Tournament Previews:

The beginning of the U.S. Open series, and the fall of the Hamburg tournament.

Clay vs. hard-court, dirt vs. asphalt.

Take your pick this week on Tour has a little something for everyone.

It was a little over a year ago that the Hamburg Masters 1000 (Masters Series at the time) was a pivotal point during the clay-court season. The world's best would descend upon Germany in order to iron out the final kinks heading into Roland Garros.

That will be no more.

With the addition of the Madrid Masters, Hamburg has been relegated to a 500-point event. In reality, the event becomes irreverent in the eyes of elite. There will be no Roger Federers, Rafael Nadals (defending champ), or Novak Djokovics in attendance this year—maybe never again.

The show must go on, and tournament director Michael Stich has even volunteered to come out of retirement in order to raise the grandeur of the event. He will be playing doubles with up-and-coming German Mischa Zverev.

Talk about committed to the cause!

Moving on to the Indianapolis Tennis Championships and the start of the U.S. Open series. . .

Only the bare and essentials will be present at this event, with top seed Andy Roddick pulling out due to a lingering hip flexor injury. Roddick’s status is week-to-week with Washington D.C. being a reasonable return date.

Don’t worry Roddick fans, he will keep you connected via Twitter.

What, you mean you’re not one of the 80,000 fans?

Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this week's fields, a final mention must go out to the truly troubling question mark that is the ATP World Tour and their sanctioning of clay events leading up the final hard-court slam of the year.

But that is tennis, and there is nothing new to this problem.

At any rate, let’s take a look at the competitors and draw breakdowns for Indianapolis and Hamburg, Germany.

Indianapolis Tennis Championships—Indianapolis, U.S.A.

With no top 20 player present in Indianapolis this week, an opportune moment awaits each and every one of the 32 players present.

This year's field will be led by top seed Dmitry Tursunov, who will be looking to advance to his third final in as many years. Dmitry defeated Canadian Frank Dancevic in the ‘07 final, and lost to defending champ Gilles Simon in 2008.

Tursunov will be joined by second seed Dudi Sela, third seed Sam Querrey, and fourth seed Igor Kunitsyn.

Other notable players in the draw will include: recent Newport winner Rajeev Ram, ‘07 finalist Frank Dancevic, and the flaky but still dangerous Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

Top Half:

The top seeded Russian will get a taste of his own medicine right out of the gates when he takes on big-hitter Micheal Berrer of Germany. Berrer possesses a huge serve and is perhaps one of the most solidly built players on tour.

Tursunov does move a tad better than Berrer and should move on.

Round two could bring forward another serving challenge, this time in the form of Taylor Dent. The wild card recipient has been working diligently to regain the form he had prior to his back injury.

Dent could upset Tursunov in round two, though his fitness is still a big question mark.

Frank Danceivc or fifth seed Benjamin Becker could provide stiff resistance for Dmitry in the quarterfinals. Dancevic had the tournament of his life in Indy in ‘07, defeating Andy Roddick along the way.

The finals effort was the Canadian's maiden tour final. After grass-courts, Dancevic's preference of surface would be the asphalt. Too bad Tursunov has owned him in recent times.

The semifinals could bring forth an array of difficult opponents for the Russian. Third seeded Sam Querrey seems to have finally found his bearings after reaching the finals in Newport last week.

Querrey has a great game for the deco-turf and could pose a threat for many top players in the coming weeks.

Rajeev Ram may be another name to watch out for this week. The 25-year-old Colorado native is coming in hot and has the serving prowess to support his cause.

Ram faces American up-and-comer Devin Britton in round one. (Ram was a first round winner over Britton in Sunday’s lone first round encounter).

The mystery of Ernests Gulbis returns to Indy this week—will his hexed slump finally subside on the hard-courts?

Unlikely.

Gublis is perpetually falling into the category of: could win everything, not sure why it doesn’t happen.

With Tursunov’s record at the event being stellar, it is hard to bet against him. Look for Querrey or perhaps Ram to continue some steam, with the Russian holding all the bullets to his destiny.

Pick: Tursunov

Bottom Half:

The absence of many of the game's elite means that Dudi, yes Dudi Sela is your tournament second seed. No offense to Dudi here, the guy has been playing rock solid as of late.

Making the fourth round of Wimbledon and aiding Israel to their first ever Davis Cup semifinal is no joke. Accolades many players would die for.

But to be honest, when fans or pundits of the game are looking forward to an event, especially one which is supposed to commence the beginning of the U.S. Open Series, Dudi Sela’s name does not exactly light up the sky with excitement.

Nevertheless, Sela is No. 30 in the world and does deserve his due as the tournament's second seed.

The Israeli will begin his Indy campaign against tour veteran Vince “All Four Slams” Spadea. Never one to be shy on expression, Spadea should be prepared for a short week in the main draw.

A long week of practice courts.

Round two should provide little resistance for Sela, with either Flavo Cipolla or a qualifier on deck.

Talk about a good draw.

The quarterfinals would continue to display the cupcake draw for the Israeli with sixth seed Yen-Hsun Lu, Eduardo Schwank, and Robby Ginepri on deck.

Not exactly players who have been knocking them dead lately. Ginepri may catch fire here, but the on-going recovery from appendicitis is evident.

Final four action may provide Sela’s greatest challenge toward the finals with the likes of: fourth seed Igor Kunitysn, Marcos Baghadtis, John Isner, and eighth seed Denis Istomin.

All in all, a draw led by Sela suddenly appears worthy of domination by his 5′7″ frame. Look for Josselin Ouanna or John Isner to cause an upset or two along the way.

Pick: Sela, dark-horse: Isner

International German Open—Hamburg, Germany

When dissecting both draws this week on the ATP World Tour, it can be concluded that players chase points. With Hamburg providing double the points of Indianapolis, the field in Germany is significantly stronger than in the States.

This year's downgraded, but still formidable Hamburg draw will include: Gilles Simon as the tournament top seed, followed by second seed Fernando Verdasco, third seed Nikolay Davydenko, and fourth seed Robin Soderling.

Other notables in the draw will include: Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, David Ferrer, and Tommy Robredo.

Not a bad field by any means.

A few comments before we proceed.

First, Verdasco is making a grave decision by continuing to play these European clay events instead of resting in body and mind. His game requires full tilt commitment, and if he is off just a touch, the walls can come crashing down.

Secondly, Frenchman Gilles Simon has also displayed poor judgment by participating in Germany, being the defending Indianapolis champ. Simon is a far better hard-court player and started his rise to prominence last year in Indy.

Beware of an early departure for the Frenchman in Hamburg.

Perhaps ranking points are not the only entity which drive the game's best to a tennis tournament.

Can anyone say appearance fees?

Top Half:

Luckily for Simon his early rounds in Hamburg will provide minimal adversity. A bye in round one will send the Frenchman toward a second round showdown with either Daniel Brands or a qualifier.

For those of you who have not seen Brands play, think of Ivo Karlovic minus 15 aces per match.

The third round would likely bring forward the challenge of countryman Paul-Henri Mathieu. Mathieu has endured his own struggles in 2009, but does possess a better clay game than Simon.

Quarterfinal action could bring forth the challenge of Stan Wawrinka or Viktor Troicki for Simon to deal with. Wawrinka thrives on clay and would be the favorite against Simon if that encounter took place.

Troicki prefers the hard-courts but does have an ace or two up his sleeve.

Coming in hot from Swedish success, Robin Soderling will be a hard fire to put out in Germany. The powerful Swede has all the necessary ability to defuse Simon—confidence is the greatest unseen weapon.

Philipp Kohlschreiber, Nicolas Almagro, Jurgen Melzer, and Fabio Fognini also lurk in this section. A section Simon will need horseshoes to survive in.

All in all, a scheduling blunder on Simon’s part will cause him much more than ranking points and money.

The priceless component of confidence will also diminish further after this week.

Pick: Wawrinka

Bottom Half:

Just like the old days, the ATP World Tour can find comfort in having one of its premier and hard working players once again: Nikolay Davydenko.

The first stages of 2009 provided little to no action for the Russian; a bum ankle and various foot injuries to blame. With a newfound bill of health, Nikolay is ready for the weekly grind.

The more he plays, the better he plays.

The second seed will also receive a first round bye. Round two would bring forth either Philipp Petzchner or Frenchman Florent Serra.

Should be easy pickings for the Russian.

Round three could be an interesting affair with recent Stuttgart winner Jeremy Chardy. The flamboyant Frenchman is coming off a stellar week in Sweden, but will fatigue send him packing early?

Chardy possesses the fire power to up end Davydenko—two weeks of strong tennis by the youngster will be tough.

Quarterfinal action could feature the mechanical strokes of Igor Andreev or the in form efforts of Victor Hanescu. Both players excel on the dirt; Andreev is the fresher of the two.

David Ferrer and Mischa Zverev could make some in-roads toward a semifinal meeting with the Davydenko. Ferrer is due for a breakout performance, and Zverev has been hot of late.

All in all, Nikolay seems back to his old self, except with the asterisks of everyone around him improving a great deal. A few of his challenges along the way will be recovering from DC duty and events last week.

David Ferrer is not one of those players.

Pick: Ferrer

Please check back daily, I will have continuing daily coverage from Indianapolis, U.S.A. and Hamburg, Germany.

Cheers.