Back on Course

Whew. Now that our Roger is back on top of the tennis pile and seeded number one at Cincinnati, we tennis gods don't have to screw with the draw like we did after that Serbian upstart, Djokovic, clawed his way to number 1.

Four majors have been played since Djokovic got the top spot, and, knowing our Roger has a tougher time with Rafael Nadal than he does with Djokovic, we've had to be contortionists to keep Fed in the Djoker's half of the draw. Like at the 2011 U. S. Open when for the first time since 2007, we put 1 and 3 in the same half. It was only pure coincidence that Djokovic was number 1 and our Roger number 3.  In the 3 years prior to that, 2 and 3 were in the same half, but had we done that in 2011, Roger and Nadal would have met in the semifinals and thus only one could have made it to the finals. Didn't want that.

We goofed at the 2012 Australian and sure enough our Roger and Nadal met in the semis. Djokovic and Nadal gave the fans a 6 hour tennis final of superb tennis, but it just didn't suit us not to have our Roger there. So we fixed it at the French Open. In 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, we put 1 and 4 in the same half of the draw. Had we done that in 2012, our Roger would have been in Rafael's half. No way, Jose. Nobody noticed that we put Roger back in Novak's half where he belonged except some troublemaker blogger named Growltiger.

It was no problem putting Roger and Novak in the same half at Wimbledon. Wimbledon has traditions and one of the traditions is that Federer and Djokovic are in the same half of the draw no matter where they are ranked. For example: 2008 when Roger was 1 and Novak 3; 2009 when Roger was 2 and Novak 4; 2010 when Roger was 2 and Novak 3; 2011 when Novak was 2 and Roger 3. So in 2012 with Novak ranked 1 and our Roger the third seed, nobody questioned us except that cat Growltiger. 

As we hoped, Roger defeated the upstart Serb in the semis and went on to win the tournament and reclaim his rightful place on the tennis throne. 

With Nadal injured, he no longer is in Federer's way. (Even if he weren't hurt, he'd be ranked third, so we'd stick him in Novak's half. Watch for it in the U. S. Open). 

Unfortunately, Djokovic is ranked number 2, so it just isn't possible to put him and Roger in the same half at Cincinnati. Even the dullest tennis fans and stupidest commentators would notice if we went that far. So we did the next best thing we could. We made sure Murray (3) and Del Potro (6) wouldn't take him out before the finals. Yep, there they are over in Novak's half where they belong. Are we slick or not?