(Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
Tournament Preview
With the grass-court season alive for one final week, the ATP World Tour brings its show to Newport, RI for one last dance on the green stuff. Those players who have a love affliction with the lawns get one final shot at some grass-court hardware.
With no major players participating in the week long event; most of the top guys will either be prepping for Davis Cup duty, or simply in search of some rest and relaxation before the U.S. Open series begins.
If magicians are your thing, you are in luck, and should head over to Newport asap, with two-time defending champ Fabrice Santoro back in action for what promises to be his “official” last year on tour.
Good old Fabrice will be joined by top seed Mardy Fish; third seed Sam Querrery; and fourth seed Benjamin Becker. Other notable players in the field will include: Canadian Frank Dancevic, who recently made the finals of Eastbourne; Taylor Dent who gained entrance into the event via wild card; and finally Frenchmen Sebastien Grosjean who is killing time before he figures out what he wants to do with the rest of his life.
The the puzzling decision to have this grass-court event on the table after Wimbledon is done and gone, still is a hot debate for many in the tennis community.
Nevertheless, the show must go on.
Let’s now take a look at the top and bottom half’s for this years Champbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, and throw in a few predictions along the way.
Top half
With yet another disappointing Wimbledon for top seed Mardy Fish, the American will hope to find solace with a bandage win in Newport. Mardy certainly has the goods to go all the way this week, with his game showing ever inclination to prosper on the grass.
Mardy will begin his Newport campaign this year against a qualifier. In fact, to a writer's delight, Fish will be facing qualifiers up until the quarterfinal round. Not a bad draw for Mardy.
In the final eight, if Mardy can get by Q1, Q2, Q3, the American could face hard serving Chris Guccione (where the heck has he been?); in-form fellow American, Jesse Levine, or sixth seeded German Philipp Petzschner.
Levine could end up posing the greatest amount of concern for Mardy with his eager off-the-rise game-style holding the current confidence card. Guccione and Petzchner are also formidable grass-court players, with Petzchner possessing a better overall game than Guccione.
Moving along, Mardy’s semifinal draw could bring forth: fourth seed Benjamin Becker; Frank Dancevic; eighth Sergiy Stakhovsky; or Oliver Rochus. Robby Ginepri is also in this section, but it seems as though his recover from appendicitis remains on-going and will need some time to round into form.
Becker will be coming in hot after winning in The Netherlands, and as mentioned Dancevic’s best surface is grass. Oli Rochus is also a neat and tidy grass-court wizard and could give Mardy a tough match if he makes it that far.
After having to watch his buddy Andy Roddick play in the finals of Wimbledon last week, it’s time for some retribution for Fish. It will not be easy, but Fish deals with smaller week long tournaments pretty well, and will do so once again this week.
Pick: Fish (dark-horse: Dancevic)
Bottom half
It’s truly amazing if you think about it. Fabrice Santoro comes into an ATP World Tour event at age 37 and is the defending champ. His court-craft is truly timeless, with one last hopeful act in Newport this week. Never a treat to win a slam, Fabrice just might surprise a lot of tennis fans a pundits once during the event.
Let’s take a look.
Santoro will begin defense of his title in round one against Flavo Cipolla, who by any definition of the word is not a grass-court player. If Fabrice plays solid he should be able to brush Flavo aside in routine fashion.
Round two could bring forth a more daunting challenge for Santoro, in the from of gun-slinger Taylor Dent. The American is still a work in progress, but he did have a fantastic showing earlier his year in Miami, where he took out Robredo and Almagro.
Dent could pose all sorts of problems for Santoro, with his high-flying serve and volley game, coming at all costs. Giving Santoro the bennifit of the doubt, let’s assume that he moves through.
The quarterfinals could bring forth the challenge of either fifth seed Arnaud Clement (who is way past his prime); American Amir Delic (who has a big game, but usually comes up short); and finally Nicolas Mahut (one mean grass-court dude). The Delic/Mahut first rounder could potentially be a great one, with Mahut being the slight mental favorite.
Santoro has more than enough guile to tame either Delic or Mahut; with either player bringing a Taylor Dent type style to each affair.
The semifinals could contain another big server for Fabrice to deal with, in the form of Sam Querrey. The California native has been a bust thus far in 2009; one has to think that a break-out party is coming up soon. It could very well happen here.
Other potential semifinal foes coming Santoro’s way could be either seventh seed Kevin Kim, or Parkash Amritraj from India. Kim is a nice flat hitter, with Amritraj being the defending finalist. The Indian possesses a monster serve, and could definitely make some inroads throughout the week.
All in all, what would a final trip to Newport without a final curtain call for the two-handed slice? With that being said, let’s give Santoro the nod for of a three-peat, and wish him well on the senior tour.
Pick: Santoro (dark-horse: Querrey)
Please check back daily, I will have updates, interviews and insight from all the on-goings from Newport, RI—Champbell’s Hall of Fame Tennis Championships. Enjoy.
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