Roger’s Cup Men's Draw Preview
Top Four in the World to Play First Hard Court Event since March
The top men’s tennis professionals on the ATP tennis tour will be back in action this coming week at Roger’s Cup in Montreal, Canada. Although this is the first opportunity tennis fans will have for another potential match-up between World No.1 Roger Federer and No.2 Rafael Nadal, the potential for upsets may be even greater than usual, because neither has played on a hard court since March.
Americans Doing Well in US Open Series
While top American players, No.9 James Blake and No.5 Andy Roddick, have supported and have been successful in the US Open Series, with both reaching finals in two of the three hard court US Open Series tournaments, the top four players in the world have spurned play in the US.
Top Four Ignore Hard Courts
Although Roger’s Cup, one of the premier tournaments in the world, and the US Open, the year’s final Grand Slam, are played on hard courts, Roger Federer has not played a tournament since the grass of Wimbledon, and Rafael Nadal, No.3 Novak Djokovic, and No.4 Nikolay Davydenko have played only on clay.
Although neither has played on hard courts for months, both Federer and Nadal have claimed titles on hard courts this year. Federer’s last came at Dubai in February, and Nadal’s most recent was in March at Indian Wells. Both may have to recall past victories to get through potentially tough first matches.
Upset Potential For Top Seeds
Federer will likely be facing the big-serving and dangerous Ivo Karlovic, who reached the semis in Washington, DC this week before falling to Andy Roddick in two tiebreak sets. Nadal will have no easier first round as he will be facing the winner of Marat Safin versus Robin Soderling. Tennis fans can’t lose in this one as Safin, a former Grand Slam winner, is always a threat, and the Nadal-Soderling match at Wimbledon was one of the bigger stories at that event.
Roddick Has Little Chance
Roddick has his typical big-server’s chance of blowing most of the competition off the court, but he has not been successful doing so against Federer. Versus Nadal, Roddick hasn't prevailed since 2004 when he was armed with the lethal forehand that seems to have fallen through the crack between Brad Gilbert and Jimmy Connors.
If all holds to form and Roddick meets Djokovic in the quarters, one would have to pick Djokovic to move on to the semis. To get to the quarters however, Roddick would have to get past No.10 seed Tomas Berdych or unseeded, that’s right, unseeded Marcos Baghdatis, and neither opponent promises an easy pass.
Federer's Draw Trumps Nadal's
If Federer gets past Karlovic in his first match, as he should, the draw is quite favorable for him to advance to the final. There is no one on Roger’s half of the draw that poses a substantial threat unless Federer is well off his game. Nadal on the other hand has minefield of players on his half of the draw.
If Nadal makes it past Safin or Soderling in the first round, he could encounter Mario Ancic, Berdych, Nicolas Kiefer, Dimitry Tursunov, Djokovic, Baghdatis and David Nalbandian. Compared with Federer’s potential obstacles of Fernando Gonzalez, Tommy Haas, Davydenko, Blake, Robredo and a returning Andy Murray, the odds are good that Rogers Cup will actually be “Roger’s Cup.”
