THE BIG FOUR – PART 4 / A LOOK @ THE ATP MEN’S TENNIS TOP PLAYERS AS THEY GO INTO THE 2014 US OPEN

Written by: Tennischiro on 21st August 2014

THE BIG FOUR - PART 4 / A LOOK @ THE ATP MEN'S TENNIS TOP PLAYERS AS THEY GO INTO THE 2014 US OPEN |

Photo by Francisco Resendiz.

The Effect Of The Summer Hardcourts since 2009 By 10sCHIRO aka Dr. Don Brosseau

Editors notes:

Here’s the final installment. The draw looks very good for Federer. Djokovic, Murray, Raonic, Wawrinka and Tsonga all in the other half. Ferrer, Berdych, Monfils and Gasquet fight it out for the privilege of playing Roger in the semis after he deals with Dimitrov in the quarters. Murray could make it tough on Djokovic as could Tsonga and Raonic might be able to take advantage. One of the good things is, I think, they go to the Monday final so there will be a day of rest between semis and finals.

The Big Four – Part 4 – The Effect of the Summer Hardcourts since 2009

Okay, we’ve seen the way the summer hardcourts helped propelled the Big Four to their lofty perch above the field after the US Open in 2008,

(The Big Four Part 4: the importance of the North American Summer Hardcourts

https://archive.10sballs.com/2014/08/12/the-big-four-part-4-the-importance-of-the-summer-hardcourt-season-also-known-as-the-us-open-series-update-on-federer-rafa-murray-and-djokovic-by-dr-don-brosseau/)

but let’s see the effect in the years since then.

2009:

Washington, D.C.: Del Potro beats Roddick in final in 3rd set tie break

Canadian Open: Roddick beats Djokovic in quarters, Del Potro defeats Nadal in quarters, Tsonga defeats Federer in quarters; Murray beats Tsonga and Del Potro beats Roddick; Murray beats Del Potro 6-1 in third in final.

Cincy: back to normal – Semis: Federer beats Murray, Djokovic beats Nadal; Federer beats Djokovic in final, all in straight sets.

US Open: Murray upset by Cilic in 16’s, Federer beats Djokovic in semis, but Del Potro claims a rare non-Big Four Slam when he beats Cilic in the quarters, Nadal in the semis and Federer in the finals coming back from 2 sets to 1 down.

Points (for the Washington – US Open): DP-3100, RF-2380, ND-1500, RN-1260, AM-1540

2009 Year End Rankings: 12/28/2009: 1.RF(10550) 2.RN(9205) 3.ND(8310) 4.AM(7030) 5.DP(6785)

*****************

2010:

Canadian Open: Semis – Murray over Nadal, Federer over Djokovic; Final – Murray beats Federer 5&5 in the final

Cincy: Quarter – Baghdatis over Nadal, Fish over Murray and Roddick over Djokovic; Semis Federer over Baghdatis, Fish over Roddick; Final – Federer beats Fish 6-7, 7-6, 6-4

US Open: Murray upset by Wawrinka in 3rd round; Youhzny beats Wawrinka in quarters; Semis – Nadal beats Youhzny, Djokovic beats Federer 7-5 in fifth; Finals – Nadal wins his first US Open in 4 sets

Points: RN-2540, RF-2320, ND-1740, AM-1270

2010 Year End Rankings: 12/27/2010: 1.RN(12450) 2.RF(9145) 3.ND(6240) 4.AM(5760) 5.RS(5580)

*****************

2011:

Canadian Open: in 16’s, Tsonga upset Federer, Anderson upset Murray and Dodig upset Nadal; Semis: Djokovic beat Tsonga and Fish beat Tipsarevic; Djokovic won final in three

Cincy: Quarters: Berdych beat Federer and Fish beat Nadal; Semis: Djokovic beat Berdych and Murray beat Fish; Djokovic retired to Murray down 6-3, 3-0

US Open: Semis: Djokovic beat Federer 7-5 in fifth again; Nadal beats Murray in 4 sets; Djokovic win his 3rd Slam of the year beating Nadal in four sets

Points: ND-3600, AM-1810, RN-1470, RF-990

2011 Year End Rankings: 12/26/2011: 1.ND(13630) 2.RN(9595) 3.RF(8170) 4.AM(7380) 5.DF(4925)

*****************

2012: Nadal is out this entire period. Federer misses Canada after Olympics.

Canadian Open: Murray defaults in quarters, Djokovic beats Gasquet in final

Cincy: Murray upset by Chardy in 16’s, Federer beats Djokovic in final

US Open: Federer upset by Berdych in quarters; Murray wins his first major beating Djokovic in five sets in final

Points: AM-2270, ND-2800, RF-1360, RN-0

2012 Year End Rankings: 12/31/2012: 1.ND(12920) 2.RF(10265) 3.AM(8000) 4.RN(6690) 5.DF(6505)

*****************

2013:

Canadian Open: Federer doesn’t even enter as he struggles with his back. 2 Seed Murray goes out in 16’s to Gulbis. Nadal beats Djokovic in the semis in a 3rd set tie-breaker and goes on to beat Raonic in the final 2 & 2.

Cincy: The quarters were tough sledding for the Big Four here. Djokovic went out to John Isner 7-5 in the third; Murray lost to Berdych 3 & 4; Federer’s drop in ranking hurt him as he faced Nadal in the quarters and lost in three. Nadal went on to beat Berdych 5 & 6 and Isner 6 & 6.

US Open: Federer looked pretty good his first three matches, but he went out in three straight to Tommy Robredo in the 16’s. Murray did a little better losing in the quarters to Wawrinka, also in straight sets. Wawrinka gave Djokovic a 5-set battle in the semis, but Djoker went on to the final where Nadal completed his sweep of the summer hardcourts over him, 6-1 in the 4th set.

Points: RN-4000, ND-1740, AM-630, RF-360

2013 Year End Rankings: 12/30/2013: 1.RN(13030) 2.ND(12260) 3.DF(5800) 4.AM(5790) 5.DP(5255) 6.RF(4205)

*****************

2014:

This dip in 2013 Summer Hardcourt points for Federer and Murray combined with their back problems through the year dropped Federer to his lowest ranking in 10 years and Murray dropped all the way to #10 when his Wimbledon victory came off and is still only just barely in the top 10 at number 9.

2014 Rankings after Wimbledon: 1.ND(13130) 2.RN(12670) 3.RF(6100) 4.StanW(5770) 5.TBerdych(4410) 10.AM(3040)

Then Nadal was knocked out of the entire summer series with a wrist injury.

Canadian Open: Tsonga was a Big Four disaster zone beating Djokovic in the 16’s, Murray in the quarters and Federer in the finals. Murray was the only one to get a set.

Cincy: Djokovic was upset by Robredo in the 16’s, Federer beat Murray in the quarters 3 & 5 and collected his 16th consecutive victory over Ferrer in the final.

Points for Summer Hardcourts: RF-1600, AM-360, ND-180, RN-0

Rankings 8/18/2014: 1. ND(12770) 2.RN(10670) 3.RF(7490) 4.StanW(5985) 5.DFerrer(4765) 9.AM(3150)

*****************

Nadal has pulled out of the US Open with his wrist injury. Djokovic’s perch atop the rankings is secure even if he loses in the first round, but Federer will have to win his sixth US Open title to overtake Rafa for the second spot in the rankings. Nevertheless, his strong performance in his last four events (winning Halle, finals at Wimbledon, finals at Canadian and winning Cincy) has made him a realistic choice in the minds of many tennis handicappers to not only win another major title at the US Open, but also to possibly take back the number one year-end ranking. The fact that Murray, Djokovic, Tsonga, Wawrinka and Raonic are all on the other side of the draw doesn’t hurt his chances either.

In the Race to London standings (using only results from this year), Novak’s lead over Nadal is just 785 points; over Federer it’s 1270. Novak’s meager 180 points for the summer hardcore whittled down his considerable lead quite a bit. Nadal’s 0 certainly didn’t help his cause either.

As for the Big Four, they are currently reduced to the Big Three they were before Murray joined the party, and then only if Nadal is healthy. Djokovic still has the most dominant record and is the betting line’s favorite, but the hold of the Big Four on the semifinal berths at the majors and even the Masters 1000’s seems a thing of the past. Raonic and Dimitrov seem to have finally spoken up for the next generation; it remains to be seen how loud their voices will be in Flushing Meadows.

I hope you all enjoyed this little exploration into the details of the impact of the US Summer Hardcourts!

10sChiro

to see other articles by 10sChiro, go to

https://archive.10sballs.com/category/columnists/dr-chiro/

https://archive.10sballs.com/author/don/

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Topics: 10sballs.com, 10sCiro, Andy Murray, Atp, David Ferrer, Gael Monfils, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Jo Wilfried Tsonga, milos raonic, Novak Djokovic, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Stanislas Wawrinka, Tennis, Tennis News, The Big Four, Tomas Berdych

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10sBalls_com says:

August 21, 2014 at 6:33 pm

THE BIG FOUR – PART 4 / A LOOK @ THE #ATP MEN’S #TENNIS TOP PLAYERS AS THEY GO INTO THE 2014 @usopen- http://t.co/i8qSpAzVSI #USOpen