Showing posts with label Roger Federer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Roger Federer. Show all posts

Wednesday, 18 November 2015

World Tour Finals 2015 - Qualification Scenarios (Group Stan Smith)

Ah, the yearly tradition of "Who the hell qualifies from each group?!" that comes without fail every time the World Tour Finals roll around.

Here are the scenarios for Group Stan Smith, after Roger Federer beat Novak Djokovic, and Kei Nishikori defeated Tomas Berdych on Tuesday.


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Wednesday, 12 November 2014

World Tour Finals 2014 - Qualification Scenarios (Group B)

It's that time of the season again! Maths and scenarios and calculations galore.

Group B of the 2014 World Tour Finals ended its second day of matches, and we can already calculate most of the possibilities for the semifinal qualifications. (Also check out the similar scenarios for Group A)

Thursday's matches are Federer-Murray and Nishikori-Raonic. Here are the qualification scenarios for every possible outcome of those matches (winner + number of sets). Where it says "GR", it means we're going to have to calculate the game ratios (games won out of total played games) of all players to know who qualifies (Raonic can only qualify if he wins in 2).

ETA: Of course, Raonic's withdrawal changed everything, as Ferrer can't qualify no matter what he does. I'm writing this as the Nishikori-Ferrer match is at 6-4 4-6, so whoever wins, does it in 3 sets. This leaves us with the following scenarios:

Ferrer in 3 Nishikori in 3
Federer wins
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
Murray in 21. Murray
2. Federer		1. Murray
2. Federer
Murray in 3 1. Murray
2. Federer
1. Federer
2. Nishikori


The old scenarios, for those curious:

Nishikori in 2 Nishikori in 3 Raonic in 3 Raonic in 2
Federer in 2
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. GR
Federer in 3
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
 1. Federer
2. Murray
Murray in 3
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Federer
2. Nishikori
1. Murray
2. Federer
1. Murray
2. Federer
Murray in 2 GR (see below)
1. Murray
2. Federer
1. Murray
2. Federer
1. Murray
2. Federer

Game ratio scenarios:

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Tuesday, 15 July 2014

Completing the Career Fan Slam - Wimbledon 2014

Roland Garros 2011, US Open 2011 & 2012, Australian Open 2014, Wimbledon 2014 - my Career Slam as a tennis fan is now officially complete!

My trip to Wimbledon started back in February, when I got an email telling me I won the famous Ballot, and had a chance to buy two tickets to the 2014 Wimbledon Ladies Semifinal day on Centre Court. After a few days of hesitation (London is not cheap), I decided that this might be a once in a lifetime chance, and bought the tickets. The rest of the trip was built around that.

The problem with going to Wimbledon, as opposed to all the other slams, is the inability to plan much in advance. Other than the ballot tickets (where you also don't have the choice of which or how many tickets you get), you have to either queue to get in - sometimes for long periods - or be one of the lucky few who manage to buy online tickets the day before. In all other slams, it is much easier to buy multiple tickets both in advance and on short notice, not to mention ground passes which are often readily available on the day of play (with a possible exception of the French Open, where I didn't try to get a grounds pass).
This system is undoubtedly very frustrating - you can't really plan anything in advance, and you heavily depend on the level of attraction of a particular order of play, which determines the size of the queue on each day. On the other hand, you can buy tickets according to the players you actually want to see, and don't need to guess well in advance which tickets to get in order to watch your favourites play.

Those two feelings - frustration and flexibility - stayed with me throughout my London vacation. I traveled with my brother, who's 14, and we got incredibly lucky at first - on the day of our flight, we managed to buy Court 3 tickets on Ticketmaster for each of the next two days. This was a tremendous relief, as we were assured two consecutive days of play (Thursday and Friday) with no queuing during the first week. In addition to that, we queued for a grounds pass on "Manic Monday", which was less manic than usual due to schedule delays caused by the Saturday rains, and then queued from Tuesday noon for Wednesday's quarterfinals. This was also easier than expected, since the scheduling changes still dragged on, and both Tuesday and Wednesday featured a mix of men's and women's matches instead of the regular separation of quarterfinal days by gender.

So, how does Wimbledon stack up against the other slams?
To tell you the truth, at first the comparison wasn't favorable. You get the feeling that you're queuing all day just to queue some more after that - to get into the grounds, for a court, for a place to sit, for anything really. On second Monday, for example, we started queuing at 7am, got into the grounds around 11:30, had to wait for a long time until we could get two seats on court 18 (the grounds open at 10:30, and all the available seats on the outside courts get taken very quickly), and then... it started raining. So we waited out the rain on the court, because there's no way we're giving up our seats, right? Of course, right. By the time the sun came out (cue a cheering crowd), we were so hungry that we watched for maybe another 45 minutes before leaving our cherished seats to get some food. Then we waited for a while around the practice courts, which was when our patience was finally rewarded, as my brother got an autograph and a photo with one, Mr. Roger Federer. Around 5pm we joined the resale queue, and stayed there for two more hours of waiting, during which rain confined all play to the Centre Court. As soon as Murray beat Anderson, the queue started moving and we were able to get ourselves resale tickets for Centre Court and watch the last two sets of Djokovic - Tsonga.
To sum it up - this day was long and tiring, but you get rewarded for waiting a lot.


Post by Let, Second Serve.

The reward for waiting became even clearer during the next couple of days. We joined the queue on Tuesday, hoping for a Wednesday schedule that would put both Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic on Court 1. We survived the full queuing experience, with a tent and sleeping bags and all, and were cranky and sleepy on Wednesday morning - both because we had a cold and slightly sleepless night (mostly cold), and because my brother was very disappointed to miss Nadal, who lost to Nick Kyrgios the day before. As my brother's other goal was to get as close as possible to the players (and hopefully catch a little souvenir when matches end), imagine our excitement when we realized that we could choose the seats closest to the players' entrance on Court 1. After getting our tickets, we spent our first hour on the grounds near the practice courts, where my my brother received a signed wristband from none other than Novak Djokovic himself. When we finally got to Court 1, it turned out that our seats weren't exactly near the players' entrance - but rather, front row, directly behind one of the players' chairs. Specifically, Djokovic's chair during his match with Cilic.

During the 5 sets that followed, we were Novak's personal cheering squad. I'll talk more about the Wimbledon crowd and their cheering habits later, but I think it would be fair to say that we were the ones who cheered the most and loudest, especially when he was close to us. We couldn't be sure if he heard us, or if he did - whether he knew where the cheers were coming from, yet we persisted. Thankfully, from two sets to one down, Novak changed his slippery shoes and generally started to play better, and finally won the match. After celebrating his win, and as he came to his chair, we tried to call him - but as it turned out, it wasn't necessary. Novak took his (clean) towel, sought us out, and threw the towel straight into my brother's arms. He then picked up his faulty shoes, threw one of them to us and another to another fan behind us, and proceeded to the exit and to sign dozens of autographs. There was no doubt at all that he heard our cheers and appreciated them, and made sure to personally thank us in this small way.

To illustrate how close we were, here's the same scene from two opposite sides of the court:

That's one of the photos I took of Novak's celebration (a better one is here)
That's me in the [bottom right] corner,
That's me in the spotlight,
Losing my religion
Now, the Wimbledon crowd... is a weird thing. They're so overly polite, that it becomes ridiculous. I get clapping politely for both players (at any match, I'm not being specific here). I get not interrupting the players, this is great behaviour. I even get not cheering on errors, even though from my experience - that's a bizarre reaction from a tennis crowd. Occasionally, there'd be a good rally, but if it ended on an unforced error, maybe two people in the whole stadium clapped, one of them being the player's coach. When you're actually cheering for a specific player, you start feeling bad for cheering on him after winning such a rally... Anyway, what I don't get at all is only really cheering for a player when he's deep into the third set and the match might be getting to its end. Where were you earlier? A perfect example of this was the Cilic-Berdych match, for which we were lucky to have front row seats. For two and a half sets, the crowd politely clapped for any decent point, and stayed quiet on errors. There were small groups of Czech and Croat supporters who made a bit more noise on the more crucial points. But the crowd, as a whole, only got into it deep into the third set, as the sky was getting darker to the point of Hawk Eye not being able to function. On a side note, the crowd never realized that the players can't use Hawk Eye anymore, and kept urging Berdych to challenge the calls he was unhappy about. On the whole, though, this match - which was really of great quality from start to finish - completely lacked in atmosphere until it was too late to matter. While I appreciate a well-behaved crowd, it does dampen the mood when you feel you can't even properly cheer on a player, because you would be one of a select few who do it.


Post by Let, Second Serve.

A similar effect of an overly-polite crowd is seen around the practice courts. While we can't complain about it at all (since we benefited from it), it's a bit funny how those who wait for an autograph hardly try to call the players or do anything other than get their ticket, ball or program autographed. My brother was almost the only one who asked the players for a photo, and this is also how he got Djokovic's wristband and Federer's bandana, both signed by the players. The large majority of players go by unrecognized - I was literally the only one who tried to call Andrea Petkovic to come over ("after practice," she said), and I don't think anyone recognized players such as Kristina Mladenovic, Max Mirnyi or even Martina Hingis.


Post by Let, Second Serve.

They did recognize him, though.
Federer in practice.

Despite what might seems as a post full of complaints, we had a great time in Wimbledon. While the constant queuing was tiring, the site has great courts, with excellent seats all over the place (especially if you're willing to wait for them). The resale system is a fantastic idea, letting people buy returned tickets for the big show courts at a silly price which goes to charity, and enabling ground pass holders making the most out of their day at the venue. All the queues are incredibly well organized, there are a lot of helpful stewards around and the facilities are convenient. Additionally, and this might seem like a minor point, but I think the Wimbledon food courts are the best among the four Grand Slams.

Finally, and this is perhaps the most important thing of all - the tournament has great champions!


Post by Let, Second Serve.

Check out the blog's Facebook page for more photos from the different matches we've seen in The 2014 Championships.

My apologies is this post seems somewhat disjointed, I've written it over a few days while plagued by a nasty ear inflammation which made it hard to focus on anything.
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Saturday, 7 December 2013

The return of #AskRF

Following his first #AskRF hit, Roger Federer did another Q&A session on twitter today. Some of his answers surely didn't disappoint!







This one should be hashtagged #humble:


So is this one:




Is this fanboying, Roger?


Federer's Christmas tree is very pretty...


... and the twins helped decorate it!




Phone problems. Don't we all have them?


I'm sure everyone can agree with that


#LifeMade










Guess we shouldn't wait for him now?


Ah, he's back!


And... he's jealous?


Perhaps it's Mirka tweeting






Also, Federer's favourite pizza is a "Fat Tony", he can't draw, he really liked Casino Royale and his favourite fruit are strawberry, apple and mango. The more you know!
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Friday, 8 November 2013

World Tour Finals 2013 - Qualification Scenarios (Group B)

Group B of the 2013 World Tour Finals - including Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin Del Potro, Roger Federer and Richard Gasquet - ended its second day of matches with similar results to those of Group A (check the link for scenarios). We have player who won his two matches, two players with one win, and one player who lost both his matches and won't be able to qualify, no matter what.

Saturday's matches are Djokovic-Gasquet and Del Potro-Federer. Here are the qualification scenarios for every possible outcome of those matches (winner + number of sets):


Del Potro in 2 Del Potro in 3 Federer in 3 Federer in 2
Djokovic in 2 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer
Djokovic in 3 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer
Gasquet in 3 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer
Gasquet in 2 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Del Potro		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer		 1. Djokovic
2. Federer

So really, there are only two scenarios and it's all super simple:
  • Djokovic already qualified from the 1st place.
  • The winner of Federer-Del Potro will qualify from 2nd place. The number of sets doesn't matter!
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Tuesday, 8 October 2013

Roger Federer's best twitter answers #AskRF

Roger Federer decided to do a Q&A session on twitter today. He absolutely killed it. And he had so much fun, that he came back for more. I'll let his tweets tell the story (check his twitter feed for more, really):























































#CyaLater with more tweets!
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Saturday, 5 October 2013

Racing to London 2013

"Let me take you by the hand and lead you through the Race To London
I'll show you something to make you change your mind"

The 2013 ATP World Tour Finals will start exactly a month from now, on November 4th. Traditionally, the eight best players of the year get the honors of playing in the season finale of the ATP. This year, however, tradition might be broken for the second straight year running. Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic have comfortably qualified for London with a wide berth from their competitors, and will look to compete for the future No.1 ranking, which will pass to the Spaniard in a week or two. However, Andy Murray, who's qualified as well, is currently out of competition after undergoing a back surgery. This puts a question mark on Murray's participation in the event, and opens the door for the year's 9th best player to play in the prestigious tournament.

Joining these three is David Ferrer, who already ensured himself a spot in the tournament, despite the lack of official announcement so far. His fans have no reason to worry, though - Djokovic's participation was officially acknowledged only weeks after it was actually confirmed. At any rate, four - or five, depending on Murray - spots are still up for grabs and there's no shortage of pretenders.

The race is extremely close this year - here's a look at the next players on the list, as they stand on Friday night (before the Beijing and Tokyo semifinals), along with the information about the players' next tournaments and available points.

* Players still participating in Beijing (Nadal-Berdych, Djokovic-Gasquet) or Tokyo (Del Potro-Almagro, Raonic-Dodig). A semifinal win will add 120 points to the player’s Oct 7 expected total; winning a title will add 320 points to that column.

So far, neither Beijing nor Tokyo changed the position of anyone in the race - the next in line are Berdych, del Potro, Federer, Wawrinka and Gasquet. Both Berdych and Del Potro improved their positions this week, reaching the semifinals in their respective tournaments and keeping their distance from the players behind them. It's the next group of players that's so close right now - only about 100 points separate Federer (#7) from Gasquet (#9), with Wawrinka in the middle. Tsonga and Raonic are about 300 points behind - a gap both could easily eliminate in the coming weeks (especially Raonic, who might catch up in the next two days in Tokyo). Haas, Isner and Almagro are ~500 points behind Raonic, but one good tournament might be enough to get them closer in contention.

What does the future hold for these players? On paper, everybody but Murray is playing Shanghai and Paris, the two mandatory tournaments offering the largest amount of points to the field. Shanghai will be of special importance to Federer, Wawrinka and Gasquet, each of whom will want to get ahead of the others. Wawrinka and Gasquet might then clash head to head in the Kremlin Cup in Moscow, where they're the top seeds, while Tsonga will try to overtake them at the same time in Vienna.
Basel has an extremely strong entry list this year, much like Beijing - interestingly enough, none of the major race contenders but Almagro plays in Valencia, where most would be able to pick some much needed points. We might have a much clearer picture of the situation after Basel, which could determine a lot in terms of the final standings, but if not - the final hurdle would be Paris. Since Paris and London are, once again, played back-to-back, we can expect many of the players who qualify by then to withdraw entirely or lose early in Paris. The rest will battle it out to get a final ticket to the big show.

Last year, most of the players who threatened to take the #8 or #9 spot lost early in the lead up to London. With the race being as tight as it is, I expect it to be quite different this year - who do you think will deliver?

Keep track of this post for all the race updates, or like us on Facebook!


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Tuesday, 20 August 2013

Sergiy Stakhovsky: "After Wimbledon they started recognizing me in Switzerland" [Translated]

Sergiy Stakhovsky gave a long and extensive interview to Eurosport Russia’s writer, Ilya Minskiy. I’ve translated excerpts from the interview, and I’m posting them here in order, with short descriptions of the parts I’ve omitted – if a topic seems interesting to you, let me know and I’ll try to fill in some of the missing parts later on.
This is the second Stakhovsky interview I’ve translated; the first was published about a year ago, and touched some of the points which he’d discussed here too.
Disclaimer: English is not my first language. I tried to translate as closely to the origin as I could, any mistakes are mine, and so are any irregularities in language. 
–Anna

Sergiy Stakhovsky: "After Wimbledon they started recognizing me in Switzerland"

Chasing Federer’s conqueror for a while, I finally caught up with him when he played at the challenger event in Kazan. Sergiy is finally doing well - he won the tournament without losing a single set, thus interrupting a series of setbacks that began immediately after the most resounding victory of his career.

- Kazan uses the "Rucourt" surface, which causes many complaints during the Kremlin Cup. How is it for you?

- I can also complain. It is uneven, or more precisely, not the same across the entire surface. There are lines which are faster, some that are slower, as a result the kickbacks are different, and sometimes the ball bounces as it wants. But in terms of speed, it is quite comfortable.

- You're a prominent opponent of the widespread slowdown of the courts. Who supports you in this matter?

- Well, it’s not that I’m looking for support. It’s just that everyone has a view of their own on this issue. I think Federer is also not really happy about the courts slowing down. That is my position, but I did not collect signatures, although I'm sure I would’ve found support from a couple of dozen people for sure. At the time, it was made clear to us that the choice of surface is the prerogative of the tournament organizers. Tennis players can bang their heads against the wall, but it won’t help. They will choose the court surface for their tournament, even more precisely, in most cases for the player that they’re buying for their tournament. For example, if they buy Nadal – you can expect the surface to be very slow. And so on.

- You want to say that the ATP has nothing to do with it?

- No, it's all from the organizers. They wanted more spectacular tennis with long rallies - that's what happened.

- You are a permanent member of the ATP Player Council. Do you see any real benefits from its activities?

- I see, but in the first year there were more benefits than there are now. Everyone achieved the goals that they wanted, calmed down a little bit, and each one is more focused on his tennis than on solving global issues. However, I think that during the US Open we’ll go back to work. We have a council meeting there - on Friday, if I'm not mistaken. We will dive into the work over the next season.

- You said that many of the goals have been achieved. Can you elaborate?

- Initially, we faced a challenge - to raise the prize money in the Grand Slam tournaments. It was the number one goal, and we achieved it, I think. Although, perhaps, we could do even better, and have it raised even more.
There were nuances around the Olympics, the calendar, breaks in the season. For example, the issue with the tournaments in Latin America: they wanted the tournaments to take place from the beginning of December and almost until the New Year. In that case, we would have an endless season. I am pleased that the Council dealt with this responsibly, and we left the tournament system as it is, retaining a certain off-season, when one can rest, other - play exhibition matches, if it’s beneficial and necessary.

There’s an entirely different issue - the system of commitment to tournaments. That's where we haven’t been able to go deep. As you know, there are a number of tournaments which are declared mandatory. For tennis players from the top 30 that's almost all "Masters" (except for Monte Carlo), four ATP 500 tournaments and two ATP 250 tournaments. The bottom line is that those who finished the year in the top 12 and went to all these tournaments, receive a bonus. It would be logical to give it to others, as well – those who went to all of these mandatory tournaments just the same, and there are about 40 of those players. However, only the first 12 are given the bonus; therefore the players' council doesn't see the point in everyone going, for example, to the tournaments in Indian Wells and Miami, which are absolutely not popular. Very few people want to go there for such a long period, but they are required to. Even those who are around the 70-80 rank, who can never dream of getting this bonus.

- Why are Indian Wells and Miami so unpopular?

- Well, while at Indian Wells the conditions for players are improving somehow, and prize money rises every year quite rapidly, in Miami, on the contrary, it’s a different situation in terms of accommodation, courts and all the facilities for the players. The stadium is ancient, and there’s nothing to say about the prize money - it is the lowest of all the Masters series tournaments. Plus, there's a large draw there. We get roughly the same money at [Paris] Bercy, but there it’s a draw of 48 players, and here - 96, and respectively, every round gets a lesser cut. There are talks going on about it, but what it will lead to, I don’t know, it’s going slow for now.

- You mentioned some nuances about the Olympics. What was it about?

- The organizers of each event, who see themselves in the week before or the week after the Olympics, understand that it will be difficult enough to fill the draw with good players. Therefore, each tournament is trying to get away from these weeks, find somewhere to move to. But, of course, it’s difficult to do, because there are a lot of tournaments, you can’t just move that easily. We are forced to think of a solution. There’s progress: for example, in Washington DC in the Olympic year they’ve introduced an increased prize fund, reduced the number of participants. Usually there are 48 players there, but in the Olympic year there were 32.

Generally, it’s a difficult process. We have to find a compromise, because the tournaments want to reduce their risk - and very strongly so. For example, Rogers Cup - they wanted to move to an entirely different week, and on a permanent basis. However, the idea seemed impractical, and the Council didn’t approve it.

- Speaking of prize money. Why is the Australian Open continually in front of everyone?

- To be precise, in the US Open the prize money is higher, but if you take into account the ratio of the tournament’s profit and the players’ compensation, then Australia is really ahead with a huge margin. Their treatment of players has always been different: they’ve always wanted to be the players’ Grand Slam. They constantly consult with us on the subject of what we would still like to see there, which courts to build, indoor or not, gyms and so on. There is constant progress, so they remain the leaders. Therefore many of the players say that the Australian Open is the most enjoyable Grand Slam.

- The US Open also has progress this year – they finally decided to build a roof.

- Decided ... Previously there was so much talk about it being impossible, and then suddenly they found the money that makes it possible. Unfortunately, the US Open is much more directed at commerce than at the development of tennis. Factually, their profits are twice as much as those of the Australian Open, only where does all that money go afterwards? Now, apparently they saved it for the roof.

- Here the most remarkable thing is that the first estimate was announced as five hundred million dollars, then it was suddenly reduced to a hundred. [I believe this is a misunderstanding – the roof’s cost is $100M, but the overall renovation project, including ground expansion and larger stands for show courts, will cost a total of $500M. –Anna]

- One hundred million? Their yearly profit is 2-3 times greater than this. They can not only afford to build a roof, but also a swimming pool beneath it. In any case, players will have it easier when at least one court will have a roof, as for several years already the US Open final is played on Monday. Moreover, in this season it has already been officially scheduled for Monday; thank God, it is only up to 2015, then everything will be back on Sunday.

- How is the story of your rebuke about the introduction of equal prize money in the ATP and WTA developing? Did you have conflicts with the girls?

- I never had any conflicts with the female players. Especially with our tennis players, I'm in normal relations with everybody. I never said that women should get less. The message was this: men should earn more. I still think so. It's not even the physical cost - five sets or three, this issue is marginal.

The main point is different. There is a certain product. This product is us, since we’re the ones people come to watch. We put up a show, and one show is very popular. So, I do not really understand why another show that’s going in parallel, should earn the same - with less attendance. I, in principle, do not know any other kind of work, where women earn as much just because they are women.

Take the modeling business. Do male models get as much as girls? No, but have you heard the men screaming about discrimination? In football and basketball – it’s all clear. Athletics? Does Isinbayeva get the same as Bolt? No, because what Bolt does is a higher quality and therefore more popular product. So explain to me why the ATP, which is a better product than the WTA, should have equal prize money with them?

- Sharapova didn’t agree with you, as far as I remember.

- She may or may not agree, it’s her right to do so. Yes, if she will play on Centre Court, and at the same time I'm going to play on another show court, more people will come to watch her. That’s not the essence, but rather the total number of spectators attending matches for men and women at all stages. And the men's matches have a larger attendance.

Here, of course, there are different and very serious reasons. I do not want to argue. I'm not a misogynist, as some describe me, it's not true. I very much love my wife. There just isn’t anything wrong in the fact that some things work this way and not otherwise, because that’s the way the world works. Why do football players make millions as compared to other athletes? Because hundreds of thousands of people come to watch them.

- In recent years, the ATP consistently reports new attendance records. It is clear that we are talking about the Grand Slam tournaments, but still. Do you, from your side, somehow feel increased excitement around tennis?

- It’s mainly about the Grand Slams, of course. Over the recent years a pool of players was formed who show a very high level: Federer, Nadal and company. For two weeks they are on fire - where, if not in the Grand Slams, can you see that? Of course, I would like the increased interest to be in lesser tournaments - the 500 and 250 categories, and so on. There, too, is a very high level of tennis, in spite of all the difficulties, but often it goes, I’d say, unnoticed.

- It’s probably not worth it to even talk about challengers. You just played in Kazan – how’s the attendance there?

- Empty-ish. Very much so.

- Irishman James McGee, from the third hundred of the world rankings, recently very vividly described tennis behind the scenes, providing details about how players that don’t belong to the top have to survive. In particular, he said that many tennis players from the top 100, top 50 even, are forced to go play the tennis leagues, to somehow survive.

- I know James, I’ve even played with him. Tennis leagues - yes, there is such a thing. Many play there, even some of the guys from the top 20. There are three popular leagues: the German Bundesliga club, the French league and one in the United States. The pay is really not bad there. I myself have played in Germany and France last year and the year before.

The situations are really difficult sometimes. When I was young I came to play Futures, won - and earned three ranking points. I found it absolutely unacceptable. In the qualifying for challengers you go through three matches - four or five points, I don’t remember exactly. All  in all, I played a career total of seven Futures, and then decided that even being the 500 and 600 in the world, I’ll go to challengers’ qualifications - and I played them quite successfully. I won often, so financially it didn’t get me down. However, there was one important point. I was living in Slovakia then, and the dollar at that time was crazy - 50 crowns per dollar. Given that the prices in the country were low, I earned enough money in challengers to keep training.

[Taken out: Several questions about the tennis situation in Ukraine – lack of younger players, complete lack of government funding, comparison of Russia’s and Kazakhstan’s situations. –Anna]

- Your younger brother, Leonard, still has thoughts about a tennis career?

- My brother has just finished his first year of college; there are still three to go. He will always be able to return to tennis as soon as he graduates. So did many players: Kevin Anderson, John Isner, James Blake. They were all at some point in college, and then went on to play professional tennis.

To be honest, in my opinion, the education system in America, especially the sporting part, is simply fantastic. If you're 18, you finished school, and you play great tennis, but you don’t have the financial abilities - I advise you to take the exam and make your way into an American college. I came to see my brother in Ohio and was just stunned: in all our country there isn’t a single center like they have. I won’t even talk about the enormous gym for all students. They've got eight basketball courts, 25-meter swimming pool and a jogging track for 400 meters. Indoors. Plus, the on-site gym, a lot of rooms for yoga, aerobics and so on. And that's just the general areas: each sport has its own separate hall, its own facilities. The athletes themselves don’t need to pay for anything, they have full equipment. Stringing, physical therapists, balls, meals – it’s all included in the scholarship. You just have to study well and train - which is the essence, and of course, it's very hard, especially if you pick a serious major. However, in light of the fact that it gives the opportunity to train in a country with normal specialists and plush conditions - I think this is a very good way to go.

- How then to explain the fact that in the last five years, the U.S. does not have a really successful younger generation? Harrison, Sock, Young - all well and good, of course, but they've been around for more than a year, and just like before, still no results.

- It's simple: if you drive through the colleges, you will see that only a small number of scholarships go to the Americans. There are a huge number of visitors, a mass of immigrants from Europe, including those of our part of the world. These are people who are willing to work really hard.

- It turns out that the Americans, with their own hands, train tennis players for other countries.

- It does. Then there is another point. I played with Harrison, I think, in the 2010 US Open, and even then said: the guy has yet a lot to work on, don’t hype him, because that’s how you ‘buried’ many of your juniors, making a star out of them before they’ve become one. The American federation, USTA, earns a fortune, and this results in such a luxurious environment that is, in a sense, even to their detriment. Young players are getting huge media support, but they have not yet reached those heights  where it’s indeed justified. On the one hand, I understand why the USTA is doing that - they need American players, so they can market them, to attract viewers to local tournaments, so that they could support their local players. On the other hand, to go too far in this matter is also wrong, and the players themselves, as we can see, don’t benefit from it. 

- Marin Cilic got a three-month suspension for having illegal substances found in his blood, which got in his body from a drug purchased at a pharmacy. You, being a professional tennis player, can you go to the drugstore across the street and buy a cough syrup? 

- I never do that. I have all my medicines with me, there are only two: Brufen and Flector. I know that a lot of drugs for various illnesses are forbidden, because there is something wrong in them. You know, people who work in pharmacies, they don’t know what tennis players can take. Lists of allowed and prohibited substances change with time, and to expect for the seller to know all these details, is to deceive yourself. 

- How do you then treat yourself, if you have only two drugs: anti-inflammatory, and something else? Say you are sick, for example, cough, runny nose – what next? Carry on and ignore it? Wait until it goes away by itself? 

- It’s better to be in bed, of course. With tea, honey. Something like that.

[Taken out: Several questions about Stakhovsky’s anti-cancer charity, “Ace the Cancer”. It was approved as a non-profit and it’s also supported by WTA player Lesia Tsurenko. –Anna]

 - You seem like a socially active person. Do you think about going into politics when you retire? Like Marat Safin. 

- You know, I think that politics has the wrong effect on the psyche of people, so I won’t go there. Of course, I would like to somehow stay in the sport, to help its development in Ukraine. Maybe try to get to the National Olympic Committee. 
I really like the future of Sergei Bubka [Sr.]. I’ve known him and his family for a long time, since his son Sergei and me, we often played doubles since the age of 12 or so. All of their family, the education they gave to their children, the moral values ​​practiced - all this is an example for me. They realize that in this world you need to do some things not only for yourself but also for others. 

- By the way, how is Sergei Bubka Jr. now? 

- Sergei Jr. trains at full speed. He still has about four months until full recovery, maybe five, as there are certain nuances with his leg. However, he’s already standing on court, hitting the ball, which is pleasing. 

- You are friends with Bubka Jr; Mikhail Youzhny – is your best friend on tour. How can you combine friendship and professional rivalry, where the stakes are money and ranking points? Murray and Federer, for example, said that you cannot truly be friends on the Tour.

 - It is possible. If your characters agree, if you share certain moral values, you may be friends, regardless of whether or not it’s sports. To be honest, the most difficult matches in my career have been specifically against Youzhny and Bubka. Psychologically, there was nothing more difficult. During a match, you need to maintain a certain passion, but to do it, competing with a man whom you know and respect, is incredibly tough. You cannot really get mad at him, I’d say.

[Taken out: A couple of questions related to Youzhny: Stakhovsky explains he’s not that much into alcohol, despite Youzhny once saying (in a Roland Garros quiz) he’s the guy with whom he’d share a bottle of vodka; also expands on his cooperation with Youzhny’s coach Boris Sobkin. –Anna]

- At Wimbledon you reminded us about your old rank. Tell us the secret, what did you mean by saying that when you play against Federer at Wimbledon, you fight two rivals: Roger and his own ego? You then took those words back. 

- It’s not that I took them back, it’s just that I said it the wrong way. The bottom line is this: when you see Federer on the other side of the court, in the key moments of the match thoughts start climbing in your head about who you’re really playing now. This is the same man who won Wimbledon seven times on this very court, seven times! Three defeats in ten years! That’s even if you don’t think about the rest of his titles. That's what I wanted to say then. 

- So, shall we say, Federer’s cool handshake after the match has nothing to do with it? 

- No, of course not, what are you talking about. I meant the scale of his persona - as an athlete and as a person. Honestly, I don’t even know what I could say after that match. My head was full of fog. 

- After defeating Roger did you get recognized more? 
- Yes. I was recently at Zurich airport; so many people came to me. And many of them were Swiss, but no one expressed any negativity. It was nice. 

- So people probably don’t confuse you with Kohlschreiber anymore. 

- I wish. They still do. And not only with him - with Soderling too. Lately, however, it’s less so - probably because Robin hasn’t been playing for a long time. I don’t understand how we can look alike, but here it is, nonetheless. 
Photo taken from the original blog post on eurosport.ru

- On twitter, replying to a question about who is the funniest player, you said, "Benoit Paire."
 Why?

- Basically, there are two of them: Paire and Michael Llodra. They’re both absolutely crazy, I think, they often have very entertaining matches. Llodra I like because of his style of play: his aggressive approach to the net, crazy feeling of the ball in volleys - it is something special. Paire’s matches often are different in terms of entertainment, I suppose. He has such demonstrative slackness, he plays for the public. The result sometimes is something truly amazing. 

[Taken out: A couple of questions about Stakhovsky’s love of snooker and football. He likes Ronnie O’Sullivan and is a fan of Dinamo Kiev. –Anna]
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