Rome Preview

by Craig Hickman


Reuters

Spectators arrive at the Rome Masters tennis tournament May 9, 2011.

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I've just tuned into tennis this morning to see that Andy Roddick lost his opening match to Gilles Simon in their first encounter on clay. A 4-match losing streak. I hope everything's alright in Roddick's world...

This remains my favorite clay court event, especially when those lights come on for night matches. The draw is top heavy and given what just happened in Madrid, it's anybody's guess who will take it. You'd expect Rafael Nadal to bounce back, but he gets David Ferrer in the quarterfinals, which can play a lot differently than a final. Seems as though whenever Rafa loses to Ferru, it happens in this round. Interestingly, should Rafa fall before the semifinals and Novak Djokovic take the title, the Serbian will become the new World No. 1 and the top seed at Roland Garros.

But I'm getting way too far ahead. Rafa's second-round opponent could be Thomaz Bellucci. I'd like to see these two lefties have at it on the dirt. In his opening match, I'd rather see Roger Federer play Jo-Wilfried Tsonga than Marcos Baghdatis, but either match could be compelling if the underdog shows up to play.

For the unseeded, I'd like to see Alexandr Dolgopolov vs. Potito Starace; Pablo Cuevas vs. Lukasz Kubot; Michael Llodra vs. Feliciano Lopez; and Flavio Cipolla vs. Ivan Ljubicic.

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On the women's side, it's anybody's game, though I'd like to see Francesca Schiavone and Flavia Pennetta make a run to the semifinals and face off. How electric would that be in Roma?