Men’s Look Forward — Zagreb , Montpellier , Vina del Mar

Written by: Staff on 29th January 2012

Men's Look Forward -- Zagreb , Montpellier , Vina del Mar

France's Julien Benneteau returns to Alex Bogomolov Jr of Russia during their quater final match at the Sydney International tennis tournament in Sydney, Australia, 12 January 2012. EPA/PAUL MILLER AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

©”DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”

There can’t be many worse assignments than holding a tournament the week after the Australian Open. No one particularly likes playing right after a Slam anyway, and on top of that, everyone has to shift a whole bunch of time zones from Australia . Plus there is a surface shift.

You can certainly see it at Zagreb. There are no Top Thirty players in the field. The cutoff for seeding was below #50. It’s lucky that Croatia has some fairly high-profile players to support the event: Three of the eight seeds (#1 Ivan Ljubicic, #4 Ivan Dodig, and #8 Ivo Karlovic) come from around here.

Rounding out the seeds are #2 Alex Bogomolov, who will take another shot at the Top Thirty; #3 Mikhail Youzhny, whose ranking just keeps sliding; #5 Andreas Seppi; #6 Marcos Baghdatis; and #7 Robin Haase. The most noteworthy unseeded player is probably Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who could face Dodig in round two.

The draw at Montpellier is altogether different, and much stronger. All the seeds are Top Fifty, and we even have a Top Ten player. Maybe the byes given to the top four seeds helped. Or maybe it’s that it’s in France . Or maybe appearance fees; who knows? But Tomas Berdych is the #1 seed, Gilles Simon #2, Gael Monfils #3, and Richard Gasquet #4. Quite a French contingent! Feliciano Lopez has the #5 seed. Florian Mayer, who has been hurting, is supposed to be #6. Philipp Kohlschreiber is #7, with Jarkko Nieminen #8.

We even have some interesting unseeded players, although they’re mostly wildcards. Nikolay Davydenko, who presumably feels a need to try to get his game in order, took a wildcard and could face Gasquet in the second round. And — wonder of wonders — Paul-Henri Mathieu is back, also on a wildcard; he could face Nieminen in round two.

The wildcards at Vina del Mar, the week’s third event, are noteworthy mostly because they are the standard Chilean lineup: Fernando Gonzalez (yes, he’s going to try to play), Nicolas Massu, and Paul Capdeville. It seems unlikely that any of them will make much of a dent, Gonzalez because of rust and the other two because they just aren’t factors these days.

On the other hand, if ever there was an event for them, this is it. It is a very weak field. Interestingly, despite being played on outdoor clay, the top four seeds have byes. Juan Monaco is #1 and Juan Ignacio Chela #2. The #3 seed is Thomaz Bellucci, with Pablo Andujar #4. Albert Montanes, who has been slipping fast, is #5. Santiago Giraldo is #6, Carlos Berlocq #7, and Filippo Volandri #8. Every seed except Volandri is either from Spain or Latin America , and of course they are all clay fans. Other than Fernando Gonzalez, there really aren’t any noteworthy unseeded names.

The Rankings

The events last year at this time were Johannesburg , Santiago , and Zagreb — and, yes, they featured some pretty unlikely success stories. Kevin Anderson won Johannesburg , to the joy of the locals, but he won’t have home court advantage this week! Indeed, he isn’t playing, and will lose his Top Thirty spot. The finalist was Somdev Devvarman, who this year hasn’t been able to play; semifinalists were Adrian Mannarino and Izaak van der Merwe (whose chances of defending seem almost nil). The title at Zagreb went to Ivan Dodig, the start of what was a career year for him; he beat Michael Berrer. Florian Mayer and were Guillermo Garcia-Lopez semifinalists. The Santiago winner was much-injured Tommy Robredo; Santiago Giraldo was the finalist; Potito Starace and Fabio Fognini made the semifinal.

Technically, Monfils was the Montpellier champion, but those points are already off. Note that not one Top Twenty player has as much as semifinal points to defend. Devvarman, van der Merwe, Robredo, and Berrer are probably the ones in the most danger — and Devvarman and Robredo, who have been hurt, aren’t playing.

As far as the Top Ten goes — there will be no changes. Berdych can’t move, and no one else is doing anything. With Simon, Monfils, Lopez, and Gasquet in action, we could see some movement in the Top Fifteen. All the interesting news in that regard will be from Montpellier.

©”DAILY TENNIS NEWS WIRE”