Big Three looking to master Madrid
After a brief hiatus, Roger Federer makes his return to tennis at the Madrid Masters, seeking to build on the momentum from his U.S. Open championship. But will an onerous draw hinder his chances? Ravi Ubha breaks down the field.
Tournament: Madrid Masters
Surface: Hard indoors
Prize Money: $3.1 million
Draw: 64
Top seeds: Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray
In the end, it was much ado about nothing.
Here we all were (or many of us were, anyway) thinking Roger Federer might shut it down for the rest of the season after he skipped last week's Stockholm Open and said he didn't know when he would be back. However, it was a quick hiatus, and Federer decided to show up at this week's Madrid Masters.
He has a tough draw.
Like Federer, Rafael Nadal makes his first tournament appearance since the U.S. Open, and he finds himself in the same half as Novak Djokovic, who surely has something to prove, given what happened at Flushing Meadows. There's a return, too, for U.S. No. 2 James Blake.
For those hoping for a Federer-Nadal tussle, well, they've never met in an indoor final.
First Quarter: Familiar faces for Rafa
Nadal's solitary hiccup on his way to the Wimbledon final this year came in the second round, when he was stretched to four tough sets by the still-maturing Ernests Gulbis, who is armed with a monstrous serve and forehand. They will meet at the same stage in Madrid after the 20-year-old Latvian disposed of wily veteran Nicolas Kiefer.
The newly married Mardy Fish, fresh off his quarterfinal appearance in New York and his fine performance in the Davis Cup semifinals against Spain, could battle Nadal if he downs a qualifier in the first round and the listless Richard Gasquet in the second. Fish took a set off Nadal at the U.S. Open.
An early exit at the Vienna indoors last week didn't help Swiss No. 2 Stanislas Wawrinka's chances of landing a berth at the elite Masters Cup, and a potential opener against German Philipp Kohlschreiber is tricky. Kohlschreiber reached the semis in Vienna.
David Ferrer is in danger of missing Shanghai thanks to a major slump, and Spanish Davis Cup teammate Feliciano Lopez, a semifinalist in Vienna, could worsen his woes if they clash in the second round.
Second Quarter: The double Ds
Djokovic has a few dark horses with which to contend.
Without a title since early May, the Serb might start with Russian Dmitry Tursunov. Tursunov, like Gulbis, is blessed with a big serve and a big forehand (although he is erratic), and he won his second title of the season this month in France.
Should he advance, Djokovic will play either the tour's ace leader, Ivo Karlovic, or another hard hitter, Robin Soderling. Soderling made the Stockholm Open final Sunday, yet he rarely beats the top guys.
A fatigued Blake missed the Davis Cup semi and Vienna indoors. The 11th seed begins against either rising Frenchman Gilles Simon or Russian Igor Andreev. Andreev took Federer to five sets in their U.S. Open thriller, then surprisingly struggled on his favorite surface versus Argentina in the Davis Cup semifinals. Blake is a combined 7-0 against the two, defeating Simon twice this summer.
Enigmatic Russian Marat Safin dropped out with a shoulder injury after blowing a big chance to end his three-year title drought Sunday, losing to heavy underdog and countryman Igor Kunitsyn in the Kremlin Cup final. Along the way, Safin disposed of struggling countryman Nikolay Davydenko -- the two could have met in the second round of Madrid.
Prediction: Djokovic
Third Quarter: The two Andys
Blossoming U.S. Open finalist Andy Murray and U.S. No. 1 Andy Roddick are, if the seeds hold, slated to meet in the quarterfinals.
Roddick, coming off a solid Asian swing in which he won the China Open and advanced to the Japan Open semis, has a gentler path.
He commences against either Italian Andreas Seppi or Spaniard Tommy Robredo, two hard-working yet unspectacular baseliners. Chilean 12th-seed Fernando Gonzalez looms in the third round; Roddick's demolition of Gonzalez in the fourth round of the U.S. Open was his eighth victory in 11 head-to-heads.
Nicolas Almagro appears to play with a bit more enthusiasm on clay, and that was validated by his first-round loss to Simone Bolelli early Monday. He could have met Murray in Round 2.
Marin Cilic, sidelined since the U.S. Open due to an inflamed nerve in his face that hampered his eyesight, is a potential third-round opponent for Murray.
In five matches they've completed, Murray leads Roddick 3-2, the winner of each failing to drop a set.
Prediction: Roddick
Federer won't get a chance to ease into proceedings. Radek Stepanek is his challenger in the second round, and the Czech with the big serve and nice-looking game knocked him off at the Rome Masters in the spring.
Fans must be hoping Federer prevails and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga reaches the third round; Federer and Tsonga then would tangle in a mouth-watering duel.
The surging Juan Martin Del Potro should ease into the third round, where he might take on Davis Cup teammate and defending champion David Nalbandian.
Dare we say Nalbandian is finally playing well?
He beat Soderling in Stockholm on Sunday.
And just when you forgot about Tomas Berdych, he goes out and wins the Japan Open, eliminating an unwell Del Potro. A Berdych-Nalbandian second-round match is in the cards.
Prediction: Del Potro
Semifinals
After what happened against Roddick in New York, Djokovic should be on his best behavior against Nadal. In any case, he needs to focus, having lost four of their past five matches. Nadal is the more tired of the pair, so how will that affect the Mallorcan when he's facing stiff competition?
Del Potro enters Madrid with a 29-2 record since August, with Roddick one of his victims in the final of the Countrywide Classic. Don't forget, too, that he blew a host of chances against Murray in the U.S. Open quarterfinals.
Prediction: Djokovic, Del Potro to advance
Final
The last time Djokovic beat Nadal, in the semifinals of the Cincinnati Masters, he produced an error-filled display the next day against Murray.
He'll want to make amends. He'll also want to pick up some momentum this fall after struggling during the same stretch in 2007.
Del Potro obviously has sky-high confidence, so a close one seems likely.
Prediction: Djokovic
Ravi Ubha is a frequent contributor to ESPN.com.
