Frank Dancevic Back on Track in Miami

Frank Dancevic in Miami (AFP Photo/Don MacKinnon)

A few years ago Frank Dancevic was the top ranked Canadian male tennis player with a ranking of 65th in the world. He had huge wins over Roddick, Del Potro and Verdasco, and Pete Bodo affectionately referred to him as "the poor man's Federer."

Unfortunately, Dancevic suffered from a few injuries, dropped in the rankings, and was replaced by Peter Polansky and, of course, Milos Raonic, as the next big thing in Canadian tennis.

I've always been a big fan of the way Frank plays, and I had the opportunity to watch him practice two years ago at the Rogers Cup, so I was excited to see that he had qualified for the Sony Ericsson Open, and then won his first round match against Jeremy Chardy.

Next up for Dancevic is American Mardy Fish. Dancevic will need to play his very best if he wants to move into the next round, but it's definitely possible—especially since Frank is coming into the match on a 10-match winning streak and Mardy hasn't been playing all that well recently.

It would be great for Canadian tennis to have another strong male in the mix, so I'm hoping Frank can keep it up and win a few more matches.

Previewing the Men's Draw in Miami

To view the official men's draw at the Sony Ericsson Open click here.

Djokovic's Quarter:
I really don't see anyone in this section who will threaten Djokovic's chances of making it to the semifinals. Matches to watch in this section include possible second round clashes between Djokovic and Baghdatis, Tomic and Ferrer, and a possible fourth round match between Del Potro and Ferrer. I'm picking Djokovic and Del Potro to play in the quarterfinals with Djokovic making it through to the next round.

Federer's Quarter:
Federer should make it through his quarter pretty easily, but there are a few interesting potential match-ups to watch including Federer vs. Harrison in the second round and Federer vs. Roddick in the third round. I know I'll also be watching the first round match between Jeremy Chardy and Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic. Come on Frank! I'm picking Roger to play in the quarterfinals against...I don't even know...maybe Mardy Fish? or Verdasco? Let's just say that I don't think Federer will have any trouble beating whichever opponent he meets there.

Murray's Quarter:
This is probably the most interesting quarter because I don't think it's a guarantee that Murray will make it through to the semis. It won't be surprising if he does, but I don't necessarily think it's going to be an easy run for Andy. Interesting matches in this section could include Berdych vs. Gonzalez and Nalbandian vs. Tipsarevic in the second round, Raonic vs. Murray in the third round, and any matches that Gonzalez is in as this is the last tournament he'll play before his retirement. I'm going to pick Murray and Berdych to make it to the quarters with Murray coming through to win that match.

Nadal's Quarter:
And last but not least we've got Rafa's quarter. Matches to watch in this section of the draw include Isner vs. Davydenko in the second round and Tsonga vs. Isner in the fourth round. I'm picking Nadal and Isner to play against each other in the quarterfinals with Nadal making it through to the semis.

Semifinal predictions: Djokovic vs. Federer, Murray vs. Nadal
Final prediction: Federer defeats Nadal


Photo Credit: Miami Tennis News

Canadians Still Alive at the US Open

Quite a few Canadian players are still alive on the final day of the US Open qualifying tournament, and with one more match win they will earn a spot in the main draw.

The following matches featuring Canadians will take place on Saturday August 28th:

Valerie Tetreault (CAN) vs. Akgul Amanmuradova (UZB)

Stephanie Dubois (CAN) vs. Irina Falconi (USA)

Rebecca Marino (CAN) vs. Sharon Fichman (CAN)

Frank Dancevic (CAN) vs. Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Peter Polansky (CAN) vs. John Milliman (AUS)

Milos Raonic (CAN) vs. David Guez (FRA)

The match winners will join Canadian Aleksandra Wozniak in the USO main draw.

Rogers Cup Wrap-Up

I had such a great time at the Rogers Cup this week. I think Toronto did a great job of hosting the event and it seemed like the new players lounge was a huge success with the players and coaches. The best part of the week for me was getting to watch so many of the practice sessions, and getting to see some great matches on the outside courts. Of course the matches I got to watch on center court were amazing too, especially Federer vs. Chela, Nalbandian vs. Ferrer, Nadal vs. Wawrinka, and Soderling vs. Gulbis.

I'm also really proud of the way the Canadians played this week. Peter Polansky had a huge win over Jurgen Melzer in the first round, and although he went out to Victor Hanescu in the second round, we got a glimpse of how good Polansky can be. Frank Dancevic, arguably Canada's highest profile male singles player, wasn't so lucky and was unable to make it past Stan Wawrinka, his talented first round opponent.

The Canadian doubles team of Pospisil and Raonic had a huge win with the defeat of the much-hyped doubles team of Nadal and Djokovic in the first round. The Canadians were unable to make it past their second round opponents, but they have to be happy with their high-profile first round win over the top two singles players in the world. The best Canadian doubles player, Daniel Nestor, made it to the quarterfinals, but was defeated and unable to move onto the semis.

And huge congratulations to Andy Murray for winning the singles title. He played amazing tennis all week beating Nalbandian, Nadal, and Federer on the way to winning his second consecutive Rogers Cup championship.  Federer also played some good tennis this week beating Berdych and Djokovic on the way to the final, and the win over Djokovic also got him his number two ranking back, which will be important going into the US Open.

The men will be in Cincinatti next week with the women coming to Montreal. Lots of good tennis still to come and then we've got the US Open. Exciting!

Shirtless: Starring Feliciano Lopez and Frank Dancevic

Feliciano Lopez and Frank Dancevic practiced together this weekend in what must be called the hottest practice session thus far. Check out my photographic evidence below (click to enlarge):

Rogers Cup Wildcards Announced

Canada's Frank Dancevic

The four wildcards for entry into the main draw of the men's singles event at the Roger Cup have been given to Canadians Frank Dancevic (Age: 25, ATP Rank: 368), Peter Polansky (Age: 22, ATP Rank: 200), Milos Raonic (Age: 19, ATP Rank: 209), and Pierre Ludovic-Duclos (Age: 24, ATP Rank: 328).

Three additional wildcards were given out for entry into the qualification rounds at the Rogers Cup. Canadians Philip Bester, Vasek Pospisil, and Steven Diez will compete this weekend against a field of 28 players to win a spot in the men's main draw. One final qualifying wildcard will be given out at a later time.

Wozniak, Dancevic Injured Just in Time for Rogers Cup

Awesome news Canada. Your top-ranked women's singles player, Aleksandra Wozniak, is suffering from tendinitis in her wrist and has pulled out of tournaments in San Diego and Cincinnati in the hopes that she'll be ready to play at the Rogers Cup in Montreal. Oh yeah, and Frank Dancevic (your only hope on the men's side) is still hurt after cutting his leg on that scoreboard in Atlanta. Something tells me this is not going to be the year that a Canadian wins the Rogers Cup. (Do you like how I pretended that if these two weren't injured that there was a chance a Canadian might win? Yeah, me too.)

Dancevic Back From Injury, Then Cuts Himself on Scoreboard

A few years ago I was really into Frank Dancevic--the first Canadian player to come along in quite some time who actually seemed like he might break into the top 30. Dubbed by some as "the poor man's Federer" (and really, is that such a bad thing to be?), Dancevic reached his highest singles ranking in September 2007 as number 65 in the world.

The biggest win of his career, and the point where people really began to notice him, was when he beat Andy Roddick in the semifinals of the Indianapolis Tennis Championships in 2007. Dancevic went on to back this win up at the Rogers Cup when he beat Del Potro and Verdasco on the way to a quarter final match with Nadal. Dancevic was able to take a set off Nadal (not an easy thing to do), but was unable to beat the world number 2 and he lost the match.