So far it's been calm sailing on the men’s clay-court seas—Nadal a winner, Federer shanking away but seemingly happy to get in a few matches, Djokovic wisely gearing up for the next phase. Only Andy Murray has given us any kind of a roller-coaster ride so far. First he declined to cut his hair before appearing in public, then he resurrected his game from the ashes, then he drop-shotted a cripple, then he looked like he might do what the Tennis Channel’s Nick Lester called “the unthinkable” (love that overdramatic phrase) and beat Nadal on clay. What does Murray get for all of his trouble? He’s on the sidelines with an elbow injury.
With wild man Andy out, it should be even calmer for a couple of weeks. Of the big guns, only Nadal is in action this week, in Barcelona, and next week he and Federer are both off while Djokovic is back at it in Belgrade. The gap should be filled by the women, most of whom have begun their own countdown to Paris at the Porsche Grand Prix in Stuttgart. Can anyone do anything unthinkable there?
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Porsche Tennis Grand Prix, Stuttgart, Germany
Red clay; $721,000; WTA Premier
Familiar names greet us from all sides of this compact, 32-draw event. The dutiful Caroline Wozniacki is at the top, of course; her foil at No. 2, Vera Zvonareva, is at the bottom; most interesting is the presence of the tour’s hottest player, Victoria Azarenka. She’s on Zvonareva’s side.
The combination of its small size and strong field makes this a no-nonsense draw—everywhere you look there’s a name that pops out at you. Big matchups could happen very early. Wozniacki will likely get either Petkovic or Jankovic in her second round. Zvonareva might get Stosur in hers. Li Na and Azarenka could face off in that round, as could Schiavone and Bartoli, if A. Radwanska doesn’t knock off Schiavone first.
Two weeks ago in Charleston, the story was Wozniacki. With Azarenka, Wozniacki, and Zvonareva in the same draw again, the story and the pressure shift to Azarenka. Now the question will be asked of her: Is she for real, is this little run she’s started going to lead anywhere? At a time when we see so many hopeful ups and disappointing downs from quality players—Stosur, Na, Jankovic, Schiavone, Bartoli all come to mind—can she join Wozniacki and Zvonareva as a reliable winner? On the other half of the draw, and on a slightly lower scale, can Andrea Petkovic do the same? It would add a lot to the WTA right now if both of them turn into long-running, upward-trending stories by the time the French Open rolls around. But I'm not exactly counting on it.
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Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell
Red clay; 1,995,000 euros; 500 ranking points
As with the Monte Carlo Country Club, I’ve always wanted to see the spot where the Barcelona event is held. Its looks old-line, vintage, low-key. But it seems as if the tournament itself has expanded in recent years. Where it was once heavy on Spaniards and dirtballers, it’s gone international, much to the chagrin of home-country boy Fernando Verdasco, who took exception to the appearance fees paid to aliens like Robin Soderling and decided to take his presently declining game elsewhere.
As we noted, Murray, the second seed, is out, as is the No. 5 seed, Berdych. But there are a lot of people still here: Gasquet and Monfils, winners this morning, are each on Nadal’s quarter. Soderling and Raonic, who continued to find success on clay against Stepanek today, are on the other side of that half.
On the opposite side are Fed-killer Jurgen Melzer and the man who beat him in the semis in Monte Carlo this weekend, David Ferrer. Almagro, Monaco, and Dolgopolov are also here, though the latter might not be by the time you read this. He’s on court with Nikolay Davydenko right now.
Will any noise come from this quiet week for the men? I suppose it all rests with Nadal. Is he overdoing it by playing? It does seem strange that he would mess with the schedule that allowed him to sweep all of the clay events for the first time, in 2010. On the other hand, Nadal does look like he could use the work. It’s just that it’s going to end up being a lot of work by the time the second week of the French gets here. From his statements so far, he doesn’t expect to win every match this spring, and catching up with Djokovic in the 2011 race for No. 1 has begun to creep into his interview answers. Hey, it’s clay, it doesn’t come around all that often over the course of the year, and nobody loves it as much as Rafa. As fans, don’t we want to see the best-ever on this surface do his dirt-filled work as often as we can?