McIntyre Tennis

Five Men’s Players to follow Down Under

By: Ben Lewis
Sportscaster, Sportsnet 590 the Fan, Co-host of the Southpaw Slice tennis podcast

Photo with permission: Jimmie48 Tennis Photography

As the first tennis Grand Slam season has dawned upon us, there are a handful of compelling story-lines to peak our interest.

At age 31, Rafael Nadal arrives in Melbourne as the oldest world number 1 in the history of the tour. 36 year-old Roger Federer enters as the Australian Open defending champion, and perennial early tournament favourite, and Novak Djokovic is back following a six month layoff to his most prestigious event (6 time Aussie Open champ).

Despite an absence of Andy Murray and Kei Nishikori, the men's field is bustling with many contenders and dangerous players capable of deep runs in the tournament.

Here are five players to follow closely:

Nick Kyrgios
Ranking: 17
Country: Australia
Career titles: 4
Best Grand Slam Result: 2015 Australian Open QF, 2014 Wimbledon QF

Kyrgios is a 22 year-old, mercurial, volatile personality who can be an absolute superstar when tennis is peaking his interest. While the Australian has had lukewarm receptions from home crowds in the past, he entered the 2018 season looking exceptionally motivated, winning a hard-court title in Brisbane.

He’s in the top half of the draw, and could face a potential rematch with Grigor Dimitrov, a player he knocked-off in 3 sets just over a week ago.

Kyrgios has all the physical tools on a tennis court to become a Grand Slam champion, the bigger question is if he has the mental resilience to sustain high-level play for two weeks.

Juan Martin del Potro
Ranking: 10
Country: Argentina
Career titles: 20
Best Grand Slam Result: 2009 US Open Champion

The gentle giant from Argentina coped with a string of injury plagued years, with a pair of wrist surgeries, but after completing a mostly healthy 2017, DelPo looks poised to take things one step further.

DelPo was the only player last season to win a match over Roger Federer at a Grand Slam event, beating him in a U.S. Open quarterfinal. Once again, he’s lurking in Federer’s quarter, along with other dangerous players like David Goffin, Milos Raonic and Tomas Berdych.

Possessing one of the world’s most powerful forehands, if del Potro is striking early, he could quickly bust open a draw, and make a deep run.

Kevin Anderson
Ranking: 11
Country: South Africa
Career titles: 3
Best GS result: 2017 US Open Finalist

The South African may not get bonus points for style and flair on the court, but K-Ando is simply all business when it comes to winning tennis matches. His penchant for work ethic paid off handsomely in 2017, where he reached his first ever Grand Slam final at Flushing Meadows.

Anderson opened 2018 equally strong, winning an exhibition in Abu Dhabi at the Mubadala Classic, and reaching the finals of the Tate Open in India.

With his experience and confidence continuing to build, and his booming serve, expect Anderson to be one of the toughest outs, and a potential quarterfinalist.

Alexander Zverev
Ranking: 4
Country: Germany
Career titles: 6
Best GS result: 4th Round Wimbledon, 2017

Forget calling him one of the best young players on tour, Sascha Zverev is simply one of the world’s best, hands down. The tall, wiry German earn 5 ATP titles in 2017 including two Masters 1000s in Rome and Montreal, and he enters Australia as the fourth-ranked player.

The only thing missing from Zverev’s gaudy resume is a run at a Grand Slam, and some of that last season was bad fortune. He went toe-to-toe with Rafael Nadal in a third round, five-set loss at the Aussie last year, and he also fell to Milos Raonic in a fourth round tilt that went the distance at Wimbledon.

If the stars align (which I think they will), Novak Djokovic and Sascha Zverev could meet in the round of 16. It will be a matchup of perhaps the best two-handed backhands in tennis today, with the youngster having an opportunity to dethrone a legend at his best event.

David Goffin
Ranking: 7
Country: Belgium
Career titles: 4
Best GS result: 2017 Australian Open QF, 2016 French Open QF

David Goffin has been one of the tour’s most under the radar talents for the past couple of seasons. At 5'11, 150 pounds, his slight frame may not look intimidating on the court, but the Belgian possesses plenty of weapons to beat any of the world's best. His quick strike groundstrokes can plant opponents on their back foot easily, while his lateral movement is off the charts.

Goffin scored the best win of his career at the London ATP Finals in November, a three-set upset victory over Federer, before falling to Grigor Dimitrov for the title.

After a solid break, he should be fit, confident and poised to carry that memory to Australia. A potential rematch with Federer could be looming in the quarterfinals.


FIRST ROUND MATCHES TO WATCH

Alex de Minaur vs. Tomas Berdych

A native of Australia, 18 year-old Alex de Minaur is on a spectacular, Shapovalov-like run to open his 2018 campaign.

He opened the season with an upset victory over Milos Raonic and carried that to a semifinal appearance in Brisbane. The following week he made his first ATP final in Sydney. Come Monday his ranking will have jumped 81 spots to 127.

He gets a stern test against veteran Tomas Berdych, who opened his season with a win at the Tie Break Tens exhibition.

Prediction:
Berdych in 4 sets

David Ferrer vs. Andrey Rublev

It's a classic teacher vs. pupil matchup. A former world number three, 35 year-old David Ferrer still has the desire and work ethic to drive him to match wins, and he’s coming off a semifinal appearance in Auckland.

Andrey Rublev is a next-Gen Russian star who made a quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open last season.

Prediction:
Ferrer in 5 sets

Mischa Zverev vs. Hyeon Chung

Often over-shadowed by his younger brother, Mischa Zverev quietly had an excellent 2017 season, going old-school with his serve and volley approach. He had a stunning upset victory over Andy Murray at the tournament last season.

Hyeon Chung is another exceptional young talent, he finished 2017 with a title at the Next-Gen Finals and will look to dictate rallies from the baseline.

Prediction:
Zverev in 5 sets

ATP Tour Recap - Bastad, Newport and Umag

By Mike McIntyre

The ATP World Tour made the transition from the Grand Slam fervor of Wimbledon to a trifecta of smaller events in Bastad, Newport and Umag. Here is a recap of the results of the past week as we sink our teeth into the summer.

SkiStar Swedish Open - Bastad, Sweden

Impressively voted by the players as the 250 level tournament of the year between 2002-2011, it was captured this year by someone who enjoyed much success over that time period but not so much as of late. David Ferrer won his first Tour title since 2015 and sent notice that Roger Federer is not the only 35 year old who can still handle his own on a tennis court. It was the third time that Ferrer has hoisted the trophy in Bastad with previous wins in 2007 and 2012. We shall see if he can keep the five year pattern going and win one at the age of 40 in 2022! This time Ferrer took out Fernando Verdasco in the semifinals and then Alexandr Dolgopolov in the finals to take the tournament. The win bumps him up 13 spots in the rankings and within striking distance of a seeded spot at the U.S. Open later this summer.

Dell Technologies Hall of Fame Open - Newport, Rhode Island

Continuing the trend of players who had not won a title of late, American John Isner used his commanding serve to his advantage on the grass in Newport. Isner had won a tournament every year from 2010-2015 but after winning in Atlanta two years ago he had come up empty. At the age of 32 and with his limitations being what they are, it is unlikely we will ever see the 6'10'' Isner ever win a Slam but he should be able to pull off at least a level 250 event with that serve being the weapon it is. When you see that Ivo Karlovic is doing just fine ranked 29th in the world at the age of 38, Isner should be able to continue his career for several more years. Not to take away from Isner's accomplishment but his opponents en route to the trophy were not exactly guys who should have given him trouble. It only took four wins for the championship and three of those were against opponents who were ranked outside of the top 200 in the rankings. Newport is the third grass court tournament win of Isner's career with all of them coming at this very same event. 

Plava Laguna Croatia Open - Umag, Croatia

From two well known tennis commodities to a lucky loser of champions in Umag. Russian Andrey Rublev at the tender age of 19 reminded us that it's not just the over-thirty crowd that can achieve success these days on Tour. The youngest current player inside of the top 50 in the rankings overcame six different opponents (including qualifying) to win the first pro title of his young career. Most unsual was the fact that Rublev lost his final qualifying match (in straight sets) to Italian Attila Balazs but found his way into the main draw none the less. He took out known clay court guru Fabio Fognini in the quarters, veteran Ivan Dodig in the semis and Paolo Lorenzi in the finals by a score of 6-4, 6-2. His victory must have Russian tennis fans excited as there hasn't been much to talk about on the men's side in that country since Kafelnikov and Safin retired. Those two remain the only men's Grand Slam singles champions from Russia.

Australian Open Men's Quaterfinal Preview

By Mike McIntyre

We are down to the final eight players at the Australian Open and unlike on the women's side there are very few surprises up to this point. This should make for some very entertaining and hotly contested quarterfinal matches. Here is a quick breakdown of the four contests ahead of action on Tuesay and Wednesday in Melbourne.

Novak Djokovic (1) vs Kei Nishikori (7)

The undisputed favourite coming into the event and also the defending champion, Novak Djokovic suddenly seems like he may indeed be vulnerable after his five set win against Gilles Simon in the round of sixteen. Roger Federer was quick to defend Novak and his 100+ errors in that match saying that Simon has the tendency to make players go for broke on their shots, but none the less I don't think anyone quite expected it to get to a fifth set. Djokovic has defeated Chung, Halys, Seppi and Simon to get to the quarters and will face a stiff test from the 7th seeded Nishikori.

Nishikori has not yet gone the distance in any of his victories over Kohlschreiber, Krajicek, Garcia-Lopez or Tsonga and is perhaps a bit more rested than his adversary in this upcoming match. Beating a player of Tsonga's calibre by a score of 6-4, 6-2, 6-4 is quite impressive and bodes well for his confidence at this stage of the tournament. Djokovic leads the head to head by a margin of 5-2 including the last four in-a-row. Nishikori can draw strength from the fact that he has beaten Novak at a Grand Slam before, in the semifinals of the 2014 US Open.

I think anyone would be crazy to predict anything other than a victory for Djokovic in this one. That being said I also believe the possibility for an upset has increased somewhat due to the results in recent days. All in all I'm going with Novak in four.

 Roger Federer (3) vs Tomas Berdych (6)

This will be the seventh career meeting at the Slams between Federer and Berdych with Roger holding a 4-2 advantage, although Berdych has won their last two battles which came at the U.S. Open in 2012 and at Wimbledon in 2010. Overall Federer leads their career head to head 15-6 and has taken the last four in-a-row between them. A rejuvenated Federer won all three meetings in 2015 with ease, not dropping a set in any of those matches.

Federer has started 2016 fairly strongly with a loss to Milos Raonic in the finals of Brisbane and with four relatively convincing wins so far here at the Aussie Open. He has wins against Basilashvili, Dolgopolov, Dimitrov and Goffin to get to this stage. Even Roger knows that his window for winning an 18th major gets smaller and smaller with each passing Slam so that undoubtedly is providing him with a little extra incentive. Despite the fact that he still looks like he could play for another ten years, even Fed fans know realistically that is not going to happen. As he approaches the four year mark without a Slam victory, Federer needs to make something happen while the body is still co-operating.

Berdych has been most comfortable here at the Aussie Open where he has now made the quarter-finals or better the past six years straight. The Czech has beaten Bhambri, Basic, Krygios and Bautista-Agut to reach this point. If he's able to play his best and not get caught up in the fact that Roger has had his number of late, Berdych could move into the semifinals for a third straight year. I certainly give him a better shot of upsetting Federer than I give Nishikori versus Djokovic.

That being said, I'll take Roger in three sets given how he looks lately to set-up a final-like SF against Novak.

Milos Raonic (13) vs Gael Monfils (23)

You don't want to miss this one folks! Five sets written all over it and between two enormously different styles of tennis players. This match will have canon-like serves and circus-like acrobatics. An excellent opportunity for two players who have struggled with injuries to get some satisfaction with a semifinal appearance at a Slam. The pair have faced each other but twice before in their careers with Monfils coming up victorious both times. You can throw those results out the window however as both came before Raonic solidified himself as a top-level threat on the ATP World Tour. With a tournament win already under his belt this year and a new coach in Carlos Moya to provide a different perspective on things, I would say that the Canadian is the slight favourite coming into this quarterfinal match.

This is the fourth Grand Slam quarterfinal for Raonic who will be aiming to attain just the second major semifinal of his career. For Monfils meanwhile it is the seventh Slam quarterfinal, although most of those came on the clay of Roland Garros. Regardless of the result, I think this will be the most entertaining of the four matches to watch and I wouldn't want to miss it.

I'm giving the edge to Milos who will prevail in five sets.

Andy Murray (2) vs David Ferrer (8)

Not surprised one bit at the two who will be facing each other in this quarterfinal match. Soon to be father Andy Murray has always performed well at the first Slam of the year and this edition has been no exception. He has beaten Zverev, Groth, Sousa and Tomic to get to this stage and has only dropped one set along the way. It does not seem as though impending fatherhood has distracted him from his goal of winning the third Slam of his career.

Ferrer for his part has been even more workmanlike than Murray en route to his sixth Aussie Open QF. He has taken out Gojowczyk, Hewitt, Johnson and Isner to get here. He'll work his butt off against Murray but at age 33 I don't know if he truly has enough to take the No. 2 seed down.

Murray holds a 12-6 career edge against Ferrer, including the past five straight times they have played one another and eight of the past nine in total. In fact if you take the clay matches out of the equation, Ferrer has only defeated Murray twice. Expect that trend to continue and witness Murray advancing in four sets.

Thursday at the Rogers Cup in Pictures

By Mike McIntyre

Photographs by Bob McIntyre

Thursday was without a doubt one of the crazier days in the history of the Rogers Cup. Not only did world Number One Novak Djokovic make an early exit, but favourites such as Stan Wawrinka and Tomas Berdych also crashed out in the third round. Canadian Milos Raonic found a way to perservere in three close sets as did Roger Federer who almost squandered six match points against Marin Cilic before finishing him off in the third. Here are some photos taken by our own Bob McIntyre. Enjoy and keep checking back for more as we head into the final three days of action in Toronto.

 

Stan saved a match point in his second round match against Benoit Paire on Wednesday, but could not muster the same type of luck against Kevin Anderson on this day.

Here is Anderson celebrating his victory and looking every bit the 6'8'' that he is.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

 

Djokovic looking for divine intervention perhaps during his 6-2, 6-2 loss to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

Coming up a bit short

Now that's frustration folks.

It should have been a sign to Djokovic when Tsonga already had a grin on his face as he walked in to Centre Court.

Check out the quad on this guy...yikes!

About as happy as you'd expect after defeating the number one player in the world

Total control of the ball today from Tsonga

Andy Murray got a break when opponent Richard Gasquet withdrew prior to their third round match. Looks like he made the most of the opportunity on the practice courts with coach Amelie Mauresmo.

Grigor Dimitrov continued to show why he is refered to as "Baby Fed" with a three set win over veteran Tommy Robredo.

Robredo was feeling the same way as many of Dimitrov's opponents have been feeling this year.

Dimitrov is happy like a room without a roof!

Don't try this at home kids. Actually, unless you are Ivan Dodig, don't try this anywhere!

 

David Ferrer...yours to discover. And as Dodig discovered, a tough obstacle in his path. Ferrer would win in three sets to advance against Roger Federer.

Hey look, it's former Pro Brad Gilbert who's in town working for ESPN.

Milos Raonic was looking pretty suave against Julien Benneteau in the first match of the evening session on Centre Court.

 

Raonic would advance in three sets which seemed to be the standard distance required of most winners on this epic day of action in Toronto.

Doesn't look a day over 32!

Despite squadering six match points in the second set, Roger Federer would recover to defeat Marin Cilic in three.

Less than half an hour after the match, Federer would turn 33. Not a bad way to celebrate your birthday.

Check back with us again all weekend at ProTennisFan as we will have extensive coverage of the semi-finals on Saturday and the finals on Sunday at the Rogers Cup. Also, be sure to follow us on Twitter as well.

Men's Fourth Round French Open Preview

By Mike Mcintyre

Half-way to the finish line and all of the main threats in the men's draw at Roland Garros appear poised to live up to their billing in Paris.

Top ranked Rafa Nadal survived his first five-set French Open match against John Isner and a third set hiccup against Pablo Andular in round two to advance with ease to the fourth round with a 6-1, 6-3. 6-0 route of Antonio Veic. Next up is unseeded veteran Ivan Ljubicic who upset Fernando Verdasco in straight sets on Saturday. While Ljubicic is a wily veteran, he stands no chance against the defending champion and will go down in three in their meeting I'm certain. While Ljubicic has defeated the Spaniard twice before, both of those meetings came on hard courts. Nadal will own him on clay to advance to the quarter-finals.

The Gilles Simon vs. Robin Soderling fourth round match should be a good baseline battle between one of three remaining French hopes and the two-time returning finalist from Sweden. Soderling leads their head-to-head 4-2 but the pair have never met on clay before. Expect a long match with Soderling likely prevailing to set-up a fantastic quarter-finals match against Nadal. Not a player Rafa is looking forward to facing.

After the finals in Australia, Andy Murray is still waiting for his "I'm Back" moment of 2011. Following the first Slam of the year he tanked in the first round of three consecutive tournaments. Back on track after a semi-final appearance in Rome where he had the chance to serve for the match against unbeaten Novak Djokovic, Murray can hold is own on clay and if his ankle holds up he should be able to dispatch Serb Viktor Troicki. Troicki is at an all-time high of 15th in the ATP World Tour rankings but I don't think he'll be able to pull-off the win against an experienced player like Murray. Murray leads 3-0 in their previous encounters although they have never met on clay and their last match was almost two years ago. Murray's health will dictate the outcome here.

 Moving along we have a surprise quarter of Alejandro Falla, ranked 127th in the world, against veteran dirt-baller Juan Ignacio Chela who has maintained a top-forty ranking even at the age of 31. At one apiece in their career against one another, this match could go either way. Ultimately unless you are from Colombia or Argentina you probably don't care one way or the other. The victor will no-doubt be taken care of by the winner of the Troicki-Murray match.

In the bottom half speedster David Ferrer will meet up with the acrobatic and unpredictable Gael Monfils of France. Should be a fantastic match that has five sets written all over it. Monfils has made the semi-finals here before while Ferrer is certainly capable himself and both have the potential to give their likely next opponent, Roger Federer, a tough go. With the year he's been having I give Ferrer the slight edge.

Federer meanwhile will feast upon his fellow countryman Stan Wawrinka in their fourth round encounter. Roger holds an intimidating 8-1 record against his former gold medal-winning doubles partner from the Beijing Olympics. Wawrinka came back from two-sets down to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga to win a tough third round match and even if he was well rested I doubt he'd be able to topple Federer here at a Slam.

In another surprising fourth round match, Fabio Fognini will face Albert Montanes. While Fognini is a bit of a journeyman, Montanes is a legitimate clay court threat. Montanes is unseeded but reached a career-high ranking of 22 in the world last summer. He hasn't been lighting it up this year but won two clay court tournaments in 2010. He has played Fognini four times in his career and won the three most recent matches, all on clay.

The winner above faces the unenviable task of facing the winner between Novak Djokovic and...well, does it really matter? With a 40-0 record in 2011, Djokovic should be able to deal with Richard Gasquet in their match. Fresh off a four set send-off of Juan Martin Del Potro, Djokovic fears no one. While Gasquet took out Federer recently in Rome and definitely has a talent level that could trouble any player on tour, Djokovic is almost untouchable at the moment. It would take a Herculean effort from a Roger Federer or Rafa Nadal to have a chance at ending the Djoker's impressive streak right now.

Enjoy the fourth round and stay tuned for more analysis and updates from us here at ProTennisFan. Feel free to follow us on Twitter as well throughout the event and beyond.

Aussie Open Men's Quarter-Finals

By Mike McIntyre

Few surprises remain as we examine the eight men still standing in the Australian Open draw. The top four contenders are all looking strong as we approach the finish line.

Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray have been looking terrific and should all advance to the final four.

Nadal will take-on compatriot David Ferrer, the seventh seed, who had an early match scare against Canadian Milos Raonic in the round of sixteen. Nadal owns Ferrer with a career head-to-head advantage of 11-3 and has won the last seven matches in a row against him. Look for that trend to continue in straight sets.

Murray faces a tricky Alexandr Dolgopolov, who at 22 years old is looking like he could be ready to enter the upper-echelon of the men's game. Dolgopolov possesses a deceptive serve, delicate drop-shot and altogether some variety that we don't see from many players. For an ATP World Tour that has had the majors dominated by Federer and Nadal for many years, it is nice to see guys like Dolgopolov and Raonic starting to emerge.

Murray and Dolgopolov have only met once before and it was back in 2006 with the Scot prevailing. That result can be tossed aside and the young Ukrainian could indeed surprise Murray when they meet here in the quarters. Murray's experience in the Slams should get him through, but don't be surprised if it requires more than three sets.

The heavy-hitter match of the final eight has Tomas Berdych playing Novak Djokovic. The Serb holds a 4-1 advantage in career meetings including their last two encounters, however Berdych won their semi-final match last year at Wimbledon. It's nice to see Berdych really embracing and solidifying his position in the top-ten. He had strong Slam results at the French and Wimbledon in 2010 and appears ready to carry that over to this season. It should be a good one between the two here but I think Novak is going to be tough to defeat here on the hard courts.

Finally let's not forget Roger Federer who is going up against his compatriot and Olympic doubles partner Stan Wawrinka. Fed leads their series 6-1 and has only lost to the Swiss number-two player on clay. Federer has had a few simple matches of late by his standards but will certainly be challenged by either Berdych or Djokovic - the last two players to beat him in Grand Slam play - in the next round.

 

2011 Australian Open Men's Preview

By Mike McIntyre

Welcome back everyone to another season of tennis on the ATP World Tour. After an amazingly short break we are back to business and the first Grand Slam of 2011 is already upon us.

A year ago we watched Roger Federer surge out of the gates by defeating Andy Murray (the pre-tournament favorite) in Melbourne in straight sets. After that, Roger faltered while Rafael Nadal reclaimed the number one ranking and three Grand Slams in a row. The year ended with Federer finishing strong at the Tour championships in London and he seems poised to continue along that path in the new year.

An early season victory in Doha against Nikolay Davydenko signals Federer is ready to push Nadal for the number one ranking once more. But as he approaches the age of thirty, Federer is well aware that father time is going to be knocking on his door with increased frequency.

As for Nadal, a recent bout with the flu has put his preparation for a "Rafa-Slam" in jeopardy. How healthy will the Spaniard be as he tries to win his fourth consecutive slam?

From my perspective, we are ripe to have a new Grand Slam champion here this year. Despite Federer's apparent return to brilliance, he is much more prone to faltering now than ever before. He has been beaten in the past year by players that never would have previously given him the slightest challenge. Players like Berdych, Davydenko, Hewitt, Monfils and Soderling all earned big wins over the Swiss master in 2010. Once that aura of invincibility has disappeared, anything can happen.

With Nadal's health questionable, there is no guaranteeing he will be able to hack numerous best-of-five set matches in the tough Australian heat. He is susceptible to an early round upset depending on his fitness and if he endures those opening rounds will be forced to face some very difficult players in the quarter and semi-finals.

Nadal opens the main draw against Marcos Daniel of Brazil who is ranked 93rd in the world and is not exactly known for his hard-court abilities. In fact, Daniel was unable to amass a single victory on cement in 2010. Even Nadal at 50% is going to steamroll this guy in the opening round without a doubt.

Nadal could get Feliciano Lopez in round three and Marin Cilic or John Isner in the fourth round. David Ferrer or David Nalbandian could await in the quarter-finals. Nalbandian has given Nadal problems in the past, and both he and Ferrer faced-off in the finals of Auckland yesterday where Ferrer emerged victorious. The bottom line is that both players are feeling pretty good early on this year and will make Rafa work hard to earn a win against them.

In the semi-finals Nadal has players like Andy Murray, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and Robin Soderling among his potential opponents. All of those foes are in the second quarter of the draw which promises to be a brutal one to navigate through. A Soderling vs. Tsonga round of sixteen match is possible as well as a Del Potro vs. Murray. Wow!

In the bottom half of the draw, fans will likely be cheering for a Roddick vs. Djokovic quarter final, followed by that winner taking on Federer in the semi-finals.

Roddick made the finals in Brisbane a week ago where he fell to Soderling. Djokovic played in the Hopman Cup but against lower opponents, so it is tough to gauge where his game is at just yet. Three years removed from his only Slam win however and we're all still waiting for the Serb to get it together and prove himself to be more than Rafa and Roger's understudy.

Don't forget about other big names in the bottom half of the draw like Tomas Berdych, Gael Monfils and Nikolay Davydenko. This is the year where one of these guys could finally make it happen for the first time at a Grand Slam.

While we can expect the possibility of a Rafa vs. Roger final, I suggest being open to something quite different in two week's time. The stage is set and starting tomorrow we will see the first matches of our favorite kind of tennis take place - Grand Slam tennis! Sit back and enjoy the show.

 

 

Around The Corner: ATP World Tour Finals

By Mike McIntyre

The end is near tennis fans.

The ATP World Tour Finals being held in London, England marks the official end of the 2010 tennis season. The top eight players in the world are gathered to duke it out for bragging rights and a little extra cash as well.

While not nearly as prestigious as a Grand Slam event, the year-end tourney offers up more quality matches in one week than we are normally accustomed to watching. In a regular event the top eight players can only meet in the quarter-finals and rarely do we see them all left as the final ones standing. Here in London we get some fantastic matches right from the get-go with the field split into two groups of four players who all play each other once in the round robin format.

In Pool A this year we have world number one Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Tomas Berdych and Andy Roddick.

Pool B has Roger Federer, Andy Murray, Robin Soderling and David Ferrer.

Let's take a closer look at both pools and speculate on who has the best chance of ending the year with a final tournament victory.

Rafael Nadal has just completed another mind-boggling season, perhaps his best one yet. Capturing three Grand Slams including his first U.S. Open title, Nadal has been by far the most dominant player on the ATP World Tour.

Shoulder troubles hampered Nadal in recent weeks and kept him out of the Masters 1000 event in Paris, but he claims to be healthy now and ready to go. Nadal has been out since early October and without much match time lately I wonder if he will be as sharp as he will need to be to take this title for the first time in his career. Nadal has twice before made the semi-finals of this event, losing both times to Roger Federer.

Novak Djokovic had a decent year in 2010 but has still not been able to win a Slam since his one and only such victory at the Australian Open in 2008. He made the finals at the U.S. Open in September defeating Roger Federer in a memorable semi-final, but then fell to a very in-form Nadal. Djokovic has lost twice to Federer this fall and most recently lost the third round in Paris.

Tomas Berdych is the only first-time participant in the event and had his best year on Tour. The 25 year-old participated in the most number of tournaments of anyone in the top ten and made his first ever Grand Slam final at Wimbledon. Since that time he has failed to advance past the quarter-finals of any event and has not had two consecutive victories in any event since he played Toronto in August.

American veteran Andy Roddick has not had the type of year he was hoping for as he did not advance past the quarter-finals of any of the Grand Slams. He also uncharacteristically had poor showings at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and dropped out of the top-ten for a short time as well. Roddick's best results came early in the season and it is tough to imagine him advancing deep in London.

 Roger Federer has had a tough go by his standards this year but did capture one Slam in Australia and after a surprising loss to Berdych at Wimbledon has played with far greater consistency and resolve. He has gone 30-4 since that defeat and has won three titles. If he can get through Andy Murray - who has given him all sorts of problems in his career - he should have a good shot at taking this title.

Murray has been very inconsistent this year but still has Federer's number for the most part. Federer still seems to get the better of the Scot in Grand Slam matches when things matter the most, but otherwise Murray has dominated the Swiss star. Murray won the Masters 1000 event in October in Shanghai, but since then has lost to Juan Monaco and Gael Monfils. He definitely has the ability to win this event, but will have to defeat some big names in order to make that happen.

Robin Soderling is a player who also has a serious shot at this title. He won the first Masters 1000 series event of his career recently in Paris and has proved over the past two years that he belongs in the top ten. Lookout for him this week as well.

Feisty Spaniard David Ferrer has played well since the U.S. Open with one tournament victory in Valencia and another final appearance in Beijing. The 28 year-old is the one player who is likely to get handled quite easily with a field as deep as this one. It is a noble accomplishment that he has qualified for this event but I don't expect him to last long.

My call is for the either Federer or Murray to emerge victorious in London this year. They have both had some strong results this fall and should be hungry to end the year on a high note.

Enjoy this week's tennis everyone and we'll see you again around the corner in 2011.

 

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.

Men's U.S. Open Fourth Round Preview

By Mike McIntyre

The final week of Grand Slam play for 2010 is about to begin and there are sixteen players left in the men's draw. Noticeable absentees include the Andy's (Murray and Roddick) and Tomas Berdych. Other than that I suppose David Nalbandian and Marcos Baghdatis bowed out slightly earlier than we had thought, but there are still several big names left in the draw.

Rafa Nadal has been rolling along just fine on the hard courts so far in this tournament. He'll get compatriot Feliciano Lopez next. Lopez took him out of the grass court tune-up event at Queen's Club in June so we shouldn't be so quick to dismiss him. Nadal will raise his game when required however and we all know how hungry he is to complete the career slam with a win in New York. I'm going with Nadal in straights.

Another all-Spanish battle features Fernando Verdasco the 8th seed against number 10 seed David Ferrer. Verdasco impressively knocked off Nalbandian in the third round while Ferrer advanced against a lesser-known hard court player in Daniel Gimeno-Traver. I'm looking at a tough five set Verdasco victory which would give us a nice re-match of the Nadal/Verdasco tilt from the Australian Open that went the distance in 2009.

American hopeful Sam Querrey and Swiss understudy Stan Wawrinka both have the opportunity to make their first career Grand Slam quarter-final. Querrey has had a great year at the lower-level tournaments winning three ATP Tour 250 events, and one 500 event. Let's see if he now has the game to make a splash on a bigger stage. Wawrinka just beat one of the U.S. Open favorites in Andy Murray. Can he keep that level up? I'm picking Wawrinka in four sets due to experience.

Mikhail Youzhny took out American John Isner in the last round and will now face veteran Tommy Robredo. Normally I'd go with Youzhny hands-down but I've learned to never count Tommy out. Just when you think his career is on the downward swing, he tosses in an excellent result. Still, talent wise, you gotta think Youzhny will pull this one out in four.

Monday gives us the four bottom-half matches, starting out with Richard Gasquet against Gael Monfils. This match should be one of the most entertaining between Gasquet's beautiful backhand and Monfils' colorful court antics. The all-French match holds a 2-2 career head-to-head with all meetings on hard court. Could go either way really as neither has enjoyed much success on this surface this summer, but Le Monf has my vote in a five setter. 

Mardy Fish is likely wishing that the heat would return to Flushing Meadows in time for his match against Novak Djokovic. Unfortunately cool temperatures are in the forecast giving Djokovic the ideal conditions he needs to succeed against the American. While Fish has had a great summer and has made the quarter-finals in New York once before, the Djoker has been picking up his game this week and looks ready to advance. Djokovic in four. 

Robin Soderling gets the easiest match on paper as he takes on clay-court specialist Albert Montanes. A straight set wins for the Swede should be in the cards, making him a very dangerous and well-rested player to face Roger Federer in the next round.

Federer gets resurgent Jurgen Melzer who has had the best season of his career for sure. The 29 year old had never before advanced past the third round of a Slam before 2010 and has now made the semi's at Roland Garros, the fourth round at Wimbledon and now again the fourth round at the U.S. Open. His run is about to end at the hands of Federer who will have one last routine victory before having to face a serious test in Soderling. Federer in straights.