Up and at 'Em!

You may relish what seems like a short break after the Australian Open, but there's really no time to relax for the players, is there? And especially for those who didn't make it quite as far as they would have liked in Melbourne, this first week of action is a huge opportunity to redeem themselves. So it's no surprise so many got right back to work even after all the excitement we saw Down Under.

A slew of clay court specialists made their way to the inaugural Ecuador Open in Quito with Feliciano Lopez, who slunk his way through the early rounds at the Aussie, taking the top seed. But a couple others didn't have quite as much luck as the Spaniard the last few weeks and will want to rebound -- Martin Klizan fell one match short of his mini-Cinderella run from last year and retired in the fourth set of his second round. He'll open today against Daniel Gimeno-Traver, a man who's coming off a Challenger's title in Colombia. The Slovakian lost the pair's only previous meeting, but they've never faced off at the ATP level so things could be much different this time. And last year's young standout Dusan Lajovic came so close to a first round win in Melbourne this year but ultimately lost to one-time giant-killer Sergiy Stakhovsky in their three and a half hour match. The Serb opened his South American campaign with a win over little-known Italian Luca Vanni and gets a slight pass next facing qualifier Nicolas Jarry, #219 in the world. While his road will certainly get tougher after that, the twenty-four year old might just seize the chance to make a deep run here.

The field is a little more stacked over in Zagreb where so far Andreas Seppi has successfully followed up with his monster Melbourne upset, surviving a squeaker versus Robin Haase in his opener, and comeback kid Viktor Troicki, who fell short of my expectations for him in Australia, toughed out a challenge from qualifier Illya Marchenko in his first round. But perhaps a bit more interesting will be the fortunes of former world #8 Mikhail Youzhny, who didn't put up much of a fight at all against Rafael Nadal Down Under. But he's finally won his first two matches of the year this week, earlier today trouncing Stakhovsky in straight sets to make the quarters. And Marcos Baghdatis, who proved he's not out of the mix yet, getting to the final in Happy Valley and stunning David Goffin at the Open, took Grigor Dimitrov to five sets in their third round. He'll face off against one of my Aussie dark horses, Ivo Karlovic, this afternoon and if he can manage an upset over the top seed, there's no reason he can't go even farther.

The stars are shining even brighter in Montpellier where homegrown Gael Monfils, a shocker last year both in the Davis Cup final and the U.S. Open quarters, is looking to redeem himself from a second-round exit in Melbourne at the hands of Jerzy Janowicz. The Pole on the other hand, who lost immediately after beating the Frenchman, survived six match points in his opener this week, just eking out the win over a talented Dustin Brown. The fifth seed at the Open Sud sets up a meeting against another man looking for resurrection, Benoit Paire, but if he can pass the test he might be back on the right track. But the most intriguing match might just be a battle between the generations. Two-time Major semifinalist Richard Gasquet got two easy wins in Australia before receiving a similar drubbing from big-serving Kevin Anderson in the first round, while twenty-year-old Lucas Pouille lost a squeaker to Monfils in his opener. Still looking to crack the top hundred, he is the clear underdog, but if he puts up a fight we could see more than a few sparks fly here.

All of these guys got a pretty early wake up call at the Australian Open, and it didn't take them long to get right back to work. Hopefully a quick turnaround will keep them wide awake for the rest of the year -- after all, it's still so early in the season that anything can happen.

On the Upswing

Tennis is a sport of ups and downs, one in which players can peak and fall quicker than cresting tides. But it's often how players bounce back from their stretches in the doldrums that can define their careers, and this weekend's champions proved they have what it takes to keep themselves at the top of the game for some time to come.

Fabio Fognini hadn't exactly fallen off the radar -- the third seed in Viña Del Mar came to the tournament at his then-highest ranking of #15 in the world. But since claiming his first two career titles last summer, he's gone a little radio silent since -- he retired from his opening round in Chennai and was drubbed by Novak Djokovic at the Australian Open. Back on the Chilean clay, though, he seemed to find his footing. He stayed tough against always tricky Jeremy Chardy and withstood a comeback from dirt-specialist Nicolas Almagro, playing his first match since October, in the semis. Meanwhile Leonardo Mayer, barely ranked in the top hundred at the time, survived a tight second round against Tommy Robredo and came back again against Daniel Gimeno-Traver in the quarters to make his first career final. But Fognini was too strong in the end, dropping just four points on his first serve and breaking his opponent three times in thirteen chances. In under ninety minutes the Italian had claimed the title, establishing himself as a real threat once the clay season gets in full swing. Whether he has what it takes to unseat the greats is yet to be seen, but he sure has shown he can put up a fight.

The comeback in Zagreb was a little more obvious -- former top-ten player Marin Cilic had fallen deep into double digits after an anti-doping violation last year forced him into a six-month hiatus, and though he put up quite a fight in Melbourne, he hadn't scored any notable wins since his return. The three-time champion in Croatia was granted just a fifth seed in his homeland, and with second seeded Mikhail Youzhny dropping his opener he only faced one opponent ranked inside the top hundred on his road to the final. In the draw's top half, not-to-be-forgotten Tommy Haas, still skirting the top ten even though he's in his mid-thirties, came back twice against both Benjamin Becker and Daniel Evans to reach the championship match. The top seed, who'd come out the winner in the pair's long Wimbledon slug-fest five years ago, might have been spent by the time he got to Sunday's final, though -- the strong-serving Croat fired off ten aces to Tommy's two and capitalized on any opportunity he could on the German's parlay. Cilic was able to close out the match in straight sets, adding trophy #10 to his mantle, but maybe more importantly proving he was back with quite a vengeance.

Over in Montpellier Gael Monfils' return to the podium marked the end of an even longer drought. The 2010 champion at the Open Sud de France -- back when the even was held in the fall -- skipped much of the 2012 season with injury and made spotty returns to the fray last year. Though he won a Challenger event in wine country and made the final in Nice, he couldn't quite seal the deal -- and earlier this year in Doha he failed to keep his Qatar record against Rafael Nadal spotless. He did get things back on track this past week though -- as the fifty seed he survived a couple scares on his way to the final where he met countryman Richard Gasquet on Sunday. But the top seed had just eked out a win over big-serving Jerzy Janowicz and couldn't keep up in the championship match. Here too Monfils out-aced his opponent, lost just two points on first serve and allowed not a single break point. In another quick, straight-set, sub-ninety minute match, the underdog again came out on top, claiming his first crown in over two years.

Whether these guys can continue their momentum remains to be seen, of course, but each faced and overcame some big challenges over the last week -- and maybe over a much longer time frame than that. And if they can keep their confidence high, I wouldn't be surprised to see them claim even bigger prizes -- and scalps -- in the months to come. After all, there's still no telling when their tide might start to ebb, so they'd better strike while they've got the best opportunity.

Overcoming the Withdrawal

Like many tennis fans this week and, frankly, every week after a Grand Slam ends, I find myself at a loss now that the trophies have been presented. After two weeks of unending surprises, amazing breakthroughs, and heart-pounding displays of mental and physical strength, I'm not entirely sure what to do with myself these days. But not all players lasted long enough to make an impact Down Under, and some who've been in the doldrums for quite some time are right back in action this week trying to return to the top.

In Montpellier a handful of top twenty players are contesting the second Open Sud de France, but perhaps second seeded Gilles Simon has the most to prove. Since falling out of the top fifty a little more than a year ago, the Frenchman has been working his way back into the upper echelons of the sport. He had been on the comeback trail, but struggled through ten sets in Melbourne, and only won one match -- the second straight year he's fallen so early at the Australian Open. He's already had a comfortable win over Flavio Cipolla today and faces world #209 Guillaume Rufin in the quarters, so he's off to a better start this week. And if he can make an even deeper push here, and erase the memory of the last fortnight-plus, he could finally make that move back into the top ten, a level he hasn't seen since late 2009.

Jurgen Melzer suffered his fall from grace a little more recently, having peaked at #8 in the world just last April. But after failing to defend points at the French Open, falling after just one match win at every tournament since July, and losing to his own doubles partner Philipp Petzschner in Melbourne, he's now out of the top forty. He avenged that loss after qualifying for the Zagreb main draw, though, and followed it up with a straight set win over Andreas Seppi today. He gets a bit of a break in the quarters, as Germany's Michael Berrer took care of top seeded Ivan Ljubicic for him, and with the highest-ranked player left in the draw Alex Bogomolov at #34, his opportunity to go all the way couldn't be better. And he'll need to make a big stand soon if he's going to get that momentum back.

Chile's Fernando Gonzalez has fallen ever so slightly more out of favor. After hip surgery in late 2010, the one-time world #5 didn't play again until last April, when his ranking had fallen out of the top five hundred, and a knee injury kept him from making much of an impact the rest of the year. He didn't play in the Australian Open, but came to Viña del Mar as a wildcard and dispatched Pere Riba in his opening match. He gets a bit of a break next against Joao Souza and, I hate to admit, faces a field of aging veterans like Juan Monaco and Juan Ignacio Chela. If he's truly back in form, he might be able to pull off quite a set of upsets in his homeland.

All these guys have been well off their best game for various lengths of time, but they're still out there, fighting to climb back. And this week, now that the pressure of the biggest stage is off them, maybe they'll have a chance to work their way up the rankings. And with nearly four months before their next opportunity to shine at a Major, there's plenty of time for them to sate our appetite for more excitement.

Homecourt Advantage

In most sports you often give the edge to the team playing on their own territory. It's not a guaranteed success, of course, but even the 2-14 Carolina Panthers scored both their wins in Charlotte.

The same is not always true in tennis -- the last Brit to win Wimbledon, after all, was Fred Perry back in 1936 -- but at some smaller tournaments, like those that took place over the last week, we saw a couple of hometown heroes get a chance to shine, and some made a real breakthrough.

Santiago Giraldo isn't from Chile, but his Colombia is not far away. And playing in a town that bears his name, I imagine the crowds were on his side at the Movistar Open. South Americans dominated the draw in Santiago with three Argentines and a Brazilian making the quarters along with Giraldo. But the twenty-three year old from Bogota pulled off upsets over Juan Ignacio Chela and Potito Starace to make his first ever championship match.

There he met Spain's Tommy Robredo, a man who'd racked up nine titles in his career but lost their only previous meeting at the Australian Open just last month. Robredo's been in something of a slump recently, so it wasn't out of the question to see the technical upset, but after he got off to a set lead in the match I began to lose hope. Giraldo came back to even the score and even got a break lead in the decider, but when he failed to serve it out Robredo didn't look back. He converted his second match point in the tiebreak, denying the ultimate championship to the Colombian, but at least giving him hope for his next attempt.

The South Africa Open in Johannesburg saw more than a few of its own stars pull off upsets. Wildcard Rik de Voest made the quarters while Izak Van Der Merwe won his first Tour level matches on his way to the semis. But it was fourth-seeded Kevin Anderson who ultimately made the biggest impression. I've often wondered why the strong server hasn't made more of a dent in the pros -- currently ranked at #59, he's hovered in the low double-digits for about a year. He gave Sam Querrey a run for the money in Los Angeles last summer and took revenge on him two weeks later in Toronto. Yet he hadn't really broken through main draws.

That is, until this week. The six-foot-eight former star at the University of Illinois rattled off fifty-three aces on his way to his second career final where he met Somdev Devvarman. After losing the first set to his college rival, Anderson rebounded to win the next two in about an hour more. The title was the first won by a South African since Wesley Moodie took Tokyo in 2005 and should push Kevin to a career-high ranking. Having now improved to a 8-3 record on the year, it could be his turn to crack into the top tiers of the sport.

A little further north in Croatia, many of the locals were stopped right out of the gate. Still the top two seeds reflected how strong the country has been in recent months -- two-time defending champ Marin Cilic and world #16 Ivan Ljubicic lead the pack, but were both defeated in the quarters. Instead compatriot Ivan Dodig, who broke into the top hundred at the end of last year, came out firing. The only man to take a set from Australian Open champ Novak Djokovic in Melbourne beat one seed after another in the city where he lives.

For his efforts, Dodig earned the right to meet world #61 Michael Berrer in his first Tour final. They'd never played each other before, but with five more years in the pros and a couple big wins of his own under his belt, the German was probably still the favorite. But Ivan was unstoppable from the start. At just six-feet tall, he was the shorter of the two, but fired off sixteen aces and won more than eighty percent of his first serves. He denied Berrer seven break chances and eventually won the match in straight sets, taking just over ninety minutes to capture his maiden trophy.



Of course the hometown edge benefits some more than others, but with these guys making a real statement on their own turf, there's really no telling what they'll be able to do in other stadiums.

And now that they have that added bit of confidence, I'm betting we'll see a lot more of all of them.

Making a Statement

A couple weeks ago when wrapping up the 2009 tennis season for the men, I made a few predictions as to what the top ten would look like by the end of the year. Now I know we're still a good ways from 2011, but some of the shifts so far look pretty ominous -- and more than a few players are making their runs for the top.

I've already mentioned how saddened I am by Rafael Nadal's recent stumblings, but the fate of others looks a little better. Marin Cilic holds on to his spot in the top ten thanks to his win in Zagreb last week. Only three tournaments into the year and he's already defended two titles and made the semis at a Major. Not bad for a twenty-one year old no one really knows -- yet. Cilic didn't face the toughest draw in his home country, with his biggest competition coming from world #32 Jurgen Melzer, but there can still be a lot of pressure on a kid to repeat not once, but twice in a row. In any case, he looks primed to work well into the sport's elite throughout the year.

In the southern hemisphere a couple of men were doing their part to include their names in the same bunch.

Spain's Feliciano Lopez has been around a while -- the twenty-eight year old turned pro in 1997 and peaked at #20 in the world five years ago. After that, though, he's struggled a bit, bouncing around the rankings and being unable to capture his sophomore title -- until this week, he'd only won a single trophy in Vienna in 2004.

But in Johannesburg he was back in form. Lopez seemed comforted by the one set he'd been able to take from Andy Roddick in the third round of Melbourne and sailed through players like Rajeev Ram and top-seeded Gael Monfils. By the time he took on Stephane Robert in the finals, he barely broke a sweat. In just over an hour he'd secured his second career title, and a six-point jump in the rankings to #33.

Brazilian Thomaz Bellucci hadn't been title-free for quite so long -- he'd won his maiden trophy last year in Gstaad. Even still, with some early exits from the other tournaments he'd played in 2010, winning number two might not have seemed within reach.

But the twenty-two year old withstood two three-setters in his opening rounds and powered through the twice-defending champion, Fernando Gonzalez, in the semis, overcoming a one-set deficit. He even was able to rally from being bagelled in the second set of the finals by Juan Monaco to pull out the win, and with it he brings home his best-ever ranking -- #28 in the world.

So sure, the statements made over the last week by various players were quite a bit different: Cilic wants the world to know he's a force to be reckoned with, while Lopez is trying to make sure we don't forget about him. Bellucci, meanwhile, might become the next next big thing. In any case, I'm sticking by my calls for the year-end top-ten.

But I'm sure some of these guys will do what they can to prove me wrong!