Its long, but worth reading........... its all about tennis ;D
and in two parts as sooooooo long ;D
Bob Larson
Men's Preview: Week of April 11
Men's Look Forward: Monte Carlo
It's a good thing this week's clay Masters wasn't in Rome; they would never have pulled it off. (It's likely to be crazy enough three weeks from now!) Monte Carlo is in mourning also, for Prince Rainer, but at least the country hasn't been overwhelmed by pilgrims; the organizers vow the event will go on as scheduled.
And they do have one reason to rejoice: Roger Federer is actually playing. It's been three years since he made it to Monte Carlo, so this will be the first time he plays it as the world's #1.
One has to suspect a certain amount of ATP pressure behind that, because otherwise it's a fairly typical Monte Carlo field: not quite all there. Lleyton Hewitt is letting his surgically repaired toe heal, and Andy Roddick is resting is bad wrist, so Marat Safin takes the #2 seed. Tim Henman is #3; Gaston Gaudio is our first true clay player and is seeded #4. Carlos Moya, the 1998 champion and 2002 finalist (and a semifinalist for the last two years) is seeded #5 and is in Safin's quarter. David Nalbandian is missing, so defending champion Guillermo Coria gets the #6 seed; he is in Henman's quarter. Andre Agassi of course isn't here -- he hasn't played Monte Carlo since 1998, and has only won two matches in his career at this tournament -- meaning that we have only six of the Top Ten in the field. It also means that we have a rather un-clay-like #7 and #8 seeds: Joachim Johansson is #7 and in Federer's quarter (a nice draw for the top seed, that); Ivan Ljubicic is #8 and in Gaudio's quarter.
Guillermo Canas takes the #9 seed and would face Moya in the Round of 16. Tommy Robredo isn't playing, so Nikolay Davydenko is #10 and would face Joachim Johansson if the Swede can win two matches. Tommy Haas is also skipping the event, so Rafael Nadal will enjoy his new Top 20 status as the #11 seed; he would face Gaudio in the third round. Nicolas Massu is still not ready to play, giving the #12 spot to Thomas Johansson -- another clay hater, and he's in Coria's eighth of the draw. The #13 seed is Mario Ancic's; he's supposed to face Federer in the Round of Sixteen. And that's it for last week's Top 20. Mikhail Youzhny isn't playing, letting last weeks #22 Dominik Hrbaty earn the #14 position; he's to face Henman in the Round of Sixteen. Pals Radek Stepanek and Jiri Novak have the #15 and #16 seeds; thus we have 16 of the top 24 players in the field.
If the Top 25 didn't exactly turn out in force, though, things are pretty strong below that; we're missing some Americans such as Taylor Dent and Mardy Fish, but nearly everyone else who is eligible is in the field. (Of last week's Top 40, the only names other than the eight above who are missing the event are Dent, Andrei Pavel, and Sebastien Grosjean.) Which meant that we have some pretty big-name wildcards. Gael Monfils of course won't have to play qualifying (he'll probably die of shock if anyone ever turns down his request for a wildcard). Plus former champion Juan Carlos Ferrero was given direct entry -- one can only hope he's regained enough form to take some advantage. Other wildcards went to Paul-Henri Mathieu and Jean-Rene Lisnard.
Gustavo Kuerten will be playing his first required event of the year. Younes El Aynaoui will also be trying to get back on track after injury.
Noteworthy First Round Matches
In a way, the relative weakness at the top of the draw actually helps in this regard: We have lots and lots of strong unseeded players, and a weak crop of seeds. Nearly every match has something impressive about it:
(1) Federer vs. Rusedski. Not exactly a great Rusedski surface -- but Federer has confessed that he doesn't feel very comfortable returning on clay.
El Aynaoui vs. Montanes. Once again, El Aynaoui gets stuck playing a clay expert in the first round.
Verdasco vs. Gonzalez. Gonzalez just missed seeding. Verdasco is a solid young clay prospect, and he's a lot steadier than the Chilean. This one could offer real fireworks.
Kuerten vs. (13) Ancic. Ancic is a Croat, so he knows clay despite that big serve of his. Of course, Kuerten knows clay, too. The question -- which Valencia didn't really answer -- is how much the Brazilian has left.
(10) Davydenko vs. Melzer. Last week, Davydenko lost to Albert Costa. And he could face him in the second round. Will the Russian have adapted any better to clay? And can he deal with all the different stuff Melzer can throw at him?
Llodra vs. Costa. Llodra likes fast courts, and Costa slow, but there will likely be a lot more Frenchmen than Spaniards in the crowd.
Schuettler vs. Kiefer. An all-German match as Schuettler defends his one big result of 2004.
Spadea vs. Stepanek. The surface is more natural for Stepanek, but Spadea made the semifinal here two years ago, and he's about due for another big Masters result.
(11) Nadal vs. Monfils. Talk about a match between fast-rising players! Nadal has been hot, but he ran out of gas at Valencia. Has he had time to recover? On the other hand, Monfils to date has seemed to have a slight preference for faster surfaces. Maybe.
Chela vs. Malisse. On this surface, the edge it probably to Chela. But who knows what could happen if Malisse actually pulls out his best play?
Berdych vs. Horna. Youth versus middle age, with both liking clay. Both did better in 2004 than they've been doing so far this year.
Olivier Rochus vs. (8) Ljubicic. Both players are having the best years of their careers. Both have tended to like faster surfaces. They obviously bring very different tools to the courts. This could be another great one -- or it could be a Ljubicic blowout.
(6) Coria vs. Mathieu. Coria really, really should win this, but who knows what sort of shape he's in these days.
Starace vs. A. Martin. Two standard-model clay players. Odds are that no one will pay much attention -- except that the winner plays Thomas Johansson.
Lisnard vs. T. Johansson. Wouldn't you know: The weakest player in the field faces the most clay-hating seed. This is a "somebody-has-to-win-it" match.
(14) Hrbaty vs. Ferrer. The Spaniard has been very hot. Both like clay. It will probably take forever even if it's a blowout, but it could well be a nailbiter.
Soderling vs. Santoro. We haven't seen Robin Soderling for a while, and clay doesn't do much for his game, and Santoro is sneaky anyway. But the Frenchman is no great fan of clay either, and Soderling has a lot more weapons.
Zabaleta vs. (3) Henman. A good clay player against a high seed -- what more could you want?
(5) Moya vs. Puerta. If Puerta keeps playing the way he has played this spring, this just might be interesting.
Andreev vs. (9) Canas. Andreev fades in and out fast, and he'll be tired. Canas is always pretty close to the same level. How this turns out depends a lot on Andreev.
(16) Novak vs. Mirnyi. Should be a blowout, given the surface. Interesting contrast, though.
Ferrero vs. Karlovic. Another contrast of weapons. It's nice to see that Ferrero at least gets a draw where he has a chance.
Lee vs. (2) Safin. The Korean doesn't like clay at all. But Safin seems to be in I-can-lose-to-anyone mode right now.
Oh f***k off Bob Larson 
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