The two stops on the ATP World Tour for this week include a 250 level tournament on clay played in Kitzbuhel, Austria as well as a 500 level tournament on hard courts in Washington, D.C.
Legg Mason Tennis Classic
For those serious about training for the final Grand Slam of the year, the Legg Mason Classic is the place to be. Bumped up a couple of years ago from a level 250 event, this year’s edition might appear to be a little thin on top-level talent with the withdrawal of Andy Roddick and with the big guns like Nadal and Federer still taking a bit more time off the tour to rest up for a strong late season push towards the Open.
Seeded first in D.C. this year is Frenchman Gael Monfils who will thrill the crowds with his acrobatic style of play. With the top sixteen seeds having a first-round bye, Monfils will open against the winner of Ryan Sweeting and Alex Bogomolov Jr., both of the United States. Also in “Le Monfs” quarter of the draw are Dmitry Tursunov, Michael Llodra and Janko Tipsarevic. Monfils should be able to navigate his way through this section and advance to the semi-finals.
In the next section of the draw, eight seed and defending champion David Nalbandian will try to jump-start his mediocre 2011 season. As we have been accustomed to in recent years, it has been injuries that have derailed the 29 year-old Nalbandian’s progress on the circuit. This year he missed three months between March and June due to a hamstring injury. Having lost in the third round of Queen’s Club (Verdasco) and Wimbledon (Federer), Nalbandian will have the added pressure of defending his winning points from a year ago. In his first match Nalbandian will face the winner of James Blake vs. Tatsuma Ito.
Also in this quarter are big servers John Isner and Kevin Anderson, both of whom are having solid seasons thus far. Isner in particular has been doing well since Wimbledon by winning the grass court event in Newport and then making the finals in Atlanta. Rising American star Ryan Harrison is also in this section of the draw and has made back-to-back semi-finals over the past couple of weeks. We’ll see if he can maintain this level of play and respond to the challenge of a somewhat tougher field that he has faced in LA and Atlanta.
If he’s fully healthy and has been training since Wimbledon, then I’d give Nalbandian a fair chance at making it to the semi’s, but I feel that Isner is probably the man to beat given his recent results and his usual success on the summer hard-court swing. Let’s not count out Harrison either as his confidence is mounting with every event he enters.
The next quarter we look at is a bit more wide-open. You’ve got some talented veterans such as Tommy Haas and Fernando Gonzalez, both of whom are trying to regain their form after long injury layoffs. Marcos Baghdatis, a finalist from a year ago is also present as are Jurgen Melzer, Xavier Malisse and Somdev Devvarman. Good luck picking someone to emerge from this slice of the draw.
Haas still has a long way to go to prove he can mount a successful comeback after missing a full year on the tour. Gonzo has not played much this year either and it does not seem like at 31 years old his body can consistently perform when needed. Baghdatis has proved himself capable at this event but he has not played a hard court event since March. Same story for Melzer, who has been playing a full clay-court schedule since March with the exception of Wimbledon.
My pick here would be either the X-man – Malisse or Devvarman who has played well here in the past with a quarter-final showing in 2008 and a round-of-sixteen finish in 2009.
In the final quarter Mardy Fish is the clear choice to advance deep into the draw due to his exceptional play as of late. The now firmly entrenched number one American player has demonstrated that he is a worthy successor to Andy Roddick at the moment and is playing some of the best tennis of his career. You’d have to say Fish is the tournament favorite given his hot play on the summer swing and there does not appear to be much opposition for him in the early rounds.
He could get Fernando Verdasco in the quarter-finals, but otherwise should dispatch guys like Radek Stepanek and Jarkko Nieminen in the first couple of rounds.
As he did a year ago, Fish is definitely placing himself in the conversation for the next level of contenders at the U.S. Open behind the big names like Djokovic, Nadal and Federer.
Bet-At-Home Cup Kitzbuhel
For those players whose games are more suited for clay, Kitzbuhel offers them a chance at some ranking points they might not be able to attain on the North American hard court swing. The event has not been played since 2009, and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez won the tournament that year.
Seeded first is renowned dirt-baller Juan-Ignacio Chela who constantly surprises me with his resilience on the tour. Just when you think his career is about to implode he’ll turn it around with some strong play. He lost four opening matches in a row from late March to early May, then he made the round of sixteen in Rome, won the World Team Championship in Dusseldorf and then advanced to the quarter-finals of the French Open before falling to Andy Murray. It should be noted however that Chela has lost his opening match of his two previous tournaments, both which have been on clay. Suffice it to say that in a tournament labelled, “bet at home”, I wouldn’t bet on Chela.
Albert Montanes is in the top half of the draw as well and is due for some clay court success, while Fabio Fognini and Marcel Granollers are two other talented clay-court players who could make their way towards the final.
One first round match that certainly caught my attention in the draw was fifth seeded Philipp Kohlschreiber against the former king of clay, Thomas Muster. Yes that’s right, at the ripe old age of 43, Muster continues to pop up at challenger events and ones like this one where he is awarded a wildcard in recognition of his previous contributions to the sport. Obviously being Austrian is what got him in the door here, as his record is 0-9 coming into the event. Someone should really tell this guy about the senior tour where his results might be a little more encouraging.
The bottom half of the draw has second seeded Feliciano Lopez, as well as Ivan Ljubicic and Igor Andreev who are all capable players on this surface.
While it might be a bit hard to understand the merits of playing clay court events during the lead-up to a hard court Grand Slam, there are only so many spots open in Washington and these guys do need to earn a living. Just don’t expect any of the names from Kitzbuhel to factor into contention once they arrive in North America.