TENNIS PREVIEW BY RICKY DIMON: NO FEDERER, NO PROBLEM? DJOKOVIC, NADAL HEADLINE ROGERS CUP FIELD IN MONTREAL

Written by: on 8th August 2015
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TENNIS PREVIEW BY RICKY DIMON: NO FEDERER, NO PROBLEM? DJOKOVIC, NADAL HEADLINE ROGERS CUP FIELD IN MONTREAL

Serbia's Novak Djokovic returns the ball to France's Jo-Wilfried Tsonga during their third round match in the Rogers Cup men's tennis tournament in Toronto, Canada, 07 August 2014. EPA/WARREN TODA  |

No Federer, no problem? Djokovic, Nadal headline Rogers Cup field in Montreal

 

By Ricky Dimon

 

Spain’s Rafael Nadal returns a ball to Serbian opponent Novak Djokovic during their men’s semi-final singles match at the Rogers Cup Open ATP tennis tournament in Montreal, Canada, 10 Aug 2013. Nadal won the match. EPA/ANDRE PICHETTE

Last year Roger Federer was in and Rafael Nadal was out. This time around the roles are reversed as the Rogers Cup moves from Toronto to Montreal, with Nadal kicking off his U.S. Open Series while Federer continues to take some time off.

 

Despite the 34-year-old Swiss’ absence (he celebrated another birthday on Saturday), the field is still positively loaded. Nadal needed withdrawals from Federer and David Ferrer just to snag top-8 seed and with it a first-round bye. Also on hand are Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Tomas Berdych, Marin Cilic, and Milos Raonic.

 

Nishikori will be making a quick turnaround after he contests the Washington, D.C. final on Sunday against John Isner. The Japanese star is on a collision course with Nadal for the Montreal quarters. Their section is not particularly tough on paper, although in-form contenders Gilles Simon and David Goffin cannot be taken lightly.

 

The bottom half of the bracket also features Murray and Cilic. Coming off an opening loss in Washington, D.C., Murray awaits either Feliciano Lopez or Tommy Robredo in round two. The second-seeded Scot could end up running into the winner of a first-rounder between Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini. Cilic, meanwhile, is in the same eighth of the draw as defending champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.

 

In the top half, Djokovic should not have too much trouble on his way to at least the quarterfinals. His nearest seed is a slumping Grigor Dimitrov, who recently split from both coach Roger Rasheed and girlfriend Maria Sharapova. Kevin Anderson, who led Djokovic by two sets at Wimbledon before going down, would likely first have to get past his arch-nemesis (Berdych) before getting another shot at the world No. 1.

 

A huge-hitting second quarter of the bracket includes Wawrinka, Raonic, Isner, Ivo Karlovic, Jerzy Janowicz, Nick Kyrgios, and Vasek Pospisil. Raonic will begin his campaign against Karlovic or Janowicz; Wawrinka is set for the winner of an intriguing showdown between Kyrgios and Fernando Verdasco.

 

A potential upset to watch in the first round is Borna Coric over Tsonga. Tsonga came basically out of nowhere to capture this title last year. Although the points will have already come off the board by the time he takes the court in round one, he will still endure the pressure of being the defending champion. The Frenchman will be rusty, having not played since a Davis Cup loss to Murray.

 

This will also be Coric’s first hard-court appearance since Miami, although he at least got four matches under his belt post-Wimbledon (three in Umag, one in Hamburg).

 

Also keep an eye on Fognini vs. Monfils. Four of the six previous meetings between these familiar foes have gone the distance, including two five-setters at Roland Garros. Monfils avenged a controversial 2010 loss by outlasting Fognini last year at the French Open. Their two most recent encounters prior to that one went to 7-6 in the third and 7-5 in the third (Fognini won both in Umag and Indian Wells, respectively).

 

You never have any idea what you are going to get from either man, especially when neither one has contested a hard-court match since Miami.

 

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand.

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