Rogers Cup Photos: Nadal, Raonic, Del Potro, Haas

Lots of great players on the grounds yesterday at the Rogers Cup in Montreal and another fantastic day for Canadian tennis with Vasek Pospisil defeating Radek Stepanek, and Milos Raonic beating Mikhail Youzhny.

Today should be even better with Nadal vs. Janowicz first up on Center Court, followed by Murray vs. Gulbis, Del Potro vs. Raonic, and Djokovic vs. Istomin. I'll also be making my way over to the National Bank Court to watch Pospisil try to take down Berdych.

Here are some photos from the Rogers Cup so far...

First up we've got Tommy Haas stretching it out during his practice session.

Then we've got Frank Dancevic and Jerzy Janowicz in their second round match. Jerzy won in three sets.

Milos Beats Ernests in Monte Carlo

Photo: Julian Finney, Getty Images

Raonic defeated Gulbis 6-4, 7-5 in Monte Carlo today. That's right. Canadians ARE good at tennis.

Well, at least one is.

Thailand Open Draw

The draw has been done for the Thailand Open, and there are a few interesting potential match-ups. Let's start with the obvious one: Del Potro vs. Rochus. It wouldn't matter who Delpo was playing, this is the match everyone is waiting to see. I hope JMDP plays well so we can see a Del Potro/Nadal quarterfinal, and then a Nadal/Gulbis or Del Potro/Gulbis semifinal (um, and that means you have to play well too Ernie...don't mess this up for me). A Nadal/Verdasco final seems likely, but there are other players in the draw like Troicki and Melzer who could pull off an upset.

I hope Delpo can magically play as well as he could before his injury and that he destroys everyone and wins the title. But sadly, I don't think that will happen.

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

Video: Ernests Gulbis Practicing in Toronto

For photos from this practice session click here.

Goodbye Gulbis!

The always entertaining Ernests Gulbis is quickly turning into one of my favourite players on the tour, so I was disappointed that he lost to Soderling in the first round of the Rogers Cup.

I really enjoyed watching Gulbis practice this week in Toronto, as it was one of the only practice sessions I attended where the coach was actually making the player do drills, as opposed to just hitting with another player. It was a brutally hot day with on-court temperatures apparently reaching 42°C (that's 107.6°F), and it was interesting to see the coach putting Gulbis through a tough workout while also trying to pump him up and motivate him the whole time. I was waiting for some sort of Safin-like meltdown or a racquet smashing frenzy, but although it was clear that Ernests was hot and tired, he kept smacking that ball—and let me tell you, he hits really, really hard. 


Here are some photos of Gulbis practicing...

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.

Baghdatis, Tipsarevic, Murray and More!

Nice work by Marcos Baghdatis to beat American Ryan Sweeting 36 62 63 at the Farmers Classic in Los Angeles. Okay, so maybe Baghdatis should have won in straight sets since this Sweeting character is only ranked 118th in the world, but this is the first tournament back for Baggy since Wimbledon so let's just be happy for him, okay?

Congrats also to Janko Tipsarevic (who is quickly becoming my favourite player on tour because he is the best tennis tweeter ever!) who defeated Somdev Devvarman from India 76(9) 62. At least this was a straight sets win. Goooo Tipsy!

Baghdatis and Tipsarevic will face each other in the next round, and my money is on Tipsarevic to win the match. I think I'm choosing Tipsarevic solely on the fact that he seems to be on a roll with his twitter account, and therefore I assume he'll be on a roll on the court. And yes, I'm aware that my thought process in this instance is idiotic.

On to Andy Murray! Very, very excited that he'll be playing tomorrow. My Murray love seems to be growing everyday and I have no idea why. He should win his match fairly easily since I've never even heard of his American opponent, Tim Smyczek (just looked him up and he's ranked 192 in the world, so yeah, Murray might want to beat him).

Other matches tomorrow include Feliciano Lopez vs. Dudi Sela (worth watching just because Feli Lopez is perhaps the most attractive athlete on the ATP tour), Alejandro Falla vs. Ernests Gulbis (remember how Falla almost beat Federer at Wimbledon?) and James Blake vs Benjamin Becker (not so interesting).

Is it bad that I just want all of these smaller tournaments to be over so that the Rogers Cup can start and I can see Federer and Nadal again?