Tennis: A lot at stake for Federer, Nadal, Del Potro, Cilic and Dimitrov

The Shanghai Masters tournament is evolving into a battleground which would ultimately affect the remainder of 2017 and the approaching 2018 for a few of the remaining tennis gladiators playing the quarterfinal rounds today.

Gasquet, Troicki and Ramos lack consistency

For others such as Richard Gasquet, Albert Ramos, and Viktor Troicki a quarterfinal victory would mean nothing more than an upset on a given day by any one of them. They have been around for a while and enjoyed their share of wins and upsets, and as well as heart-rending losses. However, they have always lacked in consistency to maintain a winning form from one match to another and therefore cannot be considered contenders for big titles based on their performance here.

Roger Federer could regain the number one rank

For Roger Federer not only will this tournament allow him to match Lendl’s record of 94 ATP titles but also put him back in the running for the year-end number one crown.

A possible showdown between Roger and Rafa in the finals would demand that Roger win that match to reaffirm his continued dominance of Rafa in 2017 and be back in the running for the number one rank.

Rafael Nadal wants to hold onto his number one rank

Nadal, on the other hand, would not want to lose his number one ranking to a 36 years old who he had dominated until 2016. For Rafael Nadal, it is also a matter of gaining confidence on fast hard courts, such as Shanghai’s, on which he has not fared so well in his career, and winning a final against either Federer or Del Potro on Shanghai’s fast court would be the best way to establish his hard court credentials.

Cilic could make use of a confidence boosting title win

Marin Cilic too would like to win an ATP Masters level tournament this year to start the 2018 season on a confident note. He was quite close to winning the Wimbledon crown but could not play his best tennis due to a foot injury he had suffered during the tournament.

Del Potro could push for a slam next year with a win in Shanghai

Juan Martin Del Potro has beaten both Roger and Rafa in the past, but it’d be good for him to know that he can still do it back-to-back in Shanghai Masters and that confidence could help him do well at the year-end tournament in London and then perhaps make a bid for another slam at the Australian Open 2018.

Grigor Dimitrov will finally break through with a title here

Grigor Dimitrov had a promising start to his professional career but has not lived up to those expectations so far and beating Rafa and Roger in a single tournament would do wonders for his game and give him the belief and confidence to realize his potential and perhaps win a slam sometime soon.