Soldiering on...
Men's Draw
Top Eight Seeds: Roger, Rafa, Novak, JMDP, Andy M, Kolya, A-Rod, Sod
Top Eight Seeds: Roger, Rafa, Novak, JMDP, Andy M, Kolya, A-Rod, Sod
Potential Quarterfinals: Roger/Kolya, Novak/Sod, JMDP/A-Rod, Rafa/Andy M
Potentially Interesting First Round Matches: Roger/Igor Andreev, Juan Monaco/Ernests (Roger's quarter); Youzhny/Gasquet (Novak's quarter); Marin/Fabrice (JMDP's quarter); Dah-veed/Seppi, Steps/Karlovic (Rafa's quarter)
Who's Where? To me, the big question going into the men's draw was, where would Kolya end up? And as it turns out, he's landed in pretty much the juiciest place he could-- on the other side of Roger's quarter. If I'd had to pick a second big question, it would have been about Nando, and it turns out he landed himself right in that quarter, too. Yowza. Luckily for Roger, they're slated to meet each other in the 4th round, so he won't have to go through both of them, but he did land himself Igor Andreev in the first round-- he's been a mess lately, but he's given Roger problems before. (That quarter's also got a potential second round matchup between Gilles Simon and Marcos, which has some potential.)
With Sod pulling out of Kooyong for injury, Novak's quarter looks a little lacklustre. That being said, he's also got Jo-Willy, My Boyfriend Tommy, and Tommy Haas in his quarter; they're all very capable, obviously, with Jo-Willy's history at AO, MBT taking out Andy M at Hopman Cup, and Tommy Haas having been 5 points from taking Roger out at RG. Dickie Gasket is also in that quarter, with a potentially tough first round matchup with Misha Y.
With JMDP himself apparently in question for AO, his quarter appears wide open for A-Rod to make a nice run. Um, yay? He could be in for a third round Brisbane rematch with Tomas Berdych, and it would be interesting to see how Tomas approached that match, having sacrificed such a great start in their last meeting. If JMDP is healthy, he's got-- on paper-- a fairly open run to the quarters, with Stan and Victor T the only seeds in his section. Okay, and there's always Blah. (As a side note, Bernard Tomic is also in this quarter... do y'all think Lleyton will show up to cheer for him?)
Lastly, Rafa's lined up for another tough quarterfinal, against Andy M. He's also got a potential date with John Isner in the third round, which could be a good match given Isner's recent good run. This quarter also has a rematch of the classic Steps/Karlovic Davis Cup match-- watch the fans leave in droves! Running screaming away from the court! Andy, for his part, should have a fairly easy run to the fourth round, where he could be in for a matchup with Gael or Dah-veed. Bringing the pretty to this section of the draw, at least through the second round, will be Julien Benneteau. Mmmm, Apricot Bars.
Again, I don't do predictions, but if I had to rank the quarters, I guess I'd say...
1) Roger
2) Rafa
3) JMDP
4) Novak
