Shanghai Scenarios
Heading into the Paris Masters weekend, the following six players have qualified for Shanghai – Nadal, Federer, Djokovic, Murray, Davydenko and Roddick. That leaves two spots, which are currently held by Juan Martin del Potro and Gilles Simon, open for the taking. Both del Potro and Simon have lost, leaving David Nalbandian, James Blake & Muhammed Ali (err, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga) an open door to sneak into. Nalbandian needs to win the event to qualify; Blake merely needs to make the finals (far easier now that he is already in the semis courtesy of a Federer default); Tsonga must make the final as well – however he is currently up against Roddick and if he wins that, will play Blake tomorrow. By process of deduction, this all means that for del Potro to qualify, he must hope that Nalbandian does not win the title over Blake (if Blake reaches the final, it also means that Tsonga did not); furthermore, for Simon to qualify, he must hope that Roddick defeats both Tsonga and Blake (leaving both of them out of the finals).
Seriously, read the above like 4 times and it will make sense. One quick sidenote before links – if Roddick should beat Tsonga and come up against Blake, how motivated will he be to win? He has already qualified for Shanghai and knows that if Blake wins another American would qualify for the year end Masters event. The difference between being a semifinalist and a finalist is about $115k and 125 ranking points. I realize those are significant numbers- but given all the somewhat negative press towards Roddick and Blake not living up to expectations over the years, I’m sure Roddick would love to have another year where both he and Blake qualify for the year end Championships.
Links:
Updated Sony WTA Race.
USTA CEO stepping down.
Jankovic deserving of the No. 1 ranking?
New Werthaim mailbag & Ad In/Ad Out.
Someone has too much time on their hands. But this really is funny, make sure you last til the end because the 2 minute 48 second marker has something special.