11/05/24
March 03, 2007
What happens in Vegas...: doesn't stay in Vegas for long, if you are the ATP. The men's tour has been experimenting with a round-robin format at select events this year, and thus far it has proven to be a disaster. At the latest stop, Las Vegas, a rule was temporarily rewritten mid-tournament to favor the top seed and defending champion, and then the situation was mysteriously reversed in the middle of the night. Midnight overseas phone calls, a cash payoff, and inciting the fury of the players: you can't make this stuff up! Previous "disasters" inside...
posted by somethingotherthan to tennis at 05:03 PM - 3 comments
Sounds absolutely nuts. Not sure what to think, but I like the line from the article, writen by the soup de le jour-nalist I’ve never supported the round robin concept because it’s open to manipulation and it’s too freaking confusion. Agreed, it is too freaking confusion.
posted by 2 time mvp of the shittiest team ever at 05:24 PM on March 03, 2007
This reminds me of the sumo wrestling chapter in Freakonomics. In the sumo tournaments there, they have something like a 16 man round robin. But wrestlers only get paid (or get points, whatever) if they finish with a winning record. The number of 7-7 guys who won their last match was higher than would be expected when controlling for difficulty of opponent.
posted by mbd1 at 09:36 PM on March 03, 2007
The problem with the round robin system they are using is that there are 8 groups of 3 players, with one player from each group advancing to the quarterfinals. In the event of a "dead match" between two players, one of whom already advanced to the QF, a rule was instated that said retirements or withdrawals would automatically eliminate the retiring/withdrawing player and void any of his group results. Confusing enough for you yet? In Adelaide, the first event of the year and the first to try to round-robin format, Joachim Johansson gleefully blogged about how to game the system with losses and win anyway (scroll down to Friday’s entry). Indeed, he had to rely on the other two players in his group to advance to the QFs that week. At Delray Beach, eventual champion Xavier Malisse lost his last round-robin match after qualifying for the QFs, admitting that it felt strange to win a title after losing a match, and that he didn’t feel motivated to play his final match after qualifying for the QFs. The craziness really started in Buenos Aires (can you decipher that draw sheet?), after a rash of player withdrawals crippled the system. “Nicolas Devilder will contest his first career ATP quarterfinal after the 26-year-old Frenchman topped Group 8, following No. 2 seed Juan Carlos Ferrero's 6-3, 6-3 win over Czech lucky loser Lukas Dlouhy in 64 minutes. Devilder, who battled through the Main Draw Elimination round earlier in the week, beat Ferrero in three sets in round robin action on Wednesday.” (via) The only problem? Devilder left the country before that Ferrero-Dlouhy match took place and was reported missing overnight. Ferrero was due to play Nicolas Lapentti, but Lapentti withdrew before their match, meaning his results were voided, and Ferrero was also screwed because his results would be voided, as he would not face the original third player in his group -- thus, he never had a chance to play for the QFs. So – Ferrero was on site, Devilder was not, and it took a few frantic phone calls to confirm Devilder’s location and get him back to the tourney site! Needless to say, not only were the players in Las Vegas upset about what happened, but Roger Federer has added his two cents as well. James Blake lost a few fans himself after some of the comments he made on the Tennis Channel and in his press conferences while this whole fiasco was being sorted. He thought it was a "common sense decision" for him, the top seed, defending champion, and big draw, to be reinstated into the QFs as he probably would've won his last match anyway.