Nalbandian vs Dimitrov

Will Dimitrov shine against Nalby?

Double bets on Dimitrov and i paced $20 on him, do you guess its a good bets or Nalby would impose himself in the tournament and will put the baby Fed and my bets to dust?

Dmitrov has a good chance. Nalby does not serve like Anderson, but is more consistent on ground strokes. Experience compensates for age. But then, Dmitrov has gone the way of Gulbis and Dolgo, raising expectation every now and then and not fulfilling them.

You feel this is perhaps where Dimitrov starts to breaks through....he has the talent no doubt...but he still needs to bulk up and get fitter to push even further up the rankings. I think the run so far moves him to around top 60...

If he were to win the title, and why not looking at who is left...he would move to around #48...nerves and a seasoned campaigner may get the better of him today...let's see what he's made of.

Let's be clear though his ascent is not Federer-like despite the labels Grigor gets...here's Federer's rise up the rankings versus age:

Federer
Ranking Milestone.....Date.....Age

First Ranked September 29, 1997 16y 1m 21d
First ATP Match July 6, 1998 16y 10m 28d
Top 100 September 20, 1999 18y 1m 12d
Top 50 March 6, 2000 18y 6m 27d
Top 25 October 30, 2000 19y 2m 22d
Top 10 May 20, 2002 20y 9m 12d
Top 5 January 27, 2003 21y 5m 19d
# 1 February 2, 2004 22y 5m 25d

So there may be 3 years difference between Federer and Dimitrov getting to top 50.
How do you put this sort of stuff into nice tables? Lol

Here's Nadal, Djokovic and Murray BTW:

Nadal
Ranking Milestone......Date.....Age

First Ranked September 24, 2001 15y 3m 21d
First ATP Match April 29, 2002 15y 10m 26d
Top 100 April 21, 2003 16y 10m 18d
Top 50 August 4, 2003 17y 2m 1d
Top 25 April 4, 2005 18y 10m 1d
Top 10 April 25, 2005 18y 10m 22d
Top 5 May 9, 2005 18y 11m 6d
#1 August 18, 2008 22y 2m 15d


Djokovic
Ranking Milestone......Date.....Age

First Ranked July 7, 2003 16y 1m 15d
First ATP Match July 19, 2004 17y 1m 27d
Top 100 July 4, 2005 18y 1m 12d
Top 50 June 12, 2006 19y 0m 21d
Top 25 July 31, 2006 19y 2m 9d
Top 10 March 19, 2007 19y 9m 25d
Top 5 April 30, 2007 19y 11m 8d
# 1 July 4, 2011 24y 1m 12d


Murray
Ranking Milestone......Date.....Age

First Ranked July 21, 2003 16y 2m 6d
First ATP Match April 18, 2005 17y 11m 3d
Top 100 October 3, 2005 18y 4m 18d
Top 50 February 20, 2006 18y 9m 5d
Top 25 August 14, 2006 19y 2m 30d
Top 10 April 16, 2007 19y 11m 1d
Top 5 September 8, 2008 21y 3m 24d
# 2 August 17, 2009 22y 3m 2d

Djokovic and Murray's ascent to Top 10 very similar by age. This also tells you Nadal started earlier than their age gap suggests...he has a lot more ATP miles under his belt.

Summary - first ATP match to Top 5
Federer: 4yrs 6mth
Nadal: 3yrs 1mth
Djokovic: 2yrs 9mth
Murray: 3yrs 5mth

Summary - Top 100 to Top 5
Federer: 3yrs 4mth
Nadal: 2yrs 1mth
Djokovic: 1yrs 7mth
Murray: 2yrs 11mth

Summary - Top 5 to #1 (or #2 for Murray)
Federer: 0yrs 11mth
Nadal: 3yrs 3mth
Djokovic: 3yrs 9mth
Murray: 0yrs 11mth

lydian wrote: ...
Summary - Top 5 to #1 (or #2 for Murray)
Federer: 0yrs 11mth
Nadal: 3yrs 3mth
Djokovic: 3yrs 9mth
Murray: 0yrs 11mth

Summary - Top 5 to #1
Federer: 0yrs 11mth
Nadal: 3yrs 3mth
Djokovic: 3yrs 9mth
Murray: 3yrs 9mths and counting

I don't know about dimitrov, to me the one handed backhand is dead. I mean Gasquet has the best one hander I have ever seen but how many of the top 20 have one handers? It is even worse at the lower ranks, I mean one handers are deficient on the whole and in general on the ATP tour. Fed has great one, a couple of other guys have great ones but still I would try to talk any young aspiring player out of playing with one hand. Unless he is over six foot six. His backhand just doesn't hold up in lenghty battles that he will have to endure on tour. And lydian is right he has not done the hard yards and is obviously not fit enough.