are many players mourning blue clay. But it certainly got talked about at the time. The discussions may have been almost as interesting as the tennis. Some of the comments, such as those on the effects of blue dirt on fashion, we can’t address. But the way the clay affects vision — now that gets into our area.

Let’s start with the way people see. Human beings are “trichromatic.” That is, all the various colors we see are actually sensed by just three detectors — red, green, and blue. (Hence the “RGB” monitors and photos you often see.) All other colors are combinations of these — if you shine red and green light on someone’s eyes, the result is yellow. Red plus blue gives magenta tones. Blue plus green is cyan. Red plus green plus blue is white. Fiddle with those proportions and you can get any color you want.

Now consider the standard tennis ball. What color is it? Yellowish-green. What does that mean? Well, colors are caused by reflection: A red object reflects red light, a blue object reflects blue, a magenta object reflects red and blue, etc. Remember that yellow is a combination of red and green. So a yellowish-green object reflects almost all the green light shining on it, a bit less red, and far less blue. (It may reflect some blue — the more blue, the brighter the ball — but not as much.)

So think, in general, about a blue court. It’s reflecting mostly blue light. A standard red clay court reflects mostly red and a little green. The ball, meanwhile, is reflecting red and green.

Theoretically, then, in terms of color balance, the blue clay should make the ball more visible.

Except that there is a problem. You’ve probably heard of rods and cones in your eyes. Cones detect color; rods detect brightness and shape details. (This is why your vision goes black-and-white at night: The rods are still working, the cones are out of it.) So although blue clay will provide a strong color contrast with the ball, this may not help. If the actual brightness of the clay isn’t right, the rods won’t detect the ball cleanly and it may be harder to “read.”

Sadly, we don’t have the nitpicky details to figure out whether the blue clay actually helped or hurt here. But, if the players complained about seeing the ball on the blue clay, you now have an idea why.

Footnote on color-blindness. The description above is for “normal” vision, which has red, green, and blue sensors. But trichromatic vision is something of an oddity. Most reptiles and birds have at least four, sometimes five, color sensors; they see the world in much more vivid colors than we do.

Most mammals, on the other hand, have just two color sensors — the equivalent of our blue and green. They see a world with less color than we do. Apes and humans are the exceptions: We have the three colors. Or most of us do. The red and green sensors are close variants on each other, and in a significant fraction of the population, they merge together. This is red/green color blindness. And those who suffer it notice some things that people with trichromatic vision cannot see — but they also miss things that trichromats notice instantly.

KEYWORDS: Blue Clay Eyesight

******** THIS WEEK IN TENNIS ********

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Madrid (1000/Clay). Defending Champion: Roger Federer

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Rome (1000/Clay). Defending Champion: Rafael Nadal

******** STATS AND FACTS ********

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of May 8, 2013

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….12730

2..(3) Murray………….8660

3..(2) Federer…………7760

4..(4) Ferrer………….6830

5..(5) Nadal…………..5985

6..(7) Del Potro……….4320

7..(6) Berdych…………4250

8..(8) Tsonga………….3875

9..(9) Gasquet…………3180

10.(10) Tipsarevic………2650

11.(12) Almagro…………2570

12.(11) Cilic…………..2535

13.(13) Haas……………2420

14.(14) Raonic………….2225

15.(16) Nishikori……….2180

16.(15) Wawrinka………..2165

17.(17) Simon…………..1940

18.(19) Monaco………….1830

19.(18) Querrey…………1790

20.(21) Isner…………..1725

21.(20) Seppi…………..1700

22.(22) Kohlschreiber……1690

23.(23) Dolgopolov………1420

24.(24) Janowicz………..1418

25.(25) Fognini…………1345

26.(28) Dimitrov………..1342

27.(26) Mayer…………..1340

28.(27) Anderson………..1340

29.(29) Chardy………….1291

30.(31) Youzhny…………1265

**DRAWS

Madrid — Week of May 6

…………..3R

1 Djokovic….Dimitrov

15 Wawrinka…(15)Wawrinka

12 Raonic…..(12)Raonic

7 Tsonga……(7)Tsonga

3 Murray……(3)Murray

16 Simon……(16)Simon

9 Tipsarevic..Anderson

6 Berdych…..(6)Berdych

5 Nadal…….(5)Nadal

11 Almagro….Youzhny

13 Haas…….(13)Haas

4 Ferrer……(4)Ferrer

8 Gasquet…..Gimeno-Traver

10 Cilic……Andujar(WC)

14 Nishikori..(14)Nishikori

2 Federer…..(2)Federer

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Djokovic…….lost 2R (Dimitrov)

2 Federer

3 Murray

4 Ferrer

5 Nadal

6 Berdych

7 Tsonga

8 Gasquet……..lost 2R (Gimeno-Traver)

9 Tipsarevic…..lost 1R (Monaco)

10 Cilic………lost 1R (Andujar)

11 Almagro…….lost 2R (Youzhny)

12 Raonic

13 Haas

14 Nishikori

15 Wawrinka

16 Simon

******** SCORES ********

WEDNESDAY

Madrid

Singles – Second Round

(4) def. Ferrer def. D Istomin 7-5 6-2

(5) R Nadal def. B Paire 6-3 6-4

(6) T Berdych def. J Janowicz 6-7(3-7) 6-3 6-2

(7) J Tsonga def. (Q) R Haase 7-6(7-5) 7-6(7-2)

M Youzhny def. (11) N Almagro 7-6(7-4) 4-6 6-2

(13) T Haas def. (WC) T Robredo 6-3 7-5

(14) K Nishikori def. V Troicki 7-5 6-2

(15) S Wawrinka def. (Q) S Giraldo 6-3 6-3

K Anderson def. J Monaco 7-6(7-5) 3-6 6-4

Doubles – First Round

Isner/Querrey def. Benneteau/Zimonjic 6-2 6-4

Haas/Stepanek def. Dimitrov/Raonic 6-4 6-4

(Alt) Monaco/Zeballos def. Llodra/Simon 6-2 2-6 11-9

Doubles – Second Round

(3) Lindstedt/Nestor def. Cilic/Dlouhy 7-6(7-3) 7-6(7-3)

Chardy/Kubot def. (4) Qureshi/Rojer 6-2 7-6(7-4)

(5) Mirnyi/Tecau def. Knowle/Polasek 3-6 6-4 11-9

Topics: David Ferrer, Jerzy Janowicz, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, Madrid Open, men tennis news, Rafael Nadal, Roland Garros, Sports, Tennis, Tennis News

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