Week 23 Wrap-up and Week 24 Preview

Well, that was a surprise. The two finals which took place yesterday ended up going exactly the opposite way I would have expected. The match between Fish and Querrey, while a fairly tight match, ended up with a convincing win for Querrey, while Federer somehow managed to lose to Hewitt in a tough three-setter.

The match between Fish and Querrey was dominated by serve, but it looked like the veteran had the stronger start. He started the match with 0-40 in Querrey's first service game. Unfortunately, after Querrey served his way out of that problem, then Fish didn't get another break point chance. The set went to a tiebreak, where Sam dominated. In the second set, Fish looked like he might turn the match around. He broke Querrey and served for the set at 5-4, but unfortunately couldn't keep it together and lost the next three games.

This is about par for both players, as Fish drops to a miserable 3-11 in tournament finals, while Querrey wins his third title of the year, and on three different surfaces no less. Unfortunately, Querrey doesn't have a lot to gain, ranking-wise, from winning more of these 250-level tournaments. He needs to make some noise at the masters and grand slams in order to move any further up the rankings. Fish, on the other hand, gained a great deal from his final appearance, and while he's only up to 70 in the world, that is an increase of 20 places from where he was last week. A good result from both players.

The Federer-Hewitt match, on the other hand, was somewhat bizarre. Federer looked to be cruising, up a set, and having come back from a break down already in the second, he had break points on Hewitt's serve at 4-all, which would have essentially sealed the deal. But after Hewitt saved those, he somehow managed to pull out the tiebreak and then break Federer at the start of the third set. At that point, Federer's game started getting sloppy, as he began hitting more errors and outright shanking a few balls. Hewitt held serve through to the end, and notched his first win against Federer in his last 15 tries, and Federer got only his second loss on grass in his last 77 matches on the surface. Really stunning stuff, and it's tough to imagine that Federer is going to be very confident heading into Wimbledon, considering that he hasn't won a title this year since the Australian Open.

Looking ahead to the two tournaments on offer this week - the week before a slam is always interesting, because the top players generally take the week off to rest up for the coming tournament, but the players who are just outside the top 100 need to qualifying to get into the slam, so you get a bunch of players mostly outside the top 20 but inside the top 100 competing. It can lead to some interesting match-ups.

This is particularly true due to several players who are coming off long lay-offs to resume play this week. In Eastbourne, James Blake opens against Julien Benneteau and Gilles Simon opens against Evgeny Korolev. Also look for the opening-round match between qualifiers Nishikori and Kuznetsov, who could get Simon in the second round. Almagro is the top seed here, and he should do well, despite having an atrocious 3-6 career record on grass. Also be on the lookout for Dudi Sela and Feliciano Lopez, who had big wins last week at Queens.

Also in Eastbourne, Kim Clijsters is back in action, as well as Caroline Wozniacki, French Open champ Francesca Schiavone, Li Na - who had a great win yesterday over Maria Sharapova in the final at Birmingham - and even slumping Svetlana Kuznetsova got a wildcard into the tourney. In one of the best opening rounds, Sam Stosur opens against Melanie Oudin, who's having a bit of a sophomore slump this year. That's a pretty impressive draw, I have to say. The top eight seeds are from the top 12 players in the world! After how barren last week's draw was, that is amazing.

The other tournament going on this week is in s'Hertogenbosch, in the Netherlands, but I'm just going to refer to it as the Unicef Open in the tags, because I'll never spell that right again. The draw here isn't quite as stacked on either side, but it still has some great players. Ljubicic is the top seed on the men's side, and he'll have to watch out for Marcos Baghdatis and Tommy Robredo. Chardy and Clement are floating there in the draw, as are Malisse and Becker. It could develop into a good tournament too, depending on how the first couple rounds go.

On the women's side, it's all about one person: top seeded Justine Henin, who is aching to win Wimbledon this year and needs this warm-up tournament to get her into a grass-court mentality. She shouldn't have too much trouble with this event, though, as second seeded Dinara Safina has - regrettably - already lost in the first round. Other than that, Ivanovic is in the dra, and a lot of very strong but not especially accomplished players. Henin couldn't have asked for much more to get her in the right frame of mind for a big run at Wimbledon.

In a day or two, I'll take a look at the qualifying draws for Wimbledon, which have some exciting match-ups of their own. Enjoy the tennis!

Week 23 Final

For an off-week, the pair of finals that we have on offer tomorrow promise some fairly exciting tennis. In a stacked field at Queen's club, the surprising All-American final features Sam Querrey against Mardy Fish. It should be a good match, as both are big servers and competent volleyers. On the one hand, I hope that Fish comes out on top - Querrey already has a couple of titles this year, and doesn't stand to gain that much (in terms of ranking) if he lifts the trophy. Fish, on the other hand, could go up about 40 places next week.

The other final has the bigger names, but the conclusion is probably already decided. Hewitt has lost the last 15 against Federer, and Federer hasn't lost in Halle in more than half a decade. It should be a fun match, but it's hard to imagine Rusty pulling out a victory.

There's not much else to say about these match-ups, I'm sorry to say. They should feature some fun tennis, but they don't have a lot of resonance for the bigger picture of the tennis season. I'll still be watching, though!

Week 23 Semifinals

While the upsets continue in London, the bleeding seems to have finally ended in Halle, as Federer and Hewitt have moved through to the semifinals with little difficulty. They'll face a pair of Germans for the chance to meet in the final - Petzschner and Becker, who really don't have much realistic expectation of staging an upset, either one. Hewitt and Federer are two of the last three people to win Wimbledon, and it would be perfect to see them facing off in the final of a grass-court warm-up event. I'm sure the organizers would like to see that take place, as well. But there's one more round to go before that happens...

In Queen's, like I said, the upset bug is back. Murray ended up losing to Fish when the match resumed, going down in a third set tiebreak. Fish then came back and beat Michael Llodra later in the day. Very impressive display from the American, who started the year strong but stumbled during the clay season. He'll be glad to be back in a semifinal, and rather than facing Rafael Nadal, he'll get another Spaniard - Feliciano Lopez! F-Lo managed the biggest upset in a week of upsets by beating Nadal, who was on a 24-match win streak and a huge winning streak on grass as well! Big win for Lopez, who has twice been a Wimbledon quarterfinalist. Unlike most Spaniards, I believe that grass is his favorite surface. Not the best way for Nadal to start off his new reign as world number one, but still - very impressive.

The other half of the draw is just about as surprising. Dudi Sela couldn't follow up his win over Andy Roddick and lost to Rainer Schuettler. The veteran German gets American Sam Querry in the semis, as Querrey ousted Xavier Malisse, who toppled Novak Djokovic. Anybody who picked Querrey and Fish into the semifinals here without having Roddick make it that far deserves to win their pool. It seems very likely at this point that we'll have at least one American in the final, and there's not a bad chance of having two.

Put that together with Blake coming back into action next week, and you might even forget how perilously close we are to not having an American in the top ten for the first time in who knows how long. In any case, it's a good weekend of tennis, in Halle and in London.

Week 23 Quarterfinals

We're most of the way through the first week of the grass court season, and things are pretty bizarre. In Halle, six of the eight seeds are already out of action. The only players remaining are Roger Federer and Lleyton Hewitt. Five of the remaining eight players are actually German, if you can believe that. Considering that there were only eight Germans in the draw to begin with, that's a pretty impressive line-up. That said, I think the odds of a German taking home the Halle title are pretty small, since Federer is still there. I was wrong when I mentioned that Haas beat Fed here last year - Federer didn't play Halle after he won the French Open. Haas beat Djokovic to win the title.

So that means that Federer is riding a ridiculous winning streak in Halle - it's got to be one of the longest winning streaks of any player at any tournament, if not the longest. I don't know who's going to beat him. Kohlschreiber is 0-4 against Federer, and he's really the toughest competition remaining, with the exception of Hewitt. It would be a pretty intense meltdown from Fed if he fails to break his title-less streak and continue his unbeaten run in Halle.

In Queens, things were rolling along as one might expect until today, when everything went to hell. There was some trouble with rain, and here are the casualties: Gasquet withdrew with a back injury, Roddick lost to Dudi Sela, Djokovic lost to Xavier Malisse, Cilic lost to Llodra, and Andy Murray was tied 3-all in the third against Mardy Fish when the match was called on account of darkness. And Nadal nearly lost to Denis Istomin of all people. Sometimes, unusual weather can be a real leveler.

A lot of the players who lost were really hoping to get some match practice in before Wimbledon, so expect a few players to start angling for wildcards to next week's tournament, which usually has a lack of top players. Andy Roddick in particular has won three matches in the last two and a half months. That's not the kind of preparation he wants heading into Wimbledon. Sam Querrey, on the other hand, seems to have recovered from the ennui that plagued him at the French and has a real shot of making the final here. We'll see how the weekend plays out, and if the big upsets are already past, or if they might continue.

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.