When in Rome

Guess what??? You will never guess what this post is about.  Never.  Give up??? Ok.  Yup its more of the T word!

The ATP 1000 Masters and WTA Premier 5 (worth 900 points) series Italian open in Rome (or the Internazionali BNL d'Italia) has gotten underway already this week, with yet another opporunity for the top seeds to take on each other and try and battle for supremacy.  So it promises to hopefully be another fine tournament just like the Madrid Open which was so far the best clay court tournament of the season.  Again the draw has been shaken up with some players in different sides of the draw, Federer and Nadal are still in the same draw (well they are the odd numbered players so usually it works that way odd draw and even draw) and Murray and Djokovic are in the same draw too.

Which brings me once again onto the young Briton who has struggled this year to win a title so far.  But so far apart from Djokovic, Andy's draw doesn't appear to be too bad, as his first opponent is Xavier Malisse whom he has previously beaten before twice in their last two meetings.  But again its easy to suppose he will win the match, but hopefully he should, all good and well and as long as his elbow doesn't trouble him and he can adjust well to the court conditions, which Andy has said in the past were quite well suited to him.  Anyway he faces Malisse tomorrow evening so I'll be watching that one with keen interest, after that match should he win, he'll go onto possibly face Victor Troicki and Jurgen Melzer in the quarter finals before facing the mammoth test in Djokovic.

I hope Andy does well and gets to the semis as if he is on form this week then it will make for a potentially exciting match, but again he could just get a straight set ass handing (to coin a phrase!) from the Djoker, but I think he still has plenty left in the tank and he ain't done yet.  The Muzza also said he aims to win the Rome tournament, from here I don't see it, but I admire his ambition at least, and should he pull off such a miraculous event, it would certainly stand him in good stead as a possible contender for the French Open.  Not to mention it would make for a great birthday present as he will turn 24 on the day the Rome tournament ends on15 May.  But there is also the problem of his elbow injury, which could flare up again at some point, and it would be really crap for him if he had to retire during the French Open for example, but he'll just have to stay fit and healthy to try and avoid that.

On the WTA side of the Italian Open, all the top seeds are pretty much playing, although Madrid Open ladies winner Petra Kvitova isn't playing, so just maybe that might give the Madrid finalist Victoria Azarenka a chance of winning ths time.  Of course there is also the home favourite and last year's French Open champion, Francesca Schiavone (Dave Grohl lookalike!) who also might stand a chance, but she has really been up and down in her performance since the Australian Open where she put in an impressive run up until the quarter finals against Caroline Wozniacki.  In fact since watching her on the WTA tour on Eurosport I haven't seen her win a single match every time I watch her!  Caroline Wozniacki might have an outside chance but she's not the best clay court player, as was clearly displayed last week when she went out in the 3rd round against semi finalist Julia Goerges who beat her for the second time.  But its all to play for.    

So anyway another tournament is on the go, so I'll be watching intently once more.  Will Rafa win? (hope so! Cmon the Rafa!!!) Will Djokovic? (most likely!), will Andy beat Rafa or Djokovic? (Naw!! But would be great if he gets to face Djoko, cmon Muzza!!) or will Federer makes a miraculous victory? (bigger hmmmm!).  Will Caroline Wozniacki win her first red clay title?  (Hmmm) Will Azarenka get there first? (probably) Will Schiavone win instead?? (Yahheeee! No sure) Am I doing too many of these questions??? (Yup!!!)

Once more we shall see whit happens.