Ricky Dimon

• Approach Shots: Top players rest as French Open looms

  2010-05-17 19:42:14
  

  “Approach Shots” is Ricky’s weekly look at what’s ahead (or “approaching”) on the ATP Tour. Every Sunday he previews all the tournaments scheduled for the upcoming week.

   

  The French Open is a mere six days away and the 21st installment of the Roger Federer-Rafael Nadal rivalry is just one day old. Needless to say, this week’s proceedings on the ATP Tour will not be garnering many headlines.
  
  Somewhat surprisingly, though, the Open de Nice Cote d’Azur boasts a strong field (especially considering that it is a 250-point event played right before a Grand Slam). At the World Team Cup in Dusseldorf, meanwhile, eight nations are battling for team glory.

   

  Open de Nice Cote d’Azur

   

  Where: Nice, France
  Surface: Clay
  Prize Money: 398,250 Euros
  Points: 250

   

  Top Seed: Robin Soderling
  Defending Champion: inaugural event

   

  Draw Analysis: Robin Soderling, Fernando Verdasco, and Gael Monfils lead the way in a field with which Nice tournament officials must be pleased. Two Top 10 players and the world No. 15 is impressive for event that is not in a favorable spot on the calendar.
  
  Speaking of not favorable, the top-seeded Soderling could not have found much joy in the draw. He drew the toughest potential quarterfinal opponent (sixth-seeded Albert Montanes) and the most difficult potential semifinal opponent (Monfils). The seventh-ranked Swede even has to open with Olivier Rochus in round two.
  
  Verdasco and Monfils should have an easier time advancing out of their respective quarters. The second-seeded Verdasco faces no apparent threats in his section while Monfils’ relatively unimposing path to the semis includes Marco Chiudinelli and then most likely either Potito Starace or No. 8 seed Lukasz Kubot.
  
  A tough third quarter of the bracket features Thomaz Bellucci, Marcos Baghdatis, Mario Ancic, Arnaud Clement, and Leonardo Mayer. Baghdatis and Ancic have to square off in round one, so Bellucci is a considerable favorite to reach the last four.

   

  First-Round Upset Alert: (WC) Mario Ancic over Marcos Baghdatis. Ancic leads the head-to-head series 4-1, but this will be their first clay-court encounter. While that would seem to favor Baghdatis, the Cypriot was utterly awful on the slow stuff until this season. He reached the Munich semis and took David Ferrer to 7-5 in the third at the Madrid Masters (nothing spectacular, but much better than his previous clay-court results).
  
  Ancic is still struggling in his return from all kinds of injuries and sickness, but he cannot be counted out. The underdog Croat probably won’t have enough to pull out a win, but it’s possible if he serves extremely well.

   

  Hot: Fernando Verdasco, Albert Montanes

   

  Cold: Marco Chiudinelli, Steve Darcis, Andreas Seppi, Florent Serra

   

  Semifinal Predictions: Gael Monfils over Albert Montanes and Thomaz Bellucci over Fernando Verdasco

   

  Final Prediction: Monfils over Bellucci

   

  World Team Cup
  

   

  Where: Dusseldorf, Germany
  Surface: Clay
  Defending Champion: Serbia

   

  Format and Draw Analysis: Eight countries are divided into two groups of four for round-robin play. Each team plays the three other teams in its group, with the winner advancing to Saturday's championship. The matches are best two out of three, with two singles clashes followed by a doubles contest. At the end of round-robin play, the countries with the best record in their respective group after three matches move on to the final. If there is a tie in overall match record, the first tiebreaker is individual matches (for example, winning 3-0 is more advantageous than winning 2-1), followed by number of sets won.
  
  Blue Group: France, Germany, Argentina, Serbia
  
  Red Group: United States, Australia, Czech Republic, Spain
  
  France: Jeremy Chardy, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Nicolas Mahut
  Germany: Philipp Kohlschreiber, Florian Mayer, Andreas Beck, Christopher Kas
  Argentina: Juan Monaco, Horacio Zeballos, Eduardo Schwank, Diego Veronelli
  Serbia: Viktor Troicki, Nenad Zimonjic, Filip Krajinovic, Dusan Lajovic
  
  United States: John Isner, Sam Querrey, Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan
  Australia: Lleyton Hewitt, Peter Luczak, Paul Hanley, Carsten Ball
  Czech Republic: Tomas Berdych, Jan Hajek, Lukas Dlouhy
  Spain: Nicolas Almagro, Daniel Gimeno-Traver, Marc Lopez
  
  Serbia is the defending champion, but Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic are absent so it does not look like there will be a repeat performance. On clay, Monaco and Zeballos will be favored to win all of their singles matches and Monaco is a surprisingly good doubles player, as well. In the other group, the Americans have by far the most talent top to bottom. The surface could neutralize their advantages, but they should still be able to advance.

   

  Hot: John Isner, Sam Querrey, Nicolas Almagro

  
  

  Cold: Jeremy Chardy, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Andreas Beck

  
  

  Final Prediction: Argentina over the United States

  
  

  Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!

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