The Brisbane International men’s draw is out and it is chalk full of big names, players with chips on the shoulders and those returning from injury. Here is what I think you should pay attention to as the tournament begins.
Top Seeds: #1 Roger Federer, #2 Kei Nishikori #3 Milos Raonic, #4 Grigor Dimitrov
Notable Players: Gilles Simon, Alexandr Dolgopolov, Kevin Anderson, Lleyton Hewitt, Julien Benneteau
First Round Matches To Watch: First up is Bernard Tomic vs. Sam Querrey. This is a match between two players who have not lived up to expectation and are desperately looking for success. Querrey is currently ranked number 35 in the world but has had trouble being consistent. Querrey’s mental game is where he struggles most, he spends a lot of time at the back of the court slouched over and muttering to himself. American fans are quickly losing hope with Querrey especially after last year’s Davis Cup tie against Great Britain. So a deep run in Brisbane could go a long way for him. Tomic has had trouble on and off the court. Despite his young age Australian fans are already getting sick of his antics but a couple of solid wins on home soil could hush his critics for the moment. Both players have a lot to prove and will be hungry for their first win of 2015. Tomic leads the head to head 2-0 but they haven’t played each other in nearly two years.
The second first round match to watch is a showdown between countrymen and Davis Cup teammates Lleyton Hewitt and Sam Groth. These two players have never faced off in an ATP match. Hewitt is a future Hall of Famer and it is evident that he is getting towards the end of his career with his recent remarks not caring about rankings anymore. However I am not buying that one of the great competitors doesn’t care about winning especially in his home country. What I do know is from the sounds of it Hewitt may be planning his farewell tour. I expect most Aussie fans will be rooting for Hewitt regardless. Groth is known more as of a doubles player but should not be overlooked as a singles player. He broke in to the top 100 last year in singles. Groth likes to serve and volley while Hewitt tends to stay more towards the baseline. This should be your classic big server vs. great defender matchup. Groth has been playing extremely well and is coming off of a successful 2014 campaign so don’t be surprised if he knocks off the defending champion.
Intriguing Players: Alexandr Dolgopolov has the most unconventional style on tour right now but when he is playing well he has proven he can play with anyone. He is coming off of injury so it will be interesting to see what kind of shape he is in especially in the Australian heat. He has a very hard test in Carlos Berlocq in the first round and they have had some very tight matches in the past. If Dolgopolov can get in to his rhythm he will most likely throw Berlocq off of his however if he struggles early on it might mean an early exit. If Dolgopolov does get past Berlocq I would not be surprised if he is able to at least make it to the third round, most likely setting up a match up with Grigor Dimitrov.
Steve Johnson is another player to watch. The 25 year old American has been quietly moving up the rankings jumping over 100 spots in the last year. A big part to his success has been on the Challenger tour. A lot of American tennis fans are looking at the younger players like Stephen Kozlov and Noah Rubin as the future of American Tennis but Johnson could be the more immediate future. His style of play reminds me of Andy Roddick and Jack Sock, however his has more refined tools than Sock and is more athletic. I think Jim Courier is going to take a hard look at Johnson for the United States Davis Cup tie versus Great Britain especially with Querrey struggling so much. It also doesn’t hurt that Johnson played college tennis so he is familiar with team tennis. If Johnson is able to get passed Marinko Matosevic he is going to have an extremely hard time getting passed Kei Nishikori. The key for Johnson is going to be if he can get his first serve in and if he can play first strike tennis with his forehand.
Predictions: I think that the seeds will hold true. I think the first semifinal will be Federer versus Dimitrov. The only person that I think could potentially give Federer trouble in the earlier rounds is Gilles Simon and the only person I think that if in top form could beat Dimitrov is Dolgopolov. I am predicting that the second semifinal will feature Raonic and Nishikori. I think the big serving Canadian gets through Nishikori in three sets and Federer wins in straight sets against Dimitrov. In the finals I see the Raonic serve being too big of an obstacle for Federer in a good three set match.
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