French Open Wrap-up and Week 23 Preview

So the French Open is now done and dusted. Now that it's over, it almost seems like the outcome was never in doubt. Nadal won the tournament for the fifth time - and for the second time without losing a set in 7 matches. Soderling could not maintain the level of play he had last year when he beat Nadal or this year when he beat Federer. It may have been the pressure of the moment, but Nadal never had to find his top gear to win comfortably. If Soderling could play at that level more consistently, there's no reason he couldn't be in the very top tier of players on tour, but he can't. He hasn't shown the ability to in the past, and I don't expect he ever will.

But he's still an amazing player and should be in the top ten for several more years, assuming he avoids injury. I just don't see him winning a grand slam any time soon until he can work on his consistency.

As for Nadal, order is restored. He demolished the field and showed that he is healthy. He played a smarter clay court season, and maintained his health through it all as a result. Nobody had won all three clay masters tournaments and the French Open before, so that's another record Nadal owns. His prowess on the surface is almost difficult to believe. Tomorrow, when the rankings are out, I should have more to say on that. But for now, let's see how well he adjusts to the grass season, which starts this week and ends in a month.

The two tournaments taking place this week are in London (which I will refer to as Queens Club in the tags for this post, to distinguish it from London's year end championships) and in Halle, Germany. Both tournaments are fairly well stacked, since this is the only lead-up to Wimbledon, except for the (relatively few) players who don't want to take next week off. Soderling is - understandably - sitting the week our, and Del Potro is still injured. Tsonga and Verdasco are also sitting out, but everyone else in the top ten is in action.

The tournaments are actually very lopsided. Federer and Davydenko are in Halle, while Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, and Roddick are all at Queens Club. I'll take a look at Halle first, since it should go quicker.

In Halle, Federer is the top seed and massive favorite. The player who beat him here last year, Tommy Haas, is not in the draw, and only two other people have ever beaten Federer in his eight appearances here. Pat Rafter obviously won't be showing, and even though Nicolas Kiefer got a wildcard, he isn't playing at the level he had reached back in 2003. Federer does have a moderately difficult opener, against the Finn Jarkko Nieminen, but he has been struggling with getting his game back together after missing most of last year with injury. After that, Federer could get Kohlschreiber, Stepanek, Rochus, or Chiudinelli in the third round, which is a pretty tough part of the draw. His opponent in the semifinals will likely be Marcos Baghdatis or Juan Carlos Ferrero, but Jeremy Chardy and Viktor Troicki are potential darkhorses in that section.

The other half of the draw also has tough customers. In addition to second seed Davydenko, Jurgen Melzer is here, whose net-rushing strategy should serve him well on grass. And despite the fact that he's a four-time champion at Queens, Lleyton Hewitt is here. He has a tough opener against fellow Aussie Peter Luczak. The other players to watch in that half of the draw are Mikhail Youzhny, the afore-mentioned Nicolas Kiefer, and Thiemo De Bakker, who prefers clay, but should be able to adapt his game for grass, eventually. Look for some more exciting matches starting in the third round.

Queens is a bigger tournament, so the top eight seeds get first-round byes. Nadal is - of course - the top seed here, and he was the champion back in 2008. Murray won here last year, and he ended up in Nadal's half of the draw. The other two top seeds are Djokovic and Roddick, who get the other half.

Nadal really got a cupcake of a draw, which he deserves after winning in Paris, and I would be shocked if anyone beat him before the semifinals. The other seeds in his section are Denis Istomin, Julien Benneteau, and Feliciano Lopez, who is actually the best grass-courter of the bunch. Other than that, he has the Canadian number one and the Jamaican number one in his quarter, and they play each other in the first round! I like both of those players (Dancevic and Brown) but I don't think they're ever going to be top-level guys. Taylor Dent is there, and I'm sure he's thrilled that the grass-court season is finally underway. And in one of the first-round matches I'm most excited about, Grigor Dimitrov (one of the excellent wildcards the tournament gave out) plays British qualifier Bogdanovic. Still, I don't see anyone getting to Nadal out of that group.

Murray's quarter is not a lot tougher, at least until the quarterfinal. The only other contender in this section is Marin Cilic, as the other seeded players are Giraldo and Llodra. Murray-Cilic would be a good match in the quarters, but the other players in the way are less likely to pose as threats. Mardy Fish is there, as well as one of the other great wildcards, Ryan Harrison, who opens against another American, Jesse Levine. Frenchman Nicolas Mahut also really likes grass, and Mardy Fish could do well here. It's no guarantee that Murray will come through, but he's definitely the favorite.

Andy Roddick, in the third quarter, has won this tournament four times. He'll have his hands full trying to get a fifth win, though. His quarter has some tricky customers, as well as the best opening round match: Kei Nishikori against Richard Gasquet. That should be fun to see. That section also has Dudi Sela and Gael Monfils, who I hope is injury-free. I see Roddick making it through to the quarters for sure, though. He may not be exactly match-tough, considering how little he's played in the last few months, but he's one of the best grass-court players of this generation, so he's going to be happy to be back on the surface.

I'm not sure what to expect from Novak Djokovic, the second seed and top player in his quarter of the draw. The way he bowed at the French Open was really discouraging. He just hasn't been the same this year since the first round of the Davis Cup. His section of the draw has some potentially tricky players, but he should be able to make it through to the quarters. Sam Querrey would be his opponent there, and I'm hoping that Sam has gotten his focus back after some time at home. Djokovic could also have to go through Janko Tipsarevic and Andreas Seppi, the other seeds. That section also has Robbie Ginepri, Michael Russell, Dmitry Tursunov, and the third excellent wildcard recipient, Bernard Tomic. It should be Querrey-Djokovic in the quarters, all the same.

It's always fun to see the transition from clay to grass. It's so sudden, and the reactions are so varied. Some players are absolutely thrilled, while others wish the clay season lasted all year. The contrast in playing styles and effective strategies gets drawn into sharp relief, and it's another of my favorite moments in the tennis calendar.