Link to Chris Chase’s article on Novak Djokovic

In this link, Chris Chase talks about the Novak Djokovic streak.  He mentions two issues in this streak.  Should it include Davis Cup, yes or no.  I’m not sure what to think about this either.  Here’s the problem with Davis Cup.

It has history.  Players like John McEnroe have always placed a great importance on Davis Cup.  But it’s not exactly a standard tournament.  Some players, like Roger Federer, rarely play Davis Cup.  It’s almost always scheduled the week after a Slam, and so it is awkward for those who want to use that period to rest, especially for Slam champions.  Andy Roddick, a stalwart Davis Cup player, skipped Davis Cup during his marathon Wimbledon loss to Federer in 2009.

Given how many people find Davis Cup hugely important (such as Novak Djokovic), it would be nice to be rewarded for playing Davis Cup.  Admittedly, there’s only 40-50 players eligible to play, and it’s not a standard tournament set up.

Chris Chase is wrong about two things.  First, Davis Cup does count to ranking points.  Djokovic has about 450 points from Davis Cup presumably for winning 2 of his matches.  Troicki, who played one match, has less than half that in points.  Second, Davis Cup does have prize money.  It’s not mentioned a lot, but there is money associated with it.

Chase also compares tennis to a team sport, which every American reporter does.  It’s amazing how American-centric so-called tennis commentators are when writing commentary.  They lament that tennis is not as popular as football, and they want tennis to only run when they aren’t watching football.  When Chase makes tennis his number 1 watching sport, and would rather watch the Australian Open instead of the NFL playoffs, maybe we’ll take some of these comments more seriously.

He says streak records don’t transcend seasons.  But, in fact, they do.  Home run records?  Between seasons.  Favre’s consecutive start streak?  Many seasons.  Didn’t UConn have two back-to-back undefeated seasons?  That was consecutive too.

And tennis, more than any other sport, has a tiny break.  What team sport has about 6 weeks of offseason?  The ATP World Tour Finals wraps up around Thanksgiving which is nearly the last week of November.  Players start playing the first or second week of January.  Do that in football, and you will put every player in the hospital.  This is one reason tennis players have the luxury of skipping tournaments.  They play almost the entire year.

And that rest has benefits.  Players are more likely to play their best tennis the healthier they are.  Sometimes they play anyway, like Federer playing the French and Wimbledon.  Imagine how much better team sports would be if the players were actually mostly healthy.  Instead, the need to chase dollar signs forces the NBA season to run 82 games when they would produce a better product playing only 50 games playing twice a week.  They might even use that extra time to, you know, practice.  Get better.

But do that, and the amount of money earned in revenue would be slashed nearly in half.  Who wants to give up that much money?  The NFL wants to get rid of two playoff games and add two regular season games.  Again, why?  Money.

Djokovic is getting close to McEnroe’s and Vilas’s consecutive streak record (Mac’s record is since the start of the year and Vilas is all-time streak).  Fortunately, both played Davis Cup during this streak, so Djokovic isn’t at a disadvantage even if you discount the streak.  McEnroe won two singles matches against Romania in 1984 and Vilas won two matches against Australia in the middle of his 1977 streak.

In any case, if Djokovic wins the French Open, his streak will be considered the greatest because (1) it will be as long as the longest streaks (Vilas/McEnroe), (2) he will have won 2 Slams in the process (neither Vilas nor McEnroe did this), (3) he beat the top “4” players 9 times, including world number 1, Rafael Nadal, 4 times.  If he falls short, this streak would be just as impressive because of how often he beat the top players who, given their play at the end of 2010, were considered odds-on favorite to continue their dominance in 2011.

I suppose I shouldn’t be irritated at tennis commentary.  After all, it is tennis commentary.  And who reads that?