2009 season almost underway!

If this is a preview of the 2009 season, we should be in for some fun. After beating Federer in three sets in Abu Dhabi yesterday, Andy Murray went on to beat Nadal in three in the final. I think the young Scot is trying to make a statement, that he's a serious contender this year. Should be fun.

I've started taking a look at the draws for the three tournaments taking place this inaugural week of the season, but I'll hold off on much serious commentary until tomorrow, when the qualifying rounds will have hopefully completed. As for the quallies...

In Chennai, the weakest of the three tournaments taking place next week, I'd like to see Michael Berrer and Rajeev Ram make it to the main draw. Flavia Cipolla probably will, too. And there are a lot of unknown (at least to me) Indian tennis players in this draw. I know that it's a burgeoning sport in that region, so it would be nice to see somebody new make a splash, and there's no better place to do it than a hometown tournament.

It's interesting that Doha has such a great main draw, but there isn't much going on in qualifiers. I expect it's because the top players are getting appearance bonuses for showing up, but the players outside the top 100 probably aren't. One interesting note is that doubles phenom Nenad Zimonjic is playing in the qualifiers. It'll be interesting to see how he does.

Most of the interesting play is going on in Brisbane, since players are there to start prepping for the Australian Open. Gilles Muller and Frank Dancevic are both high-quality players that could use a good start to their year. I see that John Isner lost Andrea Stoppini already, but I'm encouraged to see him out there getting in the matches. Ivo Karlovic couldn't get a handle on his playing style until he was much older than Isner, so maybe it will just take time. There are quite a few other Americans in the draw, and I see that Amer Delic has already ousted local favorite Chris Guccione. Not a good day for big servers.

In addition to the guys I've already mentioned, I think that young Kevin Anderson and veteran Xavier Malisse have good odds to make it into the main draw. And then we can get the season started in earnest. I can hardly wait.