Sweet Relief
Glad the Sox won, although listening to Tim McCarver for another week may force me to dig out my own eardrums. Ok, here comes an epic bridge from Red Sox baseball to professional tennis…The Red Sox proved over the past few days to be incredibly clutch, unlike say, pretty much every male still trying to qualify for the season ending ATP Tour Championships in Shanghai. Five men have already qualified – Federer, Nadal, Djokavic, Davydenko and Roddick, leaving three spots open. The following players are the viable candidates: Gonzalez, Blake, Ferrer, Robredo, Berdych, Gasquet, Haas, Moya & Ljubicic.
Here is how each of them fared in last week’s Masters Event in Madrid: Gonzales – loss in QF to Kiefer; Blake – loss in 2nd round to Ancic; Ferrer – loss in 2nd round to Lopez; Robredo – loss in 2nd round to del Potro; Berdych – loss in 2nd round to Nalbandian; Gasquet – loss in 2nd round to Mathieu; Haas – loss in 2nd round to Monaco; Moya - loss in 2nd round to Ferrero; Ljubicic – loss in 2nd round to Koubek. It would be unfair of me not to also report that all of those 2nd round losses look even worse after one realizes that all of those players had byes in the first round. I realize that every single loss was to a very talented player, but its amazing to me that 9 of 10 guys vying for just a few spots could not step up when it matters most. Kudos to Gonzalez for at least winning a few matches and putting himself in a good position to clinch a spot over the next couple of tournaments. Ferrer is currently 6th on the list, with a pretty good shot of making it, and the next 8 guys are separated by 29 points, so anything can still happen. Look for Gonzo to make a run at Basel this week to try to secure a spot, and Gasquet will play the next two weeks in his home country, so don’t be too surprised if he ends up in Shanghai as well.
Oh yeah, hell may indeed be freezing over, as the Red Sox are playing for the 2nd World Series Title in four years after going without one for 86 years, and Nalbandian defeated Federer to capture the Masters Title in Madrid. He also became the second player this year to defeat the top 3 in one tournament (Djokavic, Nadal & Federer) to capture a title. Djokavic was the other to do it, back in Montreal over Roddick, Nadal and Federer. And before people come at me with the typical, “But Nalbandian has always had Federer’s number” argument, Federer had won 8 of the last 9 meetings between the two dating back to 2003.
Since, this was a Men’s only blog, I’ll leave you some links with stories regarding the WTA.
Henin captures her 9th title of the year.
Serena qualifies for season-ending WTA Championships in Madrid.
Current race standings.
Mirza calling it quits for 2007.
Nothing to do with tennis, but it makes me happy.