Robin Soderling had requested a wildcard from tournament director and former player, Richard Krajicek.  Krajicek said he was having a difficult time deciding which low-ranked Dutch player should get one of the wildcards left for Rotterdam, so he was relieved when Soderling called him up.  It was a no-brainer to give Soderling a wildcard, especially with Nadal and Murray not there to play.

Rotterdam must be a favorite place for Soderling to play.  In 2008, he reached the finals, losing to Michael Llodra.  Last year, he didn’t play, but this year he came back again.

The first set against Youzhny was up and down.  Youzhny broke early, but Soderling broke back.  Then Soderling got up a break and was serving to win the first set when Youzhny broke back again.  Soderling then broke once more to win the first set, 6-4.  Youzhny appeared to hurt his thigh and retired after going down 2-0 in the second set.

Rotterdam has an interesting history.  In 1984, Lendl was cruising to an easy victory over Connors, 6-0, 1-0.  Then, there was a bomb threat, and play was temporarily halted.  When play was ready to go again, Lendl refused to play.  So, it was decided the two players would be co-winners.

In any case, Soderling wins his fifth ATP title, but it is his first ATP 500 title (the remaining 4 are ATP 250 titles).

Soderling said he came into the tournament struggling with his forehand but his coach said to keep hitting and think positive, and it would come back again.  Soderling said it did come back again and he was happy about that.

On this side of the pond, Andy Roddick was scheduled to play Fernando Verdasco in the finals of the SAP Open held in San Jose.  Head-to-head record strongly favored Roddick.  Roddick had beaten Verdasco 7 straight times, although only once in 2009 and not at all in 2008.  In the last 5 matches they’ve played, at least one set has gone to a tiebreak.

This time, Verdasco found himself the victor, 3-6, 6-4, 6-4.  Apparently, Verdasco did really well holding serve in the last two sets, and Roddick found himself irate at some linecalls.

The third tournament was held in Costa do Sauipe, Bahia, Brazil.  Juan Carlos Ferrero cruised to an easy, 6-1, 6-0 win over Pole, Lukasz Kubot.

Next week, Soderling and Youzhny, finalists at Rotterdam, head to Marseille.  Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro were expected to be the top 2 seeds, but both withdrew.  This leaves Robin Soderling as the top seed.  Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are also expected to play.

Most of the crew that were in San Jose head to Memphis.  This includes finalists, Andy Roddick and Fernando Verdasco.  Sam Querrey, Radek Stepanek, John Isner, and Tommy Haas are scheduled to play.

Those playing in Brazil will move to neighboring Argentina to play in Buenos Aires.  This includes Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer, Nicolas Almagro, and Juan Monaco.

Juan Martin del Potro said he, like Rafael Nadal, needed to take a month off.  del Potro’s wrist has been bothering him.

The big guns come out to Dubai as 6 of the top 10 players in the world participate in Roger Federer’s second training home.  This includes Roger Federer and Andy Murray, who have not competed since the Australian Open, Novak Djokovic, who recently lost in the semis at Rotterdam, Andy Roddick, who will have played in Memphis the previous week, Nikolay Davydenko, and recent top-10 newcomer, Marin Cilic.

After Dubai, most players will head to the US to play the two big hardcourt events: Indian Wells, in California, and Miami.  Both are 10 day events with first round byes given to the top seeds.  These are the ATP Masters 1000 events.

Historically, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic have done well.  Rafael Nadal made his first big breakthrough beating Federer in five sets in Miami (back when they played five sets).  Rafael Nadal is still expected to return to play Indian Wells.

Key questions: will Roger Federer be in the same form that won him the Australian Open?  How will Rafa do?  Will Novak Djokovic get his act together?  Will Juan Martin del Potro come to play or will he still be out due to a wrist injury?