The US Open of Tennis begins today in New York. After careful analysis of the draw, the following is a list of potential must see matches in the upcoming fortnight. Mark them in your calendar now!


Third Round (Beginning Saturday September 5)

Roger Federer (1) vs. Lleyton Hewitt (31)

Two Grand Slam champions will face off very early in the tournament due to Hewitt’s low ranking at 31st. If nothing else, the Aussy should provide a strong early test to Federer’s fitness.


Round of 16 (Beginning Monday September 7)

Andy Roddick (5) vs. Fernando Verdasco (10)

Verdasco has guts of steel, as he showed at the 2009 Australian Open, playing in the semi-final against the eventual champion, Rafael Nadal, in what would go down as the longest match in the tournament’s history.

Rafael Nadal (3) vs. Gael Monfils (13)

Frenchman Monfils is very fast, and Nadal’s fitness is an unknown. We will find out a lot about Rafa’s status during this match.


Quarter Finals (Beginning Wednesday September 9)

Novak Djokovic (4) vs. Andy Roddick (5)

This is must see TV. The pair faced off in the quarter-finals last year, and it ended with Djokovic being booed off the court by the New Yorkers.

Rafael Nadal (3) vs. Jo-Wilfred Tsonga (7)

Being the third seed makes the road to the final a lot tougher, and Nadal’s shaky knees may not be able to carry him that far. Tsonga is a powerful hitter who will pose all sorts of problems to Rafa.

Andy Murray (2) vs. Juan-Martin Del Potro (6)

So far in his career, Del Potro has been described as an inconsistent underachiever. But he’s only 20, and if he’s underachieving, he can only improve. This will be a great test for last year’s finalist, Murray.


Semi Finals (Saturday September 12)

Andy Murray (2) vs. Rafael Nadal (3)

If all goes according to plan, next Saturday will be brilliant. Andy Murray will square off against Rafael Nadal in a battle of 2 versus 3. If Nadal is healthy, this will be an epic.

Roger Federer (1) vs. Andy Roddick (5)

About 305 million Americans and I are hoping that Roddick defeats Djokovic to set up this rematch of the Wimbledon final. Federer and Roddick have played some unforgettable matches at Flushing Meadows over the years, and this will match will be a classic.


Finals (Sunday September 13)

The predictions stop here. Whoever plays in the final, we will all be watching.

Tennis’ fourth and final Grand Slam of the year begins in just one week’s time, on Monday August 31st. The men’s field is showing the most parity it has in years, with Roger Federer’s age catching up to him, and a group of young, talented individuals who can challenge. Here is a preview of the contenders:


Andy Roddick: #5 Seed

A-Rod is enjoying a wonderful comeback season, in which the highlight so far has been his epic championship match against Roger Federer at Wimbledon. He has been working with a new coach, Larry Stefanki, since December, whose first order of business was ordering Roddick to rid himself of that spare tire he carried around his waist. After those 15 lbs. were banished, he began retooling Roddick’s skillset.

In his favour:

Before Stefanki, Roddick was one dimensional: all power all the time. Unfortunately, against the variety of Nadal, Murray, and Federer, his game had no chance.

At Wimbledon, he showed that his new game can be both unpredictable and very consistent. He should be even better, having a few more months under his belt with the new coach.

Opposing forces:

At the end of the day, one man stands in his way. Roddick, playing the way he did at Wimbledon, can beat anyone right now, except for that one guy who has always had his number…


Novak Djokovic: #4 Seed

Djokovic has to grow up. After losing to hometown favorite, Andy Roddick, in the quarter finals last year, Djokovic turned on the audience for cheering against him. Dumb idea, riling up a group of upset New Yorkers. It will be interesting to see the way they greet him this year.

In his favour:

He did beat Rafa in the semi-final of the Cincinnati Masters last week to reach the final. And he has won a Grand Slam – the 2008 Australian Open.

Opposing forces:

Lots. He’s too quick to make excuses and too quick to blame injuries. Definitely has the skill to be the best in the world, but he needs to get his head straight.


Rafael Nadal: #3 Seed

In his first action of the summer two weeks ago at the Rogers Cup, Nadal was defeated by Juan Martin Del Potro in the quarter-finals. Last week, in Cincinnati, he made it to the semi-final before losing to Novak Djokovic.

In his favour:

He is in Federer’s head: Roger knows that Nadal is the one guy who can stare him down at a Grand Slam event and not be intimidated. In fact, Nadal’s energy and snarl probably scare the hell out of Fed, though he’d never admit it.

Opposing forces:

Knees of a 40 year old. Pundits always predicted that the way he pounds the pavement would catch up to him, and it may have already done so at the age of 23. He’s not yet moving the way he could before. His strokes also show some rust, but hopefully he will be able to shake it off in the long 2 week tournament, before facing the big guns.


Andy Murray: #2 Seed

After Cincinnati, Murray gained the title of world number two. It’s the first time in 3 years that anyone besides Nadal or Federer has been in the top 2.

Murray is definitely the best player to not yet have won a Grand Slam, but he’s still young at 22.

In his favour:

He won the Rogers Cup in Montreal 2 weeks ago. He has a winning record against Federer: 6-3 all-time. And the hard courts of New York are his favorite surface.

Opposing forces:

Himself. He succumbed to the pressure during last year’s US Open final and did not play well, losing in straight sets to Federer. He has a history of negatively imploding when the chips are down, though he has been working extensively to fix this in the last year.


Roger Federer: #1 Seed

The Fed Express is aiming to win a record 16th tennis Grand Slam at the 2009 US Open.

In his favour:

After winning the Cincinnati Masters tournament last week, beating the world’s (then) 3rd ranked player, Andy Murray, in the semi-final, and the 4th ranked player, Novak Djokovic, in the final, he looks to be in good form.

If he does it, we’ll likely see some waterworks and an annoying speech similar to the one he gave after the Cincinnati final:

“That's the special part, especially winning for the first time as a dad," Federer said. "It gets me going emotionally a little bit, because I know it's been a wonderful summer”

Opposing forces:

Nadal, Djokovic, Murray, Roddick. Someone! Anyone! Please spare us from this torture!

After years of following golf, attempting to recognize and understand talent and to figure out which players will perform well in any given week, I have realized that trying to predict who will win a PGA tournament is like playing roulette. Instead of choosing from 38 numbers, you can choose anyone ranked in the world’s top 50 and most have an equal shot at winning.

Of course, heading into the 2009 US Open Championship, there are a few players with higher odds than the table’s 1 in 38 chances. Picking Tiger Woods or Jim Furyk this week can be equated to choosing the “first 12” spot on the roulette board. Woods’ game is rounding into form at the right time, and he showed this by winning the Memorial Tournament two weeks ago over a strong field. Perhaps the most promising aspect of the win was the fact that he was hitting straight and true with his driver, the club that failed him repeatedly at the Masters earlier this year. Jim Furyk finished second at the Memorial, but more impressive is his consistency of late. He has three top 10 finishes in the last 6 weeks, including a fifth place finish at the Players Championship on May 10th; a tournament in which Woods finished eighth. Quality performances at this one, the tournament the players consider to be “the fifth Major”, hold a lot of weight.

Picking from the rest of the field is a gamble, but you know what they say – high risk, high reward. A few other players have been playing well recently: Zach Johnson and Vijay Singh are past Major champions and both could be in the mix this week.

Canadians may be wondering what’s going on with our two enigmatic hopefuls. Both Stephen Ames and Mike Weir have the ability to beat the best and win a Major and they’ve been playing fairly well lately. Ames finished ninth at the Valero Texas Open on May 17th, and then 27th two weeks later at the Crowne Plaza Invitational, while Weir has three top 20 finishes in the past six weeks, including placing 14th at the Players Championship. It may be hard to see these seemingly average results as positive, but in golf, where one never knows who will win a particular tournament, the ones who have the best chance are those who put themselves in the mix consistently. That being said, it looks like Weir has tuned his game to peak for this year’s US Open Championship, and Canada should put their hopes behind him.

Other than that, look for breakouts from the young gun, Camilo Villegas, and the extremely young gun, Rory McIlroy. It shouldn’t be long until these two are winning tournaments.

Armed with this information, make your bets. Choose your players and book your wagers. Then just sit back, enjoy the ride, and wait for the ball to drop on Sunday evening.