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ghost of tibor;1710542; said:
Well, I wouldn't call it a bad draw considering he was 12-0 against Soderling

Very few of those were on clay - getting Roddick or Tsonga on clay would have been easier than getting the only guy that's beaten Nadal at Roland Garros in the last few years.
 
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BB73;1710525; said:
I don't think it's an anomaly. I think that for the last few years the majors have done the seeding draws in this manner:

Put #1 and #2 on separate halves.
Draw randomly to assign #3 and #4 to separate halves.
Draw randomly among #5 through #8 to assign them to a quarter.
Draw randomly to assign #9 through #12, and then #13 through #16 into separate eighths.
Since they went to 32 seeds, do the same thing for seeds #17 through #32 (either 4, or 8 at a time).

They do that in order to prevent somebody from tanking a match in the last few weeks before a major in order to slot themselves into a certain seed to face somebody they think they can beat. In other words, to prevent somebody from losing in order to from from #6 to #7 in order to play the #2 seed instead of #3. For example, if Nadal was #3 coming into the French, and the quarters were assigned by an S-curve, a player would be smart to drop from #6 to #7 just before the French Open.

I don't know this for a fact - I'm just assuming it based on the way the draws have been for the last several years in tennis majors.

Fed got a bad draw in getting #5, but those are the breaks that are necessary to avoid players trying to game the system if a true S-curve seeding was used in the draw.

sounds about right, I seem to remember there will be a slam where the 3 seed plays the 1 seed, but the next slam its the 4 seed.
 
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BB73;1710525; said:
I don't think it's an anomaly. I think that for the last few years the majors have done the seeding draws in this manner:

Put #1 and #2 on separate halves.
Draw randomly to assign #3 and #4 to separate halves.
Draw randomly among #5 through #8 to assign them to a quarter.
Draw randomly to assign #9 through #12, and then #13 through #16 into separate eighths.
Since they went to 32 seeds, do the same thing for seeds #17 through #32 (either 4, or 8 at a time).

They do that in order to prevent somebody from tanking a match in the last few weeks before a major in order to slot themselves into a certain seed to face somebody they think they can beat. In other words, to prevent somebody from losing in order to from from #6 to #7 in order to play the #2 seed instead of #3. For example, if Nadal was #3 coming into the French, and the quarters were assigned by an S-curve, a player would be smart to drop from #6 to #7 just before the French Open.

I don't know this for a fact - I'm just assuming it based on the way the draws have been for the last several years in tennis majors.

Fed got a bad draw in getting #5, but those are the breaks that are necessary to avoid players trying to game the system if a true S-curve seeding was used in the draw.

BB73 is spot on, and regretfully I should have researched the rules for seeding before I commented on the "anomaly" of "placing" Solderling #5 vs. #1, but BB73 is correct in the placing of seeds in the draw according to the ATP rulebook.

Tennis - ATP World Tour - ATP Rulebook


7.16 Placement of Seeds - Main Draw

The procedures for placing seeds in the main draw are as follows:


A.
Place seed 1 on line 1 and seed 2 on line 32 (32 draw), line 64 (64 draw) or line 128
(96 draw); and

B.

To determine the location of the remaining seeds, draw in groups according to the following chart: . . .


The key word and action here is "Draw", i.e. seeds are randomly drawn in groups of 4, like BB73 referenced earlier.​
Seeding draws to avoid the "game the system" strategy that potentially might happen makes a lot of sense.
My final "regret" is not noting that Solderling is the only player who has beaten Nadal at Roland Garros recently,
and Solderling at 66-1 looks like a v-bet bargain now!:2004:​
 
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gracelhink;1710623; said:
BB73 is spot on, and regretfully I should have researched the rules for seeding before I commented on the "anomaly" of "placing" Solderling #5 vs. #1, but BB73 is correct in the placing of seeds in the draw according to the ATP rulebook.

FWIW, I'm glad you commented on it. Otherwise I would still not be aware of how it worked.
 
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Solderling vs. Berdych semifinal is in the 5th set at Roland Garros.
It looks like NBC will televise at 11 am, either a tape delay of this semifinal match, or a live broadcast of the 2nd semi, Nadal vs. Melzer, (scheduled to start at noon).
 
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This article adds a sense of salacious intrigue to the Roland Garros environment.
In the gentlemen's sport can there be such public vitriol tolerated?
Is Rafa truly a mild mannered guy like he has been portrayed?
Or is Soderling really viewed with such contempt on the circuit?
The youtube link at 1:15 apparently irritated Nadal, provoking the current blast at Soderling. Nadal did win that Wimblendon match.
The clash of the nit pickers and crotch pickers will begin Sunday at 9am.
NBC desperately needs this or something else to boost their sagging ratings after the disaster this morning.

Rafael Nadal really, really doesn't like Robin Soderling

By Chris Chase

Rafael Nadal doesn't like Robin Soderling and it has nothing to do with his upset loss in last year's French Open.
At Wimbledon in 2007, the pair played a contentious third-round match during which Soderling imitated Nadal's pants-picking habit and complained about the length of time the Spaniard took between points.
Youtube video
Nadal ended up winning the decisive set and was greeted at the net with a weak handshake by the Swede. He later told reporters that Soderling was "not the best guy in the locker room" and said his conduct was "maybe the worst possible." Nadal also said Soderling was "very strange":
"I have said hello to him seven times to his face, and he has never said hello to me. He never answers. I thought it was me. But I asked around the locker room; almost nobody had anything nice to say about him."
From a mild-mannered guy like Nadal, those are fightin' words. Sunday can't come soon enough
 
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Nadal avenges last year's loss, will pass Federer for the #1 spot on the men's ATP rankings.
link

The greatest clay court player in history is back on top of the tennis world.
Rafael Nadal avenged last year's stunning loss to Robin Soderling with a decisive 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 victory over the Swede in Sunday's French Open final. It's the fifth title at Roland Garros for Nadal, one behind Bjorn Borg for the all-time lead. With the win, Nadal will move to No. 1 in next week's ATP rankings.
Nadal didn't drop a set at the year's second Grand Slam and lost just two for the entirity of the 2010 clay court season. But he saved his most dominant match for last. The Spaniard hit 76 percent of his first serves, had almost a two-to-one ratio of winners-to-errors and played such a stifling defensive match that Soderling had to feel helpless against Nadal's speed and ability to get out-of-reach balls back over the net.
Soderling had three break points during the second game of the second set, but failed to convert on any of them. One one of those points, he ran Nadal from one corner of the court to another before the Spaniard hit a sprinting, cross-court volley for a winner. On three separate ocassions it looked like Soderling had hit a winner. Nadal stayed in the point each time. At that point, the steam seemed to go out of the Swede. There he was, with numerous break opportunities early in the second set which would have given him an early 2-0 lead and a glimmer of hope for the remainder of the match. And in one flick of the wrist, Nadal took it all away. Even on his best points of the day, Soderling still couldn't get the best of Rafa. How was he possibly going to do it for three whole sets?
The title seemed preordained since the clay court season began and Rafa looked like his usual unstoppable self, but it's important to remember that it was only 10 months ago that people wondered whether an injured Nadal would ever be the same player. While his game wasn't as sharp during the entirety of the tournament, Rafa once again proved that he's nearly impossible to beat in Paris. His lifetime record is a mind-boggling 38-1 at Roland Garros.
 
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