Tuesday, November 22, 2005

2005 ATP Backspin Awards

==PLAYERS OF THE YEAR==
1.Roger Federer
2.Rafael Nadal
3.Andy Roddick
4.Ivan Ljubicic
5.Andre Agassi
6.Lleyton Hewitt
7.Marat Safin
8.Bob & Mike Bryan
9.David Nalbandian
10.Nikolay Davydenko
HM-Gaston Gaudio

==RISERS OF THE YEAR==
1.Rafael Nadal
2.Tomas Berdych
3.Ivan Ljubicic
4.David Nalbandian
5.Nikolay Davydenko
6.James Blake
7.Igor Andreev
8.Robby Ginepri
9.David Ferrer
10.Fernando Gonzalez
HM-Radek Stepanek

==NEW FACES OF THE YEAR==
1.Gael Monfils
2.Richard Gasquet
3.Andy Murray
4.Marcos Baghdatis
5.Novak Djokovic
HM-Gilles Miller

COMEBACK PLAYER: James Blake
VETERAN PLAYER: Andre Agassi
MOST IMPROVED: Robby Ginepri
SURPRISE: Mariano Puerta
DOWN: Tim Henman

MOST UNNOTICED SEASON: David Nalbandian
MOST "SAFINY" SEASON: Marat Safin (huge start, nonexistent finish)

MOST TALENTED: Roger Federer (of course)
MOST ONE-DIMENSIONAL: Ivo Karlovic
MOST TALENTED, BUT INCONSISTENT (and not named Marat): Tomas Berdych

MOST UNKNOWN (but top-ranked) RUSSIAN: Nikolay Davydenko
MOST TALKATIVE (and not top-ranked) AMERICAN: Justin Gimelstob
MOST UNKNOWN BUT TALENTED RUSSIAN LIVING IN AMERICA: Dmitry Tursunov

**BEST BROTHERS**
1.Bob & Mike Bryan
2.Olivier & Christophe Rochus
3.James & Thomas Blake

BEST PLAYER WITH TWO FIRST NAMES: (tie) Bob Bryan & Mike Bryan
BEST PLAYER WITH TWO LAST NAMES: Novak Djokovic

MOST LIKELY FIRST-TIME SLAM FINALIST IN 2006: Richard Gasquet
LEAST LIKELY REPEAT SLAM FINALIST IN 2006: Mariano Puerta

ON THE WAY OUT: "Henman Hill"
ON THE WAY IN: "Mt.Murray"

IN: Nadal's long pants
OUT: Guillermo Canas

MOST ENTERTAINING PLAYER: Fabrice Santoro
MOST ENTERTAINING SLAM MATCH THAT DIDN'T MEAN ANYTHING: U.S. Open 3rd Rd. - Davide Sanguinetti def. Paradorn Srichaphan

HARDCOURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Roger Federer
CLAYCOURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Rafael Nadal
GRASSCOURT PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Roger Federer
INDOOR PLAYER OF THE YEAR: David Nalbandian
DAVIS CUP PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Ivan Ljubicic


**MATCHES OF THE YEAR**
1.U.S. Open QF - Andre Agassi def. James Blake
2.Miami Final - Roger Federer def. Rafael Nadal
3.Masters Cup Final - David Nalbandian def. Roger Federer
HM--Australian Open SF - Marat Safin def. Roger Federer

MOST TIME-WARPING RESULT OF THE YEAR: WTT Singles--John McEnroe def. Mark Philippoussis
MOST GENDER-BENDING RESULT OF THE YEAR: WTT Singles--Brian Vahaly def. Meghann Shaughnessy

BIGGEST ONE-HIT SLAM WONDER: U.S. Open 1st Rd. - Gilles Muller def. Andy Roddick
HITTING DOWN THE BIGGEST ONE AT A SLAM: Wimbledon 1st Rd. - Daniele Bracciali def. Ivo Karlovic

LEAST LIKELY (NON-SARCASTIC) 2006 HEADLINE: "Everybody Loves Lleyton"
MOST LIKELY (LAUDATORY) 2006 HEADLINE: "Long Live Federer"


All for now.

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posted by Todd Spiker @ 1:10 PM 

2 Comments:

Blogger Janoma said...

I agree with almost everything on the list, except with the match of the year.

Maybe Agassi-Blake was both entertaining and high-quality, but Safin-Federer was even better, with a closer score and a match point saved.

During that match a journalist said "tennis cannot be played better than this", and I have no doubt of it.

You can even put Fed-Saf behind Aga-Bla (and I will understand you, especially if you are american), but not behind Miami or TMC finals.

Elsewhere, I think Davydenko deserves a higher spot in the risers of the year. He came from top-30 to top-5, and he's still behind Nalbandian, who has been a regular top ten in the last couple of years.

Tue Jan 03, 10:40:00 AM EST  
Blogger Todd Spiker said...

Sure, other matches could have been listed ahead of Agassi-Blake... but outright drama made me put it at #1.

A 35-year old former champ gathering himself for a great (and final?) starring run at his home nation's tournament, and he goes against a fellow countryman who'd gone through so much medical and family difficulty over the previous year. At the biggest stadium, in their country's biggest event, in front of a raucous crowd... and it's a ridiculously dramatic 5-set night match that goes into the early hours of the morning.

Hard to beat that, even if other matches might have, technically, been "better" played matches.

And, yeah, I'm American and look forward to U.S. Open night matches all year long... so I was a bit susceptible to the atmosphere of it all, too, I admit. :)

"Risers" is a weird category (here and on WTA Backspin). It's sort of a catch all, and young players as well as veterans who haven't won grand slams could end up there at various times. Honestly, I wasn't going to have Nalbandian anywhere near that high... and then he won the Masters Cup title over Federer and I felt like I had to move him up because of that. :)

Wed Jan 04, 02:13:00 PM EST  

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