Men’s Tennis Looks Forward: Rotterdam, San Jose, Sao Paulo

Written by: Staff on 11th February 2012

Men's Tennis Looks Forward: Rotterdam, San Jose, Sao Paulo

Tomas Berdych of Czech Republic in action during his men's singles fourth round match against Nicolas Almagro of Spain at the Australian Open Grand Slam tennis tournament in Melbourne, Australia, 22 January 2012. EPA/MAST IRHAM |

Finally we’re going to get serious.

Every event this year, except the Australian Open, has been a 250 pointer. For practical purposes, those don’t count for the top players. But Rotterdam is a 500 point event. That’s enough to matter. And it was enough to bring out three Top Ten players, even though two of them will be tired after Davis Cup and even though the seeds here do not get byes. Roger Federer, whose Davis Cup showing was disappointing to say the least, is the #1 seed — and he might have to face Mikhail Youzhny in the second round. Tomas Berdych, whose team did rather better, is #2; his big challenge is Marcos Baghdatis in round two. #3 seed Juan Martin del Potro, who skipped Davis Cup, has to open against Michael Llodra — although Llodra will have flown halfway around the world from Davis Cup, so he is likely to be tired. Feliciano Lopez, another Davis Cup absentee, is #4; he would face Robin Haase or Nikolay Davydenko in round two. Richard Gasquet, another who missed Davis Cup, is #5; the chief threat to him is Alex Bogomolov Jr. in the second round. #6 seed Alexandr Dolgopolov has two easy rounds, then faces Federer. #7 Viktor Troicki will open against wildcard Thiemo de Bakker, then probably Ivan Ljubicic — who didn’t turn out for Croatia in Davis Cup. The #8 seed is Marcel Granollers; he has to open against Philipp Kohlschreiber — who, however, was sick last week.

San Jose is one of the oldest events on the ATP, but it’s only a 250 pointer, so it can’t pull in such strong players. It’s lucky, perhaps, that the top four seeds have byes — because the top two are both hurting. Gael Monfils, who was unable to play singles on Friday in Davis Cup, is nonetheless the top seed. And Andy Roddick, who skipped Davis Cup and wasn’t sure about playing here, is in the draw as the #2 seed. We’ll see how he manages.

Milos Raonic, who did play Davis Cup, is #3; Radek Stepanek is #4 and the last Top Thirty player in the field. Kevin Anderson is #5, Julien Benneteau #6, Donald Young #7, and Olivier Rochus #8, meaning that all the unseeded players are ranked below #50 — although one of those low-ranked players is Sam Querrey, who could face Young in the second round.

Sao Paulo naturally features a lot of clay specialists, starting with #1 seed Nicolas Almagro (the winner last year of Costa do Sauipe). Gilles Simon is #2, Fernando Verdasco #3 and the last Top Thirty player. Most of Brazil’s hopes are pinned on #4 seed Thomaz Bellucci, who has the last of the four byes. Carlos Berlocq, who is having the best year of his career, is #5, and Juan Carlos Ferrero will fly in from Davis Cup to be #6; he is the last Top Fifty player in the field. Albert Montanes has the #7 seed; Albert Ramos is #8.

Despite that weak field, there are some interesting unseeded players. Ramos could face none other than Fernando Gonzalez — who is in on a wildcard — in round two. And Simon’s second round opponent could well be David Nalbandian, who scored two big points in Davis Cup to prove that he still has something left.

The Rankings

The bad news for Robin Soderling continues. He was last year’s Rotterdam champion, meaning that he can expect to fall to around #25. The finalist last year was Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who isn’t coming back either; Viktor Troicki and Ivan Ljubicic were semifinalists.

The title at San Jose went to Milos Raonic, over Fernando Verdasco; the semifinalists were Juan Martin del Potro and Gael Monfils. Nicolas Almagro won the week’s other event, which last year was held at Costa do Sauipe; Alexandr Dolgopolov was the finalist and Juan Ignacio Chela and Ricardo Mello semifinalists. Mello’s Top Hundred status is therefore in grave danger. Raonic will probably have to defend his title to stay Top Thirty. Verdasco may fall a few spots but should stay Top Thirty. Dolgopolov’s Top Twenty ranking is also at risk, although not much.

As far as the Top Ten goes — don’t expect any movement. Novak Djokovic will stay #1 and Rafael Nadal #2. Roger Federer can increase his lead on Andy Murray, but not enough to catch Nadal. Murray is safe at #4. With Tsonga not playing Rotterdam, David Ferrer looks secure at #5. Tsonga will stay #6; Tomas Berdych can gain some ground, but not that much. At #8-#10, we might have some movement; Juan Martin del Potro has a shot at passing Janko Tipsarevic, or even Mardy Fish, but he needs to do well.