McIntyre Tennis

Gear Up For Upcoming Tennis-related Events In And Around Las Vegas

Las Vegas is known for high stakes games. Gambling is the most famous of all and this spirit is captured well by the Royal Vegas casino. There are also a lot of sporting events held here including the biggest boxing matches, mixed martial arts, and even tennis events. People are fascinated by head-to-head competition at all levels. It is always intriguing to see how athletes take the pressure and stare down their opponents. Close matches with long rallies are particularly exciting as anything can happen. If you are looking for an event to attend in the next few months, then here are a few suggestions:

2016 Las Vegas Tennis Open

This is part of the ATP Challenger Tour. The Frank and Vicki Fertitta Tennis Complex will serve as the venue. It is already home to the city's intercollegiate tennis programs. The LVTO is held every year around late October and features some of the biggest names in the sport. Players from all over the world will come to Sin City to test their skills against each other. Locals are sure to be in the mix as well. Last year, the men's finals match was contested by players from the Netherlands and Slovakia. The men's doubles winners were from Australia and Germany. They defeated a pair from South Africa.

Dessert Palm Jr. Summer Smash

If you like to see the up-and-coming players, then head over to the Summer Smash. This is set to run from July 21-24. This tournament welcomes all USTA members with every registered player set for outright selection. Perhaps you have children who might be interested to join in this event. The skill level should be either intermediate or advanced. It is a Level 7 Boys and Girls competition for 10 and under. There are singles and double categories. There are already a lot of applicants and approved competitors for this event which is sure to be a great experience for the players.

10th Annual Darling Tennis Center Santa Claus Classic

The Darling Memorial Tennis Center is the biggest public outdoor facility of this type in Las Vegas. It is part of the Kellogg-Zaher Sports Complex with 23 lighted hard courts and a center stadium with enough seats for 3,000 spectators. It offers programs that aim to develop players from the grassroots level. Every December, there is a Christmas-themed tournament held here on the hard surface. Don't be fooled by the name, though, because the level of competition is high and players take the games seriously. There are single and doubles categories for both genders, as well as a mixed doubles category.

WTT Smash Hits

Sometimes being involved with tennis can be about joining community projects for a great cause. The WTT Smash Hits, for example, is an all star charity event in October at Caesar's Palace. It will be co-hosted by iconic singer Sir Elton John and the legendary tennis star Billie Jean King. This is your chance to see superstars like Andy Roddick, John McEnroe and Martina Navratilova play on a court. Ticket sales and donations will go to the Elton John AIDS Foundation.

U.S. Open Tuesday Preview

By Mike McIntyre

There are four big men's matches scheduled for play on Tuesday at the U.S. Open as the field quickly approaches the final eight competitors. The tournament has avoided any major upsets amongst the guys and one has to wonder how much longer that will continue.

Andy Murray vs. Donald Young

American Donald Young will attempt to keep his best-ever Grand Slam showing moving along as he faces fourth seeded Andy Murray in the opening match on Arthur Ashe stadium at 11am. It is hard to believe that Young is only 22 years old as it seems he has been struggling on the ATP World Tour for years already. Actually, he has been struggling on the Tour for years as he rushed into his professional career at the tender age of 15.

Young has slowly begun maturing and making some strides this year that have signalled he is ready to move towards the expectations the tennis world has held for him for so long. Earlier this year he defeated Murray on the hard courts of Indian Wells. More recently he made the semi-finals of a level-500 tournament in Washington, D.C. as well.

That meeting in March was the only career encounter between Young and Murray, but expect a much different result on Tuesday. Young has been riding an emotional roller-coaster in New York with big wins over Stan Wawrinka and Juan Ignacio Chela, but faces a player of an entirely different calibre in Murray.

The Scotsman has amped-up his game over the past month and is not playing at the same mediocre level he was at earlier in the season when they first met.

Young can take home a lot of confidence from New York but he won't take another victory.

Prediction: Murray in three

Gilles Muller vs. Rafael Nadal

No-doubt recovered from his press-conference cramping incident from Sunday that was highly and uncomfortably covered by television cameras, Rafa Nadal will be feeling just fine as he faces severe under-dog Gilles Muller.

Nadal has yet to drop a set in the tournament and the defending champion rarely bows-out of a Grand Slam early. While I still have doubts about his ability to defend his title from a year ago, I can't see him getting bounced by Muller.

The pair have a career head-to-head record of 2-1 in Nadal's favor, but Muller's win was back in 2005 when Nadal was still discovering his game on hard-courts. More recently, they met at Wimbledon this summer with Nadal prevailing 7-6, 7-6, 6-0.

Muller has performed well in New York before, making the quarter-finals in 2008. He may give Rafa a challenge for a set, but otherwise will have to come up with the best tennis of his career to cause an upset.

Prediction: Nadal in four

John Isner vs. Gilles Simon

In a match that will offer fans a real contrast in styles, bit serving American John Isner will take-on the hustling baseline game of Frenchman Gilles Simon. This will be the first meeting between the two and the result is really anyone's guess.

Simon's best Grand Slam result was the quarter-finals of the Aussie Open in 2009 while Isner has made the fourth round at three majors including this one.

Both players have solid winning records on the Tour this year while Isner came into the Open with a tournament win in Winston-Salem. Both have had to beat top-level players in their journey here so far, with Isner defeating Marcos Baghdatis in the fist round and Simon just coming off a victory against Juan Martin Del Potro.

I see this one going the distance with at least a couple of tie-breaks given Isner's outstanding service game. Could go either way but I'll take a leap and go with Isner thanks in-part to the crowd support he'll receive.

Prediction: Isner in five.

 Andy Roddick vs. David Ferrer

In the opening match of the evening session, the third American man in action on Tuesday will be 2003 champion, Andy Roddick.

Roddick has finally found his game after struggling with injuries and consistency issues all summer long. He dispatched Julien Benneteau in routine fashion in the previous round and the Frenchman had been playing some great tennis coming in. Things are about to get a whole lot harder against Ferrer.

The Spaniard can hang on any surface and will never, ever, get tired. Ferrer holds a 5-3 advantage over Roddick in their prior matches and defeated him this year in Davis Cup play in straight sets on hard-courts. For those who don't know Roddick well, he is a guy who lives for representing his nation. He gives 110% in Davis Cup matches, so you can imagine how well Ferrer must have been playing to attain the victory on that day.

While I feel that Andy may yet have a crack at going deep in another Grand Slam before the end of his career, I don't see it happening here with Ferrer standing in his way.

Prediction: Ferrer in four.

Around The Corner: Winston Salem Open

By Mike McIntyre

With only one week left before the start of the U.S. Open, the Winston Salem Open provides tennis players with one final opportunity to prepare themselves for the final Grand Slam of the year.

Usually the top players in the world like Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer take this week to rest-up before heading to New York, while the lower ranked players who are seeking a few more ranking points or preparation on their games can be found in the draw.

This is the first year of this event as it was previously held in New Haven, Connecticut. With Pilot Pen vacating their spot as tournament sponsor, the event could not find a suitable replacement and was forced to fold.

Let's look at this week's draw to see who might end up as the inaugural Winston Salem champ.

First Quarter:

Andy Roddick arrives here as the number one seed. Normally Andy would not be playing in the week leading up to the Open, but he is struggling to find his game this summer and needs all the help he can get. On Monday his ranking will drop out of the top-twenty, something that has not happened for him since August 2001. That was back when Roddick was on his way up in the rankings as a new tennis professional. He has done an amazing job at consistently being one of the top players in the world and will be very focused to get back there.

He opens with a first round bye and then is scheduled to face the winner of the match between Albert Ramos and Lukas Rosol. Either way this should be exactly the confidence boost that Roddick requires.

A tricky third round match could have him play against veteran Lleyton Hewitt, who is also trying to find his game after struggling with injuries this year. It's sad in many ways to see these two former world number ones and Grand Slam champions having such difficulty with their games.

Second Quarter:

American John Isner is the 4th seed and will face either Dudi Sela or Filippo Volandri in the second round. This is a tournament that Isner should do quite well at and his only real competition could be in a quarter-final match against either Marcos Baghdatis or Dmitry Tursunov.

Isner defeated Baghdatis in Montreal this past week 6-3, 6-4 and the Cypriot has been quite mediocre of late. He has not advanced past the quarter-finals of any hard-court events this summer.

Third Quarter:

Enigmatic Alexandr Dolgopolov is seeded third and has also been playing under his talent-level for many stretches this year. After starting the 2011 season strongly by reaching the quarter-finals of the Australian Open, he has failed to really build on his potential on hard-courts. He did win the event in Umag a few weeks ago but that was on clay. He could face either Grigor Dimitrov or Donald Young in the third round, but otherwise should be able to navigate his way to the quarter-finals.

 There he could meet big-serving Kevin Anderson, who is the 6th seed, and has had a solid summer that was highlighted by a victory over Andy Murray in Montreal. He will likely face wild-card Ryan Harrison in the second round. The up-and-coming American faces Victor Hanescu in his opening match. James Blake is also lurking in this section and could face Anderson in the third round.

Fourth Quarter:

Jurgen Melzer is the second seed and will have the toughest opening match of the top seeds as he will face either Bernard Tomic or Igor Andreev. Tomic is a fast rising star on the ATP World Tour who showed his promise at Wimbledon this year by making the quarter-finals. Andreev is never an easy opponent and has skills on all surfaces. I'd call an upset over Melzer here a distinct possibility.

Nikolay Davydenko is the 5th seed and should be able to navigate his way towards the quarter-finals, but after a brutal 6-0, 6-2 defeat at the hands of Mardy Fish in Cincinnati, I wonder if his confidence is able to handle anyone at the moment.

I'm going to go with Roddick or Isner prevailing in this one. They are both great hard-court players and with their serves they are incredibly dangerous. This tournament could do wonders for their confidence as their home-country Grand Slam approaches.

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!

Disappointment For Roddick at Wimbledon

By Mike McIntyre

There will be no further pursuit of his Wimbledon dream for Andy Roddick this year after a shocking loss at the hands of Feliciano Lopez 7-6, 7-6, 6-4 on Friday.

In seven previous matches Roddick had never lost to Lopez but could not seem to fight his way into the match today. While Lopez troubled the American two weeks ago at Queen's Club, Roddick still prevailed in three sets there by a score of 7-6, 6-7, 6-4. Their matches have typically been close over the years and due to both possessing powerful serves we have seen many tiebreaks just as we did today.

After making the finals here two years ago where he lost an epic battle against Roger Federer 16-14 in the fifth set, Roddick has really not produced meaningful results at the Grand Slam level and is now struggling just to maintain a hold on a top-ten ranking on the ATP World Tour.

While he made the finals in Brisbane to start 2011 and then won a 250 level tournament in Memphis in February, Roddick's results this year have been pretty mediocre.

This most recent Wimbledon loss seems more troubling to me than a year ago when he managed at least to push his round of sixteen match against Yen-Hsun Lu to five sets before falling. Roddick appeared to feel differently afterwards when comparing them in his post-match press conference.

"He played better than I did," Roddick said. "He beat me. It's easier for me to walk out of here with that and move forward with that than '08 where I lost to Tipsarevic and I felt like I completely choked or last year where I just kind of had a million opportunities and kind of gave it away. Those are tougher to take now."

Lopez now moves on to face the winner between Gael Monfils and Lukasz Kubot.

Andy Roddick's Wimbledon Blog

A good read for any Andy Roddick fans out there: here is his Wimbledon Blog for USA Today.

In it he discusses his frustrations at being labelled a "one Slam wonder", the respect he has for coach Larry Stefanki and a brief analysis on his next opponent, Feliciano Lopez.

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

 

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!