Men’s Pro Tour News

Hopman Cup

 

Sometimes a live body is enough.

That was what Poland found when it took on Italy. Italy should have been in great shape, because they had two players and Poland, with Grzegorz Panfil playing alongside Agnieszka Radwanska, really had only one. But mark down Andreas Seppi as the first retirement victim of the year; after Radwanska beat Flavia Pennetta 6-2 6-2, Seppi retired due to illness trailing 6-4 2-2 against Panfil, and Poland had the tie. The Poles also won the mixed against Pennetta and Oliver Anderson (a 15-year-old Australian the Italians swept off the street), but it hardly mattered.

Samantha Stosur has been talking about starting 2014 strong, but so far, it hasn’t produced much. After Milos Raonic topped Bernard Tomic 7-6 6-1, Stosur had her chance to pick up her countryman — and couldn’t. Eugenie Bouchard clinched the tie for Canada 4-6 6-2 6-3. The Australians won the Mixed 6-2 6-4, but that’s not likely to matter.

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

 

Men’s Look Forward: Brisbane, Chennai, Doha

 

Andy Murray unofficially made his return to action at Abu Dhabi, looking like a man who wasn’t quite ready for prime time. But, of course, the real test of a comeback is what happens when the matches count.

Brisbane was where Murray played last year, but he isn’t coming back this time. Roger Federer is the #1 seed — and the only Top Fifteen player. He is so much the headline that we’ve seen multiple press releases about the mere fact that he has shown up. We’re a little bit scared of what happens when he actually plays….

It isn’t a particularly strong draw; there are no other Top Fifteen players. But it didn’t really do Federer any favors, since his draw, after a first round bye, runs through Jarkko Nieminen, then #7 seed Dmitry Tursunov or Julien Benneteau (who has of course beaten Federer) or Sam Querrey, then #4 seed Kevin Anderson or #8 Jeremy Chardy.

In the other half we have #2 seed Kei Nishikori, who is drawn face last year’s finalist, #5 seed Grigor Dimitrov, in the quarterfinal — if Dimitrov can survive a draw that includes Robin Haase, Denis Istomin, and Marin Cilic. Facing Nishikori in the semifinal would be #3 Gilles Simon, #6 Feliciano Lopez, or Lleyton Hewitt.

You can see the effects of the Abu Dhabi exhibition at Doha. Abu Dhabi paid big to get six of the Top Ten, including the entire Top Four, and three of them were supposed to stick around for Doha. Only Novak Djokovic — who didn’t play a single 250 point event in 2013 — failed to stay around to play in Qatar. Rafael Nadal is the #1 seed, David Ferrer #2, Andy Murray #3, Tomas Berdych #4, and Richard Gasquet #5. Then comes the cliff. Philipp Kohlschreiber is the next guy down the rankings, meaning that there is almost a 15 place gap between Gasquet, ranked #9, and Kohlschreiber, #22. The other seeds are #7 Ernests Gulbis and #8 Fernando Verdasco.

That still leaves a few tough unseeded players. Nadal opens against Lukas Rosol. Berdych will have to start against Ivo Karlovic, which at least promises fireworks, and then probably Ivan Dodig. Murray was lucky enough to draw a wildcard for his first match, but them would face Florian Mayer. Gasquet’s second round could be against Gael Monfils. And Ferrer will have to start against Aleksandr Dolgopolov, then Nikolay Davydenko or Daniel Brands.

Chennai has always been the weak sister of this week’s events, but Stanislas Wawrinka decided to play in India rather than Doha, so all the week’s events will have at least one Top Ten player. There aren’t many other top players in the field, though — Mikhail Youzhny is the #2 seed, Fabio Fognini #3, Benoit Paire #4, Vasek Pospisil #5, and Marcel Granollers #6; they are the only Top Fifty players. Rounding out the seeds are #7 Edouard Roger-Vasselin and #8 Roberto Bautista-Agut. There are no really outstanding unseeded players.

The Rankings

The rankings after this week will be used to seed the Australian Open — but it looks as if it won’t matter much. The events are all 250 pointers, which means they probably won’t make much difference. Especially to our three champions, Andy Murray, Richard Gasquet, and Janko Tipsarevic. Murray will keep the #4 spot, although his lead over Juan Martin del Potro could be small. Gasquet could have lost the #9 ranking to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had Tsonga played an ATP event this week, but that doesn’t affect his seeding tier. And Janko Tipsarevic is already below the cutoff for seeding anyway — although, if he doesn’t get something working soon, he won’t be Top Fifty much longer. It appears he may fall below that mark as early as this week.

The finalists at this time last year were Tomas Berdych (safe at #7), Nikolay Davydenko (no chance of seeding no matter what), and Grigor Dimitrov (the one guy whose standing might really change; he comes in at #23 but could end up losing his Top 25 seeding). Defending semifinalist points are Kei Nishikori, Marcos Baghdatis, Benoit Paire, Aijaz Bedene, David Ferrer, and Daniel Brands.

Adding it all up, we know that Rafael Nadal will stay #1 (and be the #1 Australian Open seed), Novak Djokovic will be #2, and David Ferrer #3. Had Juan Martin del Potro played and won a title this week, he might have had a shot at #4, but he is taking the week off, so Murray will keep the #4 spot even if he loses early in Doha. Del Potro will stay #5. Roger Federer and Tomas Berdych will be contesting the #6 spot, but Federer has a big inside track; the only way Berdych can move up is if he wins Doha and Federer fails to reach the Brisbane semifinal. Berdych is assured of keeping the #7 spot. Wawrinka will be #8 no matter what, with Gasquet #9 and Tsonga #10.

We aren’t going to preview Hopman Cup. We do observe that playing it can be costly for some players — had Milos Raonic won one of this week’s events, he might have hit the Top Ten. It can’t happen now. At least his Australian Open Top Twelve seed looks safe. Ditto Jo-Wilfried Tsonga; he had a shot at #9, but his participation in Hopman Cup eliminates that possibility. So the #9-#12 spots will belong to Gasquet, Tsonga, Raonic, and Haas. It looks as if the first substantial seeding contest is for the last spot in the Top 16 tier. Clinched for that tier are Almagro, Isner, and Youzhny, but Nishikori could take the last spot from Fognini with a Brisbane title.

Seeded #17-#24 will be Nishikori or Fognini, Robredo, Simon, Anderson, Janowicz if he can play, Kohlschreiber, and probably Dimitov and Gulbis, but Lopez or Paire or even Tursunov or Verdasco have shots.

The remaining seeds, apart from the 28 listed above, will be Seppi, Melzer, and perhaps Pospisil and Dodig, but there are a lot of players — Monfils, Chardy, Benneteau, Cilic, Granollers, Nieminen, Mayer — still in the hunt.

We’ll be doing seeding updates as we get toward the end of the week.

KEYWORDS: Preview Brisbane Chennai Doha

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

 

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

No ATP Events

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Brisbane (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Andy Murray

Chennai (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Janko Tipsarevic

Doha (250/Hard). Defending Champion: Richard Gasquet

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

 

RANKINGS

 

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of December 30, 2013

 

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Nadal………….13030

2..(2) Djokovic……….12260

3..(3) Ferrer………….5800

4..(4) Murray………….5540

5..(5) Del Potro……….5255

6..(6) Federer…………4205

7..(7) Berdych…………4180

8..(8) Wawrinka………..3730

9..(9) Gasquet…………3140

10.(10) Tsonga………….3065

11.(11) Raonic………….2860

12.(12) Haas……………2435

13.(13) Almagro…………2290

14.(14) Isner…………..2150

15.(15) Youzhny…………2145

16.(16) Fognini…………1930

17.(17) Nishikori……….1840

18.(18) Robredo…………1810

19.(19) Simon…………..1790

20.(20) Anderson………..1685

21.(21) Janowicz………..1615

22.(22) Kohlschreiber……1525

23.(23) Dimitrov………..1460

24.(24) Gulbis………….1393

25.(25) Seppi…………..1360

26.(28) Lopez…………..1310

27.(26) Paire…………..1300

28.(27) Melzer………….1290

29.(29) Tursunov………..1244

30.(30) Verdasco………..1235

**DRAWS

 

Brisbane

 

1 Federer

–bye

Duckworth (WC)

Nieminen

Matosevic

Benneteau

Querrey

7 Tursunov

 

4 Anderson

–bye

Groth (WC)

Qualifier

Sijsling

Mahut

Mannarino

8 Chardy

 

6 Lopez

Kukushkin

Hewitt

Qualifier

Qualifier

Qualifier

–bye

3 Simon

 

5 Dimitrov

Haase

Istomin

Cilic

Kyrgios (WC)

Ebden

–bye

2 Nishikori

Chennai

 

1 Wawrinka

–bye

Becker

Reister

Qualifier

Bedene

Qualifier

8 Bautista Agut

 

3 Fognini

–bye

Carreno Busta

Bhambri (WC)

Lu

Smyczek

Edmund (WC)

5 Pospisil

 

6 Granollers

Qualifier

Devvarman

Qualifier

Garcia-Lopez

Nedovyesov

–bye

4 Paire

 

7 Roger-Vasselin

Ramos

Nedunchezniyan (WC)

Vesely

Sela

Lacko

–bye

2 Youzhny

Doha

 

1 Nadal

Rosol

Jaziri (WC)

Kamke

Gimeno-Traver

Kubot

Qualifier

7 Gulbis

 

4 Berdych

Karlovic

Qualifier

Dodig

Qualifier

Qualifier

Andujar

6 Kohlschreiber

 

8 Verdasco

Volandri

Sousa

Hanescu

Przysiezny

F Mayer

Zayed (WC)

3 Murray

 

5 Gasquet

Hossam (WC)

Giraldo

Monfils

Brands

Davydenko

Dolgopolov

2 Ferrer

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

 

No ATP Matches Played

Topics: 10sballs.com, Agnieszka Radwanska, Andreas Seppi, Andy Murray, Australian Open, David Ferrer, Eugenie Bouchard, Flavia Pennetta, GRIGOR DIMITROV, Grzegorz Panfil, Hopman Cup, Janko Tipsarevic, Jarkko Nieminen, John Isner, Rafael Nadal, Richard Gasquet, Roger Federer, Samantha Stosur, Tennis, Tennis News, Tomas Berdych

10sBalls Top Stories

• Deneme Bonusu Kampanyaları ile Yatırımsız Kazanç Sağlama
• 2024’ün En İyi Bonus Kampanyaları Hangileri?
• Hoşgeldin Bonusu Almanın Avantajları
• Güncel Deneme Bonusları: Hangi Sitelerde Mevcut?
• 2024 Yılında Deneme Bonusları Veren Sitelerin Özellikleri
• Deneme Bonusu İle Eğlenceli Slot Oyunları
• Efesbet Lisansı: Kayıtlı Olduğu Kurumlar
• Почему Отказывают В Выплате Dragon Money?
• Драгон Мани Играть На Деньги! Мобильная Версия Доступна Уже!
• Казино Комета (Kometa) официальный сайт, войти через рабочее зеркало
• Онлайн казино Комета (Kometa): лучший выбор для игроков
• Зеркало Kometa Casino | Рабочее Зеркало для Входа в Комета Казино 2024
• Казино Банда Зеркало
• Казино Банда (Banda) Официальный Сайт, Войти Через Рабочее Зеркало
• Банда Казино Мобильная Версия Официальный Сайт Banda Casino

In Case You Missed It

Официальный Сайт Банда Казино Casino Banda: Регистрация, Вход И Бонусы ️ Играть Онлайн На Официальном Сайте Banda Casino

Официальный сайт Banda Casino регистрация вход

Banda Casino Зеркало – Рабочие Зеркало На Сегодня Банда Казино

Актуальные рабочие зеркала казино Банда на

Banda Casino Зеркало – Рабочие Зеркало На Сегодня Банда Казино

Обновленное зеркало Банда казино на сегодня

Как Войти В Онлайн Казино Банда?

Как начать играть в онлайн казино

Как Вывести Деньги Kometa Casino?

Как осуществить вывод денежных средств из