Today’s Men’s News and Feature (09/11)

Written by: Staff on 11th September 2012

Today's Men's News and Feature (09/11)

epa03151106 Roger Federer of Switzerland returns the ball to John Isner of the USA during their men's final match at the BNP Paribas Open tennis tournament in Indian Wells, California, USA, 18 March 2012. Federer won 7-6(7) and 6-3. EPA/MIKE NELSON |

Davis Cup

The ritual continues: Roger Federer will once again play fall Davis Cup. Given that Switzerland is playing the Netherlands, that looks like just about a guarantee that the Swiss will advance….

****** TODAY’S FEATURE ******

This Week’s Movers — Men

Each week, Daily Tennis will look at the biggest movers of the week, looking at how they did what they did.

Biggest Upward Mover — Most Places Moved (Top 100)

Leader: TIE

Lleyton Hewitt — Moved 25 places, from #125 to #100.

Albert Montanes — Moved 25 places, from #111 to #86.

Hewitt made the U. S. Open third round before losing to David Ferrer. Montanes crashed at the Open, but then went on to win the Genova €85K Challenger (an extremely strong Challenger; Andreas Seppi was the #1 seed, and Montanes beat him in the quarterfinal. The finalist was Tommy Robredo, who rose 45 places but is still only #133).

Biggest Percentage Mover — Cut Ranking By Highest Percent (Top 100)

Leader: Andy Murray — Moved 1 place, 25%, from #4 to #3

Presumably we don’t have to tell you what Murray did….

Runner-Up: Montanes, 23%

Biggest Loser — Most Places Lost (Top 100)

Loser: Juan Carlos Ferrero — Dropped 45 places, from #66 to #111

What can we say? There is no word that Ferrero has retired, but he certainly isn’t playing.

Biggest Percentage Loser — Worst Percentage Increase in Ranking (Top 100)

Loser: Ferrero, ranking increased 68%.

Ranking Notes

Exhibit #50 or so of why we call the ATP rankings the no-movement ranking system: We just had a Slam, and no one in the Top Hundred rose more than 25%. Only four players rose as much as 20%: Murray (25%), Montanes (23%), Grega Zemlja (21%, to #78), and Hewitt (20%). Why they don’t just engrave the rankings on bronza tablets and put them up in the forum is beyond us. Wouldn’t it be fun to see rankings like these:

PSUEDO-OFFICIAL ATP RANKINGS

SEPTEMBER XI, MMXXII

I….CAESAR, GAIVS IVLIVS..MMMMMM

II…ANTONIVS, MARCVS…….MMMLX

III..LEPIDVS, MARCVS AEMIL..MMDLL

IV…CICERO, MARCVS TULLIV..MMDXX

V….CASSIVS LONGINVS, CAI..MMDII

V….BRUTVS, MARCVS JUNIVS..MMDII

VII..BRUTVS, DECIMVS JUNIV..MMCCC

VIII.PANSA, GAIVS VIBIVS….MMCCL

Oddly enough, we have more big downward moves. Ferrero fell 68%. Donald Young slid 49%, to #121. Rafael Nadal of course fell to #4, a 33% drop. Cedrik-Marcel Stebe is off 31%, to #127. And Alexandr Dolgopolov gave up 27%, to #19.

Our Personal Picks for “Best Mover of the Week”

These are subjective picks!

We knew it we would give it to Murray even before we cranked the numbers, but it’s nice to have it confirmed by the fact that he was the biggest percentage mover.