ATP Backspin 1Q Awards

Still the one. And still with history squarely in His sights.




**PLAYERS OF THE 1Q**
1. Roger Federer
...Melbourne gave him three straight slam titles, and six of the last seven. His 47th career title tied him with Rod Laver. And his streak of 41 consecutive wins got him to within five victories of the all-time record. Paris could still be the sight of something very special.
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2. Novak Djokovic
...it's becoming quite clear why the Brits were sniffing around the rules to see if they could somehow bring the Serb under the Union Jack. Now it's too late... so everything's on Murray's shoulders.
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3. Bob & Mike Bryan
...leading the tour in big doubles titles (Australian Open, Masters events), wins (Davis Cup) and chest bumps.
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4. Fernando Gonzalez
...if only his brilliant run in Melbourne could have been followed up with, umm, well, ANYTHING of consequence.
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5. Guillermo Canas
...he won a title in February, but beat Federer twice in March even though he didn't pick up another crown. Wonder which feat is more important to him?
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6. Andy Murray
...but unlike Michael Johnson, who's helped him devise workout plans, Murray still has occasional days (say, vs. Djokovic in Miami) where he seems to be playing a match in another universe from his opponent... in a bad way.
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7. Mikhail Youzhny
...Marat? Nikolay? Dmitry? Mikhail had the best 1Q of all the Russian men.
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8. Rafael Nadal
...sure, he won Indian Wells. But his relatively quiet 1Q might still be considered the calm before the (clay) storm.
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9. Xavier Malisse

...the Rubberband Man snapped to and walked off with two 1Q titles, as many as Federer and Djokovic.
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10. Andy Roddick
...his shining moment came in leading the U.S. to its first Davis Cup win on clay in nearly a decade, but how long can he keep up his attempt to transplant a Connors-esque on-court attitude without being able to find a way to defeat King Roger when it counts?
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HM- Ivan Ljubicic
...the Croat reached four SF, but that 1st Round exit in Melbourne still stings (by the way, that's a 3r and two 1r's in slams since his RG SF a year ago).
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**RISERS**
1. Novak Djokovic
2. Fernando Gonzalez
3. Andy Murray
4. Mikhail Youzhny
5. Xavier Malisse
6. Marcos Baghdatis
7. David Ferrer
8. Jurgen Melzer
9. Agustin Calleri
10. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram
HM- Benjamin Becker

**SURPRISES**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Juan Monaco
3. Stefan Koubek
4. Igor Kunitsyn
5. Luis Horna
6. Evgeny Korolev
7. Nicolas Mahut
8. Albert Montanes
9. Jan Hernych
10. Diego Hartfield
HM- Guillermo Garcia-Lopez

**VETERANS**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Juan Igncio Chela
3. Tommy Haas
4. Mark Knowles/Daniel Nestor
5. Jonas Bjorkman/Max Mirnyi
6. Carlos Moya
7. Lleyton Hewitt
8. Fabrice Santoro
9. Martin Damm/Leander Paes
10. Paul Hanley/Kevin Ullyett
HM- Juan Carlos Ferrero

**FRESH FACES**
1. Robin Soderling
2. Gilles Simon
3. Chris Guccione
4. Juan Martin del Potro
5. Alessio di Mauro
6. Jonathan Eysseric
7. Philip Kohlschreiber
8. Sam Querrey
9. Brydan Klein
10. Amer Delic
HM- Danai Udomchoke

**COMEBACK**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Andy Roddick
4. Mardy Fish
5. Lleyton Hewitt

**DOWN**
1. James Blake
2. David Nalbandian
3. Tomas Berdych (too busy watching Lucie Safarova?)
4. Mario Ancic
5. Marat Safin
6. Radek Stepanek
7. Gael Monfils
8. Mark Philippoussis
9. Joachim Johansson
10. Fernando Gonzalez (post-Oz)
HM- Ivan Ljubicic (STILL in slams)

TOP PERFORMANCE: At the Australian, Roger Federer becomes the first man in 27 years to win a slam without dropping a set.

TOP PERFORMANCE (non-Federer): Tommy Haas defends his title in Memphis without facing a break point on his serve in 47 games.

**UPSET OF THE QUARTER**
Indian Wells 2nd - Canas d. Federer
...7-5/6-2. NO ONE gets their 42nd straight victory against Guillermo Canas. Go ahead, look it up in the book.

**TOP MATCH**
Miami 4th - Canas d. Federer
...7-6/2-6/7-6. Science is all about producing a repeatable result. Indian Wells. Then Miami. Must mean SOMETHING, right?

BIGGEST SURPRISE: Andy Roddick goes 2-0 in singles to lead the USA to a Davis Cup 1st Round win over the Czech Republic. It's the first American DC win on clay in nearly a decade.

A FATEFUL SIGN OF CLAY TIMES TO COME?: Nadal bullies Roddick on the Indian Wells hard courts, then wins his first title since Roland Garros '06. Then he skips Spain's Davis Cup QF right before the clay season is set to begin. Might SOMEONE be keeping his eye on the BIG prize, and after righting the ship now believes he can win #3 in Paris?
A BRIGHT SIGN FOR THE FUTURE?: Novak Djokovic is a Masters Cup RU in Indian Wells, then champion in Miami (where he defeated Nadel, destroyed Murray and put down Canas in the final). Could the Serb be the all-court challenger to Federer that Nadal failed to be in the back half of '06? Of course, Djokovic has to actually DEFEAT Federer at SOME point for this to be the case, huh?
A SIGN O' THE TIMES: Serbian and Croat "fans" brawled in Melbourne leading up to the singles match up between countrymen Marin Cilic and Ilia Bozoljic.

WORST TEST TAKER: Guillermo Canas
WORST WHEN IT COUNTS: Andy Roddick defeated Roger Federer in the final of the Kooyang exhibition before the Australian Open. Of course, after losing to Sir Roger in Melbourne, his record against him in matches that count is now at 1-13.
WORST CHOICE OF WORDS: Nikolay Davydenko was fined for saying that "no one cares about" tune-up events like Sydney. Sure, there's a grain of truth in there, but sometimes silence is golden... or at least cheaper.

A FINE MESS: Admit it -- when you first saw the Adelaide round robin draw you said, "What the frack is this?!" Then after the embarrassment in Vegas you said, "Serves the frackers right!" Isn't it wild (and totally expected) that something that is so fun at the Masters Cup is just a mind-warping, headache-inducing, bow-of-shame inspiring screw up during the regular part of the season?

THEY'RE BAAAACK!!! (sort of): New Hall of Famer Pete Sampras returns to competitive tennis in May on the Outback Champions Tour; while Andre Agassi's eagerly-awaited book just found a publisher.

CALL A MEDIC! (OR A PSYCHOLOGIST): In their Australian Open match, Andy Murray led Alberto Martin 6-0/6-0/5-0 before the Spaniard finally won a game. Final score: 6-0/6-0/6-1.

DAVID vs. GOLIATH, THE SEQUEL: "Olivier vs. Chris." Or, 5-foot-5 Rochus vs. 6-foot-7 Guccione in the Australian Open 1st Round. It only proved correct the axiom about the bigger they are the harder they fall... theoretically, at least.

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO... or is it?: Roger Rasheed quit as Lleyton Hewitt's coach two weeks before the Australian Open, and Scott Draper replaced him for the event. Afterward, Draper turned down the offer to become Hewitt's full-time coach so that he could become a golf pro. Draper won the PGA's New South Wales title with a score of 20-under. Meanwhile, Hewitt, who bounced back so quickly after that break-up with Kim Clijsters, won a title in Las Vegas in March. All's well that end's well, I suppose.

JUST A REMINDER: Canas or no, Nadal or no, Roger Federer is still heading to Paris with a RogerSlam (four straight slam wins) at stake, and the opportunity to claim the first half of an actual Grand Slam... with his two best slams still to come in London and New York. Losing twice to Canas might just be the worst thing that could have ever happened... to the rest of the ATP field.


All for now.

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March '07 Awards - The Craziest ATP Backspin Ever!

Oh. My. God.



No, it has nothing to do with Novak Djokovic's rather oddly public way to scratch an itch. March was totally nuts (umm, no pun intended there) because Roger Federer was... gulp... quite dissappointing.

(a pause to draw an invisible cross on my chest)

I'm sorry, Oh Holiest of Tennis Superheroes... but the truth is the truth.

**PLAYERS OF THE MONTH**
1. Novak Djokovic
...while Federer and Guillermo Canas were putting on their two act play in the spotlight, the new Top 10er reached the final of one Masters event (Indian Wells) and won another (Miami).
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2. Guillermo Canas

...what 15-month drug suspension? It's amazing how back-to-back wins over Sir Federer can change a player's rep.
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3. Rafael Nadal
...for the first time since Roland Garros '06, Rafa walked away with a singles title. He did it at the Masters event in Indian Wells. Just ask Andy Roddick how well Nadal played... then get out of the way of whatever he grabs to throw at you! Rafa is skipping Spain's Davis Cup tie with an injury. Hmmm, guess who's getting ready to try to extend that historic clay court winning streak.
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4. Bob & Mike Bryan
...Vegas and Miami isn't a bad two-fer for the brothers, whether it be in doubles titles or late nights on the town.
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5. Jonathan Erlich & Andy Ram
...Indian Wells isn't bad, either. Well, maybe not by comparison, but still.
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HM- Roger Federer
...as difficult as it is to remember now, Federer DID begin March by extending his winning streak to 41 matches and tying Rod Laver on the all-time career title list with his 47th crown in Dubai.
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**RISERS**
1. Novak Djokovic
2. Jonathan Erlich/Andy Ram
3. Mikhail Youzhny
4. Andy Murray
5. Jurgen Melzer
HM- Paul-Henri Mathieu & Agustin Calleri

**SURPRISES**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Evgeny Korolev
3. Guillermo Garcia-Lopez
4. Nicolas Mahut
5. Jan Hernych
HM- Simone Bolelli & Juan-Pablo Guzman

**VETERANS**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Lleyton Hewitt
3. Juan Ignacio Chela (Hey, Lleyton - duck!)
4. Carlos Moya
5. Juan Carlos Ferrero
HM- Tommy Haas & Fabrice Santoro

**FRESH FACES**
1. Robin Soderling
2. Gilles Simon
3. Amer Delic
4. Juan Martin Del Potro
5. Sam Querrey
HM- Danai Udomchoke & Janko Tipsarevic

**COMEBACK**
1. Guillermo Canas
2. Rafael Nadal
3. Lleyton Hewitt
HM- Gustavo Kuerten (okay, this inclusion is a bit generous)

**DOWN**
1. Roger Federer (the sky is falling!!!!)
2. James Blake
3. Dmitry Tursunov
HM- Marat Safin

TOP PERFORMANCE: No, he didn't actually win a title (his best result was a RU). But Guillermo Canas, in Indian Wells and Miami, went from returning drug suspendee to qualifying round loser to lucky loser to TWO-TIME CONQUEROR OF ROGER FEDERER. Guillermo... someone named Franz Kafka is on the phone.

HAPPIEST LUCKY LOSER (well, at least the one not named Guillermo): Robert Kendrick, who lost in Miami qualifying on a Thursday, then partied into the night thinking his tournament was over. At 10:45am, he received the call that Lleyton Hewitt had pulled out of the draw and that Kendrick was now a "lucky loser." By the afternoon he'd won a match and advanced into the 3rd Round. Said the American, "I'd like to thank Mister Grey Goose."

BEST STAT: Canas' vanquishing of Federer in back-to-back events puts him in select company. The only other players to do so in the Swiss Mister's career are Marc Rosset (2000), Lleyton Hewitt (2002), and David Nalbandian (2003). And let's be honest, all those losses came before Federer was FEDERER.

SCREW UP OF THE MONTH: Perhaps putting a final pin in the ATP's trial balloon use of Round Robins during regular tour events, no one seemed to know exactly which player was supposed to advance after Juan Martin Del Potro retired at 6-1/3-1 vs. James Blake. With Blake and Evgeny Korolev tied with 1-1 records, it was announced that Korolev had advanced... then Blake... then Korolev.

WHAT ABOUT WASKE?: Before Canas faced Federer in Indian Wells, he lost to Alexander Waske in qualifying. So is the German BETTER than Federer? What about Carlos Moya, who defeated Canas the round after the Federer upset? Of course, Novak Djokovic defeated Canas in Miami. But Djokovic lost to Federer in Dubai. Oh, I give up.

PAIRING OF THE MONTH: Roger Federer and Tiger Woods


...of course, Tiger won the PGA event in Miami while Roger, well, you know.

Then again, the extra time off has given Federer additional time on the clay to prepare for his quest for Roland Garros. Hmmmm... is there a method to Roger's March Madness? Maybe "crazy" is only in the eye of the beholder.


All for now.

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