Individual sports
rankings have always been a confusing formula. No matter if it's golf,
tennis or ping-pong, rankings put together an assortment of numbers and
records to try and get the most accurate interpretation of the current
state of that sport, the problem being that sometimes it can't see the
forest from the trees.
That is the current case with the seedings of Wimbledon. Rafael Nadal, who on June 9 won his record eighth French Open title,
his first Grand Slam victory since returning from a seven-month hiatus
from the sport because of a knee injury, actually dropped in the ATP
rankings following his Grand Slam win.
On May 27, Nadal
was the fourth-ranked player in the world, and following his win, when
the rankings came out on June 10, he had dropped to No. 5. I understand
that rankings put together a cumulative list of records and wins and
focus on the whole pie as opposed to the most recent slice, but if you
are telling me your ranking system works after it drops a guy that just
won a Grand Slam title down a peg, then you, my friend, aren't getting
it.
Nadal is now ranked No. 5 in the world, getting jumped by fellow Spaniard David Ferrer,
who Nadal handled quite easily in the French Open finals, and despite
questions from tennis fans and experts alike, will be seeded No. 5 when
Wimbledon kicks off next week.
Yes, that's right, Nadal, the hottest player in the world right now
and a guy that is 43-2 this year after returning to the game, is not
even one of the top-four seeds at the most famous tennis tournament in
the world.
What does this mean?
Well, it first puts Nadal at an automatic disadvantage later in his rounds, forcing him to play Roger Federer, Andy Murray or Novak Djokovic
in the quarterfinals, then drawing a formidable opponent in the
semifinals only to most likely face one of those previous names in the
finals on grass.
Nadal would most likely have to go through those guys anyway, but
could you imagine having to slug out a five-set win over Djokovic only
to come out two days later and get Ferrer, a man who is playing some
great tennis right now, and then see Murray in the finals?
Nadal has won this event twice, making the finals in five of his last
six starts at Wimbledon, yet his time away from the game because of
injury is affecting his pole position, meaning he has to run through The
Big Three well before one would expect.
It seems like a short-sighted way of ranking your players by
Wimbledon, and will most likely ruin an incredible semifinals slate that
could see the four names in men's tennis that we all want to see go
against each other for the title King of the Grass.
The only good news for Nadal fans is the last time he got upset at a tournament for the scheduling, he went on to win the title. And as far as weird tennis rankings go, this isn't the first time we've run into something strange going on with the numbers.
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