By Amanda H. LeMay
Friday I got the chance to attend my first draw ceremony at the Regions Morgan Keegan championships in Memphis. As Bernard Tomic came in to assist the tournament director with the draw you could really feel the anticipation in the air. Tomic became the 8th seed after Gael Monfils and Marin Cilic had to withdraw due to injuries. He drew for himself Ivan Dodig, the big hitter from Croatia.
Also benefiting from the withdrawals were John Isner and Andy Roddick who became the first and second seeds, respectively. Isner, coming off the biggest win of his career against Federer in Switzerland, will face Gilles Muller in a possible Tuesday night headliner and Roddick will play Xavier Malisse Wednesday night. With 500 points to defend, this could be a big tournament for Roddick. Struggling of late, if he gets by Malisse he could face Frenchman Julien Benneteau in the quarters and then a rematch of last year’s final against Milos Raonic in the semis. Raonic, who is defending his title in San Jose, has perhaps the most interesting first round match-up of the tournament against the unpredictable Latvian, Ernests Gulbis.
A Wednesday night headliner, this match should be filled with lots of big hitting and high emotion. Gulbis was a semi-finalist here in 2010 and is coming off back to back Davis Cup wins in Egypt. If he is on his game he can trouble almost anyone. Raonic, seeded 4th, also seems to be back in form after a hip injury took him out of the last half of the 2011 season.
The winner of this match would likely face Alex Bogomolov Jr in the quarters. Other first round match-ups of note include young Americans Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock. Harrison, who received Lleyton Hewitt’s wildcard after he was forced to withdraw, reached the semi-finals in San Jose and is having a nice season so far. A good run here could put him close to the top 50.
Sock, who also received a wild card, is playing in Memphis for the first time. We could possibly see another good first round match between the once highly touted Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria and American Donald Young, who is coming in at a career best ranking of 40.
Radek Stepanek and Kevin Anderson, seeded 3 and 7, both drew qualifiers to start their campaign. Main draw action begins Monday, February 20th at 10:00. For the complete draw and schedule visit www.memphistennis.com.
Raonic vs. Gulbis should be a blast
Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2012 at 4:53 pm
Preview written like a veteran tennis scribe ) Like that Dimitrov-Young and Milos-Gulbis clashes, lots of talent in this draw, should be a fantastic event. Stepanek and Anderson should be tough to beat too.
Mitch · February 19, 2012 at 7:17 pm
Roddick is lucky to have escaped dangerous floaters in the early rounds. He needs a good performance here otherwise his ranking will plummet when his championship points from last year drop.
Scoop Malinowski · February 19, 2012 at 8:03 pm
Isner should bypass Roddick as #2 American this month Mitch.
Mitch · February 19, 2012 at 9:14 pm
He already has in the rankings.
loreley · February 20, 2012 at 6:08 pm
Great writing, Amanda.
Let’s hope it’s a blast for Gulbis and not for Raonic. The Canadian’s knee healed quickly.
I hope Roddick can recover as well. But I doubt it.
Scoop Malinowski · February 20, 2012 at 6:59 pm
Loreley, Raonic’s knee sure did heal quickly. If he risked it and tried to play the singles on Sunday in Davis Cup, it might have severely hurt his chances at defending San Jose. Looking forward to see Gulbis take on Raonic, I think he will be up for the big challenge and give a great performance, perhaps even an upset. When Gulbis is playing his best he can take down anybody.
loreley · February 20, 2012 at 7:35 pm
I’m aware that Raonic didn’t want to risk serious damage. I saw his match against Kamke. He didn’t play great beside his 18 aces. Probably he was nervous because of his knee.
It’s just so tough to play these big serving guys. Karlovic reached #14. Isner is #13 now and I expect Raonic to go as far. But it is not really tennis in my opinion. It is something like clay pigeon shooting. It needs not a lot of athletic skills.
Gulbis is just more much fun in any aspect. He was so unlucky with health last year. As a fan I hoped for an easier 1st round than a guy who just won a title.
Raonic annoyed me a bit. According to Matt Cronin he said that there is not a big gap between the him and the “big four”. Beside of Nadal he never played one of these guys. He didn’t even have to deal with Monfils or Roddick to defend his title in San Jose. Just Kamke, Anderson, Harrison and Istomin.
Scoop Malinowski · February 20, 2012 at 10:44 pm
Raonic is pretty solid from the backcourt too, remember a lot of great exchanges with Roddick last year. Raonic is sounding pretty confident in saying he’s close to making it the Fantastic Five. Raonic is basically saying “Make room for me at the top boys because I am on my way and there’s no ifs ands or buts about it!” You gotta like this kid’s confidence. He’s putting a lot of pressure on himself.
Scoop Malinowski · February 21, 2012 at 2:14 am
I can’t believe both Tomic and Dimitrov have been ousted out of Memphis. Big wins for Dodig and DY respectively.