TMS Monte Carlo Main Draw

And the clay court season is under way. Interesting draw here at what is arguably one of the most beautiful venues on the tour. There doesn't seem to be a really bad seat in the place and everyone comes to play. Not to mention many players get their residency requirements in during this event.



[1] FEDERER, Roger SUI vs BYE
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
LEE, Hyung-Taik KOR vs BJORKMAN, Jonas SWE
MOYA, Carlos ESP vs [13] YOUZHNY, Mikhail RUS







[12] FERRER, David ESP vs SIMON, Gilles FRA
[WC] BALLERET, Benjamin MON vs BENNETEAU, Julien FRA
TURSUNOV, Dmitry RUS vs GAUDIO, Gaston ARG
BYE vs [6] DJOKOVIC, Novak SRB






Looks like they want to set up a Djokovic vs Federer show down here. Djokovic is one of the few men Federer has kind of admitted disliking so that would be interesting to see. On the way to that possibility there are some interesting matchups.
I'm sure Federer wants to come out taking names. The most exciting match in his quarter is
Youzhny vs Moya. Moya can still pull some good tennis out of his butt and if he shows up here that may be one of the more interesting first rounds matches. The winner their showdown should face the winner of Federer's second round match.

In Djokovic's quarter there are several nice match ups starting with Ferrer vs Simon. David Ferrer hasn't been playing well lately after doing pretty well last year. I'm sure he'd like to win this opening round match and go on to face either Benneteau or Balleret.





Tursunov vs Gaudio is my star match up in this quarter. Gaudio desperately needs a win. Tursunov should be fresh since he didn't play DC this go around.If Djokovic comes out playing the same level of tennis he played in Miami he should beat either of them in the second round. But this is clay. Let's see how patient Djokovic can be and how good his conditioning is.

[4] GONZALEZ, Fernando CHI vs BYE
ANDREEV, Igor RUS vs ACASUSO, Jose ARG
MASSU, Nicolas CHI vs VOLANDRI, Filippo ITA
HENMAN, Tim GBR vs [16]FERRERO, Juan Carlos ESP



Another random draw where they put Gonzalez and Massu in the same quarter. Random draw blah blah blah.
Andreev vs Acasuso is a nice undercard. Gonzalez hasn't shown much since Australia and it'll be interesting to see him here on the dirt. If Chucho comes to play Fena will be facing him in the second round.
Massu has been playing well of late but it's pick 'em in his match against Volandri.




Juan-Carlos Ferrero vs Tim Henman should see Juanqui meeting the winner of Massu/Volandri. This isn't an easy quarter for Fena since everyone but Henman can play on clay. Tough section.



[11] GASQUET, Richard FRA vs VERDASCO, Fernando ESP
QUALIFIER vs HRBATY, Dominik SVK
MONFILS, Gael FRA vs STEPANEK, Radek CZE
BYE vs [7] LJUBICIC, Ivan CRO





Gasquet, benched by Guy Forget for the deciding rubbers in DC play has seemed annoyed about suggestions he is the young gun left behind. I think that distinction goes to Monfils right now but I digress.
The Spaniards have a lot to prove after their dismal DC showing and I'm sure they want to send the message that it was all about the surface not them. Both Gasquet and Verdasco are said to be loaded with talent but it's rarely seen on a tennis court.







Stepanek should be facing Ljubicic in the second round but you never know with Monfils. He has been playing away from the main tour and we know he loves the dirt.
As I have often said clay is the great equalizer. What should happen isn't always what does happen. Another iffy section.

[5] ROBREDO, Tommy ESP vs BYE
CLEMENT, Arnaud FRA vs [WC] SERRA, Florent FRA
BECKER, Benjamin GER vs [WC] JOHANSSON, Thomas SWE
ALMAGRO, Nicolas ESP vs [10] BERDYCH, Tomas CZE



When it comes to Tommy see what I said above about the men who played on the Spanish DC team. Almagro wasn't on that team and he's going deep at Valencia. That may give Berdych an edge in their match, but just. Unless lighting strikes Becker should be meeting the winner of Almagro/Berdych.



I do give Thomas Johansson credit though. At least he tries unlike the men from a certain country who develop mysterious injuries or fatigue when it comes to the early part of the clay season.







[14] BAGHDATIS, Marcos CYP vs MIRNYI, Max BLR
QUALIFIER vs MELZER, Jurgen AUT(pictured below in bandana)
ROCHUS, Olivier BEL vs SODERLING, Robin SWE
BYE vs [3] DAVYDENKO, Nikolay RUS





Nice section. Weakest links may be Soderling and the man who makes it via qualifying. The Swedes come here and play. For that they get my respect. Not an easy section for Davydenko.






[8] MURRAY, Andy GBR vs BYE
GICQUEL, Marc FRA(pictured) vs MAYER, Florian GER (pictured below drinking water)
QUALIFIER vs QUALIFIER
QUALIFIER vs [9] NALBANDIAN, David ARG




Let's see if Mouth Almighty has his charge ready for clay. Since Americans have an aversion to the red dirt it'll be interesting to see how Murray does here. Neither Mayer nor Gicquel are pushovers and Nalbandian just had a nice tune up exho in Mallorca.

























[15] NIEMINEN, Jarkko FIN vs SAFIN, Marat RUS
VLIEGEN, Kristof BEL vs [WC] MATHIEU, Paul-Henri FRA
CHELA, Juan Ignacio ARG vs VERKERK, Martin NED(Pictured below)
BYE vs [2] NADAL, Rafael ESP







Vliegen vs Mathieu caught my eye here. Will we see
Mathieu vs Safin Round 2? Will Marat decide it's worth his while to play well here? Who knows? But it's going to be fun.







Clay draws are more equal because the surface brings everyone to the same level. Clay favors the players who are patient, in good shape, know how to slide and know how to build points and think well on court. Vliegen made a nice statement during his interview on "ATP Tennis". A point on hardcourt can be over in three shots he said. On clay you have a lot more balls coming at you and you have to wait for your opening.

Again I applaud the Swedes for playing here and yes I'm rubbing it in. Tennisheads know their preferred surface and that clay is not it. Yet they come. Because of the leveling effect of the dirt every player has a chance and they take theirs. It's insulting to the sport for the American men not to even try and play much before Rome and why Murray's performance here is something to pay attention to. Will Brad Gilbert have him ready for a deep run? With the ATP trying to downgrade this and all but a few of the big clay tournaments Murray going deep here would allow Gilbert to name his price almost anywhere and make what the LTA is paying him look like chump change. It would also put the lie to the talk that American's can't play on clay because there are no professional level coaches able to teach it. The talk about Americans just not wanting to learn I can't deny because in this case actions are speaking louder than words. Maybe Murray has an advantage over other Brits because he's trained in Spain. I'm by no means a big fan of Brad Gilbert but there is really no excuse for the American's to not even show up here and try.

This is always an exciting tournament and this year should be no different.

Let the games begin!

Random Thoughts

Thread title of the week goes to the www.wtaworld.com poster J_Migoe who created the thread “And Now The Stage Is Set. Its Serena V The Hand”

Great to see what a gentleman Willy Canas is. He speaks English well enough to understand and to be understood. He didn’t blink when Pam Shriver said something to his face about his suspension making her look like an idiot for bringing it up to him on a day when news of his winning his appeal was published in an Australian paper. I guess PMac and his crew didn’t want news of Canas appeal having merit to cloud their view of him. How many times did PMac say “returning from a suspension” last night? Maybe he should read Bonnie De Simone’s excellent piece on ESPN.com. Here’s a link Patrick just in case you need something to read before tomorrow’s final.

Link

Seems racist hecklers have no shame. After being pointed out by fellow fans the dweeb had the nerve to say he didn’t use the “n” word before going on to use every coded word in the book to illustrate what he did say. Surprise was that some defended him. The incident did force some to re evaluate the use of the word “lazy” which has been used by many so called fans to describe both Williams Sisters approach to their sport. We “venuts”, of which I am one, are accused of being overly sensitive. Maybe it’s because we do understand the intent of the word when used by certain individuals.

I’m ashamed to say it but I refused to watch Andy Murray’s match yesterday. It’s on my DVR. I just won’t watch it. This young man has a very long way to go in the maturity department to say the least. I’m no fan of Brad Gilbert but if I’m Brad I snatch the kid by his neck and body slam him. His behavior showed not only disrespect to his coach and paying fans but he disrespected the sport of tennis as well. If anyone else had done what Murray did they’d be nailing his junk to the wall. Double standard much?

So Ljubo, head of the Player’s Council, is still calling Canas a doper huh? What happened to Willy Canas can happen to any player. I take that back. Greg Rusedski was caught doping at the same time Canas was but he was never sanctioned or faced a suspension. Funny how all the guys who were “caught” come from one country in South America isn’t it? Many may forget that Argentina was in the same position Spain is in right now at that time and the destruction of their players reputations has gone far to diminish what they’ve accomplished. How many know Guillermo Coria successfully sued the company that made the tainted medication he took? Juan Ignacio Chela’s suspension was reduced. And now Guillermo Canas is in the position, if things pan out, to name his price to TPTB in the ATP, CAS and anyone else involved in ruining his earning potential for the last 15 months. But I digress. Ljubo has been called a certain player’s water boy. I suspect all this animosity to Willy is coming from neutral territory somewhere in central Europe and Ljubo, as usual, is just, well, carrying water.

Some fans are saying Maria Sharapova should skip the clay season and concentrate on Wimby and the U S Open series. Doesn’t that violate some provisions of Roadkill? Oh, my bad. I forget we’re talking about Sharapova. Yuri coaching from the stands? No problem. Change the rules. Brown bottles appearing mysteriously out of racquet bags? What brown bottle?
Rules? The Sharapov(a)’s don’t follow the stinkin’ rules. Venus and Serena are violating the spirit of the rules by saying they will continue their boycott of Indian Wells. Come on guys, act like you know.

Just so you know Justine has been suffering breathing problems in Miami. Allergies they say.

The good people who run the Hamburg Masters Event are suing the ATP in the State of Delaware for running a cartel. Will the nice folks who run some of the tournaments the WTA is downgrading have the cojones to do the same to the WTA or is Richard Williams going to be forced to shoulder that weight alone on behalf of his daughters? If he’s successful watch for a lot of “me too” to break out among the tournament directors and sponsors. I think the RICO statutes are still on the books here. Hard to tell about these things here in the States lately.

So Richard Williams knows something about tennis. Those Kodak/You Tube moments were brought to you by Yuri Sharapov.

The Oz Open is said to be scraping rebound ace. Miami type surface coming up down under?

The Shallow End of the Pool

You could tell how humid it was by watching Pam Shriver’s hair. I felt her pain.

PMac thinks Djokovic is the second coming.

Andre didn’t look good last night. Very stiff. Face very moon like.

Marcelo looked like a bad stereotype with the Fu Manchu goatee going on. That lefty slice backhand is still a thing of beauty though. Without him where would Roger be since Roger totally pimped his game and on court demeanor. I wish Rios back would allow him to play some main tour events so people could see where Roger got his game and style from.

Fena was in the stands last night. I hope Pretty Eyes, clean shaven or not, finds his early season form.

Final Notes

The clay court season is starting. I’m happy. Rome has produced the best matches of 2005 and 2006 and seems to have survived the ATP version of Roadkill. I love clay court tennis. It rewards stamina, intelligence and patience. You can not ball bash on clay. You need to know how to slide. You can’t expect a 58 minute match.

It’s a shame the men running things have no idea about tennis. They are on course to ruin the sport. They are fixing things that weren’t broken all to make the sport hard court based instead of clay court based. Hard courts rule in the States. Clay rules everyplace else yet the mandatory matches are heavily hard court based. I guess if you can’t accuse everyone of doping you just eliminate the surface on which “they” play the best. Forget that hard court play shortens careers because of the stress on the body. Players are looking out for themselves these days and that means some events like Canada field what they consider weak fields. Somehow telling a player where he or she has to play smacks of totalitarianism to me and takes away the very randomness that makes tennis what it is.

One of the announcers on TTC asked why the United States isn’t investing more in players like Kim, Delic and others who want to play, who do sometimes play above what is perceived to be their potential and could make us more competitive as a whole. These guys may not win Grand Slams but who knows what they would do with better coaching and training options? The same is true on the women’s side. After Venus and Serena who is the top American woman? Not her, she plays for Russia.

There are two good finals matches on tap for today and tomorrow. May the best man and woman win.