Ricky Dimon

• French Open Preview: Top 25 Contenders

  2008-05-03 14:45:00
  In the 25 days leading up to the 2008 French Open, Ricky will count down the Top 25 contenders – starting from No. 25 and going to No. 1 – in Roland Garros. Part 1 of the preview includes contenders 23-25.
  
  #25: James Blake
  
  I really didn't want to put him in this Top 25. In fact I would have loved to not put a single American in the Top 25 due to their recent history at the French Open. But there just aren't enough other real contenders out there playing great clay-court tennis to justify leaving Blake out. Anyway, Blake has actually enjoyed a rather solid season so far. Before we get to his clay-court exploits, we must give credit where credit is due for Blake's hard-court accomplishments in 2008. He reached the quarterfinals of the Australian Open, the final in Delray Beach, and the quarterfinals in San Jose, Indian Wells, and Miami. Those results suggest that until Blake meets an in-form clay-court specialist at the French Open, he can do some damage. In reality, his clay-court season hasn't been that terrible. Sure a blowout loss to Denis Gremelmayr in his first match in Barcelona did nothing to inspire any sort of confidence, but let's not discount the fact that Blake made it to the Houston title match just because it was a relatively minor event. As bad as the Americans have been in Roland Garros of late, it probably comes as a surprise that Blake has lost in the first round just once (last year to Ivo Karlovic) in five appearances. He even knocked out Nicolas Almagro back in 2006 en route to the third round. If Blake, ranked No. 8 in the world, gets a favorable (and I mean extremely favorable) draw at the French, he has an outside shot of making it to the second week.
  
  #24: Juan Ignacio Chela
  
  For any tournament on any surface other than clay, Chela would be a distant afterthought. At 28-years-old, the Argentine has been reduced to a clay-court threat and little else. Yes he did make it to the quarterfinals of last year's U.S. Open, but he had a shockingly favorable draw through four rounds and that surprise run can only be deemed a fluke. This season has proved as much; Chela is just 2-4 in hard-court matches. On the dirt, however, the No. 37 player in the world can still do some damage. Chela has become remarkably inconsistent--even on the red stuff--in the latter stages of his career, but his potential showed when he reached the semifinals in Buenos Aires earlier in 2008. He also won three matches in Barcelona before falling to Rafael Nadal in the quarterfinals. At the French Open, Chela has exited in the first round just twice in seven appearances and he is also a former quarterfinalist (2004). Making it that far again would be nothing less than shocking, but Chela is not someone any seeded player will want to face in the early stages of the tournament. As an unseeded entrant he will be at the mercy of the draw, but if he gets somewhat lucky a third or fourth-round performance is not out of the question.
  
  #23: Radek Stepanek
  
  Stepanek's aggressive style of play and propensity for finishing points at the net has been more conducive to fast-court success, but the Czech is no pushover on clay. He has made five trips to Roland Garros and has lost in the first round just once (and that was an 11-9 in the fifth set thriller against Vladimir Voltchkov in 2004). Stepanek reach the third round in both 2005 and 2006, and even though he lost in the second round last year, his one victory was a 6-2, 6-2, 6-4 destruction of 5th-seeded Fernando Gonzalez. A late bloomer on the ATP Tour, Stepanek is showing no sings of slowing down at 29-years-old. So far this season he has reached the semifinals in Sydney, the final in San Jose, the semifinals in Memphis, and the fourth round of the Masters Series Miami. There's no reason to think that solid form can't translate over to the French Open. Stepanek is ranked No. 28 in the world and therefore will be seeded, thus avoiding any other seed until the third round at the earliest. If he gets put in a section with a top seed such as Andy Roddick or James Blake as opposed to say, Rafael Nadal, Stepanek is capable of making it to the fourth round.

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