April '07 Awards

Hmmm... Rafael Nadal is the "Player of the Month?" Must be clay court season.

Let me see... yep, it is.

**PLAYERS OF THE MONTH**
1. Rafael Nadal

...first comes Monte Carlo, second comes Barcelona, next comes Rafa pushing a baby carriage through Paris with King Roger inside? Let the countdown to Roland Garros begin.
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2. Bob & Mike Bryan... the titles keep piling up. Houston and Monte Carlo in April gives the brothers five on the season.
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3. Nicolas Almagro... the Spaniard won his second career singles title by defending his Valencia crown.
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4. Paul-Henri Mathieu... the 25-year old Frenchman is still trying to recapture his promising luster of seasons ago. In Casablanca, he won his first singles title since 2002.
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5. Roger Federer... the Lord of the Courts' clay quest is underway, but it began with a rather routine loss in the Monte Carlo final to Nadal. Of course, whether he ends up with his "Precious" in Paris come June is the only "important" result.
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HM- Ivo Karlovic... Ivo won his first tour singles title in Houston? Could he actually finally have a GAME, and not just a big serve?
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**RISERS**
1. Nicolas Almagro
2. Paul-Henri Mathieu
3. Tomas Berdych
4. David Ferrer
5. Mariano Zabaleta
HM- Agustin Calleri & Mikhail Youzhny

**FRESH FACES**
1. Simone Bolelli
2. Robin Soderling
3. Philip Kohlschreiber
4. Marcel Granollers-Pujol
5. Boris Pashanski
HM- Ryan Thacher

**SURPRISES**
1. Ivo Karlovic
2. Albert Montanes
3. Santiago Ventura
4. Potito Starace
5. Ivan Navarro-Pastor
HM- Nicolas Devilder & Oscar Hernandez

**VETERANS**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Juan Carlos Ferrero
3. Marc Gicquel
HM- Ruben Ramirez-Hidalgo

**DOWN**
1. Nikolay Davydenko
2. Dmitry Tursunov
HM- Gael Monfils

**COMEBACK**
1. Younes El Aynaoui
2. Thomas Johansson

TOP PERFORMANCE: Rafael Nadal wins Masters event in Monte Carlo without dropping a set, defeating Federer in the final to run his career mark on clay against the world #1 to 5-0 (7-3 on all surfaces). After taking the Barcelona crown a week later, his 72-match winning streak on clay -- the longest on any surface in the Open era -- remains intact.

IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, HONEY... HONEST!: While hitting balls on court during a weekend fundraiser, Andre Agassi's racket follow-through landed right in the middle of wife Steffi Graf's face. Some blood and three stitches in her lip later, and Andre's "honey-do-this" list suddenly had gotten longer... and he quickly began checking items off before Monday arrived.

WHAT'S WRONG WITH MARAT... err, I mean Dmitry: Ever since helping Russia win the Davis and Hopman Cup, Dmitry Tursunov's name has been a mysterious no-show more than a round into pretty much every tournament he's played.

HEY, NOBODY'S PERFECT(well, except maybe Rafa on clay): Well, Guillermo Canas might have been able to end Federer's 41-match winning streak in Indian Wells in March, but he wasn't able to curtail Nadal's clay run in the Barcelona final in April.

HERE'S A WILD IDEA!:



Technically, the Federer-Nadal exhibition match this week in Mallorca -- Rafa won 7-5/4-6/7-6 (12-10) -- was in May, but it still brings to mind another innovative notion. Rather than construct one of those wild half-clay/half-grass courts like the one in Spain, why not hold a tournament where every round is played on a different surface (with the final surface chosen by the top-ranked player to reach the final?). Yeah, it'll likely never happen. But still, talk about fun.


All for now.

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