Indian Wells, ATP 1000 event (first of the year)

Seeds:
1. Nadal
2. Federer
3. Djokovic
4. Murray
5. Davydenko – pulled out before the tournament started
6. Del Potro
7. Roddick
8. Simon –
9. Monfils –
10. Verdasco
11. Tsonga –
12. Ferrer
13. Blake –
14. Nalbandian
15. Robredo
16. Wawrinka

My Pick: Nadal
Underdog Pick: Robredo

Hard to argue with the seeding committee or the rankings in general at Indian Wells. Currently still alive until later this afternoon are the 1,2,3,4,6, and 7 seeds… and the 5 seed withdrew before the tournament. The only player I’m disappointed in is Robredo but I’ll get to that later.

Here are some interesting, though predictable, results:

Nadal d. Nalbandian 3-6 7-6(5) 6-0

Nadal saved 5 match points in the second set, well done. Certainly a tough loss for Nalbandian, but I hate to see the brain fart in the third set. Yes it’s debilitating to lose the second set after being so close to victory… but get your head out of your hind quarters and try again in the third! This paints the picture on why Nalbandian has never gone to the next level… how often do you see Nadal lose a tough second set and then pack his bags? never.

Wawrinka d. Querrey 2-6 7-5 7-6(8)

Wow… love to see scores like that. An absolute battle all the way through to the last point, love it.

Djokovic d. Wawrinka 7-6(7) 7-6(6)

Wawrinka is close to making it to the next level… wouldn’t be suprised at all if he’s top 10 by the end of the year.

Isner d. Safin 6-4 6-4

Del Potro d. Isner 7-6(4) 7-6(3)

Good tournament for Big John… when his serve is on You have to take him down in TB’s and obviously Del Potro was up to that challenge. Good news for John though as he faded away this time last year and had some bad results… he’s really going to pick up some points if he can keep his game at this level and hopefully won’t be needing to take up those precious American WC’s anymore!

Roddick d. Ferrer 7-6(5) 3-6 6-3

Excellent win for Roddick here. Ferrer is a tough out for anyone, especially deep in the tournament because you know Ferrer is ready to go 3 sets if need be… this win is probably best attributed to Roddicks improved fitness.

Federer d. Gonzalez 6-3 5-7 6-2

Roger always struggles with Gonzo… usually wins, but always struggles. Quite simply, Roger (and everyone) struggles with a guy like Gonzo who takes such low percentage balls over and over… its a bit tough to predict and doesn’t give Fed the rhythm he loves to play with.

Federer d. Verdasco 6-3 7-6 (5)

You might have been thinking that Roger hates lefties and this is a tough matchup, however no lefties in the world hit the ball the way Nadal does and in fact Roger has a pretty exceptional record against every lefty… but one. I didn’t see this match unfortunately, but I’m not sure Verdasco has the capability to hit high biting balls up to Rogers backhand repeatedly, and if he can do that successfully I’m not sure he has the mental fortitude not to go for other shots that he normally would in favor of breaking Fed’s backhand down.

Murray d. Robredo 6-2 3-0 ret.

I know there are some Murray lovers out there, but the person writing this blog is not. Huge disappointment here. Robredo has played more tennis this year than anyone I would imagine and apparently it caught up to him here. Even IF his wrist is so bad that he couldn’t put in much of a performance I’d still prefer he at least finishes it out. Unfortunately even the tougher guys in tennis are opting for the retirement bailout plan. Lame.

Murray d. Ljubicic 7-5 7-6(6)

Ljubicic is a tough man to predict. His game isn’t nearly as flaky as a Blake or Fish… but he seems to be docile in most tournaments with some HUGE breakout tournaments mixed in. I still consider him a bit lucky in this tournament that Ancic got injured… and he rode that wave of good fortune into the quarters.

Matches to Come

Nadal vs. Del Potro (quarters)

The history between these two is 3-0 Nadal… and it hasn’t been close. Juan Martin got 5 games in one set, out of 7 total sets played. I know DP is a young player and improving and all that jazz, but I haven’t seen anything yet that makes me think he’s going to take out the CLEAR world #1. Straight set beating incoming

Djokovic vs. Roddick (quarters)

Get your popcorn and beverage of choice and enjoy. For those of you living under a rock ill catch you up to speed. They are lifetime 2-2 against each other with bad blood on both sides. Novak constantly makes jokes and impressions of others(which are funny), Roddick made a joke about Novak (which was hilarious) and Novak decided to act like a moron and say some really stupid things after beating Roddick in front of a capacity crowd in NY. They say they’ve both gotten over it and all is good between them… but if you know athletes at all you know that even IF they cleared things up… they want to win this match for more reasons than just being in the semis of a tour 1000 event (which is a great reason in itself)

There are 2 possible outcomes that I forsee here. Option 1 is that these two battle their butts off and in my opinion they are pretty evenly matched… so this has potential for an exciting 3 setter. Option 2 is that Novak has some sort of injury etc. and throws in the towel (mentally at least). I’d be VERY suprised if the Djoker just rolls over Andy, whom lately I’m considering to be one of the toughest competitors out there. I’ll pick Roddick to pull the minor upset here, but it’s about 50/50.

Federer vs. Murray (Semi’s)

In my life, I will never pick Murray to beat Federer. I realize theres an age difference that could favor Murray in another 7 years or so… but god himself will have to come down here and push the keys for me to predict a Murray win over Fed. Interestingly Murray leads Fed 5-2 lifetime, but I don’t care. If you’re wondering how Murray can possibly beat him, it’s quite interesting actually. Murray has the patience enough to bore Roger into not playing his best tennis… I have to give the brit credit it’s an excellent strategy, but sooner or later Roger is going to figure that achilles heal out and move past it.

Great tennis today, check out the results HERE