The Djoke Is On

The Wimbledon draw came out today, and Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer are on the same side of the draw. Apparently, whomever plants the grand slam seeds managed once again to keep Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal from potentially encountering each other before the finals, thus keeping alive the hope of the elusive “Fed-Al Final.”

Since they met in the 2007 U. S. Open finals, Federer and Djokovic have been on the same side of the draw in 16 out of the 19 grand slams played. If you think that’s skewed, 4th seed, Andy Murray, has landed in Rafael Nadal’s section 18 out of the 19 times. Sorta gives a new definition to the "luck of the draw", doesn’t it?  

Djokovic became the world’s number one after winning Wimbledon in 2011. In the four grand slam tournaments since (U. S. Open, Australian Open, French Open and Wimbledon), only one (the Australian Open 2012) has placed 2nd seeded Nadal and 3rd seeded Federer on the same side of the draw. In contrast, in the six slams preceding Djokovic's ascent to the top of the tennis pile, the 2nd and 3rd seeds were on the same side of the draw.  Apparently the tennis gods are doing whatever is necessary to keep Federer and Nadal out of each other’s way.  

Had Wimbledon seeded the top four this year as they did last year and the year before, Federer and Nadal would have been in the same half, destroying any possibility of their meeting in the finals. Can’t have that.

You'd think the ATP, which is supposed to be looking out for all the players, not just those named Federer and Nadal, would lodge a protest. If not, then certainly Djokovic and Murray, the pawns in this apparently ongoing pursuit of an elusive Feder-Nadal Final, would at least grouse about it to the sports writers. And why haven't Brad Gilbert, the McEnroes, Mary Carillo or any of the other tennis commentators commented? 

Maybe this year. Or maybe not. 

On Britannia


I gave fair warning that some of the articles in Growltiger’s Litter Box will bore. This probably is one of them.  I’m a bean counter. I like to play with numbers and data. I see patterns. Most of all, I notice the fly on the pillow case during the love scene (to quote film director, Richard Lester).


On Friday, June 22nd, the Wimbledon draw comes out, and for the first time since 2004, the top seed is not named Nadal or Federer. 


For the past seven Wimbledons, Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have been on opposite sides of the draw as was fitting since the pair lobbed the number one ranking back and forth like a badminton bird. But in 2011, a skunk by the name of Novak Djokovic wandered into the Federer-Nadal garden party and spoiled the fun. 


Considered the perennial bridesmaid since he unexpectedly made the finals of the 
2007 U. S. Open, Djokovic seemed content as the 3rd best player in the world. But that changed in 2011 when Djokovic went on a tear, winning 41 straight matches, including the Australian Open, until he lost at the semifinals at Roland Garros to–you guessed it: Roger Federer. 


Djokovic won the 2011 Wimbledon and became the world’s top tennis player. 


Two months later, he entered the U. S. Open as the number one seed.


The definition of a tennis draw is as follows: The designation of who will play whom in a bracketed, elimination tournament. After the seeds are placed, the rest of the players' names are drawn at random and placed in the remaining brackets. It's usually considered a "bad draw" to have to play one of the top seeds in an early round. 


It is set in stone that the top seed is placed at the top of the draw and the 2nd seed at the bottom. But apparently where the 3rd and 4th seeds land is as arbitrary as it is important. (If three is in the 2nd seed’s half, it assures only one of them can be in the final). For those who want another Federer-Nadal final, this is a problem. 


So who decides where to place three and four? The tennis officials? The luck of the draw? 


Had the prior six slams been any indication, at the 2011 U. S. Open, the 4th seed (Andy Murray) would have been in Djokovic’s half of the draw. Unfortunately, this would have meant Nadal and Federer were in the other half and the potential for a Federer-Nadal final an impossibility. Apparently the tennis gods didn't want that, so for the first time since 2007, the 3rd seed landed in the top half of the draw.  Happenstance? Or were the tennis gods messing with us?  


The 2011 U. S. Open was the 5th slam in a row that Federer and Djokovic were in the same section. In fact, it was  the 12th time out of the last 14 slams they ended up in the same half. (The exceptions: The 2008 and 2010 French Open where Rafael Nadal is considered unbeatable on the red clay of Roland Garros. See French Kiss, this blogsite.) 


Is 12 out of 14 slams a coincidence? An oddity? The luck of the draw? If so, this coincidental oddity would be repeated at the 2012 French Open where, for the first time since 2006, the 4th seed was not in the top seed’s section. Once again, Federer and Nadal were in opposite sides of the draw.  


Professional sports is entertainment, and there is no question tennis fans want a Federer-Nadal finals. So what will Wimbledon do? Give the fans that possibility by placing 3rd seed Federer in Djokovic’s half as the French and U. S. Opens did? Or follow the procedure of the past two years and place the 2nd and 3rd seeds together in the bottom half precluding the possibility of a Federer-Nadal final? We will know on Friday. But whatever happens, it will be interesting for those of us who like to count beans.

French Kiss 

In tennis, there are four major tournaments–The Australian and U.S. Opens played on hard courts, Wimbledon which is played on grass, and the French Open which is played on red clay, sometimes sneeringly referred to as dirt.


On June 11, 2012, Rafael Nadal won his seventh French Open title, defeating Novak Djokovic in four sets beset by rain which gave the final--carried over to Monday--a humid air of anti-climax.

Mr. Nadal is inarguably the best clay court player in the history of the sport and currently one of the three best tennis players in the world on any surface. Fortunately for Mr. Nadal, in the French Open this year, the other two were on the other side of the draw and had to face each other before they got a shot at him -- as they have been for 12 out of the last 14 majors and it hasn't mattered what their ranking was.

Just as conveniently for Mr. Nadal, the player who had defeated him a month ago on clay (Madrid, May 2012) likewise was on the Djokovic-Federer side of the draw.

There was a lot on the line in the French Open this year: If Mr. Federer won, he’d have added another major title to his impressive collection of tournament scalps giving him an almost insurmountable record of major titles. If Mr. Djokovic won, he’d be the first player since 1969 to hold all four titles at once. If Mr. Nadal won, he’d win his seventh French Open. Wonder which one the French Federation was most interested in?

Any die-hard tennis fan betting on the outcome of the French Open easily could see Mr. Nadal’s path to the final was a fait d’accompli unless he broke a leg, or like the racehorse, I’ll Have Another, got tendonitis and had to be scratched. Mr. Djokovic’s and Mr. Federer’s paths, on the other hand, were not so easy. Before they could get to Mr. Nadal, they’d have to face each other in the semi finals. That’s assuming either one made it that far. Their half of the draw was saturated with big-hitting land mines named Del Potro, Anderson, Berdych and Tsonga. With the exception of Mr. Anderson, all had been in the finals of a major, and Mr. Del Potro has a U. S. Open title (2009).

Mr. Nadal’s side of the draw was not so heavily populated with potholes. Andy Murray (4) who has been in two majors, hasn’t beaten Mr. Nadal in a major since 2008, and had a bad back. Fellow Spaniard, David Ferrer (seeded 6th), has only one clay court victory over Mr. Nadal, and that was eight years ago. Mr. Ferrer has never reached a major final. Another of Mr. Nadal’s Spanish teammates, Nicholas Almagro, was likewise in his half of the draw. Like Mr. Ferrer, Mr. Almagro has never been in the finals of a major tournament. Serbian Janko Tipsarevic (8) also was in Mr. Nadal's half of the draw. Mr. Tipsarevic has never taken a set off Mr. Nadal.

Interestingly in the French Opens of 2009, 2010 and 2011, the number 4 player was in the top half of the draw with the number 1 seed. In those three years, Messrs. Federer and Djokovic were seeded 2 and 3. This year, with Mr. Djokovic seeded 1, the number 4 player found himself in the bottom half of the draw with Mr. Nadal (2).

Gives new meaning to “the luck of the draw” doesn’t it?

Waiting to Fast Forward

Some people wait for the bus, intellectuals tend to wait for Godot, but when it comes to watching tennis on television, I wait for the DVR to get far enough ahead so I can fast forward through the stuff I don't want to see. 

It isn't the commercials I object to. I accept commercials as necessary because they pay the bills. Frankly, some are quite entertaining. I actively seek the one with Novak Djokovic playing tennis on an airplane wing and the amusing one where Roger Federer is stopped by TSA because he has Swiss chocolate balls in his carry-on. I don't mind seeing ads for Tennis equipment and clothes and I get a real kick out of the tournaments showing shots of the pros having a good time as the French is doing during this tournament. I enjoy the interviews with both the men and the women and like to hear them analyze the game just past. I love trying to figure out what Rafael Nadal is saying. I rarely succeed. This year he seems to have forgotten his birthday. 

So why is waiting for the DVD to record ahead so I can fast forward as important as waiting for Godot to show up? Well, frankly, it's the women's matches where these long-legged, pony-tailed Lulus shriek like a Banshee every time they hit the ball, coming out with ear-splitting shrieks that sound as though they're giving birth on the tennis court. That or passing a kidney stone the size of a golf ball. 

Then there's the schizophrenic switching from one match to another. Like this morning on the Tennis Channel when world number 1, Novak Djokovic, was down two sets to 1 to Andreas Seppi (22 in the world).  Exciting stuff. Could Djokovic come back? What was the matter with him? Could Seppi continue to play out of his mind? Was this going to be a three setter? Or would it go four or five? Djokovic holds three major tittles at this time (Wimbledon, US Open and Australian Open). If he wins the French, he will be the first player in a long time to hold all four major titles at once. There's a lot riding on his matches. I was on the edge of the couch. But instead of sticking with the Djokovic-Seppi match, the Tennis Channel opted to show the last few points of a woman's match being played at the same time as the Seppi-Djokovic match. I tried to fast forward to get back to the match to which I was committed and had been watching, but the DVR had caught up and I was on real time. Bummer. So to give the DVR time to do its thing, I bailed and took the dog for a walk . Hopefully, by the time I get back to the tennis, the DVR will have trudged along and given me the freedom to watch matches that are interesting instead of matches that I have to watch with the mute button on.