Paris
Possibly the most significant Grand Slam this year with Djokovic hoping for a Career Slam and Rafa going for 7 titles. Plenty is being written about these 2, so I’ll stick to the sub-plots.
If anyone other than the top 2 are going to win, I think it will either be Tsonga, Del Potro or Murray. Almost seems silly to suggest this, but let’s remember that these guys are seriously good players on their day. A Del Potro – Berdych 4th round awaits as does a Ferrer – Isner match up.
Nadal gets a cupcake draw and other Spaniards got lucky too. Almagro, Ferrer and Feliciano Lopez have nice looking runs deep into the draw and I’m putting Ferrer or Almagro into the semi-finals. Some delicious 1st round match ups include: Llodra-Garcia-Lopez, Simon-Harrison, Youzhny-Blake, Ukrainian showdown of Dolgopolov-Stakhovsky, Colombian shoot out between Falla-Giraldo and Tipsarevic-Querry.
Regardons les choses en briser:
Level: Grand Slam
Surface: Red Clay
Defending Champion: Rafael Nadal – The only opponent Rafa has to worry about is his body.
Sleeper: Tomaz Bellucci – Powerful Brazilian could upset Troicki in round 1 and cause some damage with his general leftyness.
Veteran Watch: Lleyton ‘Rusty’ Hewitt – Gets a wildcard and could face Djokovic in Round 2. Perhaps final RG for the Lawnmower Man.
On the Rise: Brian Baker – The Hollywood story continues. Gets ‘Professor’ Xavier Malisse round 1. Probably wins that.
Slumping: Andy Roddick – Could win a couple matches before running into the Fed Express and gets angry.
Too Hot to Handle: Nicolas ‘Dirt Devil’ Almagro – Can the 250 man finally put it all together on the big stage? Gets a good draw.
My pick: Rafael Nadal – Call me controversial.
Thanks for reading and check back next time for more picks and tennis amusement!