The Week Ahead...

Four ATP tournaments began yesterday: three clay court events (seriously?!) and the high profile Indianapolis Us Olympus US Open series event.The Austrian Open in Kitzbühel is an event stocked with clay court specialists who are desperately avoiding the American hard court season. The Austrian Open is still a relatively big event and features a newly reconditioned Top 40 Rainer Schuettler as the no. 2 seed. Andreas Seppi is the number one. Notable challengers for the title include teenage Stuttgart winner, Juan Martin Del Potro and unseeded Guillermo Coria. I think Coria will be able to beat Seppi, otherwise the Argentinian will never come close to regaining his old form. In Umag look for number one seed Verdasco to make the final and either Canas or home town favorite Ivan Ljubicic. And in yet another clay tournament in the Netherlands, Jose Acasuso will proabaly take the title.

In Indianapolis, the first US Open series Men's event, American Jame Blake is the number one seed and my favorite to capture the title. Blake has always been most comfortable on hard courts and has had a good year. Nevertheless, Blake lost two tournaments this year to unranked, surprise finalists so he could struggle in clutch matches. He still has one of the best games for hard court, though, and if he's confident he's hard to stop. Blake's section has some tricky player, Santoro and last year's winner, Tursenov, but he should still get through those rather easily. On the opposite side of the draw, barring some crazy new injury, Tommy Haas should make the final, if he can overcome Querrey, who Haas has listed as one of his least favorite opponents to play.

Rafa, Roger, Oh my!

We all know the story, for it seems like it was written as an epic novel destined to spawn two of the greatest masters of the tennis game, both at the same time. Rafeal Nadal was always the clay court magician and Roger was the grass court king, but the difference now is that Roger was the grass court king- "was" as in the past. At Wimbledon this year Rafa showed why he will be the next number 1, most likely by the end of this year.

For me the shift occurred at a match far removed from the ATP tour. In an exhibition on a clay-grass court in May of last year, Nadal won the entertaining gimmick in a third set tie-break. OK so officially the match meant nothing more than sales and bragging rights, but for me it showed that while each had encroached upon each other's surfaces, Nadal possessed the capability of followin through with a major win. Last year's Wimbledon final cemented that theory. For the first time since his streak began, Federer was forced into a decisive fifth set. While Federer won, Nadal had pushed him to his limits on grass where Federer had yet to on clay-and this was before the mysterious mono diagnosis. Nadal has now not only pushed, but conquered Federer in the only way it could happen, a thrilling 5 set, nearly 5 hour epic match, hailed as the "greatest ever." The match was amazing; the result even mores so. Records were broken and set simultaneously. Federer failed to surpass Borg; Nadal succeeded in equaling him. And now as of Monday, Federer holds less than a 600 point margin over Rafa, Wimbledon is over, and the hardcourt season is here. Nadal is notorious for his hard court shortcomings, but this year he made the semis in Australia, and seems to be improving. How much better can Federer do? Answer: He can't. Just to retain his position, he would have to at least win all the events he did last year and fend off Nadal from another successful season. Prediction: Nadal is Numero Uno by the season-ending Championships.