Indian Wells is not lacking at all for star-power.
If you’re an OCTF (obsessive compulsive tennis fan) like I’m an OCTF, you’re sitting at home drooling over the piece of paper on your desk that is labeled “Main Draw Singles/ Indian Wells, USA/ 11-22 March 2009/ Hard, Plexipave/ $4,500,000.”
At 3 in the morning, no less! Sad, but true.
I’ve just traced the name Roger Federer all the way to the quarterfinals, and set him up with a match against reborn Spaniard Fernando Verdasco. While it’s probably not fair to speculate that each will win his first three matches, I went ahead and did so, just for the hell of it.
This one is particularly intriguing because neither Federer nor Verdasco has played since Melbourne – and both of them left us in suspense at their last appearances.
Regarding Federer, we wondered if he’d find a new coach (his short trial with Darren Cahill has apparently ended in a no-dice) or if he’d find a new therapist (no news on this).
Regarding Verdasco, we wondered if he was for real; we wondered if he’d revert to his pre- Gil Reyes form and results. Federer is 2-0 all-time against Verdasco, but if this is indeed a new Verdasco we are talking about, the results could be different this time.
Perhaps a Federer v. Verdasco quarterfinal match might go a long way in answering our questions about these two: Is Federer on top of the hill or over the hill? Is Verdasco hungry enough to keep running those hills in Vegas?
And there are other mouth-watering matchups in other parts of the draw as well:
Nadal is facing a round-of-16 match with mercurial but very dangerous Czech Tomas Berdych. In addition to his near upset of Federer in Melbourne, Berdych scored an upset against #8-ranked Gilles Simon last weekend in Davis Cup play. This was a very big win for the Czechs, and as a result of it Berdych could be feeling confident enough to unleash his full frontal assault against Nadal.
In the bottom half of Rafa’s quarter of the draw, Lanky but powerful Argentinian, Juan Martin Delpotro (21 in September) looks to be slated for a round-of-16 battle with either Gael Monfils or ornery veteran Marat Safin. The wins haven’t been coming easy for Delpotro this year, but he is still clinging to a #6 ranking in the world (nothing to scoff at) nonetheless.
In Novak Djokovic’s (last year’s champion) quarter, Andy Roddick is looking to build on his Davis Cup splendor with another upset of the higher-ranked Serbian showman. But Roddick will have to get past the likes of David Ferrer or Mardy Fish in the earlier rounds if he wants a rematch of his Australian Open QF with Novak.
And it doesn't stop there...
Andy Murray, the #4 seed, is headed for (if he can debunk 20-year-old Croat Marin Cilic) a much anticipated quarterfinal with dynamic French slugger Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Murray is 15-1 on the year with two titles; Tsonga is 21-3 with 2 titles. While Tsonga’s ranking currently sits at #11, there is no denying that he has top-4 skills. Meanwhile Murray, currently a very solid #4, is gunning 2000 points up the ATP ladder at Novak Djokovic. Both have made tangible strides in the last 12 months, yet both seem destined for higher highs. Sounds to me like a recipe for tennis drama.
As a brief period of recuperating from the physically demanding Australian Open reaches a conclusion, the next 10 days at Indian Wells might say a lot about who is going to have a lot to say in 2009. The first masters event of 9 to be held in 2009 will offer its winner a major leg-up in this years ATP power struggle.
1 comments:
Cool photo of Verdasco...Nice link regarding his preperation.
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