WASHINGTON--It's safe to say that David Nalbandian is pretty good at making returns.

In his first tournament since Monte Carlo in April, David Nalbandian is into the final of the ATP 500 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C., drubbing fourth-seed Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-2 in Saturday's second semifinal.

The other players who have had the most success in Washington in recent years--Andy Roddick, John Isner, Juan Martin del Potro--are all booming servers, who take advantage of the extremely fast hard courts here, and win their sets in break-less sets that have to be decided in tiebreakers. 

But Nalbandian's dominance this week (and dominance is an understatement) has been built around his return, not his serve.  Nalbandian has won a mind-boggling 59% of his return games, an absolutely unheard of percentage.  For those of you paying attention will realize that 59% is well more than half.  None of the other three semifinalists has won more than 25%.

Against the booming serve of Marin Cilic in the semifinal (easily the best server Nalbandian had yet faced in this tournament), Nalbandian looked to be in possible trouble early, his serve broken in the first game of the match after several loose errors.  But he broke back immediately to level the set at 1-1, and soon earned a second and third break to take the first set 6-2.  The second set was more of the same, with Nalbandian breaking twice more for another lopsided set and a convincing 6-2, 6-2 win.

In the end, Nalbandian had won five of Cilic's eight service games, improving his already astonishing percentage of return games won during this tournament.

A win in Sunday's final (in which he faces #8-seed Marcos Baghdatis) would mean Nalbandian's biggest title since the fall of 2007, when he won back-to-back indoor Masters' Series events in Madrid and Paris, beating Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in both.  Just like this week's dominance has, that run also came out of nowhere.  Nalbandian was not seeded in either bracket, and hadn't made it into even the quarterfinals of his previous seven Masters' Series tournaments. 

Whether Nalbandian coming back from or oblivion, or facing down a bomb-serving 6'5'' Croat, the man knows how to return.

* * *

Though momentum seems to be entirely his, there are a couple historical factoids pointing against a Nalbandian victory in Sunday's final. 

• Nalbandian is 1-3 in his career against Baghdatis, having lost their last three encounters, (the last of which was a straight-set loss at Wimbledon 2007). 
  
•  Each of the last four years, the player who played in the first semifinal (the one held on Saturday) went on to beat the player who played in the Saturday night semifinal.  Whether it's the additional rest, familiarity with daylight playing conditions, or mere coincidence, but Baghdatis could have the edge in that regard.  Nalbandian has yet to play in the afternoon heat of Washington, so it will be interesting to see how his sometimes suspect conditioning holds up. 

Forty-first ranked Serbian Janko Tipsarevic pulled off the biggest upset of the tournament so far on Wednesday by upsetting sixth-seed Sam Querrey, whom he had lost to during Querrey's title run last week in Los Angeles. 

Before that match (just after his first round encounter with Arnaud Clement), I sat down with Janko to discuss Davis Cup, his recent nuptuals, and his new found Twitter habit.

TDF: Congratulations on your win today [6-4 6-0 over Arnaud Clement].  You had a slow start, going down 0-3 and losing 12 of the first 14 points--what helped you to come back from that so well?

Janko Tipsarevic: You know what? I was just taking it point-by-point. Arnaud is very difficult to play sometimes 'cause he's so quick around the court, and he made a very good start.  After that, I broke, and he started serving dramatically worse.  There were a couple of close games, like deuce, advantage, deuce advantage, where I managed to win.  And then when I made a double break in the second set, I just felt like he gave up.

TDF: You're playing a very full US Open Series schedule, with Atlanta, Los Angeles, and now Washington.  What made you decide to play so much during this time of the year?

Janko Tipsarevic: I didn't play almost any tournaments from Dubai until Queens.  I was, like, sick, and injured, and out of the circuit for three months.  So I know it's a long and hard tour, but I need to play tournaments since I skipped almost one quarter of the year.

TDF: You're on the Serbian Davis Cup team, which is in the semifinals now against the Czech Republic.  And Serbia is hosting the tie in Belgrade.  Do you think Serbia will win the Davis Cup this year?

Janko Tipsarevic: Well, in Davis Cup, it's a cliche what I'm going to say, but everybody can beat everybody.  You know that already.  But we are the host, and we have now the #2 player in the world in singles, and the #1 player in doubles.  And as the host, people expect us to win.  Viktor and me are around 40-50, which helps, and gives us more options for the doubles and who pairs up with Nenad [Zimonjic]. 

But Berdych is playing the tennis of his life, and Stepanek is back, and together they just beat Nestor-Zimonjic here, which means they have really strong doubles.  I would say that we are the small favorites, but I'm talking just about against the Czech Republic.  For the later match, I have no idea.

TDF: You got married just before Davis Cup in Croatia.  Did you have any of the Croatian players at the wedding as well, or just Serbians?

Janko Tipsarevic: Just Serbians.  I invited some of them, but they couldn't come because of the Davis Cup.  I got married the day before in Belgrade, in Serbia, and then we flew to Croatia the next day.

TDF: You're on Twitter, having a lot of fun with that, it looks like.

Janko Tipsarevic: I got hooked up ten days ago, and it's been fun.  You just post things that are on your mind.  I like it more than Facebook, honestly.  And, you know, I just don't feel like tweeting about regular stuff. Like "I won today and I'm playing good"--people don't care about that.  If you have something interesting to say, maybe an interesting picture good.  If not, better to say nothing.

TDF: You've posted a lot on Twitter about your love for The Cheesecake Factory.  There's one about a mile from here--

Janko Tipsarevic: Oh really?

TDF: Yup, yup.  Have you been?

Janko Tipsarevic: Nope, I might go tomorrow after my match then.

TDF: What is your standard order when you go to The Cheesecake Factory?

Janko Tipsarevic: You know what? Everything is so good, so I don't order the same stuff all the time.  Mainly I eat chicken, and the one that I like the most so far is the caramel chicken.

WASHINGTON--Playing doubles for the first time since February, Marcos Baghdatis paired with Stanislas Wawrinka for an impressive win over recent Wimbledon finalists Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau, in front of a huge crowd at the Stadium Court of the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington, D.C.

After the match, I caught up with Marcos and discussed scheduling, playing doubles, what it's like to be the lone Cypriot on tour, and the always-touchy questions about his fitness level that have dogged him throughout his roller-coaster career.

TDF: This is your first time playing Washington--what made you decide to play here this year?

Marcos Baghdatis: I heard it was a great tournament from the other players, so I decided to try it out, and it seems very nice.  The fans like the sport, so it's nice when you come to a tournament like that.  The courts are great--great facilities to practice, great facilities to play.  So yeah, for the moment I'm having fun.

TDF: You had sort of a rough patch during the grass season, going 0-3 there despite some good results in the past.  What do you think happened with that this year?

Marcos Baghdatis: Yeah, you know, I was a bit tired.  I played too much in the beginning of the year.  I played 18 tournaments out of 22 in the beginning of the year, which is too much.  So I was a bit tired, yeah, but I'm not worried about that.  It's in the past, I'm looking at the present, and the future.

TDF: You're playing doubles here with Stan Wawrinka, playing doubles for the first time in a while.  Are you just doing that to get practice for singles?

Marcos Baghdatis: Exactly.  I haven't played on hard courts in a while, so just putting some matches under my feet, doing some serving, some returning.  It's great.

TDF: You guys played against a pair who are more doubles specialists.  What's it like going out there against guys who maybe care more about the result, more about their doubles ranking, when you are going out mostly for practice? Is that difficult at all?

Marcos Baghdatis: No, I mean, that's the game, you know.  We're here to win also.  We want to win the tournament, we want to win the match.  And if we can win the tournament, we'll take it.

TDF: You're from a pretty small country, Cyprus.  What is it like being the only player on tour from your country? A lot of these guys seem to hang out with others from their country, where as you're sort of on your own...

Marcos Baghdatis: It's not easy on the tour, you know?  There's not a lot of people talking in your language.  But I have a great team around me.  My coach, we're very close.  My physio, we're very close.  My physical trainer, who sometimes travels with me, we're very close.  So I have a good team around me.

TDF: Liezel Huber, a South African doubles player who was #1 in the WTA, she switched over to play for the United States, ostensibly so she could have better teammates in Fed Cup and the Olympics, to help your chances there.  Have you ever considered anything like that? Because being from Cyprus, you're sort of in a tough situation for team events.

Marcos Baghdatis: Yeah, I'm in a tough situation, but I don't think I'll do that. It never came to my mind, so I don't think so.

TDF: You started wearing the flag of Cyprus on your clothing, instead of Adidas stuff.  Do you think you'll keep doing that for the rest of your career?

Marcos Baghdatis: No, no, it's because I don't have a sponsor, so I just wanted to put my country in front--it's an honor for me to be a Cypriot.  When a company comes to me, and wants me to wear their clothes, I'll take it.  So I'm open to offers.

TDF: You made the finals of the Australian Open in 2006--it seems to be a very special tournament for you...

Marcos Baghdatis: Yeah, it is. All the fans, all the people, Australia.  It's nice there, the weather is perfect.  The people are laid back, I love it there.

TDF: You're back into the top 30 now, at #25.  Is it easier being near the top, where you're getting seeded and byes?

Marcos Baghdatis: It's not easy, no. It's not easy once you get there, it's not easy to stay.  I'll try.  I have to continue the same way I'm working.

TDF: How much is conditioning and staying injury-free part of it?

Marcos Baghdatis: Yeah, that's very important also.  But, you know, eh.

TDF: I've heard several television commentators say that in order to contend at slams again, you need to improve your fitness some, to help your endurance and to stay injury-free.  Do you agree that that's an issue for you?

Marcos Baghdatis: Yeah, yeah, it is an issue.

TDF: Is that something you're working on actively? Mardy Fish, for example, just lost a lot of weight and has won two tournaments in a row now.  Do you think it could have that kind of effect for you?

Marcos Baghdatis: Hmm, no.  No, I don't know.

WASHINGTON--James Blake started the year well, making the quarterfinals of Brisbane and Delray Beach, and pushing Juan Martin del Potro to 10-8 in the fifth at the Australian Open.

But he missed the entire clay court season, and his once top five ranking has fallen outside the top 100.

Just as it did last year, Blake's future in tennis rests on his ability to get the results he needs during the summer American hard court swing.  Blake, who turns 31 in December, needed a wild card into the main draw this week's tour stop in Washington, the Legg Mason Tennis Classic, which he won in 2002.

In his first round, Blake was fortunate to draw qualifier Ryan Sweeting, one of the few players in this field ranked below him.

And early on, Blake was able to dictate completely, forcing his will on the young American with quick, powerful points.

But in the final two sets, Sweeting was able to get the first strike in nearly every rally, leaving the always aggressive Blake stuck playing a counter-punching style which doesn't suit him at all.  The level of play and desire in the third set was evident on both ends, with fistpumps and racquet tosses and ball abuse flying off the Blake end of the court in rapid succession.  But Sweeting's break in the third game of the set held up, giving the Young American the match 3-6, 6-3, 6-4.

With the win, Sweeting will likely move past Blake in the ATP rankings, as their two careers move in opposite directions.  It's unlikely either of them will ever have the success that Blake once did, but it is fascinating to see the sparks that can fly when a falling star and rising star collide.

* * *

Since I hadn't heard him address the issue (and since the two were in LA at the same time last week), I decided to ask Blake about his dust-up at Wimbledon with ESPN's Pam Shriver during his first round loss to Robin Haase.

TDF: You talked about not getting frustrated with anyone but yourself when you're on the court, but at Wimbledon this year, you got sort of angry with Pam Shriver, who was doing commentary for ESPN, and was talking loudly behind where you were playing.  Can you talk about what happened there? And I know she was in LA when you were there last week--have you spoken to her at all?

James Blake: I didn't see her in LA, no.  What happened there was, I guess there was a new area there, where they were commentating behind the court.  And she didn't apparently didn't realize how loud her voice was, or how much it traveled.  And twice on break points, she was commentating pretty loudly while I was playing.  It was just surprising to hear from a former player.  It's sometimes understandable for fans, especially kids, that don't know what's going on in tennis matches.  But she's been to, and played in a lot of tennis matches in her day.  So that's all I did, I said that, and she somehow questioned me while I was out there.  But in the past, it's done with.  We've both moved on, it's not really a big deal.

WASHINGTON--Andy Roddick has always played well at the Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.  It was where he made his first ATP quarterfinal back in 2000, and he has won the event three times.  The combination of extremely fast courts and extremely partisan Washington fans does him all sorts of good.

Roddick met with the press Monday afternoon, before his tournament gets underway Tuesday night.  Since these opening press conferences are generally the best time to raise things that are not especially relevant, I thought it would be a good time to ask him about his much talked about pairing to play mixed doubles at the 2012 Olympics in London with compatriot (and two time doubles gold medalist) Serena Williams.

* * *

TDF: You've announced that you're playing mixed doubles in the 2012 Olympics with Serena Williams--do you two have any plans to reel off a couple slam doubles titles or Hopman Cup in the meantime?

Andy Roddick: Yeah, you know, we figure we're not doing anything, we'll just reel off a couple slam doubles titles (laughs).  I know that's how she thinks, but... (laughs).

Ya know, it's 2010. I have not made any plans as of now to do anything for that, except for 24 seconds after they announced that they were going to have mixed doubles in the Olympics, I was flooding Serena's telephone.  Calls, missed calls, text messages--borderline stalking.  And I annoyed her into submission.

* * *

I should have asked if these were the same tactics he used to land Brooklyn Decker.

Another question, asked by Liz Clarke of The Washington Post, gave Roddick more opportunity to talk about Serena.

"The thing about her is, I've seen her play Team Tennis matches where she loses to players ranked #200 in the world, then all the sudden she's in the Wimbledon final, Roddick mused.

"She plays great.  She has the ability to raise her game...She's just able to step up--she's a champion."

Late in the presser, another reporter (with some clear Cleveland loyalties, it seemed) asked Roddick what he thought about LeBron James going down to Miami to play with Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh.  Roddick, a Heat fan, vehemently defended LeBron's move, saying it was ridiculous to criticize a guy who is taking less money so he can win.

With LeBron opting to play with the best so he could win, I had to ask if Roddick saw any congruency between his Olympics decision and LeBron's "The Decision."

* * *

TDF: Do you see a parallel between LeBron James joining forces with Dwyane Wade and you joining forces with Serena for the Olympics, in terms of giving yourself that same best chance to win?

Andy Roddick: Well, that would mean I would consider myself to be like LeBron, which I don't (laughs).  He's a couple-time MVP, so, no.  But I've always said my best asset as a doubles player is picking good partners.

* * *

Roddick plays his first match on Tuesday night, not before 7 PM.  He will face qualifier Grega Zemlja, who just trounced Benjamin Becker 6-2, 6-3.

WASHINGTON--Assorted thoughts from Sunday's six qualifying matches and two first round main draw matches:

• The marquee match of the day, qualifying's top seed Kevin Anderson vs. #12 Kei Nishikori, did not disappoint.  The two were incredibly evenly matched, both benefiting greatly from the quick surface that aids the aggressive styles both have.  Anderson simply made far too many errors off the ground, and even a player as flashy as Nishikori was able to outsteady him.  After in which Nishikori saved several break points in a marathon game at 4-4 in the third, and then was able to seal the 4-6, 7-6(4), 6-4 win on his third match point with a gorgeous backhand slice down the line that snuck past a reaching Anderson.  (For more on Nishikori, check out the interview he did Saturday with The Daily Forehand).
• #7 Igor Kunitsyn, who made the semifinals of this tournament in 2008 while most top names were busy at the Beijing Olympics, looked very steady in a straight sets (6-3, 6-4) win over crowd favorite, #2 Michael Russell. Kunitsyn played aggressive, angular tennis that was simply more lethal than Russell's neutralizing defense.
• #10 Kevin Kim pulled off perhaps the biggest surprise of the day by beating #3 Somdev Devvarman 3-6, 6-4, 6-1.  Devvarman had great success in his previous two appearances at this tournament, making the quarterfinals in 2008, then qualifying and beating Marin Cilic in 2009.  But 2010 won't see him in the main draw without a wildcard, which likely means the end to what will have been a short stint in the top 100.
• The third upset of the day on the Grandstand (after wins by Kunitsyn and Kim) was #8 Grega Zemlja beating #4 Donald Young 6-2, 6-4 in a match interrupted by an hour of rain.  While the take-away for most would be that this being a disappointing loss for the higher-ranked Young, the fact is that Grega Zemlja played extremely well.  He hits an extremely hard, accurate ball from almost anywhere on the court, and his passing shots gave Young fits when the American ventured to net.  With the potential I saw in Zemlja today, he could soon become the first Slovenian in the top 100.
• After the match, I spoke with Donald's coach/mother, Illona Young, and then Donald.  They had a lot of real interesting stuff to say, and I'll put it all together in a feature piece on him real soon.  His story is an extremely intriguing one that often gets overlooked nowadays with the growing (and deserved) hype surrounding fellow young Americans Sam Querrey and John Isner.
• The only two qualifying matches that weren't upsets were both held on the newly redesigned Court 1.  #6 Ryan Sweeting beat unseeded Greg Jones 6-4, 6-4 in front of a surprisingly big crowd, after #3 Brian Dabul had double-bageled #11 Igor Sijsling (he of the orange shoes).  Sijsling's blowout loss can't make snappily-dressed Aussie John Millman feel too great, since he lost to Sijsling in straight sets the day before.
• Sadly, I did not get to see almost any of the Giraldo-Malisse match, since I was watching (and talking to) Donald Young while it was going on.  Malisse beat Giraldo 4-6, 6-3, 6-4, which is too bad since I'm a huge fan of Giraldo's game, and had been looking forward to watching him.  I first saw Giraldo play in Washington back in 2007 when he was ranked #156 (almost 100 spots below where he is now), and was absolutely blown away by both his forehand and his lack of a serve.



• I did, however get to watch a great deal of the last match of the day, which was Horacio Zeballos beating Michal Przsiezny.  Zeballos (in the AP photo to the right), ranked at #51 now, is easily the most anonymous player in the top sixty.  Even on some of the fastest hard courts in the world, it's clear that Zeballos is a true clay courter, and will likely never change.  He simply doesn't seem to know how to keep rallies short.  He does, however, know how to grind, and his 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 win was a great display of that, and his closing ability.
• Remember how I talked about making the effort one day and learning how to spell Pavlyuchenkova? Today, I did the same with Michal Przysiezny.  Przysiezny, Przysiezny, Przysiezny. That was tough. (Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova, incidentally, came back from a set and 4-0 today to beat Elena Vesnina in the Istanbul final.  Sunday was Vesnina's birthday.  Not cool, Nastia) Anyway, Przsiezny played pretty well, and he kept fans on their toes by donning several different shirts as the match wore on.  Przsienzy also sported incredibly awesome hair, which looked sort of like it does in this picture, but slightly less faux-hawkish and more like Alfalfa.  As far as his play, he played like a guy better than his 1-9 record in ATP main draw matches during 2010 would indicate (though his one win was a quality upset of Ivan Ljubicic at Wimbledon).  But he didn't play all that well in the decisive moments of the match, and thus he lost.  Przysiezny currently sits at his all-time high ranking of #87, which is pretty incredible considering that he was playing Futures this time last year, and was ranked #679.  I don't think I've ever seen a rise that huge in my life.
  

That's all for now from Sunday.  Stay tuned for the Donald Young piece though.  He and his mom both have a lot of interesting stuff today.

From now on I'm going to try to do more short things during the day, rather than these long recaps.  Let's hope time permits.

 

WASHINGTON--Everything looked to be going Kei Nishikori's way in 2008.

He won the ATP tournament in Delray Beach as a qualifier, shocking James Blake. Nishikori then backed up that performance months later at the US Open, with a win over then #4 David Ferrer that put him into the fourth round. In early 2009, his ranking reached a career high of #56.

But just as everything was going his way, a right elbow injury kept him out for almost an entire year, from March of 2009 to February of 2010. He won a few big challengers on green clay early in his comeback this year, but has since struggled with some tough draws, and his ranking currently sits at #194.

After a pretty straightforward win in his first round qualifying match against local wild card Junior A. Ore, I talked with Nishikori about his injury, his comeback, Asian tennis on the men's side, and his outlook on the future.

* * *

TDF: You had a great match today--started a little slowly by being broken in the first game, but then it went really fast from there. Was it just some rust after a while off?

Kei Nishikori: I was a little tight, and heavy in the first game. I missed a couple shots I shouldn't--it was an easy game for him. Then I started to get more confident in my strokes, and then suddenly, like, "Boom!" (laughs). Yeah, I was playing well.

TDF: You played Nadal in the first round of Wimbledon, and Djokovic of the second round the French Open. Do you think it's just bad luck with draws--would you have gotten further if you didn't have to face those two Top 3 players so early?

Kei Nishikori: I didn't want to say it, but I've had very tough draws. I had the French against Djokovic, in Queens I had Gasquet, and then Wimbledon against Nadal. But it was good to challenge against them.

TDF: In your comeback this year, you won two challengers already, in Sarasota and Savannah, both on green clay. Those came, I don't want to say easily, but pretty quickly, at least. So you've had success again the challenger level, but what do you think it is going to take to have that success again at the ATP level?

Kei Nishikori: I was a little surprised that I won those two in a row. It was one of my goals to win the challengers. I was still struggling--I had just come back in February. But it gave me confidence. Two in a row--it was really big for me. And in the French, I won the first round in a tough match. But it's a different level, here vs. challenger. I need to have more consistency, and a bigger serve. Gotta work on some things.

TDF: You play a very flashy game, going for a lot of big shots--how do you balance that with consistency? They seem like those two things wouldn't go together well...

Kei Nishikori: (laughs) I'm trying to be more consistent, to not miss easy shots. But yeah, that's my tennis.

TDF: So it's all mental, not missing easy shots?

Kei Nishikori: Yeah, yeah.

TDF: You missed almost a whole year with the injury to your elbow. What did you do during that time? Did you go away from tennis completely, or did you try to stay with it?

Kei Nishikori: No, I couldn't do anything for a couple months. I had surgery in August, and I just did rehab in Japan for two or three months. Yeah, it was really tough without tennis.

TDF: So what did you do during that time without tennis?

Kei Nishikori: Nothing, just training. I did hit some with my left hand, since I had surgery on my right elbow.

TDF: You think the left-handed training helped at all, with your backhand maybe?

Kei Nishikori: Uh, a little bit (laughs).

TDF: This is only your second tournament since Wimbledon, after qualifying in LA last week. Why did you decide to take the time off instead of playing Newport, or Atlanta maybe?

Kei Nishikori: I wanted more training, to get my body healthy. I had a little issue with my elbow. Right now it's fine, I just wanted to train more.

TDF: You had a bunch of big results in 2008--you won Delray Beach, and you made the fourth round of the US Open. How does having that success early in your career, even though it was a while ago, help you now? Are you able to draw back on it at all? When you look back on it, what do you think?

Kei Nishikori: Now, it's tough. It's tough to think about winning ATP tournaments again. You know, I did it once already, and played well at the US Open. I still think I can do it soon.

TDF: You think you're close to being able to do it again?

Kei Nishikori: Not close, but hopefully in a couple months or next year.

TDF: So you don't see it happening in this year's US Open, for example?

Kei Nishikori: Um, I'll try (laughs).

TDF: You're the main face of the sport in Japan now, especially with Ai Sugiyama and Shinobu Asagoe retiring. It's you, and I guess Ayumi Morita, also. Does it make you feel more pressure not having many other players from your country at this level?

Kei Nishikori: Um, no, not much. One guy is top 100 right now, and I live in the States, so I don't hear much news from Japan.

TDF: And there's a lot of coverage of you there, right?

Kei Nishikori: Umm, yeah (laughs).

TDF: Is it distracting when you're there? You haven't played there in a while, but when you are there is it tough with all the press all the time?

Kei Nishikori: Yeah, of course, it's tough. I get pressure every year. But at the same time it's fun to play in front of the fans, and my family.

TDF: You're on Twitter, and you have like 3,000+ followers on there. What do you use Twitter for, mostly?

Kei Nishikori: It's just for fun, mostly. It's good to hear from the fans, I get energy from it.

TDF: It seems like with Asian tennis, at this point in time, the women have had a lot more success than the men, especially the Chinese women, with two making the semifinals of the Australian Open this year. Why do you think that is, that Asian women have gotten to the top faster than Asian men?

Kei Nishikori: Um, for the Asian people, it's tough to come to Europe and the States. If you're a man, you have to play with top guys. But if you're a woman, you can practice with a lot of men, or even, I don't want to say, high school players. So for men it's tougher.

TDF: So for men it's just tougher to find people good enough to practice with in Asia?

Kei Nishikori: Yeah, I think so.

TDF: You play Kevin Anderson in the next round, which is a real tough match for qualifying. Do you think it's good to have a challenge, or would you rather play someone you've never heard of?

Kei Nishikori: (laughs) There's nothing I can do. If I get an easy draw, it's better, but there's nothing I can do. I know he's been playing well the last couple months, and he has a good serve. It's gonna be a tough match, but I'm gonna do what I can do.

TDF: And lastly, what are your goals for the rest of the year?

Kei Nishikori: Top 100, as soon as possible. Right now I'm around 200, so for this year, just get to top 100.

* * *

Thanks to Kei for talking to us, and we certainly wish him luck in this tournament and beyond.  His comeback will definitely be an interesting storyline to follow for the rest of this year, and hopefully he's able to meet and exceed his expectations.

(Sorry for the delay everybody.  I left the grounds Saturday and pretty promptly fell asleep--forgot how tiring this tournament stuff can be...)

WASHINGTON--Twelve first round qualifying matches are in the books from Day 1 action at the 2010 Legg Mason Tennis Classic in Washington.  Only one of the twelve seeds lost, which on the one hand means that it wasn't especially exciting stuff, but on the other means that Sunday's final round of qualifying should be awesome.

It's hard to synthesize all the different action into cohesive thoughts, so instead I'm just going to go the bullet point route.

• It's great that these local guys get a chance to show their stuff at a big tournament like this, but I can't say that any of the three were especially impressive.  Junior A. Ore and Denis Kudla were simply overmatched by Kei Nishikori and Somdev Devvarman, respectively, and Michael Shabaz just didn't appear to be conditioned enough to hang with Donald Young as the match wore on.  Instead of Shabaz, would have given a wildcard into qualifying to Treat Huey, a locally raised kid who played his high school tennis at St. Stephen's/St. Agnes in suburban Washington, played his college tennis at UVA, and has emerged as a pretty solid doubles player, entering Wimbledon with Devvarman and getting his ranking up significantly.
• These guys playing qualifying sure are snappy dressers.  I guess if you're not going to make enough in prize money to pay for your plane ticket, you might as well look good doing it, right? John Millman (right) lost in straight sets to Igor Sijsling (he of the orange shoes), but he did manage to pull off a pretty bold yellow and red look.  Junior A. Ore wore that hideous shirt John Isner's been wearing lately, but he accessorized it with hot pink knee tape to match the stripes. 
• Ivo Klec is everything you could ever want in a qualifier.  He has an awesome name, is bouncy and hyperactive, displays enormous mood swings during matches, and plays a flashy counterpunching, go-for-broke style that is wildly unpredictable and extremely entertaining.  He does this awesome thing where he flips the racquet behind his back and tries to catch it with the same hand.  At least I assume that's how the trick is supposed to end--he didn't do it successfully once. And he knows that he's eventually supposed to lose the important points so that the bigger names stick around, which he did by falling to top qualifying seed Kevin Anderson in straight sets.
  
• Igor Kunitsyn made the semifinals here in 2008, and won the Kremlin Cup later that year, so it's sort of odd to see him as the #7 seed in qualifying (even though I realize he hasn't done much since).  His countryman Dmitry Tursunov was watching him from behind the fence, and mingling with an adoring public.
  
• The first eleven seeds up all won, but the final seed on court, #9 Carlos Salamanca of Colombia, lost.  He was the only of the seeds I had never heard of, and has played on nothing but clay since March, so it's not a huge shock that he was the one to break the trend, losing in straight sets to gangly Aussie Greg Jones.

That's all for now.  Be sure to stick around for an interview I did with Kei Nishikori, the biggest name in the qualifying draw, in just a little while.

WASHINGTON--I was very surprised how many main draw players are already here and practicing.  Since all sixteen seeds have byes, I had figured that they would mosey in late, spending as much possible time at their homes in Europe or wherever else. 

But with the notable exception of Andy Roddick (and the players remaining in the draws at Los Angeles, Umag, and Gstaad), it seems like just about everyone is in Washington already.

Top seed and recent Tomas Berdych practiced twice, the second time with Yen-Hsun Lu.  Berdych was hitting the ball as cleanly as he always does, though he didn't seem totally satisfied with his serve.



On the other side of the grounds, Radek Stepanek and David Nalbandian played a few practice games.  For all the flak he gets for being out of shape, "Fat Dave" looked to be at a fairly decent fighting weight, if lacking any muscle definition.



Earlier in the day, I saw Marin Cilic practicing as well.  He looked pretty lost out there, and just seemed to have a real hard time focusing.  His results have fallen off significantly since he broke through to reach the semifinals of this year's Australian Open, and he could really use a big showing here in Washington to get himself back on track.

I didn't spend a whole lot of time around the practice courts (much prefer the stuff that counts), but I briefly saw Michael Llodra, Dmitry Tursunov, and Viktor Troicki hitting as well.  Nothing important to report from any of those brief glimpses.

Starting today with the first day of qualifying, I will be covering the entire Legg Mason Tennis Classic for the third straight year.

The 2010 edition of the tournament is without two-time defending champion Juan Martin del Potro, but it still features three top ten players (Tomas Berdych, Andy Roddick, Fernando Verdasco) and another three in the top twenty (Marin Cilic, John Isner, Sam Querrey).

The tournament is held about a mile from my house, in just about as urban an environment as you'll find for an outdoor event on either tour.  The crowds are always loud and invested, the stands are packed, and it's generally the best tournament of its level anywhere in the world.  Not that I'm biased, or anything...

I'll be doing all the press conference and interview stuff I've done in the past, but will probably leave the vast majority of the photography to the professionals this year so that I have more time to write.

I'll also be tweeting up a storm at twitter.com/dailyforehand, so if you're not already following that, you should be.

Lastly, if you have anyone you'd really like to see an interview with, or perhaps just a particular question you want answered, let me know and I'll do my best.  From detailed mechanics questions about Falla's backhand to asking Gasquet if his shampoo endorsement and recent hatless-ness are coincidental, I'll ask just about anything reasonable.

So stick around, and hopefully you'll have nearly as much fun reading this week as I know I will writing.