How Easy Was That?

We always look at how hard it is to win a professional tennis event, but for some reason I got to wondering who had the easiest route to a title in 2012. (These are the kind of things that I think about with a week off of work) I think it occurred to me because of the rise in the number of 28 man draw events that allow the top four seeds to play only four matches to win an event, rather than the traditional five matches in a 32 man draw event.

So, here we go. To make this evaluation I considered the average ranking of the players beaten to win the event and the size of the draw.

32 Man Draw Events
Buenos Aries/151.6, David Ferrer won this event in his usual dogged style of running down every ball and punching the clock like a UAW factory worker. He earned $87k by beating players with an average ranking of 151.6. Two of his opponents were ranked over 230 in the world another over 160.
Delray Beach/156.4. Kevin Anderson won his first professional event in singles. He will probably not have an easier path to his second trophy as the average ranking of his opponents was 156.4. His opponent in the first round was ranked #502 and the player he beat in the final was ranked #173. To Kevin's credit, he did beat John Isner, ranked #11 in the semi-final.
St. Petersburg/177.8 The easiest road to a title in a 32 man event came to Martin Kilzan who's win in St. Petersburg came at the toll of playing opponents with the average ranking of 177.8. He lost one set of the eleven he played. Kilzan was ranked #45 at the time of the event and he only had to beat one played ranked higher than him, Mikhail Youzhny ranked #29. This was Martin's first tournament victory and earned him a career-high payday of $70,365. I am sure he will have to work harder to win his second.

28 Man Draw Events
Kitzbuhel/118.75. Robin Haase won his first professional event on the big tour by beating opponents with the average ranking of 118.75 over the four matches he played.
Metz/164. The acrobatic Wilfred Tsonga won this event by beating his first round opponent ranked #502 and by beating his other three opponents of which none were ranked higher than #28. His average match lasted 83 minutes and he only lost one of the nine sets he played. Not bad for $107k!
Casablanca/191. Pablo Andujar must be living right. He was lucky enough to win this event for the second time by beating opponents with an average world ranking of 191. Casablanca is traditionally one of the weakest tournaments of the year because of it's position on the calendar at the beginning of the clay court season. Andujar was ranked #58 at the time of the event  and he only had to beat one player ranked higher than him, Albert Ramos ranked #52, in the final. He also only lost one set of the nine he played. When he won the event in 2011 the average ranking of his opponent was #57.

It is good work if you can get it!

I did not look at Masters Series Events or Majors, there is no easy road to winning any of those events. Although, I do have some thoughts on the easiest Major to win and I will post that blog at a later date.

I do have a few predictions for 2013. The Canadian Milos Raoncic will come of age in 2013 and be firmly planted in the top five by the end of the year. The Joker will win two Majors. Federer will not win a Major in 2013. Nadal will not win the French Open is 2013. Tipsarevic will drop out of the top ten. Del Potro will take his place in the top five and win his second Major.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!