More clay!

The tennis clay court season continues this week as it sees the start of the WTA Premier Mandatory and ATP 1000 Masters Series Matua Madrid Open today.  Of course I'll be following both the men and ladies tournaments closely and I really look forward to this one.  It also sees the return of Andy Murray to the foray, elbow and current form permitting he should have a really good tournament here.  I hope Andy's elbow injury doesn't flare up again though, hopefully it won't as it could be very troubling for him if it does, but I think he has been undergoing rigorous physiotherapy to help with his elbow so fingers crossed for him. He has recently confirmed that he has been working with Darren Cahill (who coached Andre Agassi) at the weekend and he is ready to make a comeback at Madrid.  Andy will have a bye into the second round, so he'll face either Frenchman Gilles Simon, who he defeated at Monte-Carlo, or Ivan Ljubicic, so should be interesting whoever Andy faces.

I was also quite interested in the draw at the Madrid Open men's draw which sees Federer and Nadal on the same draw, and even more interestingly Murray and Djokovic in the same draw too!  Andy having had time to really prepare on clay and already put in a very impressive performance at Monte-Carlo might just give Djokovic a run for his money this time.  Djokovic who is currently playing in the Serbia Open in Belgrade has just taken the title, the 23rd of this career and the 5th this year so far.  But the match was far from an easy one against his opponent Feliciano Lopez, as he met with some stiff opposition as he was pushed to a 1st set tiebreak which Djokovic ultimately won, and in the second set there was a rain delay which I think gave Djoko the advantage and he cleaned up in a comfortable second set, a straight set win in 7-6(4), 6-2.   

But it does remain to be seen just how well Djokovic can make the transition to clay for the remainder of the season, his super confidence aside, he can still be beaten, he may be the master of the hard court, but he sure isn't the clay court master yet.  Lopez at the Serbia open did show that Djokovic can be pushed by other players on clay, so imagine what some of the top players could do to him.  But it will be interesting to see how it pans out.  Andy Murray for instance who has so far had a really good start to his clay court season so far could really give Djokovic some problems, it would be interesting to see if he could defeat him, it would also be good payback for his Australian Open loss and would see the end of Djoko's winning streak.  And if he beats Andy there is of course the strong possibility that Rafa will also remain unbeaten on the clay, he hasn't lost in two years, albeit also at Madrid to Federer.  But without a doubt this could make for an exciting and unpredictable tournament, as proven Djokovic isn't nearly as invincible on clay so far as he is on hard court, so it would make the matches tougher and longer. 

But its all waiting to unfold at the moment, so it will be an exciting tournament to watch.  The WTA Madrid Open will also be just as exciting as its a biggie for the women being a Premier Mandatory title (both ATP and WTA Madrid titles are worth 1000 points to the winner).  However I'm not sure if Caroline Wozniacki will win this title, so far the red clay has eluded her trophy cabinet, although she did win on the green clay at Charleston earlier last month.  But she will be up against some very strong clay court players on the tour such as Sam Stosur, Francesa Schiavone not to mention Victoria Azarenka.  But she has beaten them of course on different occassions, so she could do it, it will be exciting to watch no doubt and there will be plenty of great matches ahead.  It will also be interesting to see how other up and coming players will get on such as Andrea Petkovic (one of my favourites, not just because she is very fine!) who has made a mark against Caroline Wozniacki at the Sony Ericsson Open, can she do the same here?  Also Julia Goerges who defeated Caroline in the final at Stuttgart as well, will she make a similar impresseion?

I must say though I enjoy watching Andrea Petkovic's fun videos on youtube as she always comes across as a fun person with a nice personality, and even better she's a fan of rock music and she likes her Rage against the machine (I love one of her interviews where she does a bit from Bullet in your head!) which has made her go even further up in my estimation.  I think she's like the female Novak Djokovic, great sense of fun and brings a lot of light heartedness to the game.

So bring out the clay and come whit may!  (OK dodgy rhyme I know!).