Posts Tagged ‘Contenders’

Top 10 Men’s US Open 2009 Tennis Contenders

10. Tommy Haas.  While Haas may be in the twilight of his career, he’s very experienced and plays his heart out.  He’s been playing great lately, making deep runs at Wimbledon and other majors, and giving top-ranked players an incredibly hard time when he loses.   Haas’s prospects at winning a slam are doubtful, but look for him to make a solid run.

9.  Nikolay Davydenko.  While the Russian tennis player doesn’t stand a chance to win, no one above this on the list really does either.  That’s men’s tennis for ya.

8.  Robyn Soderling.  Not sure why, but the guy’s really playing some great tennis.  Late bloomer perhaps?  Regardless, his French Open run was indicative of some quality tennis he’s been playing lately.

7.  Jo-Wilfried Tsonga.  The wild card.  If healthy, can go deep.  Remember the Aussie Open a couple years back?

6.  Novak Djokovic.  Emotional?  Yes…but incredibly talented.

5.  Juan Martin del Potro.  Had a magificent run on hard courts last season.  Look for him to be just as strong this year.

4.  Rafael Nadal.  Injuries are the huge question mark here.

3.  Andy Murray.  Last year’s finalist is playing some great tennis.  As the #3 seed, has a chance to push past Nadal.

2.  Andy Roddick.  The home crowd behind him and some new momentum gives him an edge over Nadal.

1.  Roger Federer.  The king, and champion in each of the last 5 US Opens.  Enough said.

Anyway, these are my predictions for the tourney.  It should be a great one for sure!  Let’s enjoy the hard court tennis season until then.

French Open 2010 Contenders

A look at possible contenders for French Open 2010. Read the article at tennisblog.info

Australian Open – Contenders for the Men’s Title

But this is one experience I sure don’t mind repeating. Times have changed and more exciting and talented players have come up in the men’s tour and if I can be in Melbourne Park on the 19th, I’d stick around and watch the men’s draw as keenly as possible. It will be so worth it to see quality matches being played in the court as nothing motivates a tennis player more than to play in a Grand Slam tournament. I have picked the names of four players and assessed their chances, not because they happen to be players occupying the top four rankings but because of their consistent showing that they put on during each tournament they played in.

1. Rafael Nadal- He finally showed the world that he has what it takes to win a major tournament that isn’t played in a clay surface. That epic battle that he had with Roger Federer for the Wimbledon title went down in to the record books as the greatest final ever played. I felt sad for him though, as he pulled out of the season ending Tennis Masters Cup finals due to exhaustion. What concerns me is that even if he is still young, the rigors of having to play in tennis tournaments day in and day out of the highest quality shall take its toll on his health soon. At the moment, questions about his knee injury still lingers. Does it bother him more than he cares to admit it? He has the whole year to test that knee.

2. Roger Federer-He expressed his shock when he was asked about Justin Henin’s sudden decision to retire while still occupying the top ranking. My guess is that one of the possible reason she did retire is because she couldn’t find it in her self to compete against the others in the women’s circuit and started to beat her rather convincingly. Federer has lost his cloak of invincibility. Sure, he won an Olympic gold medal but it came from the men’s doubles division. Yes he won the U.S. Open but not after Andy Murray gave him quite a scare. Will 2009 be a better year for him? Or will his misery continue and his luck run out and that might, and I do say might, see him consider doing an Henin decision?

3. Novak Djokovic-being the only player who can boast that he was able to win against Roddick in the  quarterfinal, Nadal in the semis and Federer in the final means he really must be that good. A chink in his armour though is his inconsistency. He seems to be unable to string up back to back tournament wins that can give him a boost of conficence and bring his game to the next level.  If he does, we might see him win another major and contest for the number one spot.

4. Andy Murray-Compared to Tim Henman, the Scot , I think, has a better chance of winning a major. And he has showed this potential when he beat Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal but in different tournaments. Unlike Djokovic, Murray created a stir at the last quarter of the year when he won back to back Masters Series titles, and created enough momentum for him to challenge Federer in the U.S. Open final and for the no. 1 ranking this year.

Watch live Australian Open tennis scores at ScoresPro.com