February '07 Awards

On the PGA tour, it's very easy to dismiss the weeks that Tiger Woods doesn't play as mere filler before the REAL events. The same could be said about the ATP tour absent the presence of a certain Swiss star.

February (at least until the final days of the month) was indeed a Roger Federer-less stretch for the tour. But, you know what? The tournaments DID go on, and champions WERE crowned. Who knew?

So, if nothing else, the just completed month proved that while Roger was away, the ATP tour DID do something other than prepare all the press releases for when The Last King of Switzerland breaks the Open era's all-time record for consecutive match wins in March.

Or at least that's what everyone would have us believe, right?

**PLAYERS OF THE MONTH**
1. Xavier Malisse

...the streaky Belgian was the first man to win two singles titles in 2007. Of course, Federer only played one tour event through the first two months, so that accomlishment has a little asterisk beside it.
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2. Mikhail Youzhny... the Rotterdam champ's Dubai heroics (including a win over Nadal) officially "count for March,", but they might have pushed him up a spot or two here, anyway. At least Novak Djokovic wouldn't argue with the idea, considering the Russian defeated him twice in two weeks in the second half of February.
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3. Marcos Baghdatis... won Zagreb, and was RU in Marseille.
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4. Andy Murray... defended San Jose, and continued to prove that jumping in with Brad Gilbert was the right move.
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5. Andy Roddick... split matches with the other Andy, but led the U.S.'s first Davis Cup World Group win on clay in a decade.
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HM- Tommy Haas... he talks a big game, but he defended his Memphis title (his third career win there), too.
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**RISERS**
1. Xavier Malisse
2. Mikhail Youzhny
3. Marcos Baghdatis
4. Andy Murray
5. Benjamin Becker
HM- Jarkko Nieminen

**SURPRISES**
1. Juan Monaco
2. Luis Horna
3. Albert Montanes
4. Ivo Karlovic
5. Alessio di Mauro
HM- Eric Butoroc & Jamie Murray

**VETERANS**
1. Tommy Haas
2. Mark Knowles & Daniel Nestor
3. Guillermo Canas
HM- Martin Damm & Leander Paes

**FRESH FACES**
1. Gilles Simon
2. Robin Soderling
3. Sam Querrey
HM- Philip Kohlschreiber

**DOWN**
1. David Nalbandian
2. James Blake
3. Nikolay Davydenko
HM- Ivan Ljubicic

TOP PERFORMANCE: Tommy Haas wins Memphis without facing a break point in 47 games.

TOP PERFORMANCE IN A TEAM EVENT: Andy Roddick goes 2-0 vs. the Czechs on clay in Davis Cup play. Andy Roddick. Undefeated. On clay. Say it enough times in a row and you might just wake up in an alternate universe.

TOP COMEBACK (in a non-tour event): Pete Sampras. Okay, so it hasn't happened yet, but the 35-year old all-time slam champion (at least for the time being) announced that he'll participate in the over-30 Outback Champions Series that begins play in May.

AHA, THE X-MAN FOUND ANOTHER THING TO TRUMP FEDERER WITH: Malisse not only won the singles title in Delray Beach, he won the doubles, too. It's not likely Federer will do that at an event this year, considering he rarely plays doubles. Of course, considering who we're talking about here, that means very little, huh?


All for now.

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