Tennis-X Friday Rage: Rusedski Goes Slumming, Golf to Race

Posted on November 4, 2005

By Richard Vach, Tennis-X.com Senior Writer

PGA Tour Follows ATP Points Race Confusion

Fans of confusing points/rankings/standings/race systems rejoiced this week at the news that professional golf would follow the ATP in emulating NASCAR's points standings, with PGA Tour commissioner Tim Finchem announcing a likely new season-long points race for golf in 2007.

Why it takes two years to plan, perhaps, is golf executives mulling what a potentially bad idea it is.

Like NASCAR's "Chase for the Nextel Cup" that began last year, with only the Top 10 drivers for the season competing in the final 10 races for the overall title, golf would have only the top players compete in four season-ending events with a massive payoff to the top finisher, along with perhaps an island in the Caribbean or an oil well in Doha.

Sounds just like men's tennis' "race" -- except in tennis the players skip the top-tier events, and the season-ending payoff is less than massive, since the tour is hurting for money ever since their major sponsor collapse years back.

Now watch and see how the PGA -- which in terms of organization and public relations compared to the ATP is like Tiger Woods to a player trying to get through Q-school -- deals with the potential fan-confusing scenario of having a regular ranking, a prize money ranking, a "race" ranking, a "coolest sponsor stickers" ranking, etc., without alienating fans.

What not to use as your template: Having Roger Federer atop the official rankings, but then touting Younes El Aynaoui as the "Race No. 1" after he wins an event during the first week of the season. Then watching as media outlets report El Aynaoui is the No. 1-ranked tennis player.

You're In -- You're Out -- No, You're In

Did Guillermo Coria choke against unseeded Tomas Berdych when he was just one win of clinching a berth for the Masters Cup earlier this week in Paris? Who cares, since the next day Marat Safin confirmed his (already known) non-participation at Shanghai, which let Coria automatically slip in the back door.

A season full of injuries on both the men's and women's sides (which neither tour feels the need to look in to) has now caught up to the men. Now injuries have watered down an otherwise exciting race to see who the Top 8 best players in the world are. Unfortunately this year, you're not going to see the Top 8 best players in Shanghai.

Safin is out with the bad knee which has bothered him most of the year, with the big Russian waffling on surgery. Roger Federer says he'll be in Shanghai (he hopes), but he has only recently got off crutches from a badly-turned ankle. Rafael Nadal is planning on being in Shanghai even though he pulled from the Masters Series-Paris with a bad knee. Andre Agassi says he'll be there even though he has been inactive since the US Open with a bad back. And Lleyton Hewitt can still pull from the Masters Cup with an injured foot.

The Federers, Safins, Agassis and Hewitts you expect at the year-end championship are among the best -- separate from the Ivan Ljubicics, Gaston Gaudios and David Nalbandians who will likely fill the injury gaps. Sure, everyone loves Ljuby, but this is the Masters Cup, not the Guy-Who-Loses-Almost-Every-Final Cup.

This is also why the WTA cut their season-ending championships from a field of 16 to eight -- bring the champions, not the almost-rans, not the men and women who are out of the slams during the first week.

The usually-solid regular-season men's finale at the MS-Paris, usually featuring world-beaters beating on each other in a climactic finish, is outright sad this year and took on joking proportions Thursday when the ATP announced that formerly-out-of-the-picture players David Ferrer, Robby Ginepri, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Tommy Robredo and Dominik Hrbaty were now back in the race due to the withdrawal of Safin.

Don't know about you, but if I'm cuing up in Shanghai to see the best in the world, it's not to see Dave Ferrer against Tommy Robredo. Who by Thursday's day-end results look like they're now out of the picture, but you get the drift. It's also testament to Federer and Nadal Hoovering-up all the points that 37 players are still in contention for the Masters Cup during the last week of regular-season play.

On the women's side the WTA Championships will be missing Serena Williams, and Venus if Elena Dementieva wins Friday at Philly; Justine Henin-Hardenne is missing with a leg injury, Jennifer Capriati has been out all year with a bad shoulder, Maria Sharapova is iffy with a slow-healing pectoral injury and an injury to her hand, Lindsay Davenport pulled from Philly this week with the flu and has pulled from numerous events this year with a back injury, Mary Pierce has a leg injury, you could go on and on -- and these are just the top players.

From this week in Paris, where only one of the Top 6 men players posted for the "elite" Masters Series event, to potential injury exoduses from the Masters Cup and at the WTA Championships -- when does tennis start doing something to protect its product?

Where is a Chimp with a Calculator When You Need One?
Emma venting on the Tennis-X Discussion board: "god i feel like shaking the ATP sometimes. how long are the lunch breaks at ATP headquarters? does anyone there actually watch the tennis? they winge about the problems of marketing and promotion -- then at this time of the year, when they should be providing up to the minute coverage of the race to Shanghai, really milking it for all its nail biting potential..once again they drop the ball. spot the difference....Eurosport website: 'Coria and Davydenko qualify for Masters Cup' ATP website: 'Davydenko Eyes Shanghai -- No. 3 seed Nikolay Davydenko moved one step closer to claiming one of the spots'......and on and on in its infinite blandness (no mention of Coria). Come on, its simple for christ's sake -- it pisses me off -- their coverage could be exciting, intriguing, enticing -- instead its just bollocks. a chimp with a calculator, sat in front of the Eurosport website, could really make some radical improvements to the ATP's race to Shanghai coverage -- maybe that's what they should be recruiting, instead of unpaid interns."

Rusedski "Challenges" for British No. 1
Hand it to Greg Rusedski to find new ways to draw the ire of British tennis fans -- playing a Challenger event in a last-minute effort to overtake Tim Henman for the year-end title of British No. 1.

Rusedski had his chance to overtake Henman this week in Paris before falling out in the second round against Nikolay Davydenko.

Every player wants to go into their country's history books as "Former (insert country here) No. 1," but British tennis fans seem united in their opinion of "Grinning Greg" bumping "Our Tim" from the top spot by grubbing for points in tennis' minor-league circuit.

Richard Vach is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com, and can be seen this month on The Tennis Channel's "Tennis Insiders: Super Insiders" show.