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.

Analyzing the US Open Men's Draw

Click here for the official men's draw for the 2010 US Open.

First Quarter (or Nadal's Quarter)

Obviously Nadal has to be the favorite to make it to the quarters, along with Verdasco, Nalbandian, and Ferrer. I wouldn't be surprised if Gulbis made it far as well, and I'd love to see him play Nadal in the quarterfinals.

Most interesting first round match:
Gulbis vs. Chardy or Ferrer vs. Dolgopolov.

Most interesting possible second round match:
Nadal vs. Istomin (and really, Nadal should kill him...but not many interesting second round matches to choose from so if you're going to watch someone you might as well watch Rafa)

Most interesting possible third round match:
Nalbandian vs. Verdasco

Most interesting possible round of 16 match:
Ferrer vs. Nalbandian (or Verdasco)

Quarterfinals prediction:
Nadal vs. Nalbandian

Second Quarter (or Murray's Quarter)

In my opinion, Murray and Berdych are the clear favorites to reach the quarterfinals in this section. Querrey and Wawrinka are capable of upsets but they'd have to beat Murray to get to the quarters, and I can't see that happening. Berdych could have some trouble with Almagro, Youzhny, or Isner (but that's only if Isner plays and if he's healthy, which at this point seems like it won't be happening), however, I'd be surprised if Berdych doesn't make it to the quarters.

Most interesting first round match:
Berdych vs. Llodra or Youzhny vs. Golubev

Most interesting possible second round match:
Stepanek vs. Robredo (I tried to find a better one, really I did)

Most interesting possible third round match:
Murray vs. Wawrinka or Almagro vs. Querrey

Most interesting possible round of 16 match:
Murray vs. Querrey or Youzhny vs. Berdych

Quarterfinals prediction:
Murray vs. Berdych

Federer Wins Cincinnati Masters

Roger Federer defeated Mardy Fish 6-7, 7-6, 6-4 in a very close, very well-played match in Cincinnati. This is the fourth time Roger has won the Cincinnati Masters event and his second title of the year. It's exciting to see Federer playing great tennis again and he has to be the favourite going into the US Open.

Mardy Fish stayed with Federer throughout the entire match and it only took one break of serve for Federer to win the last set—and the match. This is the best tennis Fish has ever played and he should be feeling pretty confident going into the US Open next week.

By making it to the finals in Cincinnati, Federer assured himself the number 2 position at the Open—meaning he will hit either Murray or Djokovic in the semifinals, and he can't play Nadal until the finals (this is, of course, assuming they all make it that far into the draw). Fish's great results this summer have moved his ranking to number 21 in the world—very close to his all time ranking high of 17—which means he will be seeded at the US Open.

Neither Federer nor Fish will play in any tournaments this week, so the next time we see either of them will be at the final grand slam of the year in New York City. Can't wait.

The Fed vs. The Fish in Cincy Finals

Roger Federer and Mardy Fish have both made it to the finals of the Western and Southern Financial Group Masters event (seriously, the name of this tournament is way too long) in Cincinnati. They will play against each other tomorrow in the last big event before the US Open. 

Federer played a great semifinal match against Baghdatis today to book his spot in the finals, and he is the only player to make the finals of the Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati this year. More importantly, he seems to be playing better with each match, and he's starting to look more and more like the Roger Federer who was nearly impossible to beat.

Fish has had an unbelievable summer as well, and he showed us how much he's improved—and how much his 30 lb. weight loss has helped his game—by defeating Andy Roddick today in three sets. I never thought I'd be saying this, and I know majors are a different thing altogether, but Mardy could do some serious damage at the US Open. 

I think you have to go with Roger as being the favourite tomorrow, but after reading Mardy's interview today you can see how much he wants this: 

Q: Any preference on who you play tomorrow?

MARDY FISH: No. I mean, it’s not where I expected to be in the beginning of the week. Like I said, I knew I was playing well, but how high or the level, you know, I wasn’t too sure about. So I feel like I can beat anyone, to be honest. I mean, I remember the final here in 2003 like it was yesterday. This will be my third Masters Series final. I desperately want to win one.

Watch out Roger! Mardy wants this bad. 

But something tells me R. Fed does too.

Interview Aces This Week

Cincinnati Masters

Q. I guess this win gets you back in the top 10 when the next world rankings come out. Is that something you pay any attention to at all?
ANDY RODDICK: (Laughing.) Um, I wish I got to talk about it as much when I am in the top 10 as opposed to when I'm not. It's only a story when I'm not.

Q. Can I ask you about a serve that you didn't make tonight, but that's obviously being talked about a lot on the Internet. Is that for real?
ROGER FEDERER: Oh, that thing? Yeah. Well, there's a lot of the debate at the moment, you know. You know how it is with magicians. They don't tell how their tricks work, you know. (Smiling.) I don't do it that much, but, yeah, it was shot in one piece and it was — the guy took a chance. (Smiling.) It worked out. I'm happy.
[later]
Q. Back to the video for a second, have you ever done anything like that before, knocked something off somebody's head?
ROGER FEDERER: Um, well, I had to do it before so I knew I could do it, otherwise it was risky for him, right? But no — what was the — what did you mean exactly?
Q. Knocking the thing off the guy's head.
ROGER FEDERER: Yeah, it worked out. I've done it before.
Q. So it was definitely real?
ROGER FEDERER: Not saying that. A magician doesn't tell how his tricks work, so... (Laughter.)

Q. First game of the match you hit a dropshot winner, and he [Andy Murray] gave you a stare down. You kind of looked over like, What's going on? I noticed that. And then even at the changeover he appeared to say something. Was something going on right out of the gate with him?
MARDY FISH: No. I mean, you know, we're not in the first round of a small tournament anymore. I mean, these are the big -- it's big money here; big points here; bigtime confidence going into the US Open, you know. So it's two competitive guys. I welcome it. I like a little bit of trash talk. It's fine. I was fine with it.

Roddick, Berdych: Top Seeds at Legg Mason

The Legg Mason Tennis Classic begins this weekend in Washington, D.C, with quite a few of the top players in attendance—minus, of course, Federer and Nadal, the two players everyone has been waiting to see since Wimbledon. But although Rafa and Roger won’t be playing until next week at the Rogers Cup in Toronto, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic has the potential for some great matches.

Seeded Players and Their Chances at Legg Mason:

1. Tomas Berdych (CZE)
Tomas has had an amazing season so far with a semifinal result at Roland Garros and a final appearance at Wimbledon, where he had to beat 6-time Wimbledon winner Roger Federer along the way. Berdych hits the ball incredibly hard and he should be able to overwhelm the majority of other players at this event. If he plays the way he’s played all year then he should make the finals where he’ll likely meet Andy Roddick—the only player who will really be able to challenge him for the title.

2. Andy Roddick (USA)
Even though Andy lost early last week in Atlanta, he should make it to the finals in Washington where he has a good chance of winning the title. He’ll want to prove that the loss in Atlanta was a fluke and that he’s ready to do well for the rest of the US Open Series, and there’s no one in his half of the draw that he can’t beat.

3. Fernando Verdasco (ESP)
Verdasco should win his first two rounds fairly easily and then he’ll likely meet Ernests Gulbis or Marcos Baghdatis in the quarterfinals. Baghdatis did not look good in L.A. this week and Gulbis needs to calm down on court (ie. stop smashing multiple raquets) if he wants to win his matches, so Verdasco should make it to the semifinals where he’ll more than likely fall to Berdych.

4. Marin Cilic (CRO)
Cilic really hasn’t done much lately so it would be surprising if he went too far into the draw. To get to the quarterfinals he’ll have to go through Mardy Fish, one of the hottest players of the summer, and if Mardy is healthy I just don’t see it happening.

5. John Isner (USA)
Isner has had some decent results this summer, although he couldn’t take down Mardy Fish in the recent Atlanta finals. He should make it to the quarterfinals though, where he’ll likely lose to Berdych.

The rest of the top ten includes (6)Sam Querrey (USA), (7) Stan Wawrinka (SUI), (8) Marcos Baghdatis (CYP), (9) Ernests Gulbis (LAT), and (10) Radek Stepanek (CZE). Can’t see any of these players winning the title, although Querrey could make the semis, and at this point I’d take the number 11 seed Lleyton Hewitt, or number 15 seed Mardy Fish (as long as his injured ankle has healed) over guys like Baghdatis, Gulbis, or Stepanek.

The entire draw can be seen at the website for the Legg Mason Tennis Classic.

Passing Shots

Mardy Fish – 30 pounds + Confidence = Better than Andy Roddick (SI Tennis)

A great tennis movie? Yeah, it's possible. (Tennis.com)

Who knew the surfacing of hard courts was so complicated? (Mind the Racket)

Roger Federer is really really rich.  (Tennis-x)

Baby Daddy Cristiano Ronaldo the new Boris Becker? (Tennis Connected)

Serena as nail technician? (Vogue)

McEnroe vs. Agassi in 2010 (LA Times)

Results Roundup: Atlanta Tennis Championships

Singles, Second Round

Roddick defeats Ram 61 76 63

Isner defeats Muller 46 76 76

Fish defeats Ginepri 61 75

Malisse defeats Marchenko 63 63

Anderson defeats Young 75 63

Dent defeats Zeballos 46 62 60

Russell defeats Schuettler 16 62 75

Lacko defeats Hewitt 64 62

So, looks like my semifinals prediction has been ruined with the loss of Lleyton Hewitt. I'm surprised he went down so easily to Lukas Lacko--the young player from Slovakia ranked 76th in the world--although I guess you can't really expect too much from Lleyton these days. Isner, Roddick and Fish are still in the mix though so it will be interesting to see which players can get through to the finals.

Atlanta Tennis Championships Early Predictions

Obviously you've got to go with Andy Roddick as the favourite here, but there are a few other good players in the draw who have a chance at the title as well, including Lleyton Hewitt and John Isner.

Based on the draw here are my early predictions:

Quarters: Roddick vs. Malisse, Blake vs. Fish, Tipsarevic vs. Hewitt, Schuettler vs. Isner

Semis: Roddick vs. Fish, Hewitt vs. Isner

Finals: Roddick vs. Hewitt

Winner: Roddick

I would actually love to see a Roddick vs. Hewitt final. When these two play I always feel like it's 2003 again.