It’s the week after the Australian Open and more tournaments are being played.  Consider how many players get to the fourth round of a Slam.  It’s 16.  With 128 players in the original draw, more than 100 players have already failed to reach the fourth round, and are therefore out in the first week of the Australian Open.

Players in the top 10 generally anticipate they will make it into the second week of a Slam and so they budget time off afterwards.  Those outside the top 10 assume they won’t make the second week and sign up for tournaments in the next week.

This week, there are three tournaments held throughout the world on different surfaces.  In Chile is the Movistar Open.  South American players will flock to this tournament especially those from Chile like top-seeded Fernando Gonzalez.  This tournament, not surprisingly, is played in clay.  While those in the northern hemisphere are dealing with winter temperatures, those in the southern have their summer.  In the semifinals are: Gonzalez playing Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci.  Juan Monaco of Argentina has already beaten Brazilian qualifier, Joao Souza, 6-1, 6-4.

Croatia hosts its tournament in the PZB Croatian Indoors.  Top-seeded player and AO semifinalist, Marin Cilic, won his semifinal encounter with tour veteran, Austrian Jurgen Melzer, 7-6(5), 6-4.  Meanwhile, the other semifinals featured two unseeded Germans.  Michael Berrer defeated Philipp Petzchner 7-6(6), 7-5.  Cilic should be favored to win his second tournament of the year (his first was Chennai) and has been playing top-notch tennis.

Finally, the SA Tennis Open in Joberg (Johannesburg), South Africa, is an outdoors tournament.  The semifinals featured Spaniard vs. Frenchman.  One would have expected top seeded Gael Monfils and second seeded David Ferrer to proceed to the final.  Instead, both lost.  Monfils lost in three sets to Feliciano Lopez, the third seed, 3-6, 6-1, 7-6 (1).

Meanwhile speedy David Ferrer lost to eight seeded Frenchman, Stephane Robert, 7-5, 6-4.  That means the finals will be Lopez vs. Robert.

Next week, another trio of tournaments are played: the Brasil Open (on clay, in Brazil), Rotterdam (on hardcourts, presumably indoors), and San Jose (on hardcourts).  The following week, there will be four tournaments played, then two tournaments the next week, then the first Masters 1000 of the year in Indian Wells, followed by the second Masters 1000 of the year in Miami.  And then begins the clay grind.

The beginning of the year is jammed pack with tournaments, but most of the top pros will hold off for a while to recover and get ready for their debut.

The two ATP 500 tournaments on the schedule are Rotterdam, which will be played next week.  The top 8 seeds are Djokovic, Davydenko, Soderling, Monfils, Robredo, Youzhny, Ljubicic, and Troicki.  Nadal would have been top seed, but he has withdrawn due to a knee injury that flared up during the AO quarterfinals against Andy Murray.  Murray is the defending champ at Rotterdam, but has chosen not to defend his title.  Instead, he’ll play an ATP 250 event in Marseille, the following week.

The week after Marseille, there are two ATP 500 events: Dubai and Acapulco.  Although both are of similar rank, Dubai has the stellar field.   Of the top 8 seeds, only 1 is not in the top 10.  Roger Federer will play his first tournament since winning the Australian Open here.  In addition, Djokovic, Murray, del Potro, Davydenko, Roddick, Cilic, and Robredo round out the top 8.  Djokovic is the defending champion.  Dubai is a much stronger field this year than in previous years.   They may have decided to dole out a lot of appearance fees.