Tennis, 2009: Let the Games Begin!

At last it begins. Tennis pros have enjoyed a brief respite from the blitzkrieg scheduling dictated by ATP and are once again back at it in Doha, Qatar; Chennai, India; and Brisbane, Australia starting Monday.  

The top men are in action after a brief skirmish at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi, where Andy Murray emerged the winner after upending both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal over the New Year holiday, with the final on Saturday.

This tournament presented a tasty appetizer for hungry tennis fans with the many of the top-ranked players in action.

When we left off last season, Novak Djokovic took the year end ATP Masters Championship tournament in Shanghai and closed to within 10 points of Roger Federer for the No. 2 spot. 

They remain 10 points apart as action begins on Monday. That, as they say, is within spitting distance. 

With 6,675 points, Nadal ranks 1,370 points ahead of second place Federer. Neither Federer nor Novak Djokovic defend points in this first official contest of the season.   

Novak Djokovic is slated to meet an ever-improving Latvian Ernests Gulbis in an opening round contest in Brisbane—a very tough draw for Novak. If he should survive Gulbis, he could potentially look forward to meeting Tomas Berdych in the quarters and perhaps Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the finals. 

But there are no easy contests in Brisbane, where Tsonga might meet Marcos Bagdatis in the second round, with Richard Gasquet a potential quarter-final matchup.

In Chennai, India, No. 5 ranked Nikolay Davydenko is the No. 1 seed, with Stanislav Wawrinka seeded as No. 2. Other top-ranked players include Marin Cilic, Ivo Karlovic, and Carlos Moya.

But the eyes of the tennis world will be glued on the Doha tournament, where Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer, Andy Murray, and Andy Roddick bring their considerable talent to the court of kings. Potentially, the draw pits Federer against Murray in one semifinal and  Roddick vs. Nadal in the other. 

In an interesting opening-round match, Nadal must face the entertaining Fabrice Santoro, who has been a staple on tour for years and whose retirement is considered imminent. The enigmatic Santoro is always capable of making any player’s life miserable, although, of late, some of his vaunted magic seems to be fading.

Roger Federer will face Potito Starace from Italy in the first round. They have met three times on clay, and Roger has won each of these contests. Federer would naturally be given the nod in this early-round contest. Should the seeding hold, Federer would meet Phillipp Kohlschrieber in the quarterfinals.

If Rafael Nadal gets past Santoro, he would meet Gael Monfils, one the rising French stars, in the quarterfinals. 

Mikhail Youzhny, Viktor Troicki, and Igor Andreev are all in Roddick’s quarter of the draw, and they each are capable of surprising higher-ranked opponents. Murray has no apparent obstacles on his path to the semis, with the exception of Dmitry Tursunov in the quarters—although Tursunov has not been much of a factor of late.

These three tournaments as well as the Heineken Open in New Zealand and the Medibank International Tournament in Sydney plus the AAMI Classic at Kooyong the following week—all serve as tune ups to the first grand slam of the season–the Australian Open to be held in Melbourne from Jan. 19, 2009–Feb. 1, 2009.

The Australian Open is for all the marbles with each of the top four zeroing in on winning the first grand slam of the season. It is a critical crown for each in terms of their outlook on 2009.

For Nadal, it would relieve him of the increasing difficult hurdle of winning a slam on a hard court surface.  Of the four top players, Nadal is probably the poorest on hard courts—with Djokovic and Murray becoming increasingly better with each passing season. 

Like Borg, Nadal has failed to win on this surface. It would also cement his ranking heading into his favorite clay court season and lessen the pressure to win again at Wimbledon.

Federer needs to win the Australian to alleviate media pressure and secure his ranking as one of the top two. It would pull him equal with Pete Sampras with 14 grand slam titles and make Wimbledon or the U.S. Open preferred venues to capture that 15th slam and secure the record.

Unlike 2008, fans will not be agonizing over each loss by Federer, as he slowly lost his ranking. They will, instead, be waiting for him to fulfill his long-standing promise to be the best ever to play the game…

Novak Djokovic is the defending Australian Open Champion. It is imperative that he win in order to take over the No. 2 spot and re-establish himself as a factor in the rankings race. 

He won his first grand slam here last year and he definitely needs to win another to continue to be relevant as 2009 advances. He has momentum after winning the ATP Championship.

No one has more at stake than Andy Murray, who is ready to make his move to the top. If he is going to establish his credentials early, he needs to do it on hard courts and he needs to break his Australian open jinx. 

Last year he was taken out in the first round by Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who went on to play in the finals against Djokovic. Murray is further back in points and has more ground to make up. He also needs to win his first major and hard courts should be his preferred surface.

Four men have legitimate hopes to become the No. 1 player. 2009 promises to be exciting, intense, and intriguing. The battle could wage on all year. If we are lucky—it will take exactly that long!