Around The Corner: Sydney, Auckland and the Kooyong Classic

 By Mike McIntyre

With just over a week until the start of the Australian Open, there is little time to tinker with one's game for the first Grand Slam of the year.

While the top four players in the world will be taking the week to rest themselves in anticipation for a deep-run in Melbourne, there are plenty of other of the game's great players who are in action.

The ATP has two tournaments, one in Sydney and another in Auckland, while the Kooyong Classic exhibition will boast a strong field as well. Here's a closer look at what tennis fans can expect.

Apia Sydney International

Juan Martin Del Potro starts his year in Sydney as the top seed. After making a strong return to the circuit last season following a wrist injury, the 2009 U.S. Open champion is ready to make some noise this year. Del Potro is certainly capable of challenging anyone in the top four and I would put him in the  mix of the few serious contenders at the Aussie Open.

The Argentine could see Marcos Baghdatis in the quarters here and then Feliciano Lopez who is the fourth seed. I would however, put the winner of the first round match between Victor Troicki and veteran Aussie Lleyton Hewitt to advance against Del Potro in this section of the draw.

Hewitt has won the even four times, in 2000, 2001, 2004 and 2005. Don't expect a repeat as his career is clearly on the downward spiral and injuries have taken their toll on the two-time Grand Slam champion. This may be the last year we see Hewitt playing on the ATP Tour, so enjoy him while you still can.

John Isner from the United States is the second seed. Patrick McEnroe recently stated that he feels Isner has the potential to reach the top ten in the ATP rankings. While I do not see that as being a realistic assessment for the 6'9'' Isner just yet, this guy is certainly a strong top-thirty player who can cause incredible damage on a hard court due to his imposing serve. It will be Isner's first action of the year so it will be interesting to see how he comes out of the gate. 

Isner could face either veteran Xavier Malisse or Radek Stepanek in the quarters and given his ranking he should be beating opponents like these. However, at this stage of the year anything is possible.

A likely semi-final opponent would be third seeded Richard Gasquet who had a solid week at the Hopman Cup where he defeated Fernando Verdasco, Lleyton Hewitt and Wu Di before falling to Tomas Berdych in the finals.

Heineken Open

 All-court wonder and the always hustling David Ferrer is the number one seed in Auckland. Ferrer started the year off by making the finals of the Mubadala World Tennis Championship in Abu Dhabi and was the runner-up in that exhibition to Novak Djokovic. Ferrer starts his week off with a bye at the Heineken Open and will face the winner of the match between Albert Ramos and Lukas Rosol. In other words, a nice way to ease into the tournament.

Ferrer's main opposition will be from third seeded Fernando Verdasco who has just competed in the Hopman Cup. There, the Spaniard defeated Lleyton Hewitt 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, knocked-off Wu Di of China 6-3, 6-4 and was beaten by Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-4. So essentially, he won the two matches he was supposed to win and could not find a way to be competitive against a solid opponent in Gasquet. Never any consistency with Fernando, but he has the tools to go deep in any draw.

The second seed here is Nicolas Almagro, but unless we're talking about a clay court match I wouldn't count on this guy to get too far. While he did make the semi-finals in Chennai, the field was rather weak and he was no match for Canadian Milos Raonic who took him out 6-4, 6-4.

Look for guys like Philipp Kohlschreiber, Donald Young and perhaps Sam Querrey to enjoy some success in this draw. It is nice to see Young seeded in the tournament (7th) and hopefully able to build on a nice season in 2011. There is still so much potential with the American and he still has many years ahead of him despite already being a presence on the ATP Tour for several seasons.

AAMI Kooyong Classic

Always a high-quality exhibition tournament, the Kooyong Classic again boasts a strong field in 2012. Ten players make-up the draw that has both a championship and consolation side to it.

American Andy Roddick will be the most high-profile player involved and will make his season debut on the tennis court at Kooyong. Roddick's buddy and current number-one American male tennis player, Mardy Fish, will also be present.

This year will be of the utmost importance to Roddick who struggled mightily a year ago. He needs to re-assert himself and prove to his fellow players that he is still relevant in the sport today. Usually a strong starter, Roddick will be one to watch closely here this week.

Continuing with North-American players, we have Canadian Milos Raonic who has just made the finals in Chennai. Raonic is going to be very exciting to watch this year, especially if he can stay healthy. This guy's game is perfectly suited to Wimbledon and it is no surprise that he grew up idolizing Pete Sampras.

The rest of the players here include Jurgen Melzer, Bernard Tomic, Tomas Berdych and recent Qatar finalists Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Of all the stops this week, Kooyong will be the one I'm most interested in due to its very strong field. 

Keep checking back with us all week long for updates or check out our Twitter feed if you like. Only one more week until the first Slam of 2012 so we have lots to look forward to!

Around The Corner: Cincinnati Masters

By Mike McIntyre

As the Rogers Cup is set to wrap-up this weekend in Montreal with the men, the draw for the second consecutive Masters 1000 event has just been released in Cincinnati. With the U.S. Open just two weeks away now, players will be looking to fine-tune their games and round into form for the final Grand Slam of the year.

How will Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray rebound after poor showings in Canada? The answer to that question has a lot to do with the draws they have received as well as how they deal with their mental and physical short-comings from this past week.

World number one Novak Djokovic will enjoy the benefits of a first round bye at the Western and Southern Open and gets the winner of American Ryan Harrison and Argentina's Juan Ignacio Chela. The progress that Harrison has made this year has been quite positive and he is giving U.S. tennis fans some real hope as they continue to search for the successor to Andy Roddick. Harrison should get by Chela, a player whose game is never really that dangerous on hard-courts.

Djokovic also has Stan Wawrinka and Gael Monfils in his section of the draw. Both of those players made the quarter-finals in Montreal this week. Djokovic can handle either, especially evidenced by his 6-2, 6-1 beating of Monfils on Friday evening.

Andy Roddick makes his return to the ATP World Tour after some injury issues of late. Currently ranked 12th in the world, Roddick could see his ranking start to fall quickly if he cannot put together some results this summer. Roddick has not played since a Davis Cup loss to David Ferrer on hard-courts in early July. He will open in Cincy against Philipp Kohlschreiber, a tricky opponent to be sure.

Djokovic should be able to advance through this section but having too much success just prior to the Open could be problematic down the road. A player does not want to peak too early, although it seems that Djokovic has found a way to keep his magical results going all year long.

In the following quarter of the draw, Roger Federer is not going to have an easy run. While he was fortunate to draw Canadian wildcard Vasek Pospisil in Montreal, his first adversary in Cincy will be either Juan Martin Del Potro or Andreas Seppi. No offence to Seppi, but it would be shocking if he could get by the 6'6'' Argentine.

Federer will be pushed to the limit by Del Potro and could see his U.S. Open preparations seriously harmed if he's not on top of his game. Federer holds a 6-2 advantage in their career head-to-head, but Del Po has won the last two encounters.

Tomas Berdych is also in this section of the draw as the 8th seed, but you can never get your hopes up with this guy. It seems like a mix of quarter-final and semi-final appearances this year are all we are going to get out of the talented but enigmatic Czech. He hasn't beaten a quality opponent all year long, so I wouldn't expect that to change now. This guy must drive his coach nuts!

On the other side of the draw Rafael Nadal will try to get things back on track after a surprising second round defeat to Ivan Dodig. While Federer losing to Tsonga in Montreal was always within the realm of possibility, I don't think anyone really saw that Dodig loss coming for Nadal.

The Spaniard will play either Guillermo Garcia-Lopez or a qualifier in his opening match. That should be the perfect prescription to get things going to him. A quarter-final match against Mardy Fish is a possibility for Nadal, although with Fish going deep in Montreal I wonder how much energy he will want to expend in back-to-back weeks.

Keep an eye on the talented Alexandr Dolgopolov who opens against Richard Gasquet in this quarter as well as Fernando Verdasco and veteran Xavier Malisse as a longshot who can still play the game quite well.

Finally, Andy Murray will try to find his form against the winner of David Nalbandian and a qualifier. Nalbandian can't seem to catch a break as he opened against Wawrinka in Montreal. Murray should be a good bet to dispatch of the veteran Argentine and hopefully the doubles action he saw with his older brother Jamie in Montreal will help him out here.

David Ferrer and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also in this section and are fantastic hard-court players who could go deep here if Murray is still working out the kinks in his game.

Of the top-twenty players in the world, only Sweden's Robin Soderling is missing in action.

My picks for a final four this week will be Djokovic vs. Del Potro and Murray against Dolgopolov. I don't see Federer getting by his first opponent and something just didn't seem right with Nadal while practicing or playing in Montreal this past week.

Let the speculation for the U.S. Open continue. It will be here before we know it!

Rogers Cup Day One Review

 By Mike McIntyre

Day one from the Rogers Cup offered up some quality first round matches in Montreal. Some were able to meet expectations while others did not.

Falling into the category of the latter would be David Nalbandian against 16th seeded Stanislas Wawrinka. While the world's second ranked Swiss player held a solid 5-3 record against Nalbandian heading into the match, the Argentine won their last encounter with ease a year ago by a score of 6-1, 6-3.

Nalbandian has had a tough year, one that once again has been negatively impacted by health issues. Requiring not one, but two separate surgeries to his left leg/groin areas, Nalbandian missed three months on the tour and returned just in time for the brief grass-court season. He lost in the third round of both Queen's (Verdasco) and Wimbledon (Federer) before falling to James Blake in the first round of Washington where he was the defending champion. His inability to defend those ranking points sent him plummeting 24 spots in the ranking to his current spot of 51st in the world.

Nalbandian looked ordinary on Center Court against Wawrinka today and could not make a dent in his game. He looked somewhat lethargic and allowed Wawrinka to win easily 6-1, 6-4 to advance to the second round where he will now face the winner of the Michael Russell vs. Albert Montanes match scheduled for tomorrow.

Wawrinka was moving well on the court today and never seemed bothered by Nalbandian's game. His assessment of his opponent was pretty much to the point as he said that, "With him, you never know.  Today he was not playing really good. I think he's not really ready." He pointed out that perhaps at Nalbandian's age he is not quite as fit as he needs to be. "But maybe with the year (age), he's 29 now, maybe it's not easy for him to play many matches at the top level."

Nalbandian was practicing on the weekend with big-serving Ivo Karlovic - perhaps not the best player to prepare for a groundstroke battle with an all-round player like Wawrinka.

In the second match of the day on the main stage, the ever-present Juan Carlos Ferrero took on enigmatic Ernests Gulbis. JCF held a 1-0 head-to-head advantage coming into the match and had looked strong lately on clay in winning his sixteenth career title in Stuttgart. Ferrero's season has been a trying one however as he did not play his first tournament until April due to wrist and knee injuries. He was then out between May and July when those same ailments began acting up once again. Today was his first hard-court action of the year and he got off to a good start by taking the opening set 6-3.

Gulbis has been playing some of the best tennis of his career as of late as the 22 year old won his first title of the year and second of his career in Los Angeles against Mardy Fish. Could it be that Gulbis is finally going to deliver on his enormous potential? He dug deep today against Ferrero to comeback and win 3-6, 6-1, 7-5. Next on the horizon will be a match against the winner of tomorrow's match between Mikhail Youzhny and Michael Llodra.

Other matches of note on the outside courts included the talented Alexandr Dolgopolov, who survived a scare from Erik Chvojka of Canada who is ranked 290th in the world and was entered in the draw thanks to a wildcard from Tennis Canada. Dolgopolov had to battle to win 6-3, 5-7, 6-4.

Big serving Ivo Karlovic snapped out of a funk that has seen him lose seven of his last eight matches on the tour. He prevailed today against Juan Monaco 6-7(2), 6-3, 7-6(5) for only his second win since May. Speaking with him afterwards, Karlovic recalled that when he turned thirty it was, "the most depressing day of my life, so I know how Roger must feel now."

American Alex Bogomolov Jr. continued his surprising play of late by dispatching Adrian Mannarino in straight sets, 6-2, 7-6(4).

Thomaz Bellucci of Brazil knocked-off Andrey Golubev 7-5, 7-6(6). Golubev has now lost eighteen straight matches. He is quickly approaching the all-time losing record of Vince Spadea who at one point in his career lost twenty-one consecutive matches. Talk about having your resolve to keep playing thoroughly tested.

Marin Cilic, who it seems to me is due for some sort of breakthrough this year, was able to dispatch of Andreas Seppi 7-5, 6-4.

Nikolay Davydenko defeated Flavio Cipolla 6-3, 6-3 to advance to an interesting second round encounter. Davydenko will now face world number one Novak Djokovic in the second night match on Tuesday in Montreal. While a shell of his former self, Davydenko will be a tricky opening opponent for Djokovic. The Serb has not played yet due to a first round bye.

At night, Juan Martin Del Potro easily handled Jarkko Nieminen by a margin of 6-4, 6-0. I've personally stopped feeling any sympathy for Nieminen ever since he trounced Andre Agassi in the last two sets of the American's last appearance at the French Open. In that match in 2005, Agassi was up two sets to one until his back acted up and he was beaten 7-5, 4-6, 6-7(6), 6-1, 6-0.

The 19th ranked Del Potro is on a collision course to face Djokovic in the third round in what would be a marquee match-up that early in the event. The 2009 U.S. Open winner has been making some solid progress since missing most of the 2010 season due to injury and is certainly going to be back in the top ten, perhaps even top five if he continues at this rate.

Del Potro refused to speculate on facing Djokovic and gave the classic "one match at a time" answer when pressed.

"Yeah, I know that. But first I will have to play against Cilic. Will be very difficult match for both.  We know each other since juniors. We play many, many times. It's really difficult match for me because he knows everything about my game, and I know many things about his game, too. But first I have to beat him and then I will thinking if I have another match. Before (Djokovic), Cilic in the next round."

The final match of the night was between fan-favorite Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fabio Fognini. The Frenchman advanced with some second set difficulty but was able to make Fognini the third in a trifecta of Italians to be bounced from the tournament. The final score was 6-4, 7-6(0). Tsonga was visited by the trainer in the second set when down a break and appeared to have - no joke - his head checked. Tsonga stuck around after the match to hit a few balls with a local wheelchair tennis player in a nice moment to end the evening.

One noticeable no-show today was birthday boy Roger Federer. With a bye in the first round he is not scheduled to play until Wedneday so we will have to wait until then to discuss how he feels about turning the big 3-0.

 

 

Wimbledon Men's Preview 2011

By Mike McIntyre

To me, the start of summer has always been christened by the opening day of play on the prestigious lawns of the All-England Club. As a child, school had just finished and my family and I would take that first week off and head to the East Coast for some beach time in Kennebunkport, Maine. Regardless of how sunny it was, I would usually find myself sitting in front of the television watching the opening rounds of Wimbledon, while my parents and siblings instead made their way to the ocean shaking their heads at my stubborn dedication to the sport I loved.

Growing up with the great Boris Becker/Stefan Edberg rivalry during the summers of 1988, 89 and 90 would forever ingrain a love for tennis within me that has endured to this day. Later, players like Pete Sampras, Goran Ivanisevic and Tim Henman would further my affection for the magic that could happen during this famous fortnight. Today, as the tournament is preparing to begin, I find myself once more looking forward to the start of summer and the two best week's of tennis I could ever imagine.

Here then is our Wimbledon preview for 2011. We'll have a look quarter by quarter and amuse ourselves with analysis, historical data and all the potential marquee matchups that tennis fans look forward to watching as the draw unfolds. 

Nadal's Quarter:

Reigning champion Rafael Nadal has not lost a match at Wimbledon since the finals in 2007. He has won the last two times he has played the event in 2008 and 2010, while injuries kept him away in 2009. Nadal has just captured his sixth French Open title and will attempt to marvel the sporting world with the possibility of another back-to-back Roland Garros/Wimbledon accomplishment.

Nadal will have his hands full with the draw he has received although his first match against veteran American journeyman Michael Russell provides a nice opening act, followed by the winner of Pablo Andujar/Ryan Sweeting. Then things get tricky for the (current) world number one.

Canadian wonder-boy Milos Raonic is set to play Wimbledon for the first time and, with his serve and volley game tailor-made for grass court tennis, could cause some serious damage. In many other sections of the draw, Raonic would have been a favorite to advance to the quarter-finals based on his impressive arsenal of fast-court weapons. While he could still give Nadal a heck of a ride, you'd have to imagine that Nadal's experience will stave off this potential upset.

Juan Martin Del Potro, seeded 24th, has shown great results in his comeback from wrist surgery and is starting to make his way back towards the top ten. He should be around to face Nadal in the fourth round in another match that will push Nadal to his limits. The Argentine has never had much success on grass, failing to ever advance past the second round of Wimbledon, yet he has many of the tools to be successful on the surface. Regardless of past accomplishments, he is not someone Nadal will look forward to facing this early in the tournament.

A rematch of last year's final with Tomas Berdych could occur in the quarter-finals if both he and Nadal hold true to their seedings. Berdych had a fantastic tournament a year ago in making his first ever Grand Slam final and in dispatching Roger Federer in the quarters, but has since failed to make much forward momentum with his career progress. A first round loss at the U.S. Open last year was followed by the quarter-finals in Australia this year and then another first round loss at the French a few weeks ago. Even at full-tilt, Berdych has not troubled Nadal in years and I don't expect that to change if they meet again here next week.

Murray's Quarter

Flying under the radar is local favorite and whipping-boy Andy Murray. Murray had a breakthrough season in 2009 where he won six titles but a year ago took a step backwards as he only captured two titles and failed to claim his first major title as many expected he might do. This season started slowly for Murray but he seems to be rounding into form after a semi-final appearance on his least favorite surface of clay at Roland Garros and then in winning the Queen's Club title over Tsonga after dismantling Andy Roddick by an emphatic score of 6-3, 6-1 in the semi-finals. With all eyes on Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, Murray has the perfect opportunity to steal their thunder this year at home.

Murray opens against clay court specialist Daniel Gimeno-Traver in what should be a quick and ruthless result for the world number four and he will have to wait until the third round before a real test against either Croatian Marin Cilic or Ivan Ljubicic. In the round of sixteen he could come up against Richard Gasquet who has made the semis of Wimbledon before and the quarters would likely bring him Andy Roddick who no longer seems capable of competing with the big guns. With low expectations this year, Murray might be able to deflect the scrutiny of the UK media machine and actually come up with the moment we have all been waiting for. A semi-final with Nadal could be epic.

Federer's Quarter:

The six-time champion must be ecstatic with his draw that has a birth in the semi-finals all-but assured. Unless Roger has his "George Bastl moment", he should be sailing through just as he did in Paris last month. A meeting with David Nalbandian in the third round will not hold the same luster it once did, as Nalbandian has been oft-injured and needs more time to return to form. John Isner could meet up with Fed in the quarters, or perhaps Mikhail Youzhny, but neither one will trump one of the greatest grass-court players of all-time. Truly it will have to be a semi-final against Novak Djokovic to put Roger to the test in this year's edition, but even then I think we're going to see the Swiss maestro back in the finals where he so often has found himself.

Djokovic's Quarter

Up until his semi-final loss to Federer at the French Open, the tennis world was completely fascinated by the incomparable play of Novak Djokovic who began the 2011 season with a 41-0 record and came within one victory of tying John McEnroe's record where he began the 1984 season 42-0.

With that loss, fans and media pundits alike (yours truly included) have suddenly tapered their expectations for Djokovic and have realigned themselves for the usual Federer/Nadal final prediction at Wimbledon.

The pressure to continue his streak is over, so Djokovic has a bit of reprieve form the spotlight, however he is less than 100 points behind Nadal for the number one ranking, which would be a first for him in his career. It will be considered a disappointment if Djokovic fails to make the finals but I don't think he can beat Federer if Roger is at his grass-court best and playing the same brand of aggressive and near-flawless tennis he played against him in Paris.

Djokovic should be able to navigate through the first few rounds with opponents like Jeremy Chardy, Marcos Baghdatis and Viktor Troicki on deck. A quarter-final against Robin Soderling could offer a great tilt in what would be their first grass-court meeting.

Overall it seems likely to me that the top four players in the world will advance to the semi-finals. If so, we would be treated to a second consecutive Slam where this has happened and that in itself is a great thing for tennis fans of the ATP World Tour.

Enjoy the opening rounds. Matches like Marcos Baghdatis against James Blake, Lleyton Hewitt versus Kei Nishikori and most importantly a rematch of John Isner and Nicolas Mahut should offer a great start to the tournament and to another summer of fantastic tennis.

Stay tuned to ProTennisFan for coverage throughout the event and feel free to follow us on Twitter as well for regular updates.

Here is the order of play for tomorrow:

Monday's Order of Play

 

Madrid Masters Preview

By Mike McIntyre

The Mutua Madrid Open, or Madrid Masters, opens the month of May on the ATP World Tour and sets the scene for a frantic three weeks of clay court action leading up to the French Open.

Two-time and defending champion Rafael Nadal will look to extend his 34 match winning streak on clay and will face either Marcos Baghdatis or a qualifier in his opening match. Nadal has been his usual brilliant self thus far in 2011 on his favorite surface and will be the leading candidate to walk away with the trophy here in Madrid.

Rafa will face a stiff challenge in the third round where it appears likely he will face Juan Martin Del Potro who is unseeded in the draw. Nadal leads their head-to-head by a narrow margin of 5-3 but only one of those meetings was on clay.

Jurgen Melzer, the eighth seed could be a quarter-final opponent while either Robin Soderling or Roger Federer will probably see Nadal in the semis.

Novak Djokovic will be looking to extend his own winning streak that has seen him go undefeated since a loss to Roger Federer back in November at the ATP World Tour finals. The Djoker opens against either big serving Kevin Anderson or enigmatic Ernests Gulbis. His clay court record a year ago was 10-4 which is respectable but not spectacular. As evidenced by his final showing in Belgrade this past week, Djokovic appears ready to transition onto the dirt without any problems. A final showdown with Nadal would be an epic match, pitting their two different types of winning streaks on the line.

Third seeded Roger Federer did not have any favors bestowed upon him with the draw in Madrid. The two-time champion (2006, 2009) will potentially face rising Canadian star Milos Raonic in the second round. If Milos has recovered from back issues he suffered while playing back-to-back matches in Estoril he could be a very difficult early round opponent.

Fernando Verdasco and the Swede, Robin Soderling, are also in Roger's quarter of the draw and have the clay court skills to challenge the now vulnerable Swiss star.

Soderling could face Alexandr Dolgopolov in the second round which would make for a great early round encounter. While Dolgopolov experienced his breakthrough moment earlier this year at the Aussie Open on hard court he considers clay his favorite surface.

The final quarter of the draw to mention holds both Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych. Seeded fourth and seventh respectively they both have the first round off. Nikolay Davydenko, Gael Monfils and clay court specialist Juan Monaco could trouble either of the big seeds in this section.

Some first round matches worth watching include Monfils against Ivo Karlovic and his monstrous serve, former top-ten players Ivan Ljubicic and Gilles Simon facing each other and the all-American match of Mardy Fish against John Isner. Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Nicolas Almagro should also offer-up a great opening tilt.

For a change a Djokovic vs. Nadal final is the match-up most tennis fans want to see on the last day of play. How will Djokovic, the world's best player at the moment, fare against the world's best clay court player in Nadal? Stay tuned to find out!

Enjoy the journey this week in Madrid and don't forget to follow us throughout the tournament on Twitter.

Around The Corner: Miami Masters

By Mike McIntyre

After another dominating performance by Novak Djokovic in Indian Wells, the Masters 1000 level action continues this week in Miami at the Sony Ericsson Open.

Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who battled for the title in Indian Wells, both have a first round bye along with the other top thirty-one seeds. Good thing too, as the top two players in the world headed straight to Bogota, Columbia to play in an exhibition match on Monday. Nadal gained a small dose of revenge as he won that match 7-6(5), 6-3. Of course that result is meaningless as both players were no-doubt trying to conserve energy for Miami.

Nadal has a tough opening section of the draw in Miami and will face the winner between Kei Nishikori and Jeremy Chardy. Either way I would say this is a tough opening match that could test a tired Nadal. Both Alexandr Dolgopolov and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also in Nadal's quadrant of the draw and they could present a threat in the fourth round.

In the other section of the upper half of the draw are Roger Federer and Andy Roddick who could clash if they both progress through to the quarter-finals. Federer has a decent section to navigate with players like Radek Stepanek, Marcos Baghdatis and Juan Monaco present but not strong enough to threaten him. 

Roddick could see Marin Cilic in the third round but the defending champion should be quite capable of winning his first few matches. It is about time that Roddick showed us what he can still do on the ATP World Tour. If he doesn't come ready to play, the American veteran will likely find himself dropping out of the top ten in the rankings.

No longer even mentioned in the conversation of Grand Slam contenders, Roddick's attitude is perhaps what needs the most adjustment. Physically his serve and other aspects of his game have not changed very much, however his confrontational nature seems at an all-time high. His verbal abuse towards the chair umpire in his loss to Richard Gasquet in Indian Wells was obnoxious and immature and did not endear himself towards any of the fans that surely wanted to support their country's most recent slam winner.

In the bottom half of the draw we have a much tougher area of competition. Players like Robin Soderling, Andy Murray, Juan Martin Del Potro, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka and of course Novak Djokovic are all going to be forced to battle within this section.

It will be interesting to see how Raonic reacts to suddenly being seeded and having more expectations placed upon him. He is now considered to be a favorite to move through the opening rounds. An Australian Open rematch against off-season hitting partner David Ferrer looms in the third round.

Soderling or Del Potro will likely advance to face the winner of the above mentioned match in the quarterfinals, while Gasquet and Wawrinka also linger. Look for Del P to continue his return towards the top ten as he showed us in Indian Wells that he is ready to resume his place near the pinnacle of the men's game. Following his semi-final performance last week he has shot up 39 spots in the rankings to his current spot of no. 51.

In the other quarter, Andy Murray will be hoping to awaken and display some skill for the first time since his straight-sets defeat against Djokovic in Melbourne back in January. The fifth ranked player in the world has failed to win a match since then. His recent inconsistencies should favor big-serving John Isner whom he could face in the third round.

Djokovic should not have to face any serious opposition until the quarter-finals so expect his eighteen game winning streak to make it to at least the big 2-0.

With the tour getting ready to switch to clay courts, enjoy this last big tournament on the pavement.

Around The Corner: Indian Wells Masters

By Mike McIntyre

It's time again for some meaningful tennis. No disrespect to the ATP World Tour level 250 and 500 tournament's, but the BNP Paribas Masters in Indian Wells represents a return to top-level tennis with all the big names in attendance.

Rafael Nadal claims to be healthy again and the world number one is ready to perform. Defeated a year ago by Ivan Ljubicic in the semi-finals here, Nadal will hopefully be fit enough to play at 100%. After a first round bye he will potentially face a qualifier or Pere Riba from Spain. Either way Rafa should be off to a good start. His first major obstacle could be Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the fourth round and that could be a real special match for tennis fans. The 17th ranked Tsonga is a top-ten player when he is healthy and could give Rafa a tremendous challenge. While he is only 1-5 against Nadal, Tsonga has beaten him on hard courts before and usually gives the Spaniard a good test. With a weaker quarter of the draw, look for the winner of this match to likely advance to the semi-finals.

Still in the top-half of the draw, don't expect defending champion Ivan Ljubicic to last long. Aside from battling some injury issues, the veteran Croatian has the unenviable task of facing Juan Martin Del Potro in the second round. Ljubicic has a first round bye, while Del P will very likely take care of fading veteran Radek Stepanek in his opening match.

The 2009 U.S. Open champion, Del Potro has been playing terrific in recent weeks. Finally recovered from a wrist injury that kept him off the ATP World Tour for the better part of 2010, Del Potro has rebounded nicely in 2011 with two semi-final appearances in a row in San Jose and Memphis followed by a victory at the event in Delray Beach against Janko Tipsarevic.

Del Potro, when healthy, is a top-five player who is capable of beating just about anyone when on his game. In a tennis world where Federer and Nadal have been less than perfect lately, here is a player who can really throw his name into the mix in competing for Grand Slams. Look for him to have a tournament where he truly announces his return to the upper-echelon of the men's game.

A Del Potro vs. Dolgopolov third round would be fun to watch, as would a potential fourth round battle between Del P and Sweden's Robin Soderling. I like one of these two players to advance to the finals in fact. I still feel like Soderling has yet to reach his potential.

In the last section of the top-half of the draw we have Andy Murray. What to make of the world's fifth ranked player? He has a comfortable lead over sixth ranked David Ferrer in the rankings but what has he done for us lately? He has only played in two events through more than two months of the year and his results were total opposites. He was playing fantastically at the Australian Open before he advanced to the finals and then tanked in three sets to Novak Djokovic. Murray then proceeded to lose in the first round in Rotterdam in early February to Marcos Baghdatis in straight sets. Since then Murray has been absent from the tennis court and that in itself makes me wonder what else is going on with the talented Scot. Perhaps his third straight-sets loss in a Slam final has taken a mental toll on him? His performance here in Indian Wells and then in Miami will go a long way towards determining what direction Murray is headed.

The bottom-half of the draw meanwhile seems to have many more meaningful matches on deck. Second seeded Roger Federer could face Kei Nishikori in the second round and then rising-star Milos Raonic in the fourth round. A Federer vs. Raonic match would be an electric test of old versus the new.

Tomas Berdych has been sleep-walking through this year so far and could face Marin Cilic or Stan Wawrinka in the fourth round. Honestly, I don't see Berdych ever living up to his so-called potential despite his semi-final results at the French Open and making the finals of Wimbledon in 2010. There are several more mentally strong players on tour with just about as much physical talent as he has that I would bank on.

On the other side of the bottom-half draw we have aging American vet Andy Roddick and soon to be second ranked Novak Djokovic. Both should advance to the quarter-finals although Roddick's path is less certain. James Blake, John Isner and Richard Gasquet all stand in Roddick's way.

Djokovic meanwhile shouldn't face too much opposition with the lights-out way he has been playing. Veteran Lleyton Hewitt and fellow-Serb Viktor Troicki linger in his section but neither is anywhere near matching his level of performance.

I like a Djokovic vs. Federer semi-final in this section of the draw to go along with Nadal and Del Potro in the top half. Who emerges is anyone's guess but any way you slice it tennis fans worldwide are going to enjoy the next week and a half of tennis in California.

Around The Corner: Marseille, Memphis and Buenos Aires

By Mike McIntyre

Open 13 - Marseille, France

Fresh off his win in Rotterdam, Sweden's Robin Soderling looks to continue his impressive form this week in Marseille as the number one seed. This guy has certainly proved he belongs in the top five and the only thing really left for him to achieve at this stage in his career is to win a Slam at some point. With Roger approaching thirty and Nadal's healthy always a question, there is no reason why Soderling cannot accomplish this at some point in 2011.

Soderling gets a first round bye and will face either Frenchman Nicolas Mahut or a qualifier in the second round. He will have the likes of Jurgen Melzer or Ivan Ljubicic to contend with in the top-half of the draw.

Tomas Berdych is the second seed and still seems to be struggling with his game. Despite making the semifinals of Wimbledon last year, Berdych has not managed to be as consistent week in and week out like Soderling is. The Czech will face either veteran Arnaud Clement or a qualifier in the second round.

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga is a more likely name to emerge from the bottom-half of the draw and lookout for Nikolay Davydenko or Gilles Simon - both unseeded - to also make a run in Marseille. The two former top-ten players face each other in the opening round and then have the "good" fortune of facing seventh seeded Mikhail Youzhny in round two. Getting through that kind of tough start could give them the momentum to go deep in the draw.

A Frenchman has won this event in four of the last five years. In 2010 it was Michael Llodra, who opens this time against Julien Benneteau. With all the big names entered in the draw I think it is a huge long-shot for Llodra to expect similar results this time around.

Regions Morgan Keegan Championships - Memphis, Tennessee

Andy Roddick makes his return to the ATP World Tour for the first time since the Australian Open where he surprisingly lost in the fourth round. He opens against Richard Berankis in a relatively easy opening match and then could face Janko Tipsarevic in round two. Tipsarevic has given him trouble in their past two meetings so this will be no easy draw for America's top player. Roddick could really use a tournament victory to show others he is still one of the top contenders on the circuit. It wouldn't hurt to prove that to himself either as he has not won a title since March of last year. Roddick has a lot of ranking points to defend next month and could see himself drop out of the top-ten if he doesn't bring his best game to the court.

Veteran Lleyton Hewitt is also in Roddick's quarter and the pair could meet up in the third round. Hewitt, even more-so than Roddick, needs to show he still has some fight left in him. Turning thirty in just over a week, the Australian is ranked 70th in the world and is looking for his first ATP level win of the season. 

The first-round match to watch here in Memphis will undoubtedly be that between wild-card Juan Martin Del Potro and sixth seeded John Isner. Standing at 6'6'' and 6'9'' respectively, these two players will be bringing some serious firepower to the court. Del Potro leads the head-to-head 2-0 but is still not back at 100%. He did take a giant leap forward in his comeback from wrist surgery when he made the semi-finals in San Jose this past week before losing to Fernando Verdasco.

Verdasco leads the bottom-half of the draw as the second seed and will face Canadian Milos Raonic in the first round. The interesting thing about this match-up is that the two have just played each other in the finals in San Jose. It is not often that you see two players meeting in the final of one event only to then meet in the first round of the next one.

Defending champion Sam Querrey is also in the bottom-half of the draw, but much like with Llodra in Marseille, I feel he will be hard-pressed to repeat as champion due to the tough competition. Ranked 17th in the world, Querrey has struggled mightily at the start of the season by losing both of his first round matches in Australia last month. We'll see if he can get back on track while playing in a spot like Memphis where he has so many positive memories from 2010.

Copa Claro - Buenos Aires, Argentina

The seemingly mandatory clay court event on the tour this week takes place in Buenos Aires where forgotten veteran Juan Carlos Ferrero is the defending champion. Unfortunately Ferrero has not been able to play yet this season as he recovers from wrist and knee surgery and will miss the event this year.

That being said there are several worthy successors to walk away with the title. Top seed Nicolas Almagro loves playing on red clay and just won the Brasil Open against Alexandr Dolgopolov. Almagro has always had trouble putting together back-to-back titles though, so don't expect another deep run this week. He often follows up a win with a second round loss for some reason. Should he get to round three in Buenos Aires, he will likely get a rematch with Dolgopolov.

David Nalbandian and Tommy Robredo represent the veteran presence in the top-half of the draw and while I would count on Nalbandian to emerge from this section, you can never really count out Mr. Robredo. This guy always seems to have a strong performance just when you think he's on the verge of disappearing from the radar.

The bottom half of the draw is led by second seeded Stan Wawrinka. While Stan has had a great season thus far, on clay I'd take guys like Juan Monaco and Alberta Montanes as more likely picks in this section of the tourney.

All in all this week has some great matches despite the lack of Nadal, Federer, Djokovic and Murray. Most of the other top players are in action and we also have some great new faces like Dolgopolov and Raonic to continue to keep an eye on. Enjoy the tennis everyone!

 

 

 

Around The Corner: Sydney and Auckland

By Mike McIntyre

Medibank International - Sydne, Australia 

American Sam Querrey has the top seed and enjoys a first round bye. He will face either Alexandr Dolgopolov (who lost to Roddick in Brisbane) or a qualifier in his first match. It will be interesting to watch Querrey this year and see if the 23 year old is ready to take another big step forward. 2010 saw him win tournaments on all three surfaces, so expectations are high.

Gilles Simon looks to be the toughest opponent in Querrey's section of the draw and the two could face-off in the third round. Simon is a former top-ten player, though he is not seeded in this event after sustaining a lackluster 2010 season.

Ernests Gulbis is the third seed and is also in the top-half of the draw, but somebody remind me when he last accomplished anything worthwhile on the circuit.

Marcos Baghdatis is the defending champion in Sydney and is seeded second this year. He gets the winner of Potito Starace and Julien Benneteau. Look for the Frenchman Benneteau to possibly give him trouble in round two.

Juan Martin Del Potro has a wildcard into the tournament and gets Feliciano Lopez, the eight seed, in a tough first round match. After missing the majority of 2010 with a wrist injury, it is going to be fun to watch a healthy Del P and see if he bounces back this season. It will be nice to see him back near the top of the rankings and giving guys like Nadal and Federer a good run for their money.

Heineken Open - Auckland, New Zealand

World No. 7 David Ferrer of Spain takes the number one position in Auckland and gets a bye in the first round. He will open against either Tobias Kamke or a qualifier in round two. Philipp Kohlscrhreiber the eighth seed looks like potential trouble in the top-half of the draw while veteran Tommy Robredo is also present though unseeded.

In the bottom half clay-court guru Nicolas Almagro is the number two seed while John Isner is the third seed. The tall American returns to Auckland as the defending champion where he won his first ever ATP World Tour title. In the finals a year ago he saved a match point en-route to defeating Arnaud Clement.

David Nalbandian is also present and could cause some damage if he is healthy and fit to start the season. It seems something usually goes wrong with the Argentine in the early-goings of the tennis year, perhaps due to a lack of proper preparation or maybe just due to his chronic misfortune with injuries.

All in all a pretty nice draw in Auckland this year and one of several players involved could walk away with the title.

Kooyong Classic

Though not an official ATP tournament, the Kooyong Classic usually has some top-level talent on display. The annual exhibition offers up some pretty nice prize money to entice tour players to play.

This year they boast a lineup of Jurgen Melzer, Nikolay Davydenko, Gael Monfils, Lleyton Hewitt, Mikhail Youzhny, Tomas Berdych, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Fernando Verdasco in the tournament.

The draw has not yet been revealed but winners advance to the championship side while losers are relegated to the consolation section where they still are able to get a couple of matches under their belt prior to heading to Melbourne.

Enjoy the tennis and stay tuned for our Australian Open preview in a week's time.

Around The Corner: Tennis On The Rise in Asia

By Mike McIntyre

The ATP Tour crosses several time zones this week and sets up shop in Thailand and Malaysia where it hopes to attract new fans and sponsors in an effort to spread its global presence.

World number one and the dominant force in men's tennis in 2010, Rafael Nadal was treated like royalty when he arrived a few days ago in Bangkok.

While both stops on the schedule are ATP World Tour 250 events, the fact that the region has attracted the likes of Nadal and other young stars such as Juan Martin Del Potro, Robin Soderling, Tomas Berdych and Fernando Verdasco shows that they are committed to hosting premium quality tournaments.

Malaysian Open

Robin Soderling is the number one seed at the Malaysian Open and receives a first round bye. He should have an enticing semi-final match against Berdych if the draw holds true to form. Speedster David Ferrer of Spain is also in the top-half of the draw and should win a few rounds.

In the bottom-half, Marcos Baghdatis faces up and coming Kei Nishikori in the first round in what could provide the tournament with its first upset. Nishikori will have the crowd behind him and has been playing the best tennis of his season towards the late stages of the summer hardcourt swing. Ranked 123rd in the world, the 20 year old Japanese sensation made it through qualifying at the U.S. Open before advancing to the third round. In the process he defeated top-twenty player Marin Cilic before having to retire with an injury to Albert Montanes.

Russians Nikolay Davydenko and Mikhail Youzhny are also in the bottom half of the draw. Davydenko has had some big struggles since returning to the Tour in June after a lengthy injury layoff due to wrist surgery. He has not resembled his old self and has a 10-10 record since that time.

Meanwhile, Youzhny made it to the semi-finals of the U.S. Open and jumped in the rankings to 9th in the world - one spot away from his career high that he reached in 2008. I wouldn't be surprised if he overtook Davydenko as the highest ranked Russian before the year is out.

PTT Thailand Open

 Rafael Nadal is making his first ever appearance at the Thailand Open. While he was scheduled to play the event the past two years in a row, injuries derailed his plans and he was forced to withdraw. He comes in as the clear favorite following his impressive performance in New York where he captured the only missing Grand Slam from his already incredible tennis resume. Nadal gets a first round bye and will play the winner between two qualifiers in his opening match.

After tumbling down the rankings to the 35th spot in the world, Juan Martin Del Potro emerges from his nearly year-long wrist injury and holds the 5th seed here in Bangkok. His potential third round opponent is Nadal which will be a most difficult match in his first tournament back on the Tour. Let's hope Del Potro can remain healthy and get a few tournies under his belt before the conclusion of 2010. Having him back in the mix next season will be a huge boost to the current Roger and Rafa show we have been watching this year.

Jurgen Melzer and Fernando Verdasco represent the talent in the bottom half of the draw but neither one should be able to knock-off a healthy and in-form Nadal.

The Asian tennis swing continues next week with level 500 events in both Japan and China and then we have the Masters 1000 event in Shanghai that should have all the big names out in full force.