As always, the chickendinner Bet Blog predicted the unexpected

Yesterday Andy Murray defeated Swiss tennis maestro Roger Federer in Dubai in three sets (6-7, 6-3, 6-4). And if that isn’t shocking enough, The Sun described him the cocky Scot as ‘gracious’ in accepting victory, while the usually-benevolent Federer blasted Murray’s victorious techniques.

Keen readers of chickendinner’s Bet Blog were told to expect some strange results in the Dubai Championships, as it falls in the ATP’s ‘topsy-turvy’ week:

Unlike the women’s game, men’s rankings are based on their best 14 results over the season. This means that those players who play in lots of tournaments know they can endure a few first round exits without their standings being affected.

These “off days” tend to come immediately before or after big events, when they are either saving themselves or recuperating, and coming two weeks after the Dubai tournament is the “fifth Grand Slam” the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami.

The other ingredient in this murky mix is appearance money, which is not publicly acknowledged, but big players will get several hundred thousand dollars to show up in the Gulf. First prize in the tournament is $300,000.

So with guaranteed money and untouched rankings, players like R-Fed can afford to sit back and let others have their moment in the dessert sun. When the Grand Slam tournaments roll around, minor blips like this are forgotten like Britney’s underwear.

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