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  • Barcelona Preview: First Half of the Draw

    4/28/08 5:25 AM | Ricky Dimon
    - With Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic taking a week off, Monte-Carlo champion Rafael Nadal appears to be uncontested in the entire Barcelona draw, much less his half of it. James Blake and Nicolas Almagro are the biggest threats, so Nadal should have it easy.

    The clay-court season, often a two-month coronation of Rafael Nadal, started off in typical fashion last week as Nadal won the Master Series Monte-Carlo without dropping a single set. There does not appear to be anything in the way of the Nadal freight train this week in Barcelona, either. Both Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic are resting up for the bigger events leading up to the French Open.

    As if that isn’t enough, the draw ceremony loaded the second half—the side opposite Nadal—with almost all of the serious contenders. If the Open Sabadell Atlantico was taking place on hard courts, Nadal would have tough competition en route to the final, but since it’s on clay, the other side is much more formidable. It’s going to be week-long slugfest between the likes of David Nalbandian, David Ferrer Tommy Robredo, Guillermo Canas, and Fernando Verdasco for the right to play Nadal (one can only assume) in the final. Even dangerous lesser-known clay court specialists like Oscar Hernandez and Houston champion Marcel Granollers loom large in that half of the draw.

    As for Nadal’s side, well, there are not a lot of clay-court aficionados of which to speak. James Blake and Andy Murray are the top seeds in the bottom part of this section. They are talented, but often implode on the clay. Spaniards Carlos Moya and Feliciano Lopez can both get things done on the slow stuff, but both are slumping. Juan Carlos Ferrero would be included in that same category, but he just withdrew and was replaced by Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo (yes, the same Ramirez Hidalgo who led Federer 5-1 in the third set last week). Nadal could get Lopez in the third round and Moya in the quarters. A loss to either one of those guys would be an upset of epic, unfathomable proportions.

    Chances are that Nadal won’t even be remotely tested until the semifinals. No. 10 seed Nicolas Almagro is a machine on clay—especially this season—and has to be considered the favorite to become Nadal’s opponent at that point in the tournament.

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