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  • Ferrer's return to form is good for the game

    4/21/08 12:37 AM | David Cox
    - The first few events of the clay court season are rarely a reliable indicator for what is to come especially with the likes of Nadal, Djokovic and Nalbandian yet to enter the fray. Last year’s winners of Valencia and Houston (Almagro and Karlovic) didn’t make it past round 2 in Paris.

    However it’s good for the competitiveness of the major clay court titles (monopolised over the past 3 years by the force that is Rafael Nadal) that David Ferrer is back in business. Since the Australian Open, the world no 5 has been out of sorts and looked in danger of losing his place among the elite but this week’s work will give him a healthy cushion over Andy Roddick at no 6. If you were to draw up a shortlist of the players most likely to challenge Nadal over the next month, Ferrer would be near the top, along with Federer, Djokovic and Davydenko. He knows what it takes to topple the Majorcan in a major event having twice dashed his hopes at the US Open and Nadal has made it clear in past press conferences that he doesn’t relish facing Ferrer’s style of play

    The event also provided a welcome turnaround for Tommy Robredo, Evgeny Korolev and to a lesser extent Marat Safin. Robredo has been made to look rather lightweight over the last few months by some of the tour’s big hitters and among the multitude of Spanish stars at the top of men’s tennis, his name had become rather forgotten. He wasn’t even considered for the Spanish Davis Cup squad despite being ranked 19 in the world ! On this week’s evidence, the durability is returning and he should achieve good results in forthcoming events though his style of play wasn’t to the liking of some fans, who on making the unflattering comparison to the swashbuckling tennis of Nadal, gave his countryman the unflattering moniker of “Boredo.”

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