Concrete Elbow by Steve Tignor - Season Greeting
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Season Greeting 01/03/2011 - 2:05 PM

Rf-rn Nothing like sending in the troops early. It’s Day 3 of 2011 and they’re fighting in Doha, they’re fighting in Brisbane, they’re fighting in Auckland and Chennai, and they're doing a little recon in Perth. Virtually everyone you would want to see is in action somewhere on this planet, provided you can track them down.

I’ll start the new year with a helping hand. Today I’ll look at what the men are up to this week, and where they’re up to it. Tomorrow we’ll canvas the WTA.

***

Qatar Exxon Mobil Open, Doha. Hard courts; $1,024,000 (Draw is here)

Judging from the promo shot for this event above, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer are beginning to seem a little cut off from the the rest of the world, on their own tennis mountaintop, or out on their own tennis sea. I began to wonder: Are they sick of each other yet? What do they talk about? Is it a struggle to find topics of conversation, once the obligatory soccer razzing has been dispensed with? More important, is there a time when we might actually get tired of them hanging out together so much, acting so buddy-buddy? And what if that court sinks? All of it should be happily forgotten as soon as they play a meaningful match against each other.

Which could happen here in Doha. Nadal and Federer are, obviously, the top two seeds. The quality of the field between them is decent but not fear-inducing. The three people closest to Nadal in the draw are Karol Beck, Lukas Lacko, and Pere Riba. The three people closest to Federer, as of this writing, are “qualifier,” “qualifier,” and a wild card named Reda El Amrani.

If you have to choose, it seems that Nadal has the slightly tougher path, primarily because of the presence of Nikolay Davydenko, who beat him here in three sets last January for the title, and who has beaten him repeatedly on hard courts over the years. Other names in the top half include Ernests Gulbis, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Ivo Karlovic. Davydenko has already won his first round, but I’m thinking Nadal’s days of losing to the Russian—anywhere, on any surface—are behind him.

As for Federer, he’s looking at a half highlighted by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Viktor Troicki, and the intriguing name of Sergei Bubka of the Ukraine. Yes, he’s the pole vaulter’s son, but no, I haven’t seen him anywhere since watching him in the juniors at Wimbledon about five years ago. He looked good back then, but I guess looks can be deceiving. I’m not sure when this match will be played, but I’ll look out for the first-rounder between Viktor Troicki and Sergiy Stakhovsky. I’ll be curious to see how these two guys, particularly Troicki, do in 2011. You would have to think his Davis Cup experience will do something for his confidence. He’s got the game already.

If Nadal and Federer do meet in the final, it should start the season with a bang, and there shouldn't be much between them. But I’ll take Rafa.

***

Brisbane International. Plexicushion; $422,300. (Draw is here)

Brisbane may offer half as much prize money as Doha, but from what I can tell on TV, it has a lot more fan energy, plus a pretty cool-looking center court that seems to be just the right size for a modest Slam tune-up.

As far as players, there’s a strong American contingent on hand—Roddick, the second seed; Fish, the fourth seed, and qualifier Ryan Harrison, who gets top seed Robin Soderling in the first round. Other notables include Verdasco, Baghdatis, Lopez, and . . . John Millman and Matthew Ebden? The latter two, besides having the most garden-variety names of anyone I’ve seen in a tennis draw in a while, are two Aussie wild cards who face each other in the first round. Talk about opportunity knocking.

You can generally count on Roddick to start a season well and never suffer a total collapse; he hasn’t missed the Top 10 in years. I’m more curious about his countryman Fish. He surged through the second half of last season and talked confidently about reaching the Top 10 in 2011. But he’s surged before and failed to follow through. We’ll begin to get an idea during the Aussie swing of which way he’ll go this time. I’m also interested in Soderling. Does he have more in him? Or has he clunked his head against the career ceiling? I’m guessing the latter, but these are the types of events he needs to win, to make statements at, if he is going to continue the hard slog upward into the Top 4.

***

Aircel Chennai Open 2011, Chennai, India. Hard courts; $398,250 (Draw is here)

One week, three 250s. This one has the weakest of the three draws. Berdych is the top seed, but No. 2, Marin Cilic, is already out, having fallen today to Kei Nishikori. Brad Gilbert is in the Nishikori camp, and while the Japanese Bradenton-ite is way undersized, he does hit a clean ball. Maybe 2011 will see him finally reach that potential.

Other names: Janko Tipsarevic, who is coming off a horrible but joyous Davis Cup performance (he did get the Serb fans to quiet down during the doubles); Xavier Malisse, who is somehow still highly ranked enough to earn a 7th seed here; Richard Gasquet, who I’ll always take time to watch however awful and disappointing his results become; Stan Wawrinka, a heavy hitter who, for some reason, I’ll never take the extra time to watch if I don’t have to; and Robin Haase, a guy with a smooth game that doesn’t produce as much as you think it should. I’d like to see more of him this year. As for Berdych, like his fellow late-breakthrough big man Soderling, he’ll be another curious case for 2011. The chances seem slim that he’ll match his 2010.

***

Wait, that’s all there is? I was just getting warmed up. Right, almost forgot, there’s Hopman Cup, too. It’s an exo, so I won’t preview it here, but it’s a fun little event to watch in the evenings on the Tennis Channel, and as usual it has drawn some very big names and entertaining mixed-doubles combinations. It remains a model event that no one seems to want to model themselves after. The players are relaxed, and because of that the matches are often very good.

Tomorrow the women; the off-season is extremely over.
 
25
Comments 		 

Posted by reckoner 01/03/2011 at 02:40 PM


already ?
Posted by Larry in the Silicon 01/03/2011 at 03:08 PM

Good piece. Actually, I think Malisse is a very talented player who seems to want to end his career in good form. I also dislike watching Wawrinka; he has that 'I hate doing this' look that a number of pros seem to have perfected.

Roger and Rafa sure do spend a lot of time together, but when it comes to the Arab swing, I expect it has a lot to do with appearance money, which must be huge...
Posted by tennis2011 01/03/2011 at 03:28 PM

The two tournaments I really care about this week are Doha and Brisbane. I am happy that Roger and Rafa get along so well, but I must admit I think it's getting a little old seeing them together all the time. They need to spend time with their teams and families away from the court. I thought it was great to see them do the charity exhos for their foundations, but it's time for business. You also have to wonder with them getting so close if it will effect their matches and rivalry. I mean is it going to become to soft for the public's liking. Anyways my predictions for these two tournaments are as follows.

Doha-
Champion: Federer
Runner-up: Davydenko

Brisbane-
Champion: Soderling
Runner-up: Roddick
Posted by Slice-n-Dice 01/03/2011 at 03:34 PM

Agree about Warwrinka, hough I've always loved his backhand. I like Malisse, and have a soft spot for him. Gasquet I cannot stomach, unless he's squaring off with Verdasco, which elevates it to high theatre.

Happy New Year, Pete!
Posted by Master Ace 01/03/2011 at 03:45 PM

Doha - Federer over Nadal
Brisbane - Roddick over Soderling
Chennai - Wawrinka over Gasquet

Steve,
Fish is the biggest question mark for me as far as USA players are concerned. How many times the media give Fish praise for a good run done mostly on USA soil but fizzes out in the International world. If Fish was to make the QF at Australian Open, I would consider that a success.
Posted by Slice-n-Dice 01/03/2011 at 05:03 PM

Sorry, meant to write Happy new year, Steve! Aw hell....
Posted by adman 01/03/2011 at 05:57 PM

Not trying to be a downer, but there is no way soderling is going to win brisbane. He has talked about being more agressive this year...MORE agressive?! That doesnt make any sense, he already plays hit or miss ball. I see roddick cruising to the final, but I wouldnt be suprised if he lost in the final to someone, say Stepanek. And dont hound all over me if they are in the same half, I havent looked at the draws, I have only read who the seeds are. I would be really excited to see tsonga battle federer with a strong mind. He really struggles against the top ten. But all in all I am loving that the tennis season is already back up and running!
Posted by Sea 01/03/2011 at 06:16 PM

Larry says : "Roger and Rafa sure do spend a lot of time together"

Definately a Bromance brewing.
Posted by Northernboy 01/03/2011 at 06:36 PM

Adman I have to agree with you re: Soderling - definitely a favorite of mine but hopefully 'more aggressive' means improved volleys and attacking high returns mid court, taking time away from his opponents after pummeling them with his shots.

Sharapova's in exactly the same boat - they have the two most lethal grounstrokes on their respective tours, but need to follow up with net finishes.

Posted by sazzylove 01/03/2011 at 06:52 PM

Of course youll take Rafa...being the number one Rafatard that you are!(*rolleyes*)....
Posted by Jass32 01/03/2011 at 07:43 PM

Doha will be a repeat of Abu Dhabi exo

Nadal wins over Fed in straights (unless Fed avoids Nadal after Abu Dhabi bashing and loses early)

Nadal is gradually churning into higher gear for the Oz Open

Go figure!
Posted by babolatclijstersfan 01/03/2011 at 07:46 PM

4 players I'm most interested in following this week are Soderling, Fish, Harrison and Nishikori. Either Harrison or Soderling won't be around after tomorrow but I'd love to see Harrison get some main tour consistency after his great 2 matches at the US Open last year. I do think Soderling has it in him to win a Grand Slam - definitely more likely than Murray at this point, so I'm interested to see how he'll fare in this opening tournament. With Fish, it'll be curious to see how he does this year since he sort of faded away after his amazing summer - hope he can stick around in the Top 20 or push into the Top 15. And now that Nishikori has Brad Gilbert in his camp, he should be a player to watch (although he already has had some great matches at majors in the past), especially now that he's gotten the best of Cilic (not that that's a particularly rare feat in itself). Yeah, some great tennis to follow this week! (Just wish Tennis Channel would show more of it!)
Posted by susan 01/03/2011 at 08:27 PM

same thing i thought when i saw the pic-together. again. what do they talk about (given the language difference, something that nadal mentioned recently, and given that federer breaks out into giggles when spanish is uttered). can they ever get to be close pals, or do they even want to or need to?

but after seeing the photo, i also realised why Foops are sick of them. but I'm not. not yet.

Posted by Tim (Destroy the Moonpies in 2011!) 01/03/2011 at 08:30 PM

Fed, its time to break up with your Spanish pal, Im so bored with this pick him up at the airport and play tennis on water nonsense! its time for some snark and snippy press conference chatter, not this best pal baloney!

LOL!

happy new year all ...

Posted by Julian 01/03/2011 at 08:41 PM

Rafa is looking good at the moment. Looked like he cranked his serve up for Abu Dhabi last week ready for the AO and if he gets Doha he'll be very confident going into the slam.

Posted by Fern 01/04/2011 at 01:49 AM

More important, is there a time when we might actually get tired of them hanging out together so much, acting so buddy-buddy? And what if that court sinks? All of it should be happily forgotten as soon as they play a meaningful match against each other.

This 'bromance' is nothing new! Fed and Rafa have mostly maintained a friendly, respectful relationship for several years now which appears to extend to each other's family. Didn't stop Rafa hammering Fed in the FO final in 2008 and didn't stop the roar of delight from Fed when he eventually realised his last shot at the recent WTF had dropped in ...I don't think these 2 getting along well hinders their competitive rivalry; in a strange way I think it actually increases it ..!

I'm more wary of so much focus being on the 2 of them these last few weeks (albeit for good personal and prefessional causes), by the time the AO starts they both fold amidst the hype - too long a build-up! All these expert predictions that it's one of Fedal to win not just the AO but all the slams - far too early to call.

Posted by Papo (Got New Year?) 01/04/2011 at 01:49 AM

Soderling's hard slog into the top four may not be so hard. He's only defending 10 points at the Australian Open since he got knocked out in the first round last year by Granollers. Murray, who's only 180 points ahead of Soderling in the rankings, has to defend 1200 finalist points. Even if Murray defends those points he won't be adding any points to his ranking unless he actually wins the tournament. If Soderling has a decent result at the AO chances are he'll start the year by cracking the top four.
Posted by Aussiemarg,Madame President,Tennis Down Under,Oi,Oi,Oi,! 01/04/2011 at 02:26 AM

Thanks Steve

Well living Down Under I love the time zone for starters let me tell you.I dont have to get up at 1.00 am in the mornings for a bit.

The Brisbane International from the feed back I am getting from some of the players who play there or who have played there is a good one.They seem to like it there and they can get climatise to our weather and the Plexicushion surface before the AO.

I would lean towwars Soderling winning it.

In Doha well I guess we will see the no 1 and 2 seeds battle it out again.

I will go for Rafa in a tight contest.

Chennai I will go for Wawrinka.

Like fingers crossed lol!
Posted by Treve 01/04/2011 at 04:29 AM

I want Gasquet in Chenna. Tsonga in Doha. Fish in Bristbane. im for the under dogs
Posted by dangerouspaul 01/04/2011 at 08:11 AM

as long as tignor does not jinx federer i don´t care about his predictions
Posted by ivy 01/04/2011 at 11:02 AM

Thanks Steve for not jinxing Roger!!!Happy New Year!!
Posted by collin 01/04/2011 at 12:03 PM

to assume that their "bromance" will get in the way of their competitive drive is just ludicrous. that assumption is based on what exactly?

who cares what they talk in private? how is that any of our biz?

and last i checked tennis is a sport for ladies and gentlemen. even serena don't be talking down about specific individuals. i'm glad rafa and fed continue to be classy & professional.

btw, fed and rafa are the biggest names in atp. hence obviously in doing promos atp will almost always select fed and rafa.

steve you are obviously bored.
Posted by Bob 01/04/2011 at 01:00 PM

Visit https://sites.google.com/site/flashgamesfortheworld/
Tons of free flash games including games like Mario or Zelda.
Also, other classics like Worlds Hardest Game and Bloons.
All types of categories for all types of gamers.
Posted by Sherlock 01/04/2011 at 10:23 PM

Roger and Rafael sure do spend a lot of time together; but I guess what other active players can understand what it is like to be one of the greatest players ever?
Posted by Sea. 01/05/2011 at 01:16 PM

All of this public affection is turning my stomach.


HEY, ROGER, RAFA, GET A ROOM WILL YA !

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