Roger Federer, the world #1 on the ATP tour pulled out of both the Japan Open and Shanghai ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, citing fatigue as the reason for withdrawing from both tournaments.

I think he's slacking because he lost to Del Potro at the US Open a few weeks back, last year after crushing Murray at the '08 US Open he played in both tournaments with no problem.

"I'm disappointed that I have to withdraw from Tokyo and Shanghai as they are two of my favorite cities," Federer said. "The fans have been great to me over the years."

Is he saving himself for the year end ATP World Tour Finals in London at the end of November?

I think he's just still disappointed he lost to Del Potro in New York. I know if I were him I'd play both tournaments to redeem that loss in New York.

On a side note, US Open champion Juan Martin del Potro and #3 Andy Murray are both scheduled to play in the Japan Open, which has $1.3 million in prize money.

Thoughts? Comments? I wanna know what you guys are thinking.. I know I wouldn't drop out of the Japan Open no matter what, Tokyo is an awesome city..haven't been to Shanghai yet, but it's on my list.

A little bird informed me that Rafael Nadal, who'd withdrawn from the Thailand Open to recover from an abdominal injury has informed the masses via his website that he's back on the grind and hoping to play in Beijing next week.

After spending a relaxing week in Cote d'Azur and Monte Carlo, Rafa returned to Mallorca this past Monday to prepare for the remainder for the season.


Rafa hopes to be able to travel to Beijing sometime this week. Good to hear Rafa's back on his feet after an injury prone season..thoughts?

UPDATE 10/1/09:Rafael Nadal has been cleared by doctors in Barcelona and will be playing in Beijing next week in the China Open and then heading off to Shanghai for the Shanghai Masters, then the Paris Masters before concluding the season in London at the ATP World Tour Finals.

Nadal has also made himself available for Spain's Davis Cup final against the Czech Republic in December.

Kimiko Date Krumm picked up her first tour title at the Korean Open in Seoul this past weekend, her first tour win since returning last year after retiring in 1996.

At 39 years old, Date Krumm is the second oldest female player to win a title on tour (The only person older was Billie Jean King..but by 7 months and 23 days!) also, Date Krumm hasn't won tour level match since 1996!

After reading around, a few sites and blogs thought it was amazing that players like Date Krumm and Clijsters can return from retirement to win WTA Tour level tournaments, however, the otherside wasn't so pretty.

Other blogs and sites said  that this goes to show the weakness of today's WTA tour, first with Clijsters winning the US Open, but Kim is an excellent player and its hard to deny that truth.

Date Krumm however, from what I read, she wasn't a great player, but a decent player. I looked around on the web and found that she has been ranked as high as #4 in her career prior to her retirement in 1996 which is amazing. But has no grand slam titles to her name.

Clijsters was ranked #1 prior to her retirement, and had won the US open prior to retiring. So her return to form this year was hard to deny.

But does Date Krumm steam rolling through 3 top 30 players show that the progression of women's tennis in the last 15 years has been slim if any? I don't mean to Diminish Date Krumm's win this past weekend, but it seems the opinion around the web is that it undermines the performance of today's top women players..

Guys and gals, what are your thoughts on this? I want to know!

Definate Highlight of the trip: big 'ol Gundam in Daiba.



Anyways, Japan was a blast..I don't even know where to start, I was excited as shit before Yusuke and I even left Houston. What can I say? I've wanted to go there since I was a kid watching Dragon Ball because I wanted to meet the guys that created it to thank them for doing so (True story) Going there was a dream come true, even though I spoke little Japanese (but everyone I met didn't seem to mind, I made a lot of new friends!) And I got stared at and felt up pretty much everywhere I went, creepy, but I guess Japanese people don't see 6 foot brown people running around their city everyday, so it was all good with me. Clearing out trains was definitely hilarious watching them sneaking to the next car like ninjas as we made stop after stop..lol a blast. Some quick thoughts though to keep it short, because I could go on and on.
People:The people I met were friendly people, not like people were telling me that "oh Neemo, they ain't gonna say a word to you, be prepared to be silent for a month" Nah, that wasn't the case, they actually made an effort to talk to me even though I could only pick up bits and pieces of what they were saying, Yusuke would translate here and there, but mostly I was on my own, so I wouldn't just be "Yusuke's friend" to them, but they'd remember me as "Neemo-san" which is the way I hoped for it to be!

The most beautiful women in Japan hands DOWN reside in Nagoya double taking every 15 seconds on average there, Tokyo comes in a close second.

The most beautiful one though was in Takamatsu though, homegirl was late catching the ferry, hauling ass in her S15 to get there on time (Yes, in Japan, women fix up cars! And they do it PROPER) I caught her real quick when she rolled down the window to I guess ask the attendant if she could get on..winner.

Food:Doesn't matter where I ate, the food was good period. Best though was definitely this joint in Kyoto where EVERYTHING was fried, fried onions, shrimp, sausage, cheese, all served on a stick and with this amazing dipping sauce. Close second was the noodle house outside the Takamatsu station where the Tenemaya was. (Streets in Japan have no name, so I remembered places by whatever they were next to)..and the ramen in Shibuya..woaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah mans, best 7 dollars..ever.


The Scene:They're years and years ahead of the scene here, the innovation there is amazing, even little hole in the wall shops have some amazing things (like Square Sports just down the street from Yusuke's house..wow..their front lot was like my dream garage..Top Secret Supra, R34, AE86, EG, and some 180SXs..) People drive their cars daily, all in all from what I noticed, they just do the damn thing and do it to their personal liking, there's no trends that they try to follow, or band wagoning or nut riding or whatever it's called these days, for them it's like art, they all have an individual way of expressing themselves with their cars as their canvas


Some of the things there I've never seen here, people would call it "too wild" or "insert hater bandwagon lingo here" I don't know.. flame on me all you want but I think the scene here just lacks that spark we had back in the day, everyone did conversions, this that..now..rims, lip, drop call it a day. But oh well, hopefully something will come along in the near future and spark it back up here.

Overall: 20/10, I'd go again, and again, and again, shit, I'd live there if I could. Waking up everyday was like a new day and smile on my face, priceless, I went there to get away from the world and all I can say is..

Mission Accomplished...and here's the pictures.. http://www.flickr.com/photos/neeemo/sets/72157622145865048/





Been around the world Volume 2: India..coming soon..stay tuned..

I know, I know.. this topic has been beat to death, but I still don't know what's going on with the WTA ranking system. This year isn't the only year this has happened, I think you know what I'm talking about, how a player like Dinara Safina (Do not get me wrong, she's an amazing, amazing player) getting to the top of the tennis world without having a grand slam title on your resume?

The ranking system the WTA uses currently is modeled after the same ranking system used on the ATP Tour which awards points based on results in tournaments, and caps it off after a certain number of tournaments. For the 2009 season the WTA is capping that at 16 events. 

So, if a player completes in more than 16 events, only the best 16 results will count towards their ranking, so if they perform poorly in some events those can be dropped without any worries. I believe this is where the main flaw lies in the WTA ranking system.

But back to the WTA's current number 1 player, Dinara Safina. She's held the ranking for 12 months now, and she's had an amazing 12 months along the way..last year she was ranked number 17 in the world, but in that time she's reached the finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros, the olympics, and she's also won 4 WTA tournaments.

But she still doesn't have a major title on her resume.

Safina replaced Serena Williams as the world number 1, even though Williams won the US Open and Australian Open, and reached the finals of Wimbledon last year, and won it this year. Yet she's still #2.

Your thoughts, opinions..feel free to add on any other flaws you see in the ranking system..