ATP Picks: Madrid

Mutua Madrid Open

The Magic box is back! The big 4 are back too.

Djokovic is in Murray’s half and Nadal in Federer’s with a potential rematch from Monte Carlo again between The Bull and The Djoker. Nadal has a ‘tough’ quarter with Ferrer, Almagro and Haas, but he should have no problems. Federer could meet Gasquet in a nice match up before imminent doom at the hands of Nadal in the semi-finals.

Some good looking match-ups out of the gate include an all French affair between Benneteau and Simon, and a battle of the back-boards, Tipsarevic and Monaco.

‘The Magic Box’

Let’s break it down:

ATP Level: 1000

Surface: Outdoor Clay

Defending Champion: Roger Federer – A big ask to defend his title and short of confidence.

Floater: Tommy Robredo – Wild card by draw, wild card by nature.

Veteran Watch: Radek ‘The Worm’ Stepanek – Gets a tough opener against Tomic with Federer waiting in round 2.

Youngblood: Bernard ‘Atomic’ Tomic – An unkind draw but he should be entertaining.

Slumping: Marcos ‘The Bagman’ Baghdatis – Not sure where Baggy’s career is headed at this point but he hangs on.

On Fire: Tommy ‘The Hitman’ Haas – Putting the younger generation to shame with his relentless energy and win/loss ratio.

Notable Wildcards: Tommy Robredo, Pablo ‘Honey’ Andujar

My pick: Rafael Nadal – Gets revenge on Djokovic in front of a home crowd for a record Masters title number 23.

Did You Know?: The tournament has moved country to country over the past 30 years and finally settled in Madrid in 1990.

Thanks for reading and check back next week.