Tennis-X Preview: ATP Hamburg

Getting the Top 5 ATP players to show up for one of the ATP Masters Series claycourt events this year has proven to about as easy as getting a Spaniard to play a full grasscourt season, or getting the Williams sisters and the Belgian duo at the same event. Hamburg is the third and final claycourt Masters Series event after Monte Carlo and Rome this year, and the ATP, through a combination of player injuries, illness and general disinterest, has gone 0-3 in getting its top five horses on the same dirt track.

This time around the pull-outs are Andy Roddick (knee), and Juan Carlos Ferrero, who looked like he would make his return after a rest to fully recover from a bout of the chickenpox earlier in the year, but pulled out over the weekend with a new injury to his wrist, putting his Roland Garros chances in further jeopardy.

Take note ATP Fantasy players: Roddick, Ferrero, Agassi out; Coria back in after the mystery injury (groin?) that forced him to miss the MS-Rome.

So now world No. 1 Roger Federer gets another chance to hone his game on the surface he grew up on, but has surprisingly had sporadic success with, and Coria can test his fitness level.

Here is a breakdown of the four quarters of the 64-player draw, which contains a number of opening-round match-ups you'd expect to see in finals of smaller events:

Top Quarter
Seeds: (1)Roger Federer, (7)Carlos Moya, (10)Mark "Flipper" Philippoussis, (13)Fernando Gonzalez
Floaters: Gaston Gaudio, Feliciano "F-Lo" Lopez, Joachim Johansson, Fernando Verdasco, Guillermo Canas, Alberto Martin, David Sanchez

Not an easy draw for the world No. 1, with a combination seven Spaniards and Argentines in the section, the not-so-least of which being Barcelona finalist Gaston Gaudio in his opener. Not exactly a lot of time to find your claycourt legs before being challenged. Maybe you'll want to scratch Fed from the Fantasy Tennis team, save him for the lawn-mower season. The Masters Series-Rome winner Moya, no doubt tired from his six-match run last week, will be lucky to advance to the third round after grinding match-ups against countrymen David Sanchez, and a likely second round meeting with Al Martin. Never an easy task to beat the countrymen you practice with all the time. Other first-rounders to watch are (13)Gonzalez against F-Lo (Gonzo won their only meeting last year in a three-setter), and a serving throw-down in (10)Flipper against Memphis winner Joachim "Not Thomas" Johansson. Watch for Gaudio, Canas, or (13)Gonzalez to surprisingly pave the way in this section.

Second Quarter
Seeds: (8)Sebastien Grosjean (9)Nicolas Massu, (14)Sjeng Schalken, (17)Lleyton Hewitt
Floaters: Vince Spadea, Tommy Haas, Juan Ignacio Chela, Nikolay Davydenko, Marat Safin, Jonas Bjorkman

(8)Grosjean vs. former No. 1 Safin? Haas vs. Spadea? (17)Hewitt vs. the counterpuncher Jonas Bjorkman? This section causes more mouth watering than a chunky WTA star at a free player's buffet. No easy draw for the former No. 1 Hewitt, who if he gets by his opener would face the Spadea-Haas winner. (14)Schalken is iffy on the dirt, and if (8)Grosjean can get by Marat, he would face another tester in likely opponent Davydenko, who has inexplicably been on fire during the claycourt season. Watch out for (9)Massu who is due for a good week -- with Jurgen "Tuna" Melzer in his opener, then the Chela-Irakli "Freak Show" Labadze winner, the Chilean could be poised for a breakout.

Third Quarter
Seeds: (4)Rainer Schuettler, (5)Tim Henman, (12)Martin "Berzerk" Verkerk, (15)Jiri Novak
Floaters: Andrei Pavel, Max "The Beast" Mirnyi, Ivan Ljubicic, Alex Corretja

"Schuettler here." That's how the German answers the phone, and that's the situation in this section, where the top German could easily find himself out into the quarterfinals with an opener against low-wattage countryman Lars Burgsmuller, then the Kiefer-Youzhny winner, then maybe (15)Novak -- not a half-bad looking lay-out. (5)Henman was granted a nice opener against Italian qualifier Andreas Seppi, but could then face a tester against veteran Andrei Pavel, then (12)Berzerk or The Beast if he survives that -- Timbledon has his work cut out. (12)Berzerk also has an unkind draw, with Ljubicic in his opener (losing to the big-serving Croat easily in their last claycourt meeting), then a likely meeting with The Beast, who can bring it on clay even with his hardcourt mentality. Looking like a possible Schuettler-Henman quarterfinal here, or "Schuettler here."

Bottom Quarter
Seeds: (2)Guillermo "El Mago" Coria, (6)David Nalbandian, (11)Paradorn "The Thai Fighter" Srichaphan, (16)Tommy Robredo
Floaters: David Ferrer, Dominik "The Dominator" Hrbaty, "Brother" Al Costa, Mariano Zabaleta, Arnaud Clement, Luis "Me So" Horna

What is it about the bottom quarters of the Masters Series draws being the place you don't want to land in as a player? The Argentine dynamic duo of El Mago and Nalbandian, with Barcelona winner Robredo and a handful of clay upset specialists make this a nasty, nasty section. Two big questions: Is Coria recovered from the (groin?) injury that kept him out of the MS-Rome? Does Nalbandian, who appeared exhausted against Moya in the MS-Rome final, have anything left for Hamburg? In our Tennis-X upset special, clean out the bank account, hit the tennis betting website and put it all AGAINST Nalbandian, who is not only dragging after his Rome effort, but is 0-2 against his first-round opponent Ferrer. You heard it here first. Then again, if we're wrong, you acted of your own free will, and we don't condone Internet betting (when we lose). No real tough opening match-ups here except for Horna-Clement, but watch former Roland Garros winner Al Costa with the cake draw: the erratic Xavier Malisse in his opener, then the winner of the clay-challenged (11)Srichaphan-(Q)Olivier Rochus match-up, then either Ferrer or The Dominator. Brother Al just gets stronger as the tournament progresses, and after the confidence boost from beating Federer last week, it is shaping up as a nice run for the Spaniard.

Returning champs in this year's Hamburg field are Coria (2003), Federer (2002), and Spaniards Al Portas (2001) and Al Costa (1998).

Richard Vach (rvach@comcast.net) is a senior writer for Tennis-X.com.