1972Murat said:
Now that the DC is over, it might be time to talk about the first Masters 1000 tournament.
Thoughts?
I am very excited. IW really marks the beginning of the real tennis year, so to speak.
Also, for the first time since September 2014, we have all top 10 players participating in
the same tourney. Cilic did not play in AO, Rafa did not play in WTF and Paris.
So, basically Shanghai was the last tournament with all top 10 players playing in it.
Also, IW marks the first time after almost one and half years we have the big four
being the same as top four in a tourney.
Finally, we also have M. Fish playing after a long time.
The only sad news is that JMDP still could not make it.
There were only four withdrawals so far: JMDP, Tipsy, Almagro and Worm.
While we are already aware of the injury issues of Tipsy and Worm, I thought
Almagro was back in action. He was playing in the golden swing, although not
doing well there. He too decided to drop out. I don't know the exact reasons.
If the Fed in current form gets Rafa in current form, we can see some damage
control of the H2H. However, even if both Rafa and Roger were in the same half,
I really doubt that Rafa can make it to SF under his current form.