I dont think Bellucci has the mental capacity to make finals outside Brazil yet.

Clay, most dreaded season for me for the last 5 years.

clay..the most beloved surface for me for the past 4 yrs....lollz....goo dcontrast torres..isnt it?? heehe

Zzzz... I wish they would change clay season to carpet season or maybe ice season. Why clay... >.

i wish they had two slams a year on clay...lolz!

Potential surprises:

Casablanca -

Bellucci

Oscar Hernandez - you never know when The King is going to get hot on clay. His draw is decent so he could reach the semifinals, but I don't see him taking out Andreev in the semis; could go further if Andreev gets upset.

Albert Montanes - great on clay. Terrible on every other surface. He could win this entire tournament.

Houston -

Querrey (winning the tournament, as predicted)

Lleyton Hewitt - He is not great on clay, but he is GOOD on clay. That could be good enough to go all the way in a field as weak as Houston. If he gets to play Blake in the semis, he OWNS Blake in the H2H.

Canas or Phau - i bet at least one of them will upset Blake and Fish, respectively

love clay....best season started..rafa's gonna rock...awaitin rolland garros eagerly.....

my favorite part of the season has started...
Ricky,do you really think that Querrey's got what it takes to win a clay court title even though the field is weak?

sister - yes, he made the quarters of a Masters event on clay last season. SHOCKING for an American.

Also I don't understand what you mean by "even though" the field is weak. He has a chance BECAUSE the field is weak. If the field was strong, he wouldn't have much of a chance.

nice topic name.......... rafa's playgraound!!!!!! recently read somewhere that mr nadal puts an average of about 3200 rpm of spin in his every blistering forehand.........imagine that hitting the dirt and nd jumping awkwardly...no surprises that all his oponents make so many unforced errors against him...the ball just shoots up....hitting precised well angled shots gets tougher wid this sort of play from rafa.....taller one's like del potro may do some harm to rafa though

Querrey can play good tennis on clay. Quarters of Monte Carlo last year. He also took a set from Nadal in last years Davis cup semifinal on clay in spain.

Ricky,thanks for the explanation.I was gonna say "even if" instead of "even though" of course.Sorry for the misspelling,I have an exam tomorrow,so my mind is a bit blurred!

Bellucci went out in the first round in straight comfortable sets. I dont understand that guy. Montanes wouldnt be much of a surprise I think as he is one of the strongest guys in casablanca and andreev had not been scintillating so far. Good luck with your exam sister

Wow ricky you got phau right. Another very big call

Phau and Canas! Hope you had a little something on the matches at Unibet.

Americans are just DREADFUL on clay. Nonetheless, nice work by Phau and Canas; they have a good chance to keep moving on.

Adding to the carnage: Querrey withdraws from the tournament prior to his first-round match, replaced by LL Delic who loses to Capdeville.

i dont remember any american except agassi to be really good on clay....actually cant remember any american win rolland garros except for agassi.....sampras was mediocre at clay to say the least.....clay court tournaments are generally won by spaniards or chileans or argentinians generally....america should have more clay courts........lol

Michael Chang won RG too

oh yeah...i forgot...but mr chang also didnt win a lot after that....thanks orion....really a drought of good american clay courters.....no one except these two

vrael and orion - Jim Courier won BACK TO BACK French Open titles!

wow..........now we have three americans.....but still......tennis had so many world no 1's from america...nd only three americans have won french open in recent history....it still is a poor record...lol

Interestingly enough,John Isner is through to quarterfinals in Houston!!!

I dont think tennis is too popular in the US. It is still behind basketball, american rugby, ice hockey.

torres - not sure where you live, but in the US tennis is behind american football, basketball, and baseball. It's WAY ahead of hockey and rugby.

hi ricky....i asked sumthing during miami bt i think u were a bit busy ...np..i wanted to know how heavy andreev's forehand is in comparison to nadal!? rafa's forehand is the heaviest bt igor also hits it with so much spin!

Vamosrafa - you have it correct already. Andreev's has more spin, but Nadal's is heavier. The combo of speed and spin on Nadal's makes it more effective. He also places it better and Andreev has a lot of mishits with his, probably for the very reason that he tries to generate so much spin every time.

But yeah, Andreev's is good and that spin on it is outrageous, but I would take Nadal's FH any day of the week.

Hello.. the title of 'clay.. Nadal's playground' got me thinking back to 1997. Thomas Muster had ruled clay the two years previous. At the begining of 1997 he had finally cracked hard courts winning some big events. I really thought he would go on to completely dominate the season. But sure enough, come clay court season, he started losing to everybody. Santoro, Arazi... Scot Draper!! This was the begining of the end for the man. Now I wonder if the same thing could happen to Nadal, today's ''Iron Man''. I personally doubt it, but the similarities are there to see. Would love your comments.

dalsakr - of course that will happen sometime.

Maybe in 2015. Certainly not in 2009!

it would be a shame if such a great player's career ended so quickly....just hope rickydimon is correct...does nyone really know wat rafa thinks???how long will he go.......i certainly want him to be at his best for atleast 4 years from now

vrael: I think Rafa has planted a number of statements along the way during interviews that he thinks there are more important things in life than winning tennis tournaments. At 22 he has already accepted that there is a time limit and talks about a life after tennis. He doesnt attach any importance to the trappings of fame and clearly yearns to be able to spend more time on his beloved island amongst his family and childhood friends. Having achieved most of his goals (apart from the Grand Slam) I think a lot of us suspect he is already running out of motivaton. I hope I am wrong because he has lit up the world of tennis for the past 4-5 years and we wont see the likes of him again.

ed - don't worry, Nadal isn't close to being finished. He won't stop until he has the all-time Grand Slam record. He might never get there, but if not it won't be for lack of trying.

Ricky, I assume that you are American. Thanks for the new info that you posted about tennis is way ahead of rugby and hockey. To me, American Football is 'American Rugby' because I hate that American calls a sport that is mainly involved with hands, 'football' and call the real football, 'soccer'?

American football is not a sport that is mainly involved with hands. The feet and legs are involved in the majority of the game. I am not a fan of American soccer, only because I never got involved enough to learn the rules and what it was about. Many Americans are that way and do not consider "our" soccer as the same as it is in Europe. I know football and baseball due to 3 brothers, my husband and my son.
Believe me torres9, many know there is a huge difference between European football and American football.

"fan4tennis, if you say kicking a penalty every now and then in American football means feet and legs is involved in MAJORITY of the game than I suggest you take a degree in Thinking." torres9 , 4/11/09 2:07 AM

Your statement only strengthens my point that American football is much difference than European football. You obviously do not know as much as you think you know of how American football is played. I at least admitted I don't know much about even American soccer:
("I am not a fan of American soccer, only because I never got involved enough to learn the rules and what it was about. Many Americans are that way and do not consider "our" soccer as the same as it is in Europe.")

Will you admit to not knowing much about American football??? I am not saying you are uneducated but your interpretation and knowledge is flawed. And I am saying this out of my sincerity to help you.

sorry, accidentally deleted torres9' previous post which was in between the two fan4tennis posts (thought they were identical posts accidentally posted twice before I realized one was quoting the other). Here is torres9 post:

fan4tennis, if you say kicking a penalty every now and then in American football means feet and legs is involved in MAJORITY of the game than I suggest you take a degree in Thinking. And the fact that you say 'AMERICAN SOCCER' has different rules than Europe football just show that you live in a village with internet connection and the only website that you ever visited is tennistalk.com.That is the only possible way that I can think that you can come up with such a stupid comment.
You and vamosrafa need to do something about this. I am not saying you guys are uneducated but your interpretation and knowledge. And I am saying this out of my sincerity to help you guys.

Thank you Ricky. He obviously doesn't understand American football if he says that "kicking a penalty" is part of it.

RickyDimon, 4/10/09 10:50 PM: thanks for the reassurance! It's just that a lot of us are unsettled by what happened at IW and Miami and are nervous he might do a Borg and just walk off the court one day never to return.

fan4tennis, if you are so clever, than can u explain why u said feet and legs are involved in the majority of the game? I doubt you know your own game. All I see is they use hands to tackle, the quarterback use hand to throw the ball, what else? I f you say running means the feet is involved then I might as well say tennis is involved with mainly feet and legs. You really are intellectually challenged unless you prove me otherwise.

I know American football torres! Definitelt more than you and you proved that with your "kicking a penalty" remark. In American football, hands aren't the only part of the body used to tackle. When it is 4th and goal (or inches to a 1st down), many time the player with the ball (as well as his team on the field) uses the strength of his legs to keep moving him forward to get that 1st down. Running is also a huge part of the American football game (the quarterback doesn't always throw the ball).

You seem to have a problem with feet and legs. You say American football is mainly hands. You deride Rafa as for using his strong legs to his advantage (running for any ball, his good footwork). These players of all these sports are ATHLETES!!! They use their entire body!!!! And since you have proven yourself to be intellectually challenged, that includes feet and legs!

Alright it's time for readers to man up and compete against me with some predictions.

Starting with Monte-Carlo, I am picking every match. Round-by-round competitions here (at my blog):

http://rdatp.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/masters-series-monte-c arlo-every-match-round-1/

also filling out the entire Monte Carlo draw:

http://rdatp.wordpress.com/2009/04/11/masters-series-monte-ca rlo-bracket/

or e-mail picks (and/or hate mail!) to ricky.dimon@tennistalk.com and I will post them myself

thnx for the details on the forehands ricky...andreev can also generate around 5000 rpm spin like rafa but as u said ...rafa's forehand is better nd has variety...