For Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and other top tennis players, the Australian Open gets underway in Melbourne on Monday. Federer and Nadal will both be chasing history; the Swiss seeking to win a record 17th Slam to further pace himself ahead in the race to all-time greatness while Nadal will be bidding to become the first men's player since Rod Laver to hold all four Slams at the same time. Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray and Robin Soderling might have different things to say about that.
But for another 128 players, the Australian Open gets underway on Wednesday as the qualifying tournament begins. 128 players will seek to win 3 matches to grab one of 16 coveted spots into the main draw of the year's first Grand Slam. The qualifying draw of any Slam always presents an eclectic mix of players – young newcomers hoping to breakthrough at a major event and get noticed; former stars who have fallen from the top rung of world tennis battling back from injury or poor form; and local hopes riding on the wild cards of tournament organizers aiming to maximise the opportunity presented to them. All of them aiming to follow in the footsteps of John McEnroe who went from the qualifying draw at Wimbledon in 1977 straight into the semi-finals. As I scanned through this year's draw, here are some of the names that caught my attention and who I will be following closely over the next few days.
23 year old Slovenian Blaz Kavcic is the top seed in qualifying and would be hoping a pull-out by someone in the main draw will send him straight into next week's tournament proper. Kavcic, currently ranked #100 (highest rank #96) made his Grand Slam debut at Melbourne last year as a qualifier losing to Wayne Odesnik in round one and also reached the 2nd round in Paris, besides winning 3 challenger titles in Aug-Sept 2010. He is coming off a quarter-final appearance in the ATP 250 event in Chennai last week. But he has a few hurdles in his section of the draw. Kavcic takes on Australian youngster Benjamin Mitchell in round one. Mitchell is considered to be one of Australia's most encouraging prospects, having reached the final of the boys singles at Wimbledon 2010.
Seeded to meet Kavcic in the third round is 25th seed Ilija Bozoljac, currently ranked #152 (highest rank #101). The 6 ft 4 inch Serb is best remembered for his entertaining 2nd round match against Roger Federer at Wimbledon last year where he qualified and has also reached the 2nd round in Melbourne in 2007.
Seeded second is Simone Bolelli, the 25 year old Italian currently ranked #107. Bolelli has been ranked as high as #36 only two years ago and has been to the second round in Melbourne in 2008 and 2009. A famous name lurking in his section is 31 year old Chilean Nicolas Massu. The 2004 Olympics singles & doubles god medallist is now ranked a lowly 186, far away from his peak of #9 in 2004. Also in the same section is Brydan Klein, a controversial 21 year old Aussie – currently ranked #215. Klein reached the second round in Melbourne in 2009 and won 3 ITF Futures and reached 4 more finals in a row towards the end of 2010 – which saw his ranking move from 416 to around 200. The 2007 Australian Open boys' singles champion has been in the news for the wrong reasons; getting suspended for six months in 2009 for calling a South African opponent a "kaffir" and allegedly spitting at his coach and another player during a tournament in Eastbourne, England. Despite saying he was remorseful, the Perth baseliner stumbled into more trouble in New Zealand last month. In losing to German Sebastian Rieschick, Klein reportedly threw his racquet repeatedly, swore and had a running verbal battle with courtside photographers. These altercations cost Klein a chance to compete in the wild-card play off among Australians in December but his ranking is high enough to ensure him a spot in the qualifying draw.
A name to watch out for in the coming years is Grigor Dimitrov, nicknamed G-Force. The 19 year old Bulgarian, seeded 3rd in qualifying and ranked #108, has been labelled the next Federer since capturing the Wimbledon and US Open junior titles in 2008 and was earlier coached by Federer's former caoch Peter Lundgren. In between August and September 2010, Dimitrov won three straight Challenger titles and reached one more final. Dimitrov will have to contend with Austrian veteran Stefan Koubek, his projected third round opponent in qualifying. Koubek, seeded 19th and currently ranked #133, was ranked as high as #20 in 2000 and has been a quarter-finalist in Melbourne in 2002. Last year, he qualified and went on to reach the 3rd round.
25 year old Aussie Chris Guccione, one of 12 locals in the draw, is making his way back after seeing his ranking drop from #67 to the low 300's following an Achilees injury which saw him lose 10 matches in a row between August 2009 and July 2010. The 6ft 7inch Aussie had played 6 Australian Opens in a row from 2004 to 2009 reaching the second round in 2004 and 2009 but had to rely on a wild card to get into the qualifying event this year.
Swiss Marco Chiudinelli has not been able to replicate his remarkable 2009 season which saw him make the second-biggest ranking jump of any player in Top 100, climbing over 700 positions from 2008 and won him the Most Improved Player award in 2009. Chiudinelli,29, is currently ranked #115, down from a career-high #52 in February 2009 and is showing good form, having qualified in Doha last week before losing to good friend Federer 6-7, 5-7.
Austria's Andreas Haider-Maurer, seeded 7th and ranked #118, is coming off a strong end in 2010 – qualifying for his first Grand Slam in New York before losing to Robin Soderling in five tough sets and reaching the finals of the ATP event in Vienna in October losing to countryman Jurgen Melzer. In his section is 18th seed Nicholas Mahut. The Frenchman will forever be known for his 11 hour match against John Isner at Wimbledon last year. Currently ranked #132, Mahut has been as high as #40 in 2008 and is coming off a decent perofrmance at the Hopman Cup where he further endeared himself to the public thanks to this stunt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PQ15RJYtfp0
Israeli Amir Weintraub is currently at a career high # 270 and you may want to follow him only for this http://www.menstennisforums.com/showthread.php?t=17495 Weintraub also won 4 ITF futures last year.
27 year old Luxembourg native Giles Muller is seeded #11 and is currently ranked #122. At his peak in 2005, Muller stunned Any Roddick in three tiebreaks in round one of the US Open in 2005 on his way to achieveing a peak ranking of #59 and also went on to reach the quater-finals at Flushing Meadows three years later. Muller is also showing good form having reached the finals of a Challenger last week in Australia and also made 4 finals in in the lower-rung events in 2010.
Big things were predicted for Frenchman Josselin Ouanna when he beat Marat Safin 10-8in the fifth set in the second round of the French Open in 2009. However, Ouanna has struggled to make the next step. His ranking of #154, down from #88 in 2009, is only good enough to earn him the #27 seed in the qualifying draw.
Big things were also predicted for Donald Young. In 2005, Young won the Australian Open junior title at age 15 and became youngest year-end World No. 1 in junior rankings at 16 years, 5 months and in 2007, he captured Wimbledon junior title. But Young has struggled to transition into the men's game and has been criticized for sticking to his parents as coaches. In 2008, he maanged to climb to #73 in the rankings, but he has not been able to hold on to his top 100 ranking. Currently ranked 129, the 21 year old Young will be hoping for a repeat of 2010 when he qualified for the year's first major and reached the second round before losing to Lleyton Hewitt. Someone he will need to watch for in his section is 28th seed Marc Gicquel. The Frenchman, ranked high as #37 in 2008, is now down to #155 and at 32, he is probably on his last legs but still capable of competing with the likes of Young.
And big things are also being predicted for 20 year old Candian Milos Raonic, by no one less than Nadal himself. The 26th seeded Raonic qualified for the ATP event in Tokyo in the fall and lost a close match to Nadal 64 64 in the second round, following which Nadal commented, "He can become a very good player. I don't know when, but he will be very close to the top positions.” Raonic is currently ranked a career-high #153 having jumped more than 800 places in the rankings in the last 24 months and in Kuala Lampur became the third different Canadian to reach the quarter-finals or better in an ATP World Tour tournament since 2000.
A good result in qualifying for any of the 128 players could be a launching pad into tennis' big events in 2011 and would also provide them a big paycheck. First round losers in Melbourne are guaranteed A$20,000 which would go a long way in ensuring their survival on the expensive grind that is the professional circuit for a few months atleast. As these guys hit the courts in Melbourne tomorrow. I'll be back with a look at the womens qualifying draw and some of the new names trying to establish themselves and big names trying to re-estbalish themselves in the world of tennis.
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