A Question of Ranking

In some of his latest interviews, David declared that he doesn't care about his ranking. I don't usually care all that much about his ranking, either. After all, it has constantly been high enough for years to always grant him both entrance and a good seeding at all the tournaments he played. And it even remained surprisingly high after David played what was to be his last match this year at Estoril.
But now it has begun, David's slide down the rankings. Very slowly, so far. Still, the question is - how far down will it go and what will the consequences be for David when he returns next year. I'm no real expert when it comes to the intricacies of the ranking system. But here's an attempt at giving you some sort of idea what the next months will bring for David and for us, his fans.

As of this week, David is still ranked #20. Miraculously only one place lower than during the week of Estoril (and having climbed back as high as #14 without playing in the meantime). From the 1715 points he currently has, those for the two last events he played last season will come off before the end of this year. First 350 for reaching the final at Basel, 2008. Those will drop next Monday, which will leave him with 1365 points and see him lose another six to eight places.
The big fall, however, will come the week after that. Because that's when David's 700 points for making the final at last year's Masters in Paris will come off, leaving him with 665. And although this will still be enough to keep him safely inside the Top 100 (probably somewhere around 80-90, I think), it means that he'll start the new season with a ranking so low that he won't really have much of a choice but to rely on getting wildcards or using his protected ranking for making it into the main draw without having to qualify.
- And it might get a lot worse than that. It's impossible to foresee how well David will be able to play at his first tournament in Auckland. But what's clear is that directly after Auckland, the 250 points for David's victory at Sydney this year will come off (415). And that means he could then very easily find himself outside of the Top 100, unless he goes really far at Auckland... The "good news" is that at the Australian Open, David only has 45 points to defend.

David said in his interviews that he'll rely on a combination of wildcards and protected ranking in order to be able to play the tournaments he wants to play and that he has the first half of the season covered that way. But while this at least means that he won't have to qualify for the main draw, it doesn't mean that he'll get seeded. The protected ranking (#15 or #16), which he'll be able to use for eight tournaments next season, merely means that he'll be allowed into the main draw as if he was ranked #15/#16. So: no seeding, no protection from meeting the top players in the early rounds...
I guess we can only hope that he'll get lucky with the draws, especially at the first couple of tournaments. And that, provided his hip is okay, he'll be able to find his form again. Soon.


Announcement:
Vamos David will take a break next week as I'll be in Vienna for the "Bank Austria Tennis Trophy". - A trip I booked when David initially committed to playing that event... But well, I'm still looking forward to it. :)
Krystle will be keeping an eye on the blog while I'm away.

Before I'll leave, here's another video of David's very first training session. A bit outdated by now, I know. But I only just discovered it. And in this clip, you can at least actually see something. I.e. more than in the previous ones.
You can watch it here.