Home Stretching

While the women reach

the end of their 2012 road this week in Istanbul, the men start sprinting down their own home stretch in Europe. This time around it’s one long stretch, without a break, from Basel and Valencia this week, to the Paris Masters next week, straight to the year-end championships in London the week after that. Rest time has been eliminated in 2012 to try to give players and fans the longer off-season that so many of us have said we crave.

I like the fact that the indoor season no longer lingers all the way through November. As a fan, I think having a significant winter break from the game is a positive; I enjoy it more when it comes back in January. But nothing happens without trade-offs in tennis. We can already see a few of them developing. Novak Djokovic, who has played Basel in recent years, skipped it this time in part to be fresher for the more crucial Paris-London double. Andy Murray pulled out of Basel for the second straight year; this time he cited a back injury, but you have to think Paris and especially London were on his mind as well. If the event were anywhere else, Roger Federer might have done the same. But bailing on his hometown tournament in Switzerland really wasn't an option. Instead, he has the daunting task of defending champion’s points at all three events. As for Juan Martin del Potro and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who are clinging to the last two spots in London, and who played in Vienna and Stockholm last week, the chase could keep them on court for a solid month.

We’ll see how the new schedule shakes out for the players. One thing we know as fans is that we have a lot of ATP tennis to watch through mid-November—I'm not complaining. Let’s take a look at how the first week might look at the 500-level events in Valencia and Basel.

Swiss Indoors Basel

Basel, Switzerland

Indoor hard courts; 500 points

$1,828,000

Draw is here; U.S. TV schedule is here

Roger Federer’s end-of-season slog may be tough, but it couldn’t start in a friendlier place than Basel. He’s a five-time champion here, and his climb back to No. 1 began here 12 months ago. He’s already started his defense with a straight-set first-round win over Benjamin Becker on Monday. His form was up-and-down at his first fall event, in Shanghai; if he's going to have another  year-end rally, I'd expect him to get sharper as this week progresses.

While the tournament won’t benefit from the absences of Djokovic and now Murray, Federer should. The three seeds on his side are Wawrinka, Seppi, and Troicki; Federer’s career record against them is a combined 23-1. Wawrinka, of course, nearly beat Federer in Shanghai, though he doesn’t have the easiest first-rounder, against Davydenko.

Del Potro is the top seed on the other side. He’s coming off a title in Vienna and is aiming for London. Could the ATP’s tank gunner get enough indoor momentum built up to have a big fall? It’s a long stretch, and he’ll have to avoid the injuries that so often dog him, but the Argentine seems like he could do damage over these next three weeks. He starts with Falla in Basel.

Also here: Gasquet, seeded third, who has already won his first round, and is about 1,000 points from the 8th spot in London; Youzhny, who begins against Tomic; and Stepanek, who has the Davis Cup final in his sights, and who starts with Brian Baker.

Potentially interesting potential second-rounder: Federer-Bellucci. The Brazilian lefty pushed Federer to 6-4 in the third set in Indian Wells this year (Editor: Was that really this year? Yes, it was.)

Pesky potential sleeper: Andreas Seppi, champ last week in Moscow.

Valencia Open 500

Valencia, Spain

Indoor hard courts; 500 points

$1,828,000

Draw is here; U.S. TV schedule is here

David Ferrer shouldn’t have any trouble with bad scheduling or a surface not to his liking here. Not only is he the No. 1 seed and a hometown hero, he also owns a stake in the event. Who knows, maybe he even hand-picked his first-round opponent, Olivier Rochus. Ferrer has won their last five matches.

The No. 2 seed is Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. He’s coming off a disappointing final-round loss to Tomas Berdych in Stockholm. Jo was the better player, but he got tight when he was up a set and 4-2 in the second. The Frenchman is holding the eighth and final spot in London at the moment, 500 points ahead of Tipsarevic and Almagro. Tsonga will have to keep plugging away; both Tipsy and Almagro are in Valencia this week. Jo starts against Xavier Malisse.

Also here: Sam Querrey, who opens against Feliciano Lopez in a rematch of their three-setter in Beijing earlier this month; Milos Raonic; Alexandr Dolgopolov; John Isner.

Last chance: Another local hero, Juan Carlos Ferrero, will play his final tournament in Valencia. He’ll start, and possibly end, against countryman Nicolas Almagro. The tour will be a little less gentlemanly next week.