Week 38 Review and Week 39 Preview

I'm somewhat reluctant to admit it, but I have to say that it was tough to get excited about pretty much anything that happened over the course of the past week - the biggest story of the past week was Rafael Nadal's commitment to play in Queens next year. There was almost an enticing final in Metz, as Gilles Simon and Richard Gasquet looked prime to meet, but then Gasquet withdrew from his semifinal match with a fever. The Frenchman won, but it was a pretty depleted field. And Chela beat Andujar in Bucharest - a tournament that was filled with steady but unexciting clay court players.

But fortunately, things are starting to heat up. Last week, the 14th-ranked player in the world was the top player in action - but now, six of the top ten are playing. This is the start of the Asian swing, with tournaments in Kuala Lumpur and Bangkok. Nadal is playing, along with Soderling, Davydenko, Berdych, Youzhny, and Verdasco. But the biggest story of the week is that this marks former U.S. Open champion Juan Martin Del Potro's return to action after spending most of the year recovering from surgery. He starts off with a tricky encounter against Olivier Rochus, so there's not much time to get back in the groove. It will be very interesting to see how the Argentine does in his return. Assuming DelPo gets past Rochus, it's likely that he'll meet Nadal in the quarters, which should be interesting. Del Potro just blew Nadal off the court the last few times they've played.

Unfortunately for the tournament, except for the top couple of players and Juan Martin Del Potro, the rest of the draw is a bit weak. The second quarter of the draw is headed up by Ernests Gulbis, but it also has Rainer Schuettler and Teymuraz Gabasvhili. The third quarter has a handful of guys who could make the semis - Jurgen Melzer, Dudi Sela, Marco Chiudinelli, Viktor Troicki, and Jarkko Nieminen. The last quarter belongs to Fernando Verdasco - who doesn't have anyone comparable to a DelPo to challenge him. Thiemo de Bakker and Feliciano Lopez are fine players, but I'd be shocked not to see Verdasco come through his quarter. It's likely that we'll get the top seeds through to that stage - and Nadal-Gulbis plus Melzer-Verdasco would be a pretty great line-up for such a small torunament.

In Kuala Lumpur, there are more top players - four of the six top ten guys in action are in Malaysia. Robin Soderling is the top seed, and he could have a tricky path through the draw - his section has Andrey Golubev, tall, big-serving South African Kevin Anderson, and Yen-Hsun Lu. Soderling hasn't played his best in small tournaments like these this year, so he could use a good run.

While Bangkok has the bigger stars, the depth of field is better in Kuala Lumpur. The second quarter has Berdych and Ferrer, as well as a pair of young wildcards - Yuki Bhambri and Bernard Tomic. Tough to bet against Berdych in that group, though he hasn't played particularly well since Wimbledon. Istomin is also in this group - he's got an outside chance of making the quarters.

The third quarter has one of the best opening-round matches in this tournament, in which Marcos Baghdatis faces off against Kei Nishikori. Dolgopolov is also in this group, and could get Mikhail Youzhny in the second round. Any of these four guys could get through. The last quarter has Sergiy Stakhovsky against Michael Russel as another pretty good first-round match, and a potential match between Russians Davydenko and Andreev in the second round. The young Canadian player Milos Raonic is also in this section. There are some very interesting top players and young guns in this tournament - there could be some fun matches.

It's still early, but there's a chance for some fireworks this week, with so many of the top players and talented young guns in action. I'm looking forward to the tennis.

Davis Cup Wrap-Up and Week 38 Preview

It is technically a bit early to be writing a Davis Cup weekend wrap-up, because Australia and Belgium are still locked in their fifth rubber, tied at two a piece. Play was largely suspended yesterday, as heavy rains made action impossible. With Lleyton Hewitt out of the picture, the first reverse singles match was a tough one, but Olivier Rochus beat Peter Luczak in four sets, three of them tiebreaks. Now Steve Darcis and Carsten Ball are playing - this could be a big moment for young Carsten.

As for the ties that did finish up today, there were a surprising number of comebacks. India completed their comeback from two points to none down after the first day's singles - helped immensely by a retirement by top Brazilian player Tomaz Bellucci against Somdev Devvarman. A massive comeback for the Indian squad, though I must say I don't like their chances in the World Group next year.

Austria also came back from two points to one down to beat Israel in Tel Aviv, which is a devastating result for the Israelis. It wasn't a surprise that Melzer beat Sela (though the ease with which he dispatched the top Israeli player was a bit of a surprise) but Harel Levy must have felt like he had a chance to beat Martin Fischer, but the Austrian was not overwhelmed by the occasion or the crowd, and he pulled out a fairly straightforward four set win. That was Fischer's first Davis Cup match! Stunning performance.

But the biggest fightback was Serbia's defeat of the Czech Republic, after losing the doubles rubber on Saturday. Novak Djokovic beat Tomas Berdych in a rematch of their Wimbledon semifinal, and then Janko Tipsarevic absolutely blitzed Radek Stepanek. The veteran may have been a bit exhausted, or feeling some lingering effects from his recent injuries, but Tipsy blew him off the court. So now Serbia is on to their first Davis Cup final, set to face France in Belgrade in a few months' time. Tipsarevic was really the hero, winning both of his singles matches.

But perhaps the biggest hero of the weekend for any particular team was Mardy Fish, who won two five-set singles matches and a four-set doubles match to put the U.S. past the Colombians, in what could charitably be called just about the worst possible conditions for American players. It wasn't great tennis, but Fish played incredibly tough and showed a lot of heart. There were times in the past few years that Mardy was talking like his career was in its twilight stages, but I don't think there's any reason to expect he doesn't have a lot left in him during the years to come.

In other news, Grigor Dimitrov won his second consecutive Challenger tournament, and jumped into the top 150 in the rankings. Brad Gilbert predicted he'd be in the top 20 within a year, which still sounds like a big ask, but it's not outside the realm of possibility. If he can get closer to the top hundred by the end of the year and start getting direct acceptance into top-level tournaments, he'll have the chance to really prove himself among the game's best.

Anyway, looking ahead to the action during the coming week. I'll admit that it's not the most exciting, after a weekend of non-stop Davis Cup action and two weeks of the U.S. Open. But there are some interesting storylines to look at.

In Bucharest, we have the year's final clay court tournament! The clay court year may be ending with a whimper, rather than a bang, because the top seed in Romania is 22nd ranked Albert Montanes, while the second seed is 45th ranked Florian Mayer. Keep an eye on Victor Hanescu in this draw, as the top Romanian player loves clay and is hot coming off Romania's win in the Davis Cup. Every one of these players knows that they should be getting ready for the hard court season in Asia, but their best bet for ranking points is on the clay, so they're scrambling for what they can get in this, their lost shot this year. It's an interesting assortment of specialists.

The draw in Metz is quite a bit stronger, headlined by a slumping Marin Cilic, but also featuring Monfils, Gasquet, Llodra, and Simon, a powerful French contingent, no question. Simon opens against flamboyant Jamaican Dustin Brown, which should be an interesting match. Other match-ups to watch for are Arnaud Clement as a potential second-round for Marin Cilic, and Xavier Malisse potentially getting Ivan Ljubicic. And Jarkko Nieminen and Benjamin Becker in the first round isn't a bad match-up, and could be a fun match. I'll take another look at these draws a few rounds in, to see how things have developed.