People talk about certain tennis players preserving their bodies for one last shot at their "legacy". Ken Rosewall in 1977, at age 43, beat then world #3 Vitas Gerualitis in straight sets at the Sydney Indoor Tournament in the semis, before losing to Jimmy Connors in the finals. Muscles also reached the semis at the Australian Open in 1977, losing to eventual champion Roscoe Tanner. '77 was the last year, at age 43, when Rosewall was in the Top 20. /1
I hope Gaudenzi, Haggerty and others look at this and see it as an opportunity to expand the sport, not dig in even more with their entrenched cohort and share a small pie among themselves. Looking at the ITF board reminds me of an old bunch of bandicoots. I recognize several faces and they have stuck around at the helm of their national bodies doing nothing more than the bare minimum.
https://www.itftennis.com/en/about-us/organisation/company-structure/
Perhaps as Greg Rusedski says, #RealRankings should be the official ATP rankings and the “other one” should be used for tournament entry. But then, what about seedlings, etc. This has all been done intentionally to protect certain players, irrespective if it was for Federer or not. If #RealRankings are used for draws, we would have Fed drawn against Nolé in round 1, or Nadal playing him in the round of 16 (exaggerating!). Now wouldn’t that be something 😀.
Lover of tennis for 50 years and still going strong. Love to wax eloquent and nostalgic about players from decades past .