McIntyre Tennis

The Importance of Week One

By Mike McIntyre

With the 2012 season of the ATP World Tour just getting officially underway this week, tennis fans and media alike will be closely watching how the pros come out of the starting blocks.

The Mubadala World Tennis Championship (an exhibition) in Abu Dhabi last week and now regular events in Brisbane, Chennai and Doha, have provided an alphabetically-related quartet of venues whose results may or may not mean anything by the end of the year. 

Players who struggle initially and suffer early round losses will attempt to quickly put those disappointments behind them, while winners will try to keep an even keel moving forward. Still, we should not be so quick to discount these early results when looking at the big picture.

The mental consequences of victory versus defeat in the early stages will certainly impact a players progress in the first few weeks on tour. Banking some points in January provides a confidence boost along with either a jump in ranking points or at the very least the ability not to drop in the standings.

Losing yesterday in Doha to Roger Federer means that Nikolay Davydenko can kiss about 150 ranking points goodbye that he had accumulated in the same tournament a year ago. His current ranking of 41st in the world is about to take a big hit and he can clearly forget about any hopes of being seeded at the Australian Open in two weeks.

A player like American Sam Querrey will also be distraught about his opening round loss to Victor Hanescu in Chennai in the opening round. After missing three months midway through 2011 to elbow surgery, Querrey was no-doubt optimistic about starting on the right foot this season. On the plus side for Querrey, he suffered three opening round losses in-a-row a year ago, and thus has no ranking points to defend. There's only one way for Sam to go in the rankings in January and that is up. Still, he must now regroup and move on to the next tournament hoping his luck will change.

For the top-four of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer and Murray, these first couple of week's will be used to jostle for the available confidence and swagger required to conquer the first Grand Slam of the year in Australia. Putting the seed of doubt in an opponent's head is of equal value to owning that self-confidence. We all know how Djokovic was able to get into Nadal's head last season and reel-off six consecutive victories in ATP finals on three different surfaces. That kind of dominance goes a long way into determining the final outcome of a match between two foes and getting an edge early-on is what all of these guys are hoping for.

Djokovic has already sent that opening message to his opponents with a strong result in Abu Dhabi. After needing three sets to defeat Gael Monfils, he thrashed Federer 6-2, 6-1 and then beat David Ferrer in the finals by the exact same dominating score. Lookout everybody, because Novak came ready to play.

Federer will hope to shake-off the loss to Djokovic and then Nadal in Abu Dhabi and instead look back to his impressive 17-0 finish to the 2011 season where he won three consecutive tournaments. Still, his early defeats to Djokovic and Nadal can't make him feel great.

With Federer and Nadal playing in Doha and Murray in Brisbane this week, we'll see who is ready to join Djokovic as an early front-runner prior to the January 16th start date in Melbourne. Regardless of what players of any ranking say to the press, the importance of week one is something we cannot deny.

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!

 

 

 

ATP World Tour Top Ten Predictions

By Mike McIntyre

The 2011 ATP World Tour season is soon to be upon us. Tournaments in Brisbane, Chennai and Doha get things started just after the New Year arrives and the first Grand Slam begins in Melbourne on January 17th.

Soon we will see who has come prepared to defend their ranking points from 2010 and who is ready to make some gains on their previous results. Let's take a look into the crystal ball and see who might be poised for a top-ten finish in the coming year. These are the top-ten season ending rankings for 2011 as predicted by ProTennisFan.

1 - Roger Federer

You'd have to be crazy to pick someone other than Rafael Nadal to finish number on in the world, no? Well hear me out first because I think there is a very real possibility for Roger to reclaim the number one ranking in 2011.

Rafa was by far the most dominant player last season as he won three Grand Slams and three Masters 1000 titles. Basically, Nadal will have to be just as consistent this coming year in order to defend all of those points. He will also have to stay healthy which is never a given for the Spaniard due to his rugged style of play.

Federer meanwhile started 2010 with a bang by capturing his only Slam of the year. After that he failed to win another tournament until the Masters event in Cincinnati in August. He ended the year as the toughest player on tour by winning three of the final four events he entered, including the ATP World Tour Finals in London where he knocked off Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Robin Soderling and Nadal while only losing a single set.

Federer is hungry to reclaim the number one spot and certainly finished 2010 by sending out a message to the other players on tour. While he will be turning 30 this coming year, he is by no means slowing down. After Australia he has the ability to make huge gains in the rankings due to his lackluster performance during that stretch a year ago. Look for Roger to be back on top of the rankings a year from now.

2 - Rafael Nadal

The Nadal and Federer show will undoubtedly maintain it's stronghold on the upper echelon of men's tennis for another season. Both are a world apart from everyone else and I expect their reign of Grand Slam supremacy to continue in 2011. While Nadal might slip slightly from his incredible run in 2010, he will still be fighting with Federer for the top spot in the rankings. A very close number-two finish is what I predict for the Spaniard this year. Beyond this year however, I see Nadal holding that number one ranking for a good stretch.

3 - Novak Djokovic

Almost three years since winning his first Grand Slam and we are still waiting for the talented Serb to win another. Last year was not an overwhelming success for Djokovic as he won only two titles and was 1-4 against Federer and 0-2 against Nadal. His one victory over Federer was an impressive one at the U.S. Open but he could not mount a serious attack against Nadal in the final. Djokovic's season highlight was in leading Serbia to the Davis Cup title over France, but he will have to win another Slam for people to take him more seriously. There seems to be a lack of forward progression for Djokovic and I see his ranking at a standstill in 2011. That being said it is difficult to move your ranking up when you've got mega-stars like Federer and Nadal in front of you.

4 - Robin Soderling

Two French Open finals in a row have shown that Soderling is a true threat on tour. The fact that he has shown such improvements on clay is quite impressive as his game is more suited for hard or grass courts. Soderling also won his very first Master 1000 event in Paris towards the end of 2010. He won't challenge the Federer's, Nadal's or Djokovic's just yet but he is going to be a top five fixture for some time.

5 - Andy Murray

When he wants to (see Shanghai and Toronto 2010), Andy Murray looks almost unbeatable. Unfortunately more often than not last season, the dour Scott looked like he wanted to be anywhere but on a tennis court. Poor showings in three of the four Grand Slams and eight months into the season before winning a title showed that Murray has a long way to go in terms of establishing his legacy. While he might have Federer's number in most of their encounters on tour, he still finds a way to tank every time the pair meet in a high-stakes match. 2011 needs to be a big year from Murray in order to take a step forward and I don't see that happening quite yet.

6 - Andy Roddick

It was an up and down season in 2010 for Andy Roddick. He started off on fire by winning in Adelaide, reaching the quarter-finals of the Aussie Open and then the finals of the Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells followed by a win at the Masters 1000 in Miami. Then the American missed the entire clay-court season leading up to Roland Garros and lost early at both Wimbledon and the U.S. Open while also suffering from a mild case of Mono. He dropped out of the top ten in August leaving the Tour without an American presence there for the first time since 1973. Roddick still managed to make the year end Tour Championships in London for a remarkable eighth year in a row.

After working hard in the off-season Roddick is hungry to prove he still belongs in the top ten. I expect another strong start to the season on the hard courts from Roddick, followed by perhaps a bigger push on clay to avoid losing his rythm in the middle of the season.

7 - Jo-Wilfried Tsonga

A healthy Tsonga belongs in the top-ten without a doubt. After reaching his first and only Grand Slam final in Australia three years ago it has been a constant struggle for the 25 year old. He started strongly in 2010 by making the semis at the Aussie Open, had a decent spring and then made the quarter-finals at Wimbledon before missing three months due to a knee injury. His results since then were about as much as you could expect from someone coming back late in the season. If he can stay healthy in 2011, lookout.

8 - Gael Monfils

Another talented Frenchman who when healthy is a serious contender to win a Grand Slam at some point during his career. Staying healthy is going to be a perpetual challenge for the acrobatic Monfils, who often choses the most crowd-enticing display of athleticism when a simple shot would likely suffice.

Monfils was able to creep close to the top-ten in 2010 by turning in some wonderful late-season performances. He finished with a great run at the Masters 1000 event in Paris, where he defeated Andy Murray and Roger Federer before falling to Robin Soderling in the final. This marked the first time he had ever defeated Federer on the ATP World Tour. The first seven months of last year were quite unspectacular, which means that Monfils has many ranking points he could gain in the early part of 2011.

9 - Tomas Berdych

After years of talking about how much potential and raw talent Berdych possessed, he finally delivered in 2010 by making the semi-finals of the French Open and then followed that up with the first Grand Slam final of his career at Wimbledon. While he went down quietly to Nadal in that match, it proved that Berdych can put a good string of matches together when it counts.

Earlier in the year Berdych reached the finals of the Miami Masters 1000 tournament (L. Roddick) but otherwise was fairly transparent in most other events. Berdych will have a huge amount of points to defend in back-to-back Slams this year, but can also add to his totals with modest improvements in his consistency throughout the year. Another top-ten finish is certainly attainable.

10 - Sam Querrey

Querrey has proven he can win on any surface on the ATP World Tour as long as it is at the 250 level. It is now time for the young American to prove that he can compete at a higher level and I think he is getting close to doing just that. He defeated Andy Roddick and Andy Murray in 2010 which should give him a good boost of confidence in those bigger matches. While Querrey is my long-shot pick to make the top-ten, I think he has the goods to deliver in the coming year.

 

Around The Corner: Home Stretch - Valencia and Basel

By Mike McIntyre

While the WTA has almost wrapped up its season, the ATP World Tour still has a few more events to go before we have reached the elusive "off season."

As November is now upon us, the men's tour will turn this week to two 500 level events in Valencia, Spain and Basel, Switzerland. Let's have a closer look at what is around the corner at both locations.

Valencia Open 500

Andy Murray returns as defending champion and is also the number on seed this year. Murray has claimed two tournament victories this season, both over Roger Federer, but would no-doubt call 2010 an off year. Still waiting for his first Grand Slam victory, there is really no way for Murray to salvage his year at this point. Anything less than a Slam at this point of his career is a let-down.

Murray opens against lefty Feliciano Lopez and could face Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the quarter-finals and then Fernando Verdasco in the semis. Nikolay Davydenko is also in the top-half of the draw as the 6th seed but has been miserable during the second half of the season.

In the bottom half, Mikhail Youzhny is the player to beat the way he has played of late. The Russian played great at the U.S. Open and has followed that up with a victory in Malaysia and a loss in the finals of St. Petersburg just this past week.

Gael Monfils and Robin Soderling will try to emerge from the bottom quarter of the draw.

For any Canadian tennis fans out there, youngster Milos Raonic fell in the first round of qualifying to Pablo Cuevas by a score of 1-6, 6-4, 7-5. Hopes of cracking the top one hundred in the world rankings will have to wait for next year for Raonic.

Swiss Indoor Basel

Former tournament ball boy Roger Federer will be trying for his fourth career title in his hometown. Seeded first, Federer will try to avenge his loss from a year ago to Novak Djokovic. Prior to that result, Federer had won the event three years in a row.

The Swiss great will open against a tricky opponent in Alexandr Dolgopolov. This is the first career meeting between the two and I feel it has upset potential written all over it. Dolgopolov is a talented youngster who has yet to have his break-out moment or victory. He plays a game with a ton of variety, has a deadly serve that is hard to read and displays great touch with his frequent drop-shots. If Roger is not on his game he could find himself in a real battle here.

Beyond Dolgopolov, Federer could face Janko Tipsarevic and Jurgen Melzer in successive matches.

In the second quarter American Andy Roddick will face compatriot Sam Querrey in an entertaining first round. I put this one at 50/50 given Roddick's questionable health of late. David Nalbandian and Marin Cilic are also lurking in this difficult section of the draw.

In the bottom half, look for number two seed Djokovic to emerge to the finals. It would be great to see him and Fed go at it again. The Djoker will have to navigate around big serving John Isner in his quarter, and then potentially Ivan Ljubicic or Tomas Berdych in order to make it back to the finals.

After this week the Paris Masters is on the horizon, followed by a brief hiatus prior to the season-ending ATP World Tour Finals. Enjoy the tennis while it is still here and talk to you again next week.

 

 

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.

U.S. Open Men's Preview

By Mike McIntyre

The U.S. Open main draw was revealed today and here at ProTennisFan we are very much excited for the commencement of the final Grand Slam of 2010. There are so many different possibilities to imagine this year in New York.

Will Rafa win his first U.S. Open? Can Andy Murray finally deliver in a Slam final? Could Roger Federer capture his second hard-court Slam of the year?

With defending champion Juan Martin Del Potro unable to compete due to his continued recovery from wrist surgery, we are guaranteed of seeing a different man hoisting the trophy this year on the final Sunday.

After watching back-to-back Masters 1000 events in August in Toronto and Cincinnati we can look at who the contenders and pretenders are for this year's edition. That being said, two tournaments does not give us a tremendous amount of depth to judge the field, so take these recommendations with a grain of salt.

Seeded number one, though certainly not playing like the favorite, is Rafael Nadal. His return to form in 2010 has been a welcome sight on the ATP Tour and he has just won successive Slams at the French Open and Wimbledon. Nadal has made no secret of the fact he wants to win the U.S. Open to complete his career Slam, but the Spaniard seems to have trouble sustaining his dominance in the latter stages of the season.

In Toronto he admitted that if he is not  playing at his best on hard-courts then he is vulnerable. At the Rogers Cup he navigated his way to the semi-finals before being soundly defeated by Andy Murray 7-5, 7-5 in straight sets. While a Nadal vs. Murray match on hard-courts is a coin flip most days, his loss to Marcos Baghdatis in Cincinnati shows that he is still struggling to find his rhythm on the surface.

Still, Nadal in a best of five set match is hard to bet against. At Wimbledon he twice came back from a two sets to one deficit to pull out the victory. Nadal grows stronger the longer a match lasts and I think we can all agree there is no way Baghdatis wins that match in Cincy if it went the distance.

In New York Nadal opens against Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia. He could face Philipp Kohlschreiber in the third round against whom he has never lost, but was tested by in Toronto recently. An encounter with David Nalbandian in the quarter-finals would be interesting. The pair have a 2-2 career record against one another and with Nalbandian suddenly showing flashes of his old self we could be treated to a great match.

Other names to watch in the top quarter of the draw include the talented but unreliable Ernests Gulbis, lefty Fernando Verdasco and the up and coming Alexandr Dolgopolov who must first face 10th seeded David Ferrer in the first round. If this isn't the Slam where Dolgopolov announces his presence at, then I guarantee a strong showing in 2011.

In the second quarter, Andy Murray seems like a good bet to advance. He won the event in Toronto defeating Nadal and Federer in back-to-back matches and then fell in Cincinnati to Mardy Fish. Fish has Murray's number this year, beating him three times, but fortunately for Andy he does not have the veteran American anywhere near him in the draw.

Sam Querrey has had a great year with multiple titles, but still has not come up big in any definitive events on the tour schedule. He looked ordinary in a loss to Kevin Anderson in Toronto and I just don't feel the confidence from the 6'5'' American. A fourth round match against Murray looms which would be a re-match from their LA final in July where Querrey prevailed in a tight one. I don't see a repeat of that on the horizon for him this time around.

Tomas Berdych should find his way towards the quarterfinals as well in this section. With John Isner still hobbled by an ankle injury, I really do not see any true opposition for the emerging Czech super-star. He will battle Murray for a semi-final spot against Nadal.

The third quarter looks pretty good for Andy Roddick. If he has truly recovered from his mild case of mono then he should make a good dent in the draw. Roddick could face the acrobatic Gael Monfils in the third round and either Mardy Fish or Novak Djokovic in the quarters. Despite having a tough summer, Roddick showed us he is capable of defeating almost anyone after his performance in Cincinnati where he took care of Soderling and Djokovic back-to-back.

Djokovic meanwhile, seems lost lately and I'm not just saying that because he couldn't find his way to the draw ceremony in New York on time today. While he made the semis in Toronto, he was highly erratic in that match against Federer and then in Cincy he was beaten by Roddick in the quarters. His battles with the heat have continued and if he gets a day time match against a guy like Mardy Fish in the fourth round, I really don't feel confident picking him to advance.

Marcos Baghdatis should be mentioned as a potential sleeper in this section of the draw, but a second round match against Robby Ginepri could give him trouble as would a third round tilt with Fish. Baghdatis would have the crowd against him in either of those matches just as he did in 2006 against Andre Agassi.

Mardy Fish has had the summer of his career in 2010 and has recently risen to the number 21 ranking in the world. With two titles under his belt and a strong showing against Federer last week, he is a guy that nobody wants to face.

That being said, I don't like his chances in a five set match and he does seem to have a particularly tough section of the draw to work with.

Roger Federer lurks in the fourth quarter of the draw and comes into the Open as the favorite again this year. After winning five consecutive titles here, he mismanaged a two sets to one lead against Del Potro last year in the final. Federer has a great draw with Lleyton Hewitt and Jurgen Melzer as the only two names of note in the first four rounds. Neither will give him much of a struggle but Rodin Soderling could challenge in the quarter-finals.

With Nadal, Murray and Berdych all in the other half of the draw, it seems as though Federer has as good a chance as ever to get to his seventh straight U.S. Open final where he would feel right at home.

Even though Federer came ever so close to bowing out in Toronto to both Berdych and Djokovic he still managed to persevere for the gritty victories. In Cincinnati he certainly benefited from a first round bye, an abbreviated second round 5-2 win and then a third round walkover - but then he turned it up against Nikolay Davydenko and Baghdatis before waiting for the right moment to finally break Fish's serve for the title.

The possibility for a 17th Grand Slam title is very realistic and Federer seems eager to once again prove any doubters wrong. In 2008 he came into the Open without a Slam title to his name and waltzed through the draw with relative ease. He seems to have the same type of defiant attitude this time around which I think will work to his favor.

Semi-Finals:

Nadal vs. Murray and Roddick vs. Federer

Finals:

Federer over Murray in four sets

Be sure to follow us on Twitter throughout the tournament.  

Around The Corner: Gstaad, Umag and Los Angeles

By Mike McIntyre

Three ATP World Tour 250 events are on deck for this week and Andy Murray makes his first appearance since losing the semi-finals of Wimbledon. We have two clay-court stops in Europe in Gstaad, Switzerland and Umag, Croatia while the North American hard-court swing continues in Los Angeles.

Allianz Suisse Open

Russian Mikhail Youzhny has the top seed this week in Gstaad and will be playing for the first time since the Davis Cup quarter-finals two weeks ago where he went 1-1 against Argentina (beat Mayer, lost to Nalbandian). His last stop on clay-courts was at the French Open in May where he advanced to the quarters. Youzhny is currently the 14th ranked player in the world which is likely a bit higher than his talent level actually resides. He has had a solid year however, winning the title in Munich and finishing second in Dubai and Rotterdam. Without playing on clay for two months though I'm not expecting him to advance too deep in this week's draw.

Threats in the top-half of the draw include veteran Tommy Robredo - who every time I write about his weaknesses promptly goes out and wins a title, Albert Montanes - who won his opening match on Sunday 4-6, 6-3, 7-6(5) against Pere Riba of Spain, and Richard Gasquet - who won this event in 2006.

Brazil's Tomaz Bellucci is the defending champion and won his maiden ATP title here a year ago after advancing through the qualification stages. Bellucci opens against local Swiss hope Marco Chiudinelli and would face the tricky Igor Andreev in the second round.

Nicolas Almagro is seeded second and ended his 17-month title drought just over a week ago in Bastad. He followed that up by getting bounced in his opening match in Hamburg, so who knows which player we should expect this week?

I was hoping we might see Roger Federer play on home soil but such is not the case. With his recent struggles I would have thought a smaller tournament would be just what the doctor ordered for Roger to give him a much needed boost of confidence. Perhaps he doesn't want to touch the clay with some big hard-court tournaments looming on the schedule. I'm looking forward to seeing what he does in the weeks leading up to the U.S. Open.

Farmers Classic

Andy Murray is the only top-five player in action this week and begins his hard-court preparations in Los Angeles. Murray has not won a title since November and the only final he participated in was his very first tournament of 2010 at the Australian Open where he lost to Federer. LA offers Murray the perfect opportunity to reverse his futility streak this year and begin to ramp things up for Flushing Meadows. He could face Ernests Gulbis in the quarter-finals who he holds a 4-0 record against.

American Sam Querrey is the second seed and also the defending champion here while Marcos Baghdatis is in the number three position.

Mardy Fish - who has been having a stellar summer thus far - plays Benjamin Becker in the opening round, although I wonder if he might play the injury card after making back--to-back finals in Newport and Atlanta.

Meanwhile James Blake will try to reverse his recent struggles against Leonardo Mayer in the first round.

Studena Croatia Open

Croatian tennis fans will be rooting for Ivan Ljubicic to capture the title in Umag where he has never won before. Ljubicic is seeded third and opens with a bye in the first round.

Nikolay Davydenko continues to enter tournaments each week and is still looking for his game to click as he comes back from a wrist injury. Davydenko again crashed out early this past week in Hamburg but you have to figure sooner or later he is bound to rediscover his top-ten form.

Austrian Jurgen Melzer is one of the hottest players on tour right now. Having excellent results at the past two Grand Slams, Melzer made the finals in Hamburg this past week where he lost to first-time champion Andrey Golubev.

Italian veteran Filippo Volandri also makes a rare main-draw appearance this year and opens against wildcard Franco Skugar of Croatia in the first round. Volandri used to be quite the clay-court player but has been limited to mostly futures events in his home country in 2010. 

This will be the last week involving any clay-court events at the ATP level until late September. The tour focuses on Washington D.C. and the Legg Mason Classic in a week's time, followed by Masters stops in Toronto and Cincinnati. Keep checking back as ProTennisFan will be covering the Rogers Cup in Toronto with live daily reports. 

Around The Corner: Querrey Ready for Newport

By Mike McIntyre

With Wimbledon coming to close it seems odd to have any grass-court tennis left and yet that is exactly what we have in the week ahead in Newport, Rhode Island. A sparse field is set for the Campbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championship but there are a few names worth noting.

Seeded first is American Sam Querrey. After winning the grass-court title at Queen’s Club a few weeks ago, Querrey is the favourite this year to win in Newport. He finished runner-up here a year ago to Rajeev Ram. He opens the tournament against Jesse Levine.

Ram is also back to attempt to defend his title in both singles and doubles where he was victorious in both draws in 2009.

Other notable Americans include 5^th seeded Mardy Fish and the 8^th seeded Taylor Dent. Fish was beaten by Querrey in the Queen’s Club finals while Dent is always dangerous on a fast surface due to his imposing serve.

Dent is still trying to find his form since returning from a serious back injury that kept him off the tour for two years between 2006 and 2008. After some encouraging results a year ago Dent seems to have stumbled and holds a 4-11 record in ATP events in 2010. Perhaps a return to Newport, where he won in 2002, will help spark his game.

Canadian Frank Dancevic is also coming back from a back injury and is the lone Canuck in the draw in Newport. Dancevic will be trying to round into form as his home tournament at the Rogers Cup in Toronto is merely a month away.

Following this tournament the Davis Cup will resume with the quarter-finals followed by a few clay-court tourney’s in Europe and the start of the summer hard-court swing in North America.

Federer and Nadal Still Alive as Fourth Round Begins at Wimbledon

By Mike McIntyre

The second week of Wimbledon is set to begin and I wonder if the drama we have witnessed so far can possibly be matched.

There was the epic Isner/Mahut marathon match where breakfast at Wimbledon turned into lunch, dinner and leftovers for the next day. We recently witnessed the self-destruction of Victor Hanescu who blew a two-sets to none lead, spat at some taunting fans and then tanked some points and retired with a so-called injury. In doubles, the shocking loss of top-ranked doubles tandem Nestor and Zimonjic to the British pair of Chris Eaton and Dominic Inglot got our attention. Then who could forget the near-exit of Roger Federer in the first round and then Rafael Nadal in rounds two and three. To cap it all off there was the first visit from the Queen herself since before Roger and Rafa were even born! Clearly there was no shortage of memorable moments over the first seven days.

On the men's side expect Federer to self-correct after nearly bowing out to Ale-Alejandro (Falla) in the opening round. Roger dismantled Arnaud Clement with ease in the third round and now faces Jurgen Melzer who has never experienced much success on grass. While Melzer experienced an unlikely semi-final appearance at Roland Garros last month, he is out of his league at Wimbledon against Roger. This is the first meeting between the two which could factor into a four set win for Federer.

Tomas Berdych also reached the semi-finals at the French Open and should be able to at least get through his next opponent, 6'5'' Daniel Brands from Germany. Ranked 98th in the world, Brands has had an interesting time at the All-England Club thus far with a big win over Nikolay Davydenko in the second round and then the strange five-set victory against Hanescu. Still, he is unlikely to continue his streak against the seasoned Berdych.

The most anticipated fourth-round match is between veteran Lleyton Hewitt (who won here in 2002) and the up-and-down Novak Djokovic. While Hewitt recently defeated Federer in Halle and has played well this year, he is 1-3 against Djokovic in his career, with two losses on grass. I suppose the odds of this one going five-sets are likely given Hewitt's fitness and desire to win - which does not bode well for Djokovic.

American Andy Roddick has performed admirably thus far and should destroy his next opponent in Yen-Hsun Lu. A Roddick/Hewitt or Roddick/Djokovic quarter-final match is one I'm already eager to watch.

It's France vs France between Julien Benneteau and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. The pair are tied at three victories apiece in their career head-to-head and expect the older Benneteau to challenge Tsonga, who is not exactly at ease on grass.

A very interesting tilt between Andy Murray and Sam Querrey is anyone's guess. While Murray has breezed through the draw and performed well in front of the Queen the other day, he is sure to be tested by the big-serving and confident American. Querrey has won titles on all three surfaces this year and is due to have a Grand Slam breakthrough in 2010. While Murray owns a 3-0 career record against Querrey, this is their first meeting in two years - a time period that has seen Querrey improve by leaps and bounds.

Sweden's Robin Soderling is truly coming into his own on the ATP Tour and showed last month that his 2009 French Open finals appearance was no fluke. A truly deserving top-ten player for the first time in his career, Soderling has not yet dropped a set in the tourney and should take care of clay court guru David Ferrer with no issues.

Finally look for Rafa to dispose of P-H Mathieu in less than five sets, but don't expect the Spaniard to make a deep run given his current physical state. After two come-from-behind victories and injury issues to his arm and knee, Nadal may only have one more Wimbledon victory in him this year. He will be put to the test by Soderling in the quarters and if he ever were to make it past that would be seriously challenged in his current state by any of the other big-names.

I'm getting the vibe for a Federer/Roddick semi in the top-half and a Murray-Soderling in the bottom. I'd love to hear your thoughts before or after round four gets underway.

Wimbledon Preview: Federer Faces Tough Road Ahead

By Mike McIntyre

Breakfast at Wimbledon is just around the corner and here is your 2010 preview from Pro Tennis Fan.

World number two Roger Federer gets the "advantage" of the first seed at Wimbledon this year. The defending champ and six-time champion at the All-England Club edges Rafael Nadal for the top billing. Being seeded first has done Federer no favors however, as he has Lleyton Hewitt, Novak Djokovic and Andy Roddick included in a very tough top-half of the draw.

Hewitt beat Federer just a week ago in Halle ending a 15-match losing streak against the Swiss super-star. That win not only showed that Roger's vulnerability could continue even on grass but gives continued hope to anyone on tour that they may defeat Federer on any given day. While I expect this tournament to be a strong outing for Roger, he is not on solid ground by any stretch of the imagination.

Hewitt is seeded 15th and has always been comfortable on this surface. The Aussie won Wimbledon in 2002 and made the quarter-finals a year ago where he lost to Roddick in a tough five-setter. 

Also in Roger's quarter are 7th seeded Nikolay Davydenko who is just coming back from injury. Davydenko has never been a threat on grass and I do not expect that to change, especially after a second round loss to Benjamin Becker at Halle a week ago.

Other players lurking who could cause some damage on grass include Rainer Schuettler, Tomas Berdych and the above-mentioned Becker.

In the following quarter of the draw, Novak Djokovic comes into Wimbledon with his game in tatters and facing diminutive Olivier Rochus who he has a dismal 1-3 record against. Djokovic's record in the Slams has been spotty since he won his only major in Australia in 2007 and his physical stamina is also fairly shaky in best of five set matches. Expect an early check-out from Djokovic.

Marin Cilic and Mardy Fish are also in the mix, but lookout for Andy Roddick the 5th seed. After giving us a Wimbledon Final for the ages in 2009 against Federer, Roddick will have an enormous support and following from fans this year. He should be well rested after missing most of the clay season and could face Federer in the semis.

The bottom-half of the draw is not nearly as strong and should allow Nadal to make his way back to the Finals where he last appeared, and won, in 2008. Forced to miss this tournament a year ago due to knee injuries, Nadal will be looking for his second back-to-back French Open-Wimbledon combo.

Neither Fernando Verdasco nor Jo-Wilfried Tsonga have strong grass-court records, but look to Sam Querrey to have his first serious run at a Grand Slam. Querrey recently won his third title of 2010 at Queen's Club which gives him victories on three different surfaces this season. Andy Murray is also in this third quarter of the draw, but has not had a memorable year thus far. The enormous pressure of playing at home will not help Murray's chances at Grand Slam glory.

Nadal will be threatened in the bottom quarter by Sweden's Robin Soderling whom he defeated at Roland Garros a few short weeks ago. Soderling has done well on clay in recent memory but his game is more suited to the fast grass at Wimbledon. Big-serving American John Isner could also make some noise this year.

Overall look for a Federer/Roddick battle in the semis along with Querrey vs Nadal. Federer seems vulnerable this year which makes me think Roddick could be in-line for a return to the finals where he would face Nadal. That could give fans a very entertaining and likely a very tight match between the American and Spaniard. After two years away from the grass I don't think Nadal can quite cap it off which would leave Roddick with his elusive second career Grand Slam title.