ATP Fantasy Tennis Picks for Rome
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This week’s submission deadline is Monday morning, May 5, 4am (EST) in the U.S./10am (CET) in Europe.
Juan Carlos Ferrero pulled out after I posted my picks last week so remember to take a quick look at the draw before the submission deadline to see if one of your players has dropped out. Phillipp Kohlschreiber also pulled out - he had the flu - and I was not happy about that. If a player drops out before his first match, it does not count as one of your five uses of that player.
This week we have the clay court Masters Series event in Rome. The first prize is a whopping $553,846. We need two players from each quarter to make up our eight player team so let’s go.
The U.S. players have arrived on the clay court Masters Series circuit in the person of James Blake and Andy Roddick this week and they’re messing things up a bit because it’s unlikely they’ll get far. Roddick is not a terrible clay court player – he got to the quarterfinals here in 2006 and the semifinals in 2002 – but he hasn’t done much on clay in a while so I’m saving him for Wimbledon, Toronto, Cincinnati, the U.S. Open, and Paris. Jo-Wilfired Tsonga is back from a knee injury but as far as I can tell, he’s never won a main draw clay court match. Simone Bolelli is in the semifinals at Munich but I’d still pick Gilles Simon over him, so Simon is my guy.
I don’t know what happened to randomness in this draw because the section below Roddick is packed. Tommy Robredo, Mario Ancic, and Nikolay Davydenko should all play each other within the first three rounds. First of all, can Ancic beat Davydenko here? Ancic is pretty good on clay but he hasn’t been past the third round in a clay event this year whereas Davydenko has a semifinal and a final. Davydenko has a 4-1 record over Robredo and beat him here last year so I’m going with Davydenko.
Blake’s section is tough to pick for the same reason Roddick’s was: there aren’t a lot of good players in it. We probably should choose between Carlos Moya, Filippo Volandri, and Fernando Verdasco, and they’re all having terrible years. Moya has lost in the first round here the last three years while Volandri got to the semifinals last year, so Volandri it is.
Obviously Rafael Nadal is the choice in his section and the European Masters events pay a whole lot more than the Masters events in the U.S., so pick him here.
Should I pick Roger Federer or not? It’s a tough decision because he looks like he can get to the final here but he’s much more likely to beat Nadal in Hamburg. He won the Hamburg title the past three years and that’s where he has his only victory over Nadal. For sure I’m using him at Roland Garros, Wimbledon, and the U.S. Open, but what about either Toronto or Cincinnati and Paris? I’d be taking a chance if I save him for Paris because he could be injured or skip it, but he’s likely to win either Toronto or Cincinnati so I’m saving him till next week in Hamburg.
Instead of Federer I’ll settle for Paul-Henri Mathieu and hope he gets to the third round.
That’s the theme this week, by the way: patience. Don’t use all your top players up and jump out to a good standing in the fantasy game only to run out of players in the fall. Also, don’t use a player who could reach the quarterfinals in a Masters event now but win a Masters event later on. Remember, you can only use a player five times and that’s it.
David Ferrer should reach the quarterfinals. His record over Richard Gasquet is 3-0 and he beat Radek Stepanek twice last year. But I used him in Barcelona because he’ll get more money for his final in Barcelona than he will for a quarterfinal here and, besides, his record in Hamburg is much better than here. Instead, I’ll see how far Gasquet can go.
Novak Djokovic should be able to get to the quarterfinals but he’ll have to go through Fernando Gonzalez and David Nalbandian and possibly Nicolas Almagro to get to the semifinals. So I’m saving Djokovic for the remaining three slams and a Masters event or two on a faster court. Instead, I’ll see how far Juan Monaco can go.
If Fernandez and Nalbandian meet in the third round, that’s a tossup. Gonzalez is 10-0 on clay this year but his highest ranking opponent was number 21 and that match ended up being a walkover, so take the streak with a grain of salt. Nalbandian is 15-3 but his only big win was a victory over Tommy Robredo and he lost to Stanislaw Wawrinka this week. Almagro could beat either of them but he’s too inconsistent in big events for me to pick him. Nalbandian reached the final last year so I’m going with him.
My picks: Mathieu, Gasquet, Monaco, Nalbandian, Simon, Davydenko, Volandri, Nadal.
Happy fantasies!
This entry was posted
on Saturday, May 3rd, 2008 at 7:17 pm and is filed under Carlos Moya, James Blake, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Filippo Volandri, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Mario Ancic, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Juan Monaco, David Nalbandian, Andy Roddick, AMS Rome, Fernando Gonzalez, ATP Players, Fantasy Tennis, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Nikolay Davydenko, Richard Gasquet, David Ferrer, Novak Djokovic, ATP Tournaments.
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9 Responses to “ATP Fantasy Tennis Picks for Rome”
May 4th, 2008 at 8:34 am
Sorry, I know this blog is on Rome, Nina, but just wanted to throw out a big “hurrah!” for Gonza’s win today, and also for Rafa’s, who still reigns supreme on clay!
May 4th, 2008 at 8:45 am
Wonderful for Fena, love it!! Don’t stop there. Congratulations Rafa, No 4!!! So sorry Ferru, you got a set and you won in Valencia last week, I’m a proud fan.
May 4th, 2008 at 9:42 am
Just thought I’d pass along that Djoko tested positive for strep throat, is currently on antibiotics, and has requested a Wednesday start for Rome in the hopes that he’ll be well by then. He says he’s still not 100%.
Guess he’s not so evil or calculating after all. LOL
Seriously, though, I’d imagine a lot of viruses etc travel through the tour. Almagro’s been sick, Khol’s pulled out of Rome with flu, and Djoko’s been ill too. Maybe we’re too quick to judge?
May 4th, 2008 at 10:08 am
Let’s hope I have more success with my picks this week. Last week I picked blind as I was boarding a plane from Australia to the UK before the draws were out. I picked 4 players plus a doubles team who went out in the first round, plus a player who wasn’t even playing. Ouch!
So am I completely mad to pick Santoro to get past Blake, Moya, Volandri?
A possible Safin / Murray match in round 2? Can one court contain so much talent and so much angst?
May 4th, 2008 at 11:14 am
Santoro has gone out in the first round at the last four clay court events he’s played and one of those was a challenger! He seems to be tiring out a bit. I hear that wifi is coming to airplanes and some planes already have it. Costs a lot though. Maybe you’ll turn into one of those people with an internet phone that flashes the latest scores :0)
Can you get the ATP draws on an iPhone or a Blackberry?
I’m with all of you. Rafa is incomparable. He has more heart, guts, and skill than anyone since Borg. I’m not sure about Fernando yet. Haven’t seen him play at a Masters clay event or even a tough clay event yet. I’ll be watching this week very closely.
Almagro had laryngitis all week too. Those little germs are probably crawling all over the locker room walls. Djokovic is such a contrast. He’s a big strapping, strong guy yet he gets run down easily. He’s always had breathing problems - I believe he had an operation for it. If you can’t breath well I would think that you’re immune system is going to suffer.
I don’t understand Murray’s difficulties on clay. He’s 6-11 lifetime yet his game should be good on clay. He’s quick, can construct a point well, he trained on clay. in Barcelona What is it? Of course, the U.K. may be the only place in the world with fewer clay courts than the U.S. I remember taking a walk through parts of the countryside in England where I grew up and there in the middle of nowhere, with no one around, was a grass court. Does anyone know how many clay courts there are at the National Training Center in the U.K.?
May 4th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I agree with you 100% about Murray Nina. He’s such a defensive player too: seems made for the clay in some ways. He also trained in Spain as a junior I believe. For a while maybe?
He does seem to start slow on many surfaces, which can be tough to get back from, and stamina-wise, he’s still a bit iffy, and certainly not anywhere near those Spaniards. But on clay Murray could actually indulge his drop-shot-itis!
May 4th, 2008 at 2:37 pm
Murray was my pick to challenge Nadal and Federer because I was desperate for an interesting kind of guy with a thinking person’s game. I figured he’d grow out of his sturm und drang as his results improved. And how can he not be in shape unless those videos of him doing sprints around cones and playing soccer are fake? Is it possible that Nadal trains that much harder than Murray? Do players who grow up on clay court naturally develop better conditioning?
May 4th, 2008 at 3:48 pm
IMHO, the difference between Nadal and Murray is passion, respect and the will to win. I would think Nadal and the other Spaniards just loved reading the statement below, taken from the BBC web after he lost to Ancic very meekly. Barcelona is a very prestigious tournament as far as the Spaniards are concerned, and they’d given the guy a late wildcard too! Can you imagine Nadal or any other player coming to Queens or one of the American tournaments with that ambivalent attitude! I reckon Senor Nadal is just waiting for this one! Sorry for the rant Nina, because I know you like the guy.
“I didn’t get that fired up for the match,” said the Scot, who is back in the top 20 but well below his former top-10 status.
“I was flat. I was going to be here practising anyway, so I had hoped to get a few matches.
“But my priority is to train for Rome and Hamburg. I wanted to continue from last week, but (playing here) is not the be-all and end-all.”
May 5th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Jenny, have to agree with you re Murray. He was similarly dismissive of the tournament in Rotterdam after losing in the first round.
It’s particularly galling to me the he took a wildcard that perhaps another player would have appreciated a lot more than he seems to have done.
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