In my last post, I forgot to look at the two women's tournaments that kick the first week of the season off, as well. This was a mistake for a number of reasons, the most exciting of which is that the women's tournament in Brisbane features the return of former number one and seven-time grand slam winner Justine Henin. She opens her comeback with a tough match, facing second seed and twentieth-ranked Nadia Petrova in the first round. I'm sure the Belgian would have preferred somebody a little lower in the rankings, since she may well be rusty after nearly two years off.
However, if she can get past Petrova (Justine does lead their head-to-head 11-2), then she should find herself with relatively smoother sailing. If she makes it all the way to the final, she has a chance of facing Kim Clijsters, who is the top seed for the event! If they play in the final, I expect they'll play a few more times over the course of the year. The other first-round match to keep an eye on is Ana Ivanovic against Jelena Dokic. I'd expect the winner of that match to make the semis.
The other women's tournament of week 1, in Auckland, does not feature as much star power, but it still has some fascinating storylines to watch. My favorite is the continued resurgence of Japanese player Kimiko Date Krumm, whose return from retirement is really much more impressive than Henin's. She opens against Chakvetadze. The other interesting storyline here features the top two Italian players, Schiavone and Pennetta (the number one seed), who are hoping they can build on their Fed Cup win last year by starting 2010 off strong.
Moving on to the men's tourneys, the field in Chennai is arguably the weakest. When world #79 Rajeev Ram is your eighth seed, you know that you don't have the toughest draw in the world. Top seed Soderling shouldn't have too much trouble marching through, despite the presence of some tough players. Former world number 1 Carlos Moya was given a wildcard to the event, and he faces Tipsarevic in the first round. Number eight seed Ram faces the Dutch young player Thiemo De Bakker, who is playing his tenth tour-level match. Last year's finalist and local hope Somdev Devvarman opens with the semifinal that he would have played last year, if Rainer Schuettler hadn't withdrawn with an injury. And defending champion Marin Cilic is the number two seed. All signs point to a Cilic-Soderling final, but of course, anything can happen.
By the way, Soderling ended up losing to Nadal in the final of the Abu Dhabi exhibition event, in two tough sets. That's impressive, since the Swede won their last match comfortably at the year-end championships. Nadal may have been able to use the time off (brief though it was) to get back to fighting fit form. Meanwhile, Federer had to play a consolation match for third place against Ferrer, which he easily won. Guess that invalidates my theory about Federer not giving it his all against Soderling so he could get ready for Doha, doesn't it?
The draw at Doha has three real contenders and a handful of dangerous, slightly crazy, but very entertaining mid-level players. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko are the one, two, and three seeds. Gulbis, Karlovic, and Koellerer are all scattered throughout the draw, along with 38-year old Younes El Aynaoui, who was given a wildcard. He was playing on the Champions tour last year! He opens against a qualifier, which is about as much as he could hope for. It seems unreasonable to bet against a Federer-Nadal final here, though. Particularly since defending champ Andy Murray opted not to return and instead played in the Hopman Cup.
In Brisbane, on the men's side, Roddick seems to be the number one seed mostlikely to lose before the final. The health of his knee is still a question mark, and there are a ton of lurkers in the draw. Big-serving Aussie lefty Carsten Ball could be Roddick's second round opponent, and he could be followed by Jarkko Nieminen or Richard Gasquet, who are playing one of the most enticing opening round matches.
Other opening rounds to watch are Sam Querrey-James Blake, Marcos Baghdatis-Mardy Fish, and Gael Monfils-Taylor Dent. As if that weren't enough, the draw also features defending champ Radek Stepanek, the other great Aussie hope Bernard Tomic, Thomaz Bellucci from Brazil and Jeremy Chardy from France. This tournament could unfold any number of ways, and it's much harder to get a sense of who will come out on top than at the other two tournaments this week.
Showing posts with label abudhabi. Show all posts
Showing posts with label abudhabi. Show all posts
Saturday, January 2, 2010
2010 Tennis Season Underway!
After a long and lonely off-season, the 2010 tennis season officially begins this week. There are three official tournaments during week one: Brisbane, Chennai, and Doha. Meanwhile, there's the Hopman Cup mixed-doubles event in Perth as well. Not to mention last week, the Capitala World Tennis Championship exhibition took place in Abu Dhabi. The season really starts with a bang, doesn't it? Beginning next week, the entire tour becomes focused in Australia as things build up towards the first major of the year, but for one week, the players remain scattered across the globe.
First of all, looking back at last week's pre-season exhibition in Abu Dhabi, there is one very interesting result. Robin Soderling managed to find a way to beat Roger Federer in the semifinals, after losing twelve consecutive times to the Swiss maestro. While this is undoubtedly a thrilling result for Robin, Roger may have already pocketed his appearance fee and decided to head off to his next tourney. The sad truth is that these exhibition wins often don't make that much difference. Roddick beat Fed at Kooyong in 2007, but then won only six games when they played just a few weeks later at the Aussie Open.
Speaking of Roddick, he's the top seed at the tournament in Brisbane, which features the majority of the American and Australian players, save for Aussie number one Hewitt, who's at the Hopman Cup. The first week of the season is always fascinating, because you get to see how players who were injured at the end of last season have recovered, or whether those who finished the year on a tear can maintain their momentum. Roddick is hoping to have fully recovered from the knee injury which cut his season short. Brisbane also features Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, and Taylor Dent, all recently injured Americans who hope to start 2009 off well. There are quite a few dangerous floaters in the draw, as well. Look for a more in-depth draw analysis tomorrow.
Moving westward to India, the Chennai tournament will struggle to be as exciting this year as it was in 2009. That was the year that local wildcard Somdev Devvarman made it through the first three rounds, beating Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic in the process, only to get a walkover from Rainer Schuettler in the semis. He lost to Marin Cilic in the final, but what a dream run. Devvarman will be hoping to defend as many points as he can, and Cilic will be hoping to have his first successful title defense of his career.
Further west, in the Middle East, where the money still seems to be flowing despite the world's economic downturn, you will find most of the big dogs. Only three of the world's top six players will be in official action this week, but they will all be in Doha. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko will all be there, and only Davydenko enters with a winning streak. Can the Russian continue his stupendous form from the end of last year? He was injured early last year, so he has no points to defend. If he plays like he did in the closing months of 2009, he could jump up to the top 3 or 4 in the world. Two of the other most interesting storylines of 2010 will get started here, too: will Nadal's body be able to hold up, what with all of his injuries, and will Federer be able to stay as motivated as he has been in the past, considering how he has accomplished everything he could have set out to do?
The other member of the top six who is playing this week is Britain's Andy Murray, who is playing the Hopman Cup with British teenage phenom Laura Robson. She could meet American sensation Melanie Oudin, if the U.S. And Britain make it to the final. Of course, to do that, they'll each have to win their groups. Or maybe they could meet in the semis. I'm the first to admit that I'm not 100% clear on the way that Hopman Cup works. Regardless, there should be some firecracker matches. Watch for Dementieva to start her season in style.
First of all, looking back at last week's pre-season exhibition in Abu Dhabi, there is one very interesting result. Robin Soderling managed to find a way to beat Roger Federer in the semifinals, after losing twelve consecutive times to the Swiss maestro. While this is undoubtedly a thrilling result for Robin, Roger may have already pocketed his appearance fee and decided to head off to his next tourney. The sad truth is that these exhibition wins often don't make that much difference. Roddick beat Fed at Kooyong in 2007, but then won only six games when they played just a few weeks later at the Aussie Open.
Speaking of Roddick, he's the top seed at the tournament in Brisbane, which features the majority of the American and Australian players, save for Aussie number one Hewitt, who's at the Hopman Cup. The first week of the season is always fascinating, because you get to see how players who were injured at the end of last season have recovered, or whether those who finished the year on a tear can maintain their momentum. Roddick is hoping to have fully recovered from the knee injury which cut his season short. Brisbane also features Mardy Fish, Sam Querrey, and Taylor Dent, all recently injured Americans who hope to start 2009 off well. There are quite a few dangerous floaters in the draw, as well. Look for a more in-depth draw analysis tomorrow.
Moving westward to India, the Chennai tournament will struggle to be as exciting this year as it was in 2009. That was the year that local wildcard Somdev Devvarman made it through the first three rounds, beating Carlos Moya and Ivo Karlovic in the process, only to get a walkover from Rainer Schuettler in the semis. He lost to Marin Cilic in the final, but what a dream run. Devvarman will be hoping to defend as many points as he can, and Cilic will be hoping to have his first successful title defense of his career.
Further west, in the Middle East, where the money still seems to be flowing despite the world's economic downturn, you will find most of the big dogs. Only three of the world's top six players will be in official action this week, but they will all be in Doha. Federer, Nadal, and Davydenko will all be there, and only Davydenko enters with a winning streak. Can the Russian continue his stupendous form from the end of last year? He was injured early last year, so he has no points to defend. If he plays like he did in the closing months of 2009, he could jump up to the top 3 or 4 in the world. Two of the other most interesting storylines of 2010 will get started here, too: will Nadal's body be able to hold up, what with all of his injuries, and will Federer be able to stay as motivated as he has been in the past, considering how he has accomplished everything he could have set out to do?
The other member of the top six who is playing this week is Britain's Andy Murray, who is playing the Hopman Cup with British teenage phenom Laura Robson. She could meet American sensation Melanie Oudin, if the U.S. And Britain make it to the final. Of course, to do that, they'll each have to win their groups. Or maybe they could meet in the semis. I'm the first to admit that I'm not 100% clear on the way that Hopman Cup works. Regardless, there should be some firecracker matches. Watch for Dementieva to start her season in style.
Sunday, January 4, 2009
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.
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.
Friday, January 2, 2009
2009 starts early!
Well, when I saw that the ATP season started next weekend, I failed to notice an exhibition tournament going on this week in Abu Dhabi. It started off pretty tame, with Andy Murray and Nikolay Davydenko beating James Blake and Andy Roddick, both in straight sets. I didn't see any of either match, but I would give it to Murray over Blake any day, and both of the Americans have the sort of games that would probably be rather shaky after however many weeks off. I'm sure they enjoyed getting their appearence fees, though.
Here's hoping that Roddick is fully recovered from his injury and that he finds his form in 2009. 2008 wasn't a terrible year for him (three titles) but it was his worst since he won the U.S. Open. If he wants to remain a contender into his late 20's and early 30's, he needs to show that he can keep up with the younger generation. That sentiment is even truer for James Blake, who also had a lackluster year and is getting up there in age for a tennis pro. He'll need to make a statement this year.
However, that first round gave way to another Murray-Federer matchup, which you can read about here, and which looks like it was a real stunner. Murray won, 4-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6). It looks like whenever these two get together, there are fireworks. This bodes well for the coming year.
Nadal also toppled Davydenko with little difficulty. It's encouraging to see that he's probably recovered from the injuries that kept him out of the end of the season in 2008. Nadal v. Murray is taking place tomorrow. That will be a very interesting match-up, and even though there are no ranking points on the line, you can bet there's a lot of pride and confidence going in to the big tournaments this season. Also, $250K. So that's not bad, either.
Here's hoping that Roddick is fully recovered from his injury and that he finds his form in 2009. 2008 wasn't a terrible year for him (three titles) but it was his worst since he won the U.S. Open. If he wants to remain a contender into his late 20's and early 30's, he needs to show that he can keep up with the younger generation. That sentiment is even truer for James Blake, who also had a lackluster year and is getting up there in age for a tennis pro. He'll need to make a statement this year.
However, that first round gave way to another Murray-Federer matchup, which you can read about here, and which looks like it was a real stunner. Murray won, 4-6 6-2 7-6 (8-6). It looks like whenever these two get together, there are fireworks. This bodes well for the coming year.
Nadal also toppled Davydenko with little difficulty. It's encouraging to see that he's probably recovered from the injuries that kept him out of the end of the season in 2008. Nadal v. Murray is taking place tomorrow. That will be a very interesting match-up, and even though there are no ranking points on the line, you can bet there's a lot of pride and confidence going in to the big tournaments this season. Also, $250K. So that's not bad, either.
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