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US Open 2010 - Preview

The US Open starts on Monday and we are all hoping that this will be Rafa's year. To take this title he'll have to win 7 tough matches. Here's a look at his record against the people he could be facing if he wins through each round. I've gone on the basis of current form on hard courts (such as it is) and rankings to make a best guess of potential opponents. This is tennis, though, and there are no guarantees that upsets won't occur.

Round 1 - Teymuraz Gabashvili
World Ranking - 98 Career high (Feb 2009) - 59 2010 Wins/Losses 8/12

Gabashvili's best results have come on clay although, arguably, his best performance this year was in pushing Kohlschreiber to 5 sets at Wimbledon.

They have played each other twice. At the ATP Masters Series Miami Rafa won, 6-2 6-2. Later that year Rafa beat him in the second round at Roland Garros, 6-1 6-4 6-2.


Round 2 - Denis Istomin
World Ranking - 46 Career high (Current) - 46 2010 Wins/Losses 25/20

He performs best on the faster surfaces and took Tomas Berdych to 5 sets at Wimbledon. His best result this year was in reaching the final of the Pilot Pen tournament in New Haven last week.

They've met once before - at Queens earlier this year. It was a tough match but Rafa won, 7-6(4) 4-6 6-4.


Round 3 - Philipp Kohlschreiber - Seeded 29
World Ranking - 31 Career high (Sep 2009) - 22 2010 Wins/Losses 29/18

He likes clay and hard courts but this year has not won more than three matches in succession at any tournament. His best results were in reaching the quarter finals in Monte Carlo and Toronto.

Rafa has beaten him on all seven occasions they have played but Kohlschreiber has taken a set off him on each of the four times they've met on a hard court. Their most recent match was at the ATP Masters Series in Toronto which Rafa won, 3-6 6-3 6-4.


Round 4 - Ivan Ljubicic or Feliciano Lopez

Ivan Ljubicic Seeded 15
World Ranking - 17 Career high (May 2006) - 3 2010 Wins/Losses 17/12

It's hard to say whether Ljubicic is the more likely opponent at this stage despite his higher ranking. He has a better winning percentage than Feli so far this year but has played a lot fewer matches. He has never gone past the third round at the US Open. His best result this year was winning the ATP Masters in Indian Wells, beating Rafa in the semi final. He did not play in Toronto and lost to David Nalbandian in the first round in Cincinnati.

Rafa's head to head against Ljubicic is 5-2. The two losses top and tail their meetings - 2005 in Doha and the aforementioned Indian Wells semi final the last time they played.


Their classic match on a hard court was, of course, that Madrid final in 2005 where Rafa came back from 2 sets to love down to win in the fifth set tiebreak.


Feliciano Lopez - Seeded 23
World Ranking - 25 Career high (Jan 2005) - 20 2010 Wins/Losses 22/18

According to his ATP profile, his favourite surface is a hard court. His best result this year was winning the title in Johannesburg in February but he's had 8 first round exits including the last two ATP Masters events in Toronto and Cincinnati.

Their head to head is also 5-2 in Rafa's favour. His only losses came in 2003 in Basel (at the start of Rafa's career) and this year at Queens.


Quarter final - Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer, Ernests Gulbis or David Nalbandian

Luckily, Rafa will only have to play one of these guys.

Fernando Verdasco - Seeded 8
World Ranking - 8 Career high (April 2009) - 7 2010 Wins/Losses 37/16

He has had a mixed year in 2010. The first half of the year gave him titles in San Jose and Barcelona but since his loss in the Nice final he has not progressed beyond a quarter final. He lost in the second round in both Toronto and Cincinnati. His best result at the US Open was the quarter final last year.

He has never beaten Rafa in eleven attempts. Rafa totally outplayed him in their only meeting this year; winning the final of the ATP Masters Series in Monte Carlo, 6-0, 6-1. Their last meeting on a hard court was the epic semi final of the Australian Open in 2009. Rafa won there, 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-6(2), 6-7(1), 6-4.


David Ferrer - Seeded 10
World Ranking - 12 Career high (Feb 2008) - 4 2010 Wins/Losses 42/16

His best results this year have come on clay with a win in Acapulco and two semi finals and a final in the spring clay ATP Masters events. He lost in the first round in Toronto and the round of 16 in Cincinnati. His best result at the US Open was the semi final in 2007. Other than that he has not gone beyond the third round.

Their head to head is Rafa 11, Ferrer 3. Rafa has not been beaten by Ferrer since the back-to-back losses at the US Open and ATP Masters Cup in 2007. In their last meeting on a hard court, at the ATP Masters Series in Miami, Rafa won, 7-6(5), 6-4. Their most recent match was the final of the ATP Masters Series in Rome which Rafa won, 7-5, 6-2.


Ernests Gulbis - Seeded 24
World Ranking - 26 Career high (Current) - 26 2010 Wins/Losses 26/14

He considers hard courts his favourite surface and won his first title in Delray Beach at the beginning of this year. He has made a steady climb up the rankings this year rising to his current position from a lowly 90 at the end of 2009. He lost in the second round in Toronto and the third round in Cincinnati. His best showing at the US Open was making the fourth round in 2007. Last year he lost to Andy Murray in the first round.

Gulbis has not beaten Rafa on the three occasions they have played but he has taken a set off him each time. Their only meeting on a hard court was the last time the ATP Masters was played on a hard court in Madrid. Rafa won, 7-5, 3-6, 6-3.


David Nalbandian - Seeded 31
World Ranking - 33 Career high (Mar 2006) - 3 2010 Wins/Losses 22/5

He took three months off in the middle of this year to have surgery but has returned in great form. He won both his Davis Cup matches in July and then won the Washington tournament the following month. He reached the quarter finals in Toronto and the third round in Cincinnati. He won the junior title at the US Open in 1998 but has never won the senior tournament. His best result was the semi final in 2003 but he has not gone further than the third round in the last two years.

Rafa has managed to claw back their head to head to 2-2 after losing their first two matches back-to-back in 2007. For much of the match it looked like Nalbandian was going to make it three out of three when they played in Indian Wells in 2009 but Rafa managed to save match points before winning in the third set. In their most recent match in Miami this spring, Rafa again lost the first set but took the second two with ease to win, 6-7(8), 6-2, 6-2.


Semi final - rather than go through all eight seeds in this section of the draw I will just focus on the top two, Andy Murray and Tomas Berdych.

Andy Murray - Seeded 4
World Ranking - 4 Career high (Aug 2009) - 2 2010 Wins/Losses 32/12

After losing in the Australian Open final to Roger Federer, Murray had a fairly poor year up until reaching the final in Los Angeles and winning in Toronto. He considers that the US Open is the best place that he's played. He won the junior title there in 2004 and reached the senior final in 2008.

The head to head with Rafa is 8-4 in Rafa's favour. Rafa won their first 5 encounters but the head to head for their last 8 matches is not encouraging for a Rafa fan. Rafa has only won one of their hard court encounters out of the last four; losing in the US Open in 2008, the Australian Open in 2010 and, most recently, in Toronto three weeks ago.


Tomas Berdych - Seeded 7
World Ranking - 7 Career high (Current) - 7 2010 Wins/Losses 41/15

He has had a good year, reaching a career high on the back of his run to the final at Wimbledon. He made the quarter final in Toronto and the third round in Cincinnati. He has never got beyond the third round at the US Open.

After going 1-4 down in their head to head in 2006, Rafa has won their last 7 encounters. Three of those wins were on hard courts - all in straight sets. The most recent win was, of course, the Wimbledon final.


Final - hard to predict anyone other than Roger Federer - Seeded 2
World Ranking - 2 Career high (Feb 2004) - 1 2010 Wins/Losses 39/10

Federer has won a meagre (for him) two titles this year - the Australian Open and Cincinnati. He has, of course, won the US Open five consecutive times from 2004 to 2008.

Rafa is winning their head to head 14-7 overall and 6-2 in Grand Slams. On hard courts it's honours even at 3-3. Rafa has won the last three Grand Slam finals they've played - Roland Garros and Wimbledon in 2008 and the Australian Open in 2009. Since then, they've only played each other twice.




To sum up, it's not going to be easy but there is no-one in the above list who Rafa isn't perfectly capable of beating when he's fit and healthy.

We'll be with you all the way, Rafa.
Good luck!