2009 Legg Mason Preview

2009 Legg Mason Preview

I apologize for being a round behind on this one but we've been working on a new site design and wanted to get something launched before the start of this week so we're doing a little bit of catchup.  No big shockers to report from today so I'll still call this a preview before much of the real action gets underway.  The first couple of weeks of the US Open Series typically don't have the strongest fields but allow some of the lower ranked players and a number of good young americans a chance to play some good matches in and test themselves against the few top players who are scattered throughout the field.  This year is pretty similar with the exception of the LA mens tourney being without it's typical top draw in Andy Roddick.  But it did give Sam Querrey a chance to shine and gain some confidence for the hardcourt season leading up to the Open.  In Washington this week Roddick is returning to action for the first time since losing to Roger Federer in the Wimbledon final and some of the other top names in the game are joining the Series so we should have a very exciting week ahead.   Let's get going with the tournament breakdown.

Roddick's Quarter:

The most interesting story this week will be the return of Andy Roddick.  Obviously mentally exhausted from Wimbledon and suffering from a hip injury it will be very interesting to see how he starts off the tournament.  He could begin by playing against fellow american Robby Ginepri, followed by last week's champion Sam Querrey if everything goes according to plan.  I don't think either player would normally be much of a match for Andy but neither should be taken lightly either.  Factor in that they will be Andy's first competitive matches since Wimbledon, his hip may or may not be alright, and Querrey is going to be playing with a lot of confidence, and there is a real possibility of an unexpected result in either match.  I expect Andy to serve his way through both rounds but it will be something to watch.  If Andy gets to the quarter he'll most likely run into the winner of Karlovic and Cilic.  Cilic is an extremely talented player with the potential to be steadily around top 7-8 in the world for some time in my opinion. He can play a very high level game but doesn't always come out and play like that every match.  I expect he'll win his first match with no trouble and run into Ivo.  On paper Cilic should beat Karlovic.  But Karlovic serves so big you can never really count him out.  The one time I saw him beat Federer I believe Roger only lost a single point on his serve the entire final set but lost the set and the match.  The one point was in a tiebreak and Ivo just kept serving unreturnable serves.  One error and the match was over.  Karlovic doesn't have much game aside from his serve but can take any player to a tiebreak in every set if his serve is on, and if he gets a break somehow, that's normally the end of the set.  That type of pressure can wear a lot of players down over the course of a match and Ivo has made a very good living off of serving his way through tiebreaks so although Cilic has a much better all-around game, you can't really count Karlovic out.  If Roddick gets to the quarter either of these players would be a good test of where his game and his head are at.  Against Cilic he'd be up against a very good all-around player who would (no offense to Robby or Sam) be much more potentially dangerous than his first two opponents.  Against Karlovic it would be all pressure all the time on his serve.  Maybe a little too much like the 5th set at the All-England Club for his liking.  

Tsonga's Quarter:

Tsonga has had some injury problems but has a lot of game and can do some real damage on hardcourt.  He'll be up against Isner in his first match and should be able to get through without too many problems.  Isner's got a big serve so we could see a tiebreak here but Tsonga should be able to really control this match.  He should face Tursonov the follow match and I don't think Dmitry matches up very well against him.  I always expected Tursonov to develop a little more than he has but as it stands he can hit pretty solid but has sort of plateaued and his stock went down from being a potential consistent top 10 player to somewhere in the mid-low 20's at best.  He just hasn't been able to beat many of the top players and I don't see him doing it this week against Tsonga.  Fish I don't see having many issues in his first match and I'm picking him to beat the winner of Gulbis/Berdych and move on to play Tsonga.  That brings us to Gulbis and Berdych.  As a spectator, Gulbis must be about the most frustrating player on the tour.  Showed huge potential and turned a lot of heads in the last couple years but he's played so inconsistent since that you just don't know what you're going to get.  When he played Murray at Wimbledon I was hoping for a very tight match where Murray would need to play more aggressive than he wanted to in order to get through.  But what happened was Gulbis just kept hitting errors from the middle of the court and never really showed much of anything in any part of his game.  To that point it was the biggest letdown of the tournament.  And based on his season so far I'm not really expecting much better from him against Berdych.  Not that he doesn't have the ability to beat him, but something's off in his game.  Berdych is playing pretty well this year but I'll stick with picking Fish over him.  I think Fish will have a good tournament.  

Gonzalez' Quarter:

This whole half of the draw is loaded with solid players.  Fernando's quarter isn't quite as loaded as Del Potro's, but it's not easy either.  Robredo, Haas, Andreev, and Gonzalez.  Robredo always seems to be able to get a few rounds into most tournaments but could have a tough first match here.  He'll be playing the winner of JC Ferrero and Lapentti.  I expect Ferrero will win his first round match and give Robredo a tough time.  The winner of that match will take on Hass or Frank Dancevic.  Dancevic can put together a few good matches in a row from time to time but I don't see much trouble for Haas.  This just isn't his matchup and Haas is having a great season.  I think Haas will go to the quarterfinals over Robredo or Ferrero.  The other side of the quarter has Andreev and Gonzalez.  Odesnik pulled out a good win in the first round to get to face Andreev and could do a bit of damage in that match.  The winner would I expect need to face Gonzalez next and I'm picking Gonzo to get past either man in straight sets to reach the quarter and I think get through to the semi.  This will be the first time I've seen Gonzo play on hardcourt in some time but that's my prediction for now.  

Del Potro's Quarter:

In my opinion this is the most difficult quarter to get through and the most difficult to call.  I think Soderling, Hewitt, and Del Potro could all win against each other on any given day and any of the three could get through to the semis.  Soderling is still playing solid tennis after his strong clay and grass results and is finally playing with the type of consistency that's really been the only thing he's lacked.  Hewitt's been playing great this summer and could even walk away with this title if he keeps it up.  He's playing better than I've seen him look in a long time.  Definite dark horse in the draw, if you can even really call a former #1 whose playing well again a 'dark horse'.  Then there's Del Potro.  The hardcourt season last year was where this guy took control of the tour when a lot of the top guys were at the Olympics, then when the rest of the players came back and joined the tour this guy hasn't let up.  He's still really young and in the grand slams is still content to get a few rounds in because those stages are still new to him.  On this stage he's comfortable.  So comfortable that he won it last year.  He could very well do it again.  I'd like to see him have a rematch of his Wimbledon loss against Hewitt.  Juan Martin is the most likely to get through this quarter but there's too much talent there to say it with much confidence.  

Summary:

 This year's Legg Mason has a very strong field with a lot of interesting storylines.  Most interesting is Roddick's return to the court, but there's Haas' resurgent season, Hewitt's return to form, his potential rematch against Del Potro, Juan Martin attempting to defend his title against a much stronger field, maybe Gulbis snapping out of his funk and showing people why so much was expected from him not long ago.  Since this is the first hardcourt tournament that I've seen many of these guys in this summer I don't have much of a prediction on who's got the best chances.  If Roddick's body and mind are fine, he's the favorite.  My wild guess is that the winner of Roddick/Cilic has a good shot at the title against probably Del Potro.  But I wouldn't put any money on it.  Whoever comes out with the victory this week, it should be a great tournament to watch.  Keep checking back or follow our twitter: http://twitter.com/tennisnewz for updates throughout the week. 

 Click below to find tickets to all upcoming 2009 US Open Series events.

Legg Mason Tennis Classic

Rogers Cup Mens Tennis

Cincinnati Tennis Masters Series

Rogers Cup Womens Tennis 

Pilot Pen Tennis

US Open Tennis Day Session 26