By Chris Kane
On Monday, February 8, the second oldest American tournament, the SAP Open, gets underway at the HP Pavilion in San Jose with three-time winner Andy Roddick headlining the bill in the singles and world No. 1 and Australian Open champs, the Bryan Brothers, set to compete in the doubles.
Pete Sampras, a two time winner of the tournament himself, will also be playing an exhibition match for the third year in a row, taking on Spain’s Fernando Verdasco on Monday evening. Last year Sampras was scheduled to play James Blake but instead played Tommy Haas for the second consecutive year as Blake was forced to withdraw with an injury.
Also returning is Radek Stepanek, the defending champion in both the singles and the doubles, Last year, the Czech made a surprising run, beating No. 1 seed Roddick in the semis on his way to claiming his fourth career title.
In one form or another the SAP Open has been around since 1889 when it was known as the Pacific Coast Championships, making the it second-oldest tournament in the United States behind the precursor to what was to become the US Open. The tournament pre-dates the Australian and French Opens as well making it one of the oldest on the professional tour.
This year’s lineup includes seven of the world’s top 30 ranked players and seven of the top nine U.S. players. Included in that group of Americans is Mardy Fish, who had a spectacular run in last year’s tournament, beating Lleyton Hewitt, John Isner, Juan Martin Del Potro and James Blake consecutively before succumbing to Stepanek in a tough three-set final. Sam Querrey and Taylor Dent will also be competing and the fast surface of the indoor courts at the HP Pavilion is sure to make their brand of power tennis a formidable threat.
Roddick will once again be the top seed and the favorite but the lingering question from the Australian Open is how is his shoulder? In his quarterfinal loss to Marin Cilic, Roddick suffered from a nerve issue in his shoulder, causing numbness in his fingers. That match was played on January 26th so he will have rested for two weeks before taking the court in San Jose.