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Tennis Hypo: What happens if the 2nd semi at a Major becomes the de facto final?
| Irradiated piazza | 01/31/20 |
| diverse low-t corner | 02/02/20 |
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Date: January 31st, 2020 2:57 PM Author: Irradiated piazza The Australian Open currently plays the Men's semifinals on two separate days.
Let's consider the following hypothetical.
1. Roger Federer plays in Semi #1 on Thursday afternoon and wins over Nadal in straight sets.
2. On Thursday night, Roger, walking on the streets of Melbourne, gets hit by a car and breaks both of his legs.
3. On Friday afternoon Thiem is scheduled to play Zverev in Semi #2, which is now the de facto final.
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Surely I think we all agree that, no matter what, Nadal could not factor in here, given that he lost.
Would the AO move Semi #2 to Sunday for TV purposes? Should it?
Regardless of whether the match were moved to Sunday or not, Semi #2 would have a weird aura. Instantly you'd now have a match where the winner got winner's points and prize money (and had no chance of runner up points and prize money), but the loser got SF points and prize money. Could that potentially be unfair at all?
Also, how weird would the trophy ceremony be? You could have Thiem win 10-8 in a 5th set breaker and the Norman Brookes Coupe would go to Thiem with gimpy Fed there getting the plate and Zverev getting nothing. |
Date: February 2nd, 2020 1:11 AM Author: diverse low-t corner i'm not losing sleep over this freak hypo. first off, it's so rare that this exact scenario would happen; if it does happen, so be it... freak shit happens occasionally in sports -- what're you gonna do about it?
second, the hypo isn't THAT far off from the scenario where two great players play in a SF that's the de facto final and the other SF is two scrubs. sure, it's not the same. but a SF that is the de facto final isn't unheard of. or the winner of the first SF is a guy who is clearly gassed from the tourney and doesnt have anything left in the tank for the final.
third, there have been finals in various events on the tour that have been walkovers. that's shitty for fans, tv, organizers, etc. your hypo isnt that much different.
fourth, you think 2 guys are gonna play any less hard in a slam SF if the final is not going to be a walkover? either way they'll try their best to win the SF.
fifth, why should the SF loser have any entitlement to anything more than SF points and prize money? that's how single-elimination tourneys work. if the two best guys in the draw get unlucky and draw each other in the QF (due to odd seeding from injuries or something) and the QF is the match of the tourney, the loser gets QF points. that's tennith no? |