The Draw is out.

http://rogerscup.com/men/english/PDF/MDS.pdf

Rafa's back, and I really don't know what to expect. Has there been any buzz? I haven't heard a lot, anyway. I hope he's hungry, becuse he's lost a ton of points not defending his two biggest wins from last year, has been out for quite some time, and his least favorite slam is coming up.

Murray must be drooling to get to the Fed in the semis.

It would be nice to see Roddick gain some confidence after his Big W heartbreak and time off. The way he's playing in DC this week it looks like he still has the belief.

The two Quarters that look genuinely tough are Djokovic's - where he has Verdasco, Cilic and Roddick; and Murray's - who has Gonzo, Monfils, Haas (who seems to be having a career year), Karlovic and Davydenko. The other two look fairly trouble free for Federer & Nadal to get to the Quarters. Soderling evidently pulled out of this one too, so Berdych took his spot in the draw - and is seeded to meet Del Potro in the 16's. On paper though, if Murray and Djokovic get through their Quarters, they'll have to expend a lot of energy to do so.

So for the first time since rankings have been kept in the Open Era the Top 8 Seeds have reached the Quarters at an event like this one. Amazing.

The match between Andy R and Novak featured both the new Andy (which is a good thing) and the new Novak (not good). Andy was moving great and hitting the ball with so much more authority off both wings. Novak played like he didn't believe he could win, like the weight of the world was on his shoulders, and like he hated his job (millions of $$ a year to play a game? how very awful). What happened to the hungry, eager, fun-loving Novak who burst onto the scene two years ago? Well, maybe he's still hungry, but eager and fun-loving, definitely not. I heard something about adding Todd Martin to the team as a "consultant," whatever that means (Vajda will still be the coach). Maybe a coaching change would help, but I can't help but shake the feeling that Novak has to put some distance (psychological, not geographic) between himself and his NUTJOB of a father. Novak talks so often about feeling the pressure, which is true of all players, but when you have a father who drives to the local TV station and threatens the broadcaster with physical harm because he wasn't singing Novak's praises enough, that REALLY doesn't help with the pressure.

What the hell happened to Roger? Yeah, JW played well, but come on, when was the last time Fed served for a match twice and still lost? Not surprising was Rafa's loss to DelPo. I'm hoping the 6-1 2nd set resulted from DelPo's strong play or Rafa's rust, not Rafa's bum knee. As solid as Andy R looked today, Andy M is my pick for Sunday.

Was I just hearing things, or are Rafa and Novak really playing doubles together in Cincinnati next week? Novak rarely plays dubs, and when he does it's always with a Serb. Rafa plays a little more often but always with a Spaniard. When did those two get so tight??

The monopoly of Federer and Nadal occupying the top 2 spots in the ATP is over. With Murray now the new #2, how many weeks did Federer and Nadal occupy these two positions?

I didn't get a chance to see the Murray/Tsonga match but did see Andy R and JMDP. What was I saying about the new Andy? <sigh> it seems old habits die hard. In that steamroller of a 2nd set, Andy reverted back to his tendency to loop the forehand too much. Of course, it gave JDMP all sorts of time to get to the ball, which was bouncing right into the tall man's strike zone. Andy, who normally racks up his service games on autopilot, won only 3 of his first 13 service points. Andy flattened it out a bit in the 3rd, but one sloppy service game cost him.

It's Juan Martin's first Masters1000 final tomorrow. He has a chance, sure, but I just don't see him beating Murray quite yet.

PS: Congratulations to Andy M for reaching the number 2 spot. Not sure of the exact number of weeks of the Rog/Rafa duopoly, but it seems like forever.

Since Nadal became #2 on July 25, 2005 - so it's been over 4 years.

Did anyone else watch the match today between Murray/Del Potro?. It was interesting to say the least. Del Potro absolutely needed to win in 2 sets if possible, and he almost did. This match for 2 sets was nail bitingly close. Del Potro has got one lethal weapon in those forehand bombs. It gave Murray fits for the better part of this match, then Del Potro ran totally out of gas at the end of the 2nd set, that Murray won, and it was all downhill from there. Will be interesting to see how he deals with the heat in Cinncinatti this next week.