Men's Tennis Highlights: Dead Heat on a Merry-Go-Round!

If you slept through the first week of the men’s tennis season—or if you momentarily nodded off—then you missed some terrific tricky sleight-of-hand momentum swings and seismic shifts as the week unfolded and players rose and fell.

For example, if you blinked, you probably missed Novak Djokovic’s humble-pie exit from Brisbane—where Ernests Gulbis kindly showed him the door...and ushered him out into the cold!

Luckily, the organizers of the Medibank International in Sydney offered Djokovic entrance into their tournament beginning on Jan. 11, 2009. Otherwise he would have been shut out of any extended active play prior to the start of the Australian Open. Opinion is that he needs the practice.

Unfortunately for Gulbis, he could not hold it together and he lost the next round to Paul Henri Mathieu. Mathieu is still alive after upending Kei Nishikori, one of the new, hot players on tour. 

Speaking of hot, Fernando Verdasco also lives to fight another day and will meet Mathieu in the semifinals. On the other side of the draw, No. 2 seed Jo Wilfried Tsonga awaits Richard Gasquet while Radek Stepanek faces off against Robin Soderling. 

Winners of these two contests will also meet in the semifinals in Brisbane. 

You have to give the nod to Tsonga in this contest—he should defeat Gasquet whose record has been a bit shaky of late. Tsonga is capable of engineering a win over either Soderling or Stepanek. Both these guys, however, can step it up and upset anyone. 

According to seeding, Verdasco should meet Tsonga in the final.

In Chennai, gone, too, is Nikolay Davydenko, who withdrew due to an inflammation of his left heel. He was seeded No. 1. No. 2 seed Stanislav Wawrinka lost his first-round match.   

Chennai is in shambles if you look at the top seeds. As players head into quarterfinal action, Lukas Douhy, a qualifier, faces Marcel Granollers seeded No. 8; Marin Cilic, number three, faces Janko Tipsarevic seeded No. 7. 

Also Ivo Karlovic must defeat Somdev Dewarman a qualifier who sent Carlos Moya packing  while Ranier Schuettler, the No. 5 seed, must face Bjorn Phau.

Karlovic and Cilic should reach the finals in Chennai...Not exactly household names in the tennis world.

The piece de resistance of the week is the action in Doha, where three of the four tops seeds were in action. Two of them still are—Nadal bowed out after facing the very untraditional Gael Monfils, whose game is always unpredictable and uncanny. 

His athleticism is supreme—there is nothing he cannot reach. Sometimes his mental powers seem lacking as he strives to be entertaining rather than effective. Nonetheless, Nadal is history in Doha.

Friday the game of the week will match Roger Federer against Andy Murray in one semifinal, as Gael Monfils takes on Andy Roddick in the other 

In their last two matches, Murray has managed to take Federer out. The last was in the exhibition match at Abu Dhabi, when Murray defeated both Federer and Rafael Nadal on his way to winning the tournament.

But this is for points and seeding and for a chance to land in the final of this prestigious tournament. Both Murray and Federer will take this one seriously. Federer needs to establish some degree of supremacy over Murray, the up-and-comer.

Murray needs to continue his dominance in order to cement his confidence going into the Australian Open. One thing for sure, it should the match of the week. It is unfortunate that it is not the final. 

Whoever wins this one will face either Monfils or Roddick, both of whom are playing well this week. But either Murray or Federer would be favored to win the final.

Winning the tournament for Federer would mean securing his number two ranking going into the Australian Opening. But, what exactly does that mean? It just means that he would not face Nadal earlier than the final. Facing Nadal might be better than facing either Murray or Djokovic in the semifinals.

At this point, Federer is not concerned with the ranking. He will be as the clay season advances. On hard courts, it really doesn’t matter that much. The real pressure will be on Murray in this semifinal contest. 

The match should stretch both players and excite tennis fans. There is much left to be decided as week one winds down to an appetizing final menu of appealing championship contests...and this is just the first week!

Post Script: Gasquet defeated Tsonga, 1-6, 6-4, 6-2; Murray defeated Federer, 6-7, 6-2, 6-2; Roddick defeated Monfils, 7-6, 3-6, 6-3; and Som Dev Varman defeated Karlovic, 7-6, 6-4...not a good day for this prognosticator!