End of the road for round-robin format

ATP reported that it has decided to scrap the round-robin format. Given the recent mix-up at Las Vegas Open and unfavorable responses from players like Federer (another big "I told you so" from him), Safin, Blake and Roddick, this isn't exactly an unexpected turn of events. While many insisted that what may seem to work in theory may not do so in practice when ATP first announced its intention to use the format, actually giving the format a try is the usually the only way to find out. It's just unfortunate that some players like Blake had to have their chances at a tournament title fall victim to the complicated and confusing rules of the format.

I told you so! the prequel

Apparently Federer's more of a prophet than I thought: he did foresee the problems when a player retires from a match in the round-robin. When asked about the round-robin format (for the umpteenth time I suppose) during a press-conference last Sunday at the start of the tournament in Dubai, Federer said:

Well, you know, I remember having a meeting exactly one year ago. We were asked what we thought about it. I thought it actually kind of makes sense, the tournament gets to see the stars twice and everything. I was kind of in favor a little bit of thinking, you know, trying it out really. Then the more I thought about it, the more I saw of it, I was actually not so for it ... We see it now sometimes, if a guy gets injured, he pulls out, he doesn't allow the other guy to come through who actually would have a chance and stuff. To me it seems like it's not the right approach for tennis and I hope it's not going to happen next year.

And he said that wellbefore the Blake-Korolev incident at the Las Vegas Open. It's definitely interesting now to see what the ATP will do after this.

I told you so!

As expected (at least as I expected), Federer has reiterated his objection to the use of the round-robin format in the wake of the mix-up at the Las Vegas Open:

Everybody knows I was against it (the round robin system) in the first place," said Federer. "It's actually very disappointing to see things like this had to happen first before you realise that the system is not going to work.

I'd say it's probably best to let the ATP to give the format a try. In a way, it's the best means for them to discover its flaws and eventually realize that it won't work that well after all.

No Federer vs. Nadal in Dubai

It takes Federer three sets to defeat Djokovic (6-3 6-7 6-3) in the quarterfinals but he breezes through to the finals with a straight sets victory over Haas. Now he has stretched his winning streak to 40 matches--just six matches shy of the record set by Guillermo Vilas! I'm just disappointed that it isn't Nadal that he'll be facing in the finals, thanks to the extreme precision of Hawkeye technology. Now that would have been an interesting final with Nadal defending his title.

Speaking of Federer's opinion about ATP's "innovations", here's another instance where the round-robin format can be very very confusing and seemingly unfair: Blake wins a round-robin match via a walkover but doesn't make it to the quarterfinals because walkovers, according to the rules, are not counted. ATP decides to bend the rules and lets Blake through...and then changes its mind later. Ouch! Poor Blake. This is the second time he's at the losing end of these round-robin mix-ups. I think I can hear Federer saying, "I told you so!"