The Road to the Aussie Gold Part Deux
With the Australian Open set to kick off tomorrow, I need to get my preview of the men’s side of the tournament in before the first serve is hit.
Roger Federer is obviously one of any sane person’s pick to win the Australian Open, but I think this tournament may be one of the best opportunities Federer’s opponents have had in recent years to beat the King. With no warm-up tourney to prelude his Aussie run, Federer has the potential to run into James Blake and Fernando Gonzalez (who beat Federer late in the 2007 season) before reaching the quarters.
Another guy I like is No. 10 David Nalbandian. If he’s on. The dude is streaky, and that is putting it lightly but if Nalbandian shows up to play then sign me up in his corner. To get to the quarters though, Nalbandian may have to wade through Lleyton Hewitt (who hasn’t too much of a worry but he’s back on the home turf), No. 3 Novak Djokovic, Marat Safin, Marcos Baghdatis and No. 5 David Ferrer. For sure it’s a tough road and I’m excited to see the matches that come from it and who makes it into the quarters.
No. 9 Andy Murray looks like a changed man. Let me rephrase that; Murray actually resembles a man now instead of a teenage boy hitting puberty. With a filled out frame, more power and some new confidence on the heels of letting coach Brad Gilbert go, Murray has my vote to make it to the quarters. Buuuuuuut. There may be some stumbling blocks like, oh I don’t know, No. 8 Richard Gasquet? Mikhail Youzhny? Nikolay Davydenko? Yep, not so little stumbling blocks.
I’m going to go with my loyalty in the last portion of the draw and back No. 6 Andy Roddick. He just won Kooyong for the third time and aside of Rafael Nadal, Tommy Robredo and Carlos Moya, Roddick’s road to the quarters isn’t too terribly cluttered.
From the quarters on, well, it’s a Grand Slam event. Your guess is as good as mine really.
Tags: Andy Roddick, Australian Open, David Nalbandian, draw, Roger FedererRelated Stories
POSTED IN: Andy Murray, Andy Roddick, Australian Open, David Nalbandian, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer
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