“I thought today was a particularly good performance by my side, on my serve again,” said the self-effacing, humble Swiss. “I think I played a great match.”

David Nalbandian meets Marcos Baghdatis in the final of the Legg Mason in Washington.

Roddick and Malisse play in rematch of their 2001 Atlanta title bout.

Notes: Pro tennis returns to Atlanta; wildcards went to (1) Roddick, Brit James Ward and American tragedy Donald Young; openers of interest include Blake vs. Dent, (5) Tipsarevic vs. Kevin “Mr.” Anderson, and (8) Becker vs. Iron Mike; seeds Malisse and Becker get left off the ATP tournament web page’s featured players, ouch; Friday, Saturday and Sunday coverage live on ESPN2 and Tennis Channel.

Despite the controversies and suggestions about changing Davis Cup, I’ve always enjoyed the unique features Davis Cup brings to tennis.

he only thing that’s happened at these events is a bunch of qualifying matches have been played.

No. 28 seed Somdev Devvarman and Prakash Amritraj square off in an all-Indian battle, and veterans attempting returns from injury or just another taste of the main draw after fallen-off results include Dominik “The Dominator” Hrbaty, Germany’s Florian Mayer, Canadian Frank Dancevic, and Belgian Xavier “X-Man” Malisse.