Labels

Popular Posts of the Week

Saturday, February 27, 2016

Is Rafa Losing Interest in Tennis?

I admit I was one of those who were shocked that Rafa Nadal lost to Pablo Cuevas in the semi's of the recent Rio de Janeiro Open. It's painful to watch a player of so much talent to lose to a player whose rank hovers around the 50s.  Cuevas took advantage of the win and went on to win the tournament gaining him big points in the process (and certainly a boost in self-confidence).

It's almost the start of the clay court season and for years Nadal has dominated almost all the tournaments he has participated in. I wasn't so alarmed last year if he lost to Djokovic or Ferrer or Roger, but now, to start losing to players almost 10 times lower than his current rank, makes you wonder if Rafa is starting to lose interest in tennis.

Sayang naman, because he's only 29 years old and has still a few more years to contribute to the rivalries of this sport that has made him very much loved the world over.

In contrast, Francesca Schiavone won the women's side of the same tournament, and Schiavo even failed to qualify to the main draw of the Australian Open.  In Schiavo's case, it may be that her game couldn't quite match now to all the new young power players in the women's circuit but her win in Rio suggests that, even if that may be the case, that she still has the fighting spirit to win tournaments, be they small or big ones.

It's when the player loses their fighting spirit that makes it very hard for their fans to watch their heroes play.

Wednesday, February 3, 2016

Fantasy Tennis: 2016 Women's Afro-Europa Cup - Actual Competition

Kerber GER 1
Ivanovic
Ivanovic  SRB
Mladenovic FRA Safarova CZE 8
Safarova CZE 8
Safarova CZE 8
Radwanska POL 3 Azarenka BLR
Azarenka BLR
Azarenka BLR
Wozniacki DEN Wozniacki DEN
Suarez Navarro ESP 6
Azarenka BLR
Muguruza ESP 4 Sharapova RUS 5
Pliskova CZE
Pliskova CZE
Pavlyuchenkova RUS Kvitova CZE 7
Kvitova CZE 7
Kvitova CZE 7
Halep ROU 2 Sharapova RUS 5
Bencic SUI
Bencic SUI
Schmiedlova SVK Sharapova RUS 5
Sharapova RUS 5

Fantasy Tennis: 2016 Women's Afro-Europa Cup Top 32 Seeds

The 2016 Afro-European Women's Cup has the following players as the seeded players.

1. Angelique Kerber (GER)

2. Simona Halep (ROU)

3. Agnieszka Radwanska (POL)

4. Garbine Muguruza (ESP)

5. Maria Sharapova (RUS)

6. Carla Suarez Navarro (ESP)

7. Petra Kvitova (CZE)

8. Lucie Safarova (CZE)

9. Belinda Bencic (SUI)

10. Karolina Pliskova (CZE)

11. Victoria Azarenka (BLR)

12.  Timea Bacsinszky (SUI)

13. Roberta Vinci (ITA)

14. Svetlana Kuznetsova (RUS)

15. Caroline Wozniacki (DEN)

16. Jelena Jankovic (SRB)

17. Ana Ivanovic (SRB)

18. Elina Svitolina (UKR)

19. Sara Errani (ITA)

20. Andrea Petkovic (GER)

21.  Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (RUS)

22. Johanna Konta (GBR)

23. Anna Karolina Schmiedlova (SVK)

24. Kristina Mladenovic (FRA)

25. Ekaterina Makarova (RUS)

26. Sabine Lisicki (GER)

27.  Irina Camelia Begu (ROU)

28. Lesia Tsurenko (UKR)

29. Ons Jabeur (TUN)

30. Chanel Simmonds (RSA)

31. Ola Abou Zekry (EGY)

32. Chiraz Bekhri (TUN)

Tuesday, February 2, 2016

Fantasy Tennis: 2016 Men's Afro-Europa Cup - Actual Competition

Djokovic SRB 1
Simon FRA
Djokovic SRB 1
Monfils FRA Tsonga FRA 8
Tsonga FRA 8
Djokovic SRB 1
Federer SUI 3 Federer SUI 3
Anderson RSA
Federer SUI 3
Bautista Agut ESP Ferrer ESP 6
Ferrer ESP 6
Djokovic SRB 1
Wawrinka SUI 4 Nadal ESP 5
Cilic CRO
Wawrinka SUI 4
Thiem AUT Berdych CZE 7
Berdych  CZE 7
Wawrinka SUI 4
Murray GBR 2 Nadal ESP 5
Gasquet FRA
Murray GBR 2
Dimitrov BUL Nadal ESP 5
Nadal ESP 5

Fantasy Tennis: 2016 Men's Afro-Europa Cup Top 32 Seeds


This is the second year for the Europa Men's Cup, my fantasy tennis cup for tennis players from Europe and Africa.  Based on the existing fantasy tennis schedule, this is going to be the first fantasy tennis event of the year right after the Australian Open.

So based on the rankings this week, here are the top 32 seeds for the 2016 Europa Men's Cup -


#1 Novak Djokovic (SRB)


#2 Andy Murray (GBR)


#3 Roger Federer (SUI)

#4 Stan Wawrinka (SUI)


#5 Rafael Nadal (ESP)

#6 David Ferrer (ESP)


#7 Tomas Berdych (CZE)


#8 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA)


#9 Richard Gasquet (FRA)

#10 Marin Cilic (CRO)

#11 Kevin Anderson (RSA)


#12 Gilles Simon (FRA)

#13 David Goffin (BEL)

#14 Gael Monfils (FRA)

#15 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)

#16 Dominic Thiem (AUT)

#17 Benoit Paire (FRA)

#18 Feliciano Lopez (ESP)

#19 Fabio Fognini (ITA)

#20 Viktor Troicki (SRB)

#21 Ivo Karlovic (CRO)

#22 Guillermo Garcia-Lopez (ESP)

#23 Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)


#24 Jeremy Chardy (FRA)

#25 Andreas Seppi (ITA)

#26 Alexandr Dolgopolov (UKR)

#27 Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER)

#28 Borna Coric (CRO)

#29 Tommy Robredo (ESP)

#30 Malek Jaziri (TUN) -122

#31 Mohamed Safwat (EGY) - 279

#32 Tucker Vorster (RSA) - 300

Fantasy Tennis WTA Tour: 2016 Year-End Running Groupings

Group A
Angelique
Agnieszka
Victoria
Zhang
Angelique

5-6
1-6
1-0
Agnieszka
6-5

5-12
3-0
Victoria
6-1
12-5

0-0
Zhang
0-1
0-3
0-0



Group B
Serena
Johanna
Carla
Maria
Serena

0-0
6-0
19-2
Johanna
0-0

0-0
0-1
Carla
0-6
0-0

1-4
Maria
2-19
1-0
4-1


Semi-Final A

Victoria Azarenka vs. Maria Sharapova

Semi-Final B

Serena Williams vs. Agnieszka Radwanska

Finals

Serena Williams vs. Maria Sharapova

Monday, February 1, 2016

Fantasy Tennis ATP Tour: 2016 Year-End Running Groupings

Every week, as the points changes, these groupings will change as well.

For this week, this is how the play went.

Group A
Novak
Milos
Tomas
Gael


Novak

5-0
22-2
11-1


Milos
0-5

3-2
1-2
4-9
0.44
Tomas
2-22
2-3

6-1
10-26
0.38
Gael
1-11
2-1
1-6

4-18
0.22

Group B
Andy
Roger
David
Kei
Andy

11-14
13-6
5-1
Roger
14-11

16-0
4-2
David
6-13
0-16


Kei
1-5
2-4



Semi-Finals A

Novak Djokovic vs. Andy Murray

Semi-Finals B

Roger Federer vs. Milos Raonic

Finals

Novak Djokovic vs. Roger Federer