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Going into the Open
Here we are at the start of the Open, with interest in seeing how "some of the guys" fair on the biggest stage. Start with the qualifying. Qualifying was loaded down with players we've seen here in the past. Dancevic, here a few years ago, was the top seed in qualifying, he advanced beating Guez along the way. Vemic lasted one round over Cakl (here last year). Jamie Baker lost in the last round. Warburg retired in his 2nd match. Jenkins was the only one to qualify that was here 2 weeks ago (Reynolds also got in, but as a lucky loser).
In the main draw, also plenty of names that we are familiar with. With those names, worth noting how often we see players on TV... Rik De Voest appeared as part of the World Team Tennis final, Kutznetsov and Sweeting were interviewed during the New Haven event by ESPN, Wawrinka had a serious week stopped by Fish in the QFs of New Haven, Karlovic also stopped by Fish.
Worth noting Johansson continued his winning ways at New Haven. His statistics were impressive in his 2 wins at New Haven. Quick work of Vliegen 6-1,6-2. 90% of his service points won in his win over Starace. He had that 7 match win streak, the largest since his 2002 Australian run, stopped by Ivo Karlovic with a 7-5 in the 3rd set. Karlovic served up 24 aces... but Johansson still won a higher % of his service points in the 3rd set. Johansson has Massu 1st in the Open, then could face Karlovic again in the 2nd round. Johansson would have better odds on that one; but a pretty good draw for Johansson... look for him on TV.
Murray is an interesting watch as well. After ripping through here and the tour last year, this year has been plagued by injury after getting to the top 10. 2 weeks ago, you could've made a good argument for him to be here again... as even his coach said he needed matches. Will be interesting to see if he can hold onto a couple of matches in the Open to get back into it.
Others to watch include Jenkins, up against Federer in the 1st round, he gets the spotlight again after playing Nadal 2 years ago at the Open; Kuznetsov, Levine, and Sweeting all have WCs but tough opponents. Off and running, hopefully we'll have some interest with at least a couple of wins.
