Andy Roddick, Who Retired In September, Rose Two Spots In This Week's ATP Rankings

Hell of a week for Andy Roddick, who jumped up two spots in this week's ATP rankings despite not having played in six months. But when you're the 40th best men's tennis player in the world, these are the kinds of things you can do. (Also when you're part of a severely flawed ranking formula.)

Tennis rankings are sort of a mess and no one takes them seriously except for seeding. They take into account the past 52 weeks of play, meaning Roddick is still coasting off his first half of 2012. But they reward quantity over quality, so you'd expect players still toiling away in tournaments would have the edge on a guy who hasn't earned points since the first Obama administration. Not so.

Roddick went from No. 42 to No. 40, not based on his own play, but on the rankings' punishment of Viktor Troicki and Nikolay Davydenko, who bowed out of this week's Rotterdam Open earlier than they did last season. In doing so, they lost more rankings points than Roddick. Troicki has played five tournaments this year and dropped from 40 to 42, and Davydenko, who made the final of the season-opening Qatar Open, dropped from 37 to 43. Maybe Davydenko wouldn't be here if he hadn't taken last April off to recover from injury. April!

Regardless, congratulations to Roddick, who spent last week speaking at a $1,000-per-person charity event, and while doing so leapfrogged actual tennis players in the sole objective measure of tennis success. Roddick is expected to stay in the top 100 through at least Wimbledon.

H/t NoirJuggling