Tennis: Federer Getting A Free Ride?

[mauiguy90]

Roger Federer is a great player, no doubt! He has won Wimbledon 4 times and over 10 major titles in a short span of time. However, this year in the major tournaments, he is getting a free ride. He has been getting easy draws in major tournaments year long. In the French Open, aside from Nadal, he did not face one opponent who has ever defeated him.

In his Wimbledon draw, its the same thing. With the exception of Marat Safin, who is very clearly a "head case", his draw to the finals is a walk in the park. In the first round, he met the 85th ranked player, who couldn't even put his hat on straight. 2nd round, he faced Del Potro, who at age 18, clearly has no clue how to play on a grass court. 3rd round, he faced Safin--enough said.

He was to face Tommy Haas, who coincidentally announced two weeks ago, that he was not playing in the tournament due to a severe shoulder injury. Haas reportedly found some last minute treatment in Germany and decided to play on despite the injury. Haas amazingly won his first two matches, only to default to Federer in the 4th round due to an abdominal injury. Fed slides into the quarters. How does Fed coincidentally draw an opponent, who just two weeks ago was going to drop out of the tourney?

In the quarters, he will meet either Ferrero or "Tipsy", two clay courters. Roddick in the semis and then on to the finals... Maybe Wimbledon should just have seeded Roger into the finals instead...

I know that there are few people that can beat Federer, but where are Canas, Volandri, Stepanek, Nalbandian, Hrbaty, Gasket? Is it asking too much to have Fed face someone in a major tournament who has beaten him? Everyone was waiting for Federer to meet Canas in a major tournament but now that matchup is all but forgotten. Murray is injured and so is Haas now.

So here's my question: Are these major tournaments set up for Roger Federer to win? Or is it simply, the luck of the draw?

[paulfr]

So here's my question: Are these major tournaments set up for Roger Federer to win? Or is it simply, the luck of the draw?

Well if the answer to your question was YES, that would mean there is an international conspiracy for Federer to get easy draws by some sort of fixing of the process by which the draw is established. Such a conspiracy would be almost impossible to hide in view of the media exposure major events get not to mention the entire field of players would be outraged at such an unfair bias toward Fed. Makes no sense that such a conspiracy could go undetected or tolerated.

Sounds to me like the simple human emotion of ENVY in your heart is showing.

Also, it seems you do not understand the basis for having seedings.

Do not the tough opponents usually appear in the later rounds ? This occurs intentionally, by design, using the seeding process so that the best matches between the top players occur at the end. And fans do not want the best players eliminated early because they want to see them play as many matches as possible.

And how is facing Andy Roddick in the semis deemed to be "setting up Fed to win" ???

Edited July 3, 2007 by paulfr

[mauiguy90]

So here's my question: Are these major tournaments set up for Roger Federer to win? Or is it simply, the luck of the draw?

Well if the answer to your question was YES, that would mean there is an international conspiracy for Federer to get easy draws by some sort of fixing of the process by which the draw is established. Such a conspiracy would be almost impossible to hide in view of the media exposure major events get not to mention the entire field of players would be outraged at such an unfair bias toward Fed. Makes no sense that such a conspiracy could go undetected or tolerated.

Sounds to me like the simple human emotion of ENVY in your heart is showing.

Also, it seems you do not understand the basis for having seedings.

Do not the tough opponents usually appear in the later rounds ? This occurs intentionally, by design, using the seeding process so that the best matches between the top players occur at the end. And fans do not want the best players eliminated early because they want to see them play as many matches as possible.

And how is facing Andy Roddick in the semis deemed to be "setting up Fed to win" ???

PaulFr,

Seems like a hit a nerve here. Thought defenders of Federer would respond to this hot topic. Of course, you neglect to mention that in my first sentence I do point out that Federer is clearly a great player having won over 10 major tournaments.

However, my point still stands that he has not played anyone of consequence in a major tournament this year, outside of Nadal, who has had a recent win against him. I have already named a number of them in my original entry. Also, I mentioned before, by coincidence or not, Federer had Tommy Haas in his draw, a man who had previously announced that he would not be playing at Wimbledon due to a serious shoulder injury. Of course, the final straw would have been if Federer had Andy Murray in his draw.

I am aware of how tournaments are run, having been the vice president of a major tennis league in Hawaii. In that capacity, I have run several tournaments. Of course, the higher seeded players compete in the later rounds. However, which one of the higher seeds they play is supposedly determined by a semi-random draw.

If you have run a tournament, you would know that the #1 player has to play either the #3 or #4 seeded player in the semis. The tournament committee supposedly holds a random draw to determine whether the #3 or #4 seeded players plays the #1.... There supposedly are random draws to determine which seeds play each other, for each round of play, using the seeding format. (If you can't understand this, then I can explain in more detail in an email.)

My question is this: when have you ever seen the tournament draws being made on major media? Then, if you have not, how can you be so sure that the draws are not set up to keep the major seeds in the tournament and thereby, keep people interested in watching the tournament on tv, buying tickets, souvenirs, and so forth. If the World Series was fixed, then why couldn't the draw be set up to favor Federer.

Of course, Federer has to beat whoever is in his draw. I am not saying that the tournament is in itself fixed. However, isn't it possible that the draw is set up to favor Federer? Just consider for a moment, the millions of dollars of revenue that are made in a major tournament. And think for a moment, who is the glamour boy of tennis? How many people watch television just to see Federer play? Millions! How many of them know players by name outside of Federer and possibly Nadal? Very few... Think of what would happen to the interest level in the tournament, if Federer lost in an early round. Big bucks are one the line!

As for Roddick vs. Federer, I leave that to you to research yourself. After checking out the statistics, if you still think Roddick has a decent chance against Federer, let me know. I have some swamp land in Esan for sale. If that doesn't do it, then maybe a twenty spot on the line would be a sporting wager.

P.S. Don't take things so serious, PaulFr...