Men's Preview: Week of May 9 (Exclusive)
Bob Larson
Men's Look Forward: Hamburg
The bad news from Hamburg is, no wildcard for Juan Carlos Ferrero. The good news is, he at least decided to play qualifying this time. With Mariano Puerta seeded #2 in the qualifying, and Richard Gasquet #3, it's almost as strong as some of the more obscure events scattered around the ATP calendar.
There is a reason, of course: This is the last event before Roland Garros is seeded. If Ferrero, or anyone else, wants a seed at the year's second Slam, it can only be earned here.
There is also a contest at the top -- sort of. Roger Federer actually finds his #1 Race standing under pressure, though his #1 ranking is not. Still, he is the defending champion here, and his ranking could take another hit. And Rafael Nadal has a genuine chance to take the #1 Race position.
At least Federer will be around to try contest the matter this time. He is, of course, the #1 seed -- though his draw is about as poison as one could possibly get: Fernando Verdasco in the first round, then David Ferrer (who would have been seeded had this week's rankings been used). Lleyton Hewitt is still out, with distractions ranging from his toe to the announcement that his fiancee is pregnant.
That lets Andy Roddick have the #2 seed. Marat Safin is #3, and in Federer's half. Gaston Gaudio is #4 and in Roddick's half. Tim Henman, still looking to build up clay points in order to improve his Wimbledon seeding (or just enjoy a surface where nobody is pressuring him), is #5 and in Gaudio's quarter. Rafael Nadal, probably the current favorite even though he's very tired, is #6 and in Roddick's quarter. Carlos Moya, who is no longer Top Ten and who is having a disappointing year, nonetheless earns the #7 seed; he's in Federer's quarter. And Andre Agassi is #8 and in Safin's quarter.
Moya isn't the only player who is out of the Top 10 to nonetheless be seeded above his ranking; David Nalbandian will be trying to get back to #10 (or better) as the #9 seed.
At least one of last year's finalists is guaranteed to take a points hit. Guillermo Coria would be a top eight seed if this week's rankings were used, but as it is, he's #10, and would face Moya in the Round of 16 -- and hence could face Federer, who beat him in the final last year, in the quarterfinal.
Joachim Johansson is probably the weakest clay player of any of the seeds, but he still takes the #11 spot; he's in Agassi's eighth. Guillermo Canas, who is Top Ten for the first time in his career, gained it too late to help him this week; he ends up with the #12 seed -- and, for the second straight week, he's drawn to face Nadal in the third round. Ivan Ljubicic is the #13 seed and in Gaudio's part of the draw. Tommy Robredo is #14, despite rather poor results this year; he's in Federer's part of the draw. Nikolay Davydenko is #15 and Safin's section. And Radek Stepanek earns the #16 seed and gets to see if he can deal with Andy Roddick in the Round of Sixteen.
That still leaves quite a few very good clay floaters. We already mentioned that Federer could face Verdasco in the first round and Ferrer in the second. His eighth of the draw also boasts Tomas Berdych, Andrei Pavel, and Gustavo Kuerten, though all three of the latter are struggling. In Moya's eighth, we have Fernando Gonzalez, who didn't miss seeding by much, plus Mario Ancic and Florian Mayer and Vincent Spadea and Karol Beck and Mikhail Youzhny -- though the latter are all either struggling or fast-courters.
Safin's eighth is a little easier, but it still features
Jurgen Melzer
or JCFand Rome quarterfinalist Alberto Martin plus Olivier Rochus. Agassi's section boasts Sebastien Grosjean, Filippo Volandri, Feliciano Lopez, and two Germans, one of whom is Nicolas Kiefer. Henman's section is well-endowed with big names -- Greg Rusedski, Juan Ignacio Chela, Thomas Johansson, Robin Soderling -- though Chela is the only one to actually like clay.
Gaudio probably has the easiest eighth of the entire draw, with hardly any players known for their clay results, but even he has Albert Costa in his part of the field. As for Rafael Nadal, his potential opponents include Igor Andreev, Jiri Novak, Fabrice Santoro, Rainer Schuettler, and Paradorn Srichaphan, of whom Andreev and Novak are actually pretty good on clay.
Andy Roddick's section has several players -- Ivo Karlovic, Tommy Haas -- who would probably be happier on faster surfaces. But it also has its share of slow-courters in Dominik Hrbaty and Nicolas Massu. The latter has not been playing well since his injury, but he does seem to be improving each week.
Noteworthy First Round Matches It will be evident that we have a lot of these. We already mentioned that Roger Federer, who has been having problems with his feet all year, has to open against Fernando Verdasco, which likely means that his feet will get a workout. And if he wins that, he'll be faced with playing either Tomas Berdych, who of course beat him last year though he's been in much worse form this year, or red-hot David Ferrer.
That section also sees a contest between Andrei Pavel, who seemed finally to be coming to life before he hurt his stomach, and Gustavo Kuerten, who hasn't done much in his latest comeback but who is Gustavo Kuerten.
Normally, you wouldn't expect Vincent Spadea to do much against #10 seed Guillermo Coria on clay. On the other hand, Coria is tired and Spadea is due for his annual Masters Semifinal.
Karol Beck likes his courts faster than clay, but he's facing Mikhail Youzhny, who is in terrible form this year. Hard to know which one is less happy about this match.
Mario Ancic has been having a lousy clay season. Florian Mayer has been having a lousy season, period, but he had most of his best results on clay and grass last year, so poor hardcourt results may not mean much. And he is German. That's another match that's tough to call.
Fernando Gonzalez didn't miss a seed by too much. #7 seed Carlos Moya, based on results this year, wouldn't have been seeded at all. There is clear upset potential there.
Marat Safin is a wreck. Alberto Martin made the Rome quarterfinal (though he made it as a Lucky Loser). Again, an interesting matchup with some upset potential.
Lord poor Marat
Sebastien Grosjean's best results have come on fast surfaces, but he's an all-surface player. #11 seed Joachim Johansson has had his best results on fast surfaces, and he is not an all-surface player. On the other hand, he's young and healthy, and Grosjean is very fragile these days. So maybe Johansson has a chance.
Nicolas Kiefer is another guy with no particular liking for clay. Phillip Kohlschreiber really doesn't have enough history to let us make a statement, but he feels like a clay player somehow. And they're both German....
Feliciano Lopez dislikes clay as much as it's possible for a Spaniard to dislike clay, but he's supposed to open against Agassi. Will Agassi even play, and if so, how tired will he be?
Chela vs. Thomas Johansson and Soderling vs. #9 Nalbandian and Mirnyi vs. Costa might be interesting on other surfaces. Here -- well, you might want to bring a book if you’re in the stands, because a lot of those matches could end quickly. #13 Ljubicic vs. Horna might have been interesting last year. This year, with Horna having lost most of what he found in 2004, that too looks less than exciting.
Igor Andreev won a title at the start of the clay season, then all but vanished. On the other hand, he's rested, and Rafael Nadal not only played six matches at Rome but was pushed hard in the late rounds. Even teenagers can get tired; it just takes longer.
On clay, Jiri Novak shouldn't have much trouble with Paradorn Srichaphan. #12 Guillermo Canas might face more pressure from Fabrice Santoro -- but Santoro tends to like his surfaces a little faster.
Tommy Haas is German but likes quicker courts. Dominik Hrbaty likes things slow. That might be one of the best matches of the bottom half.
If Nicolas Massu were 100%, we'd take him over #2 seed Andy Roddick on clay any day. Massu is not 100%. The question is, just how far off is he?
, hahahaha. 
... Or i have to finish my dinner in 3mins...