Posted by Peter Bodo, TENNIS.com
The lights are off and the door is locked, but even as tennis slumbers through its brief offseason, you can pick up distant rumblings for 2007 if you stick your head on the tracks and touch your ear to the rail. Herewith, my so-called educated guess on the dominant themes that will emerge in the early part of next year, in ascending order of importance:
5. Will Rafael Nadal establish himself as an all-court Grand Slam event winner? The Spanish Jet Boy missed the Australian Open last year. He got to the Wimbledon final on grass, but had a so-so U.S. Open and went into a tailspin in the late, indoor season. Sure, he tagged Roger Federer a couple of times early in the hard-court season, but a lot of people felt Nadal had a gimme draw at Wimbledon (where he was a finalist, losing to Federer). The jury is still out on whether or not Nadal is a player for all seasons -- and surfaces.
4. Will the resurgence of Andy Roddick in late 2006 carry over? With Jimmy Connors as his coach, Andy made a serious course correction late last summer and appears poised to challenge Federer and Nadal again (and don't forget the wild card, Marat Safin). They say the surface at the Australian Open will be faster this year, which can only help Roddick's cause.
3. Who's the toughest of the young guns? There's a passel of eager young studs poised to challenge the Grand Slam-grade champions. The five most promising: Tomas Berdych, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Gael Monfils and Richard Gasquet. Which one -- if any -- will step up and pull ahead of the pack?
2. Wither Williamses? There's a now-or-never sense about the future of Venus and Serena as Grand Slam contenders. Venus Williams has pulled out of the Hopman Cup, a low-key Australian mixed-doubles warmup event for the year's first Grand Slam. The subtext is that the jury is still out on her participation in the Australian Open. Meanwhile, Andy Roddick recently told me that he expects big things (and we're not talking about the junk in the trunk) out of Serena in '07.
1. Can the Federer Express be derailed? OK, it's an obvious question, but when you're coming off a year like Federer had in 2006, it looms as the dominant issue in men's tennis. This could be a significant year in Federer's drive to establish himself as the GOAT (Greatest of All Time), because every player hits a wall at some point (remember, John McEnroe won all his majors in a five-year period). Bottom line: domination can end as quickly as it began, and right now Federer, with nine majors, is still five behind Pete Sampras' record 14.
Send in a question for Peter Bodo's next chat, Wednesday, Jan. 3 at 1 p.m.
