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

More Photos from the Rogers Cup!

Novak Djokovic on the practice courts

Victor Hanescu posing with fans

Canadian Milos Raonic practicing on Aug. 11

Jeremy Chardy in match against Fernando Verdasco

Rafa Nadal serving in match against Stan Wawrinka

Davydenko practicing on Aug. 10

Soderling taking a drink break during practice

Michael Llodra practicing on Aug. 10

Shirtless Robredo practicing with a shirtless Almagro

Roger Federer on the practice courts on Aug. 10

Canadian Peter Polansky practicing with Federer

Stan Wawrinka on the practice courts

Analyzing the Rogers Cup Draw

I haven't had much time to post about the Rogers Cup draw because I've been at the event watching practice sessions all weekend, but today is my day to relax so I hope to get this site fully updated!

In case you missed it, I've been profiling the players I think have a chance to win the title in Toronto this year. Here they are in no particular order (click on the names to be taken to the original posts):

1. Rafa Nadal
2. Roger Federer
3. Andy Murray
4. Tomas Berdych
5. David Nalbandian

I made most of these picks before the draw came out, so let's look at the potential match-ups this week.

Nadal's Quarter
Nadal and Querrey should meet in the third round (although I'm not giving up the wild hope of Canadian Frank Dancevic beating Wawrinka in the first round and Nadal in the second), but the bottom of this quarter is trickier as a number of the men could make it through. As long as everything is okay with Andy Roddick (and things have not looked good the last few weeks) then he should make it to the third round where he could face Cilic, Kohlschreiber, or Tipsarevic. I'll go with Andy and Rafa playing in the quarterfinals with Rafa making it through to the semis.

Murray's Quarter
Murray should make it to the third round where he'll likely meet either Monfils or Gonzalez (Feli Lopez is a possibility as well). The other half of this quarter has the most interesting first round match of the tournament: Nalbandian vs. Ferrer. It's too bad these two drew each other for such an early match, but because of his amazing play last week I'm going to pick Nalbandian to make it through. A Soderling/Nalbandian third round match is a good possibility and although this could really go either way, I'll take Nalbandian to meet Andy Murray in the quarterfinals. If Nalbandian is on and plays his very best, then I think he can win, but anything less and I'll take Andy to make the semis.

Federer's Quarter
I'll take Federer and Almagro meeting in the third round, with Tomas Berdych and Gilles Simon making it to the third round in their half of the quarter. Federer and Berdych should win their matches and face each other in the quarterfinals. I wouldn't be surprised if either of them made it to the semis, but I think Roger will be the favourite and will win the match.

Djokovic's Quarter
Djokovic will likely meet Jurgen Melzer in the third round, with Davydenko and Verdasco the favourites to play each other in the third round of their section of the draw. If things play out like this I would expect some tough matches, but I'd take Djokovic and Verdasco to meet in the quarterfinals, with Djokovic making it through to the semis.

First round matches start today, and once we get through the first couple of rounds I will make predictions on the semifinal and final results.

Keep checking back here today as I will be posting more photos from the practice sessions this weekend.