The Draw is out.

http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2009/422/mds.pdf

According to Tennis Magazine's website, Nadal & Djokovic are scheduled to play Doubles together. The draw for Doubles isn't out yet, but never thought those two would play Doubles together ever. Hmm...

EDITED TO ADD: Evidently one of them had a change of heart because they're not on the Doubles Draw Sheet. Hmm...

Evidently Del Potro has pulled out with his place in the draw going to Bennetau as a Lucky Loser.

With JMDP withdrawing, I hope that we see different finalists that the last few tournaments.

Nice win for Sam...knocking out Andy in straight sets...2 tiebreakers. Nadal still has issues. He will not be completing that career slam this year with the way he's playing.

Nadal must not have gotten the memo that he needs to shorten his matches. 2 hours for a 7-5, 6-2 victory should not be a part of the plan.

Understand your point. But dunno that's the goal for him at this stage of the comeback. He needs match play more than anything now just to get the rhythm and timing back. It happened in the last part of this match, when his shots started to find their targets more and more often. The 7th game of of 2nd Set, when Mathieu served down 1-5, took almost 10 minutes alone since he had to save 3 Match Points. He went ad-out MP down back to ad in, and twice after that Nadal got it back to Match Point before Mathieu eventually saved the game. And this match featured some of the worst line calling in memory. Three or four of the calls were so clearly wrong by the officials you'd have thought it was junior tournament.

This Cincinnati court, according to Federer a few years back, is actually a faster court than the US Open, so it doesn't suit Nadal. That he's done this well on a court that's too fast for his game actually bodes well for him. Since tendinitis is more accurately a condition rather than an injury, rest is the only real RX. More than how long a given match takes, Nadal would be far better off just playing one or two less events a year. There's no reason to play places like Rotterdam after the Australian, and he needs to rethink going three straight weeks on clay from Monte Carlo-Barcelona-Rome. With enough rest between events, the knees are less likely to inflame and sideline him.

YES!!!!!! Thank you Roger for taking out Muzza in straights!!! I was rolling my eyes when you let that 4-1 lead slip away but ya came through for me. Please win your first hard court title since last year's US Open.

Andy

And the brat gets spanked!

Another slow and sub par start finishes Murray. I hope he is more competitive the next time these two get togther.

The hype around Murray as the next best thing is gonna come under a microscope in short order now. Murray's play looks as though he's starting to feel the pressure of what it's like to defend a title. Any player who is, or has, played on the tour who's been asked is on record as saying the most difficult thing to do as a player is defend a title you won the year before. Your ranking can literally depend on the outcome of whether you can defend a title. That kind of pressure makes every swing of your racquet heavier than it ever was. Murray's climb to #2 started last summer, which was an easy climb to make. He'd been out all summer in 2007 because of a popped wrist he sustained in Hamburg that year. So all last summer all he did was add points to his ranking.

But when you have to defend, successfully doing so goes a long way to defining your "presence" in the ATP Locker Room. Sampras has talked about this at length many times. Defending is about proving you're not a fluke - it proves you're the man to beat. When you can successfully defend at a Major then the other guys know you're the real deal. Case in point: Djokovic is extremely talented, but he failed to defend his two best showings in a Major: he didn't get to the US Open Final last year after doing so in 2007; and he failed to defend his Australian Open Title from 2008. That someone as talented as him couldn't do it shows how tough it is. This is what is so extraordinary about Federer & Nadal. Not only successfully defending at the ATP Masters Series Level, but defending at Majors.

And speaking of Djokovic - he played the best tennis he's played in a long while. Beating Nadal last night will go a long way toward erasing the heartbreak from Madrid. He has a chance today too. He's beaten Federer in both of their matches this year. Given how well Federer played against Murray, this one will probably go three tough sets.

The hype around Murray as the next best thing is gonna come under a microscope in short order now. Murray's play looks as though he's starting to feel the pressure of what it's like to defend a title. Any player who is, or has, played on the tour who's been asked is on record as saying the most difficult thing to do as a player is defend a title you won the year before. Your ranking can literally depend on the outcome of whether you can defend a title. That kind of pressure makes every swing of your racquet heavier than it ever was. Murray's climb to #2 started last summer, which was an easy climb to make. He'd been out all summer in 2007 because of a popped wrist he sustained in Hamburg that year. So all last summer all he did was add points to his ranking.

But when you have to defend, successfully doing so goes a long way to defining your "presence" in the ATP Locker Room. Sampras has talked about this at length many times. Defending is about proving you're not a fluke - it proves you're the man to beat. When you can successfully defend at a Major then the other guys know you're the real deal. Case in point: Djokovic is extremely talented, but he failed to defend his two best showings in a Major: he didn't get to the US Open Final last year after doing so in 2007; and he failed to defend his Australian Open Title from 2008. That someone as talented as him couldn't do it shows how tough it is. This is what is so extraordinary about Federer & Nadal. Not only successfully defending at the ATP Masters Series Level, but defending at Majors.

And speaking of Djokovic - he played the best tennis he's played in a long while. Beating Nadal last night will go a long way toward erasing the heartbreak from Madrid. He has a chance today too. He's beaten Federer in both of their matches this year. Given how well Federer played against Murray, this one will probably go three tough sets.

And a double fault on match point. Wow.

Is anyone else amazed at how little Murray and Djokovic have stepped it up in Rafa's absence and comeback? And how little they've challenged the Fed, or played well enough to even get the chance? Neither of them did jack at the FO and while the SF was a new high for Murray at the Big W, it wasn't much of a "breakthrough." He at least won in Canada, but only had to face Del Potro in the final as a player of any real consequence, and that was after Roddick wore him out. Djokey has won only one somewhat decent title this year, way back in February in Dubai, and only one piddly tournament all year since then (yeah, that massively prestigious one in Serbia, where he beat the dreaded Lukasz Kubot in the final )

In fact, other than everyone just seemingly laying down for the Fed to win more, Roddick and Del Potro have seemed to make more strides than the others...but not to the top echelon yet. Murray's ascent to #2 is more of a byproduct of Rafa not being able to defend his points than anything else.

Meh.

Again, I was disappointed with the tennis today. Novak took awhile to heat up today just like Murray did yesterday. The weather was cool, which should have favored him, esp. in 3 sets, but not to be. If he and Andy ( Murray) want it, they will have to take it from Roger. He isn't just going to give it to either of them. Neither Novak or Andy had much spark in their games.

Federer played well and deserved the win. Big wins over Murray and Djoko. Few more bricks off the load he carries....a relaxed, self-confident Federer is well positioned going in to the USO. Amazingly, given where things were at the end of the spring hard court season, Federer looks the best. Obviously that doesn't win the title. But Rafa, Murray, and Djoko each have big questions to answer. Who knows, could be breakthrough time for Del Porto. Or maybe Roddick again.

Pencil Federer in as a big favorite for the USO. He's playing so much sharper than the rest. He made Djokovic look weak and amateur for much of their match on Sunday.

The players I'm rating as second and third contenders are Del Potro and Murray, and I'm losing patience with the latter.

Rafa just seems out of it right now. Lord knows what is really going on with him. On the Tennis Channel's US Open Preview, he makes reference to Ashe being too big and windy. Those are not the words of someone who rates his chances.

I'm glad he's playing tennis again, and will root for him even if he never comes close to his old level. Things can change.

It would be great if Roddick had a run, but he's been playing bridesmaid between Wimbledon and now -- not encouraging.

James Blake seems on a rapid descent amid reports of primadonna wishes for unreasonably high appearance fees. No Blake in New Haven this week.

Hard to tell who could be a spoiler at the USO...no one is on the ascent right now as much as the world #1.

Federer indeed made Djokovic look ordinary. Definitely favored at the Open - which is the only Major where Federer has never lost a Final. He's going for something truly unprecedented. As far as anyone has been able to confirm, no man on the ATP Tour has ever won an event 6 straight years. His dumbfounding loss to Tsonga in Montreal is the only cloud in the Federer sky these days. And last year here he did have that 4th Rounder against Andreev that went 5 Sets. We'll know more when the Draw comes out Thursday night. Aside from the guys who have the game to push him to 4th & 5th Sets, like Berdych -De Potro - Haas - Roddick - Tsonga, he's still done more than anyone else this year.

Until I see Murray actually win a Major, it'll be tough to call him a real threat. Federer took a ton of flack at the Australian for daring to say it was silly to consider Murray the favorite in Melbourne despite the fact he was playing better than anyone going in. But it's proved out that Federer was right. Roger's been around long enough to know that until you win one or two of these, or been a repeat Finalist like Roddick, you gotta walk the walk. Murray played Cincinnati like he's starting to feel the pressure of defending. Every swing of your racquet gets heavier.

Virtually no chance for Nadal to win here, unless the draw opens up with either a rash of upsets or the more favored guys find themselves in some long matches early. What his presence can do is really brutalize either Federer or Murray before the Final if the seedings held. Either of those two will likely beat Nadal in the Semis (less so Murray than Federer) but what'll probably happen is Nadal will take the legs out from under the one who beats him. We probably won't see Nadal's best tennis until the YEC in London, or even Australia next year. Next year should be a better one for him, since he's got nothing but upside in terms of Ranking Points at two Majors he's won.