Indian Wells Day 10: Federer vs. Nadal Preview

It's that day again where we have a showdown between Federer and Nadal, and it is an oddly similar scenario to when they played in the Australian Open semifinal earlier this year. Federer will be coming into this match after playing sublimely against Del Potro in his previous match, whereas Nadal had a difficult encounter with Nalbandian and was very erroneous.

Federer-Nadal matches are very predictable. Nadal will always serve to Federer's backhand and will really pressure him on that side with his forehand, breaking it down and extracting the error. Federer on the other hand will try to keep the rallies short, take advantage of any forehands he gets and try to be very efficient on his own serve. Despite the dynamic of the match being predictable, the matches are always riveting because we all want to see who will execute their tactic better - whoever does will win the match. Sadly for Federer, its normally him who can't execute, but will this be the case this time?

The courts here at Indian Wells are a very slow hard court, probably the most favourable hard court for Nadal but Federer will still feel he can beat Nadal here. Federer-Nadal matches in the past are normally dictated by how Federer plays because he is the on who is open to inconsistency; if Federer plays well he should win, if not he won't. Whereas Nadal's game plan employs less risk and normally executes it very effectively.

Federer will be coming into this match with confidence after blitzing Del Potro and so one would think that Federer will probably play well against Nadal - but we've thought this in the past and been proved wrong. I certainly thought this at the Australian Open and predicted Federer to win, but this was hardly the case. Against Nadal a completely different question is asked of Federer, and that is a psychological one. We saw at the Australian Open that Federer became very erroneous even though Nadal had not increased the amount of pressure he was putting on him, and also at very key points in the match Federer just could not come up with the goods; either a shocking forehand miss or very often a missed return on break point. He doesn't miss to this extent against any other opponent on a consistent basis.

To win this match Federer will certainly have to serve well and on top of this he cannot afford to miss as much as he has in their past matches. And of course, he will have to be weary of Nadal's forehand pass and attempt to approach the net on Nadal's backhand as much as possible but this is made difficult as Federer's down the line forehand (natural approach shot) is to Nadal's forehand, so he'll have to get the balance right. Whoever can dominate with their forehand better will win. I'm too afraid to call this one as it's a difficult one, but I'd probably give the edge to Nadal despite the form Federer is in because Nadal raises his game against Federer, and Federer tends to do the opposite.

Indian Wells Day 8: Djokovic vs. Almagro Preview

There are two men's tennis matches today - this one and Isner vs. Simon. Both matches will be worth watching and I'd probably favour Gilles Simon against John Isner as I think the Frenchman will be able to move Isner around very well and thus force Isner to pull the trigger too early, leading to errors. Anyway, my focus for this blogpost concerns Djokovic vs Almagro.

These two have met very few times - only twice. Their most recent encounter was at the start of Djokovic's transformation at the Australian Open last year which Djokovic won with ease 6-3 6-4 6-0. I don't think the Serb is currently playing as well he was back then but I would still expect him to come through this match.

Almagro beat Berdych very convincingly in his previous match 6-4 6-0 and this victory will certainly give him confidence which is something he can lack when playing the guys at the top of the rankings. Djokovic on the other hand had a match that seemed initially very simple but became a bit complex, beating Andujar 6-0 6-7 6-2 where he raised his game when he had to. Although Almagro will be coming into this match with confidence, I expect Djokovic to raise his game and in the end offer too much for Almagro to handle. Almagro likes to be the aggressor but Djokovic's movement will make him able to neutralise rallies incredibly well and thus for Almagro to play Djokovic off the court will be very difficult. It is mainly for this reason I think Djokovic will come through in straight sets. Almagro could sneak one just like Andujar did, and for this to happen he will have to serve and follow-up very well, trying to play measured aggressive tennis whilst keeping the rallies short.

Indian Wells Day 6: Federer vs. Raonic Preview

There are quite a few popcorn matches today - like Del Potro vs. Verdasco which is going on right now - but I thought today I'd do a preview to probably the most anticipated match of the day; Federer vs. Raonic. It already promises to be a brilliant match but the fact that these two have never played each other before makes it even more exciting.

We've all heard about the danger that Raonic provides for anyone he plays against, mostly because of his missile of a serve but also his follow up - his powerful groundstrokes and his potent net game. All in all he plays really good aggressive tennis and breaking his serve could prove quite difficult.

However, Federer has not had much difficulty with players of this type in the past. We have seen him completely dominate Roddick time after time - Federer seems to like the ball coming onto him. What he doesn't like are the more defensive players like Simon or Murray (in the past) and of course Nadal - but there's a lot more to Nadal's game than just defence.

Having said this, I don't think this match will be as straight forward as a standard Federer-Roddick match in the past. Raonic will certainly be difficult to break for obvious reasons and it is this factor that will make this match interesting. I think we'll see a very close first set - maybe a tie break - but in the end I feel Federer will squeeze through it. This match could go three sets but if I had to bet I'd say Federer in straights as he's on a good run right now, having played brilliantly towards the conclusion of Dubai.

Indian Wells Day 5: Popcorn Matches of the Day

There are some decent matches to watch today despite it being very early in the tournament. Here are my views:

Djokovic vs. Anderson

The most anticipated match of the day as the world number one will be in action but probably not the most competitive one. Anderson has a top quality serve and a good follow up forehand but Djokovic possesses a brilliant return and probably the best movement in the game. So all in all I think we'll see a straight set victory for the Serb.

Roddick vs. Berdych

Probably the most competitive match of the day - both men possess weapons and both men took three sets to win their previous match. Roddick's first round match was a struggle but had worked his return into a good groove towards the end of the match - it will be interesting to see whether he can keep this up against Berdych's serve. This match could go to three sets but in the end I think we shall see Berdych prevail.

Wawrinka vs Simon

I haven't seen either of these two play in Indian Wells so far but I am aware that both came through very close and long three setters in their previous matches. Simon is extremely consistent and a brilliant mover and so I think this match will come down to how Wawrinka plays and to whether or not he can sustain a high level of aggressive tennis throughout the match. I think he will - I'll say Wawrinka in straights.

Tweet me your thoughts! 

Preview: Indian Wells - Draw Summary

The first Masters 1000 tournament of the year is almost here. This year Indian Wells fields 48 out of the world's top 50 - it promises to be a good tournament. It has been made more interesting for spectators by the fact that this will be Rafael Nadal's return to tour after the epic Australian Open final.

The draw was made yesterday, the rest of the post will summarise it but for your own examination you can find it here: http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2012/404/mds.pdf

First things first, Federer and Nadal are in the same half and Djokovic and Murray are in the same half.

I'll start of with Djokovic's quarter. Novak will face a qualifier (not specified yet) for his first match and if he were to win he could face Phillipp Kohlschreiber or the big-serving Kevin Anderson who will not be any easy encounter. Against big servers you must be extra-efficient on your own service games because if you were to be broken, it could be difficult to break back. Having said this I don't expect Djokovic to have much of a problem with Anderson. After this he could face Richard Gasquet who has worked himself into some decent form lately. In the quarterfinal the big names he could face are Berdych, Almagro or Roddick.

Nadal's first match will be either Alejandro Falla or the tricky Florian Mayer. The only names that really stand out majorly in his quarter are Dolgopolov - whom he could meet in the 3rd round - Lopez, Cilic and Tsonga. Tsonga is always capable of a major upset, but all in all I'd say this is the easiest draw of the four.

The first thing that caught my eye when looking at Federer's draw is the potential 3rd round encounter between him and Raonic who is working himself back into form this year. Raonic is of course a big server and has some very explosive groundstrokes, and so you would expect him to keep Federer on his toes. After this he could Monfils or Melzer, neither of which I would expect to do Federer much harm if they were to meet. In the quarterfinal Federer could face either of the two finalists last weekend in Acapulco: Verdasco or Ferrer.

Murray's first match doesn't appear to be very challenging either; he will play one of Garcia-Lopez and Machado. After this he could play Troicki or Ryan Harrison who managed to get a set off Murray in Melbourne about 6 weeks ago. If a repeat of this match was set it would certainly be worth a watch, but looking at the form Murray worked himself into in Dubai (despite being slightly disappointing in the final) you would not expect an upset. In his next match he could play Wawrinka who has given Murray a few troubles in the past - this match would certainly be a test for the Brit. In the quarterfinal he could face Isner or Fish who both showed some good form in their Davis Cup ties against Switzerland.

Who do I expect to win this tournament? What are the 'popcorn matches'? You'll have to find out in my following posts!