So here it is, David's draw for Cincy. And it's a slight case of "deja vu all over again"...
Once again, he has been drawn into the lower, i.e. Rafael Nadal's half, and once again he finds himself in Andy Murray's quarter. Only that this time, David is bound to already meet him in the second round, after facing a qualifier in the first.
[5] David Ferrer (ESP) vs BYE
QUALIFIER vs [WC] Grigor Dimitrov (BUL)
Janko Tipsarevic (SRB) vs [Q] Edouard Roger-Vasselin (FRA)
Jürgen Melzer (AUT) vs [10] Gilles Simon (FRA)
[15] Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) vs Marin Cilic (CRO)
[WC] Robby Ginepri (USA) vs [Q] Alex Bogomolov Jr. (USA)
[Q] Kei Nishikori (JPN) vs David Nalbandian (ARG)
BYE vs [4] Andy Murray (GBR)
A look at the complete draw you can take here.
Update (14/08)
In today's final round of qualifying, David's first-round opponent will be decided. Still in the qualifying draw: Stepanek, De Voest, Roger-Vasselin, Johnson, Nishikori, Kukushkin, Schoorel, Ilhan, Mannarino, Benneteau, Gulbis, Andreev, Bogomolov and Cipolla.
Meanwhile, some photos of David training at Cincy with Juan Monaco yesterday you can view here.
Thanks, Julia.
ReplyDeletePleeeeease let David get a reasonable draw, and especially a good first round so he can get going again.
"Only 90 points" to defend doesn't sound too bad, but on the other hand, after the last two weeks, getting to a 3rd round or beyond sounds like something for us to be nervous about hoping for.
ur right istabraq, what David really needs now is confidence more than anything else, and a 1st round win would help him gain some.
ReplyDeleteWe dont want a perfect draw, just a reasonable 1, a 1st round against wawrinka again would be something to laugh about lol
Just arrived in the area, hopefully he's gonna be there tomorrow to practice but it's supposed to rain....
ReplyDeleteJohn, ur in cincy now???
ReplyDeleteSeems so. He said he's going. :)
ReplyDeleteOkay, I got back earlier than expected. Let's see what the "Draw Party" will bring...
gd 2 know ur here, cuz i cant have access to twitter :P
ReplyDeleteStill blocked? :( How are you doing now?
ReplyDeleteI hope they're going to tweet all first-round match-ups... We'll see.
Ya instead of blocking sites like facebook, youtube, twitter. They "filter" them. means when you type the site it doesnt say blocked by ISP, just needs 15 min to load, then it either opens or simply says, gateway timeout.Youtube opens in milliseconds, just videos doesnt load, andvari had to download and email me some of nalby's practice videos so i could watch. you know Julia, "Freedom of media" they don't like to be accused of not respecting it.
ReplyDeleteBut at least Blogger is unblocked, and thats something :D
give me twitter link to follow up the draw please !
ReplyDeleteThe link is right there in the post. You just have to click "Twitter".
ReplyDeleteNoubar, yeah - free media... Sounds like they're trying to keep up the pretense. Though it's not really more than just that. Well, at least you can still access VD. A bit weird though that they don't "filter" Blogger.com sites as well.
Well, they're going to start with the WTA draw. As always.
Simply because the opposition here have blogs on them and they demanded not to have them blocked. Blogger is the "red line" right now. Facebook works most of the times as well, its the youtube and twitter that are the pain the ass.
ReplyDeleteAbout starting with WTA, well, ladies first lol
Hmm, still surprising that their demand is being honoured.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, so far, all they've managed is some rather erratic tweets about some (not all) of the WTA seeds...
Maybe they're too busy with the live music and the food and drink...
ReplyDeletehahah, they must be, not many tournaments (if not none) make the draw and party at the same time
ReplyDeleteOkay, so now they're saying they'll continue with listing the men's seeds. Not sure whether that means 4 or 5 of them (like with WTA). Also not sure whether the WTA draw has been made now.
ReplyDeleteReally must be one hell of a party... lol
I've found another link:
ReplyDeletehttp://twitter.com/#!/onthegotennis
It's going to be Nole/Fed and Rafa/Murray - yet again.
hehehe, seems like it. Btw, is david seeded here, in what rankings he entered the list??
ReplyDeleteNo, he's not seeded. Seeding is based on the ranking this week.
ReplyDeleteOkay, so David won't get to meet Nole in the second round.
ReplyDeleteAnd he also won't meet Wawrinka again.
ReplyDeleteAlso not Federer for David in R2 (but for Delpo).
ReplyDeletemy heartbeat is out of control. bring the good news, which quarter??????
ReplyDeleteCan't say. All I get is first/second rounds.
ReplyDeleteQualifier first round.
ReplyDeleteSecond round: Andy Murray.
qualifier for david, is it true????? then murray
ReplyDeleteYep, according to OnTheGoTennis - that's it.
ReplyDeletejust when ur new link opened saw this....my dream cametrue about 1st rnd qualifier , but murray in 2nd round is tough
ReplyDeletea positive thing is that Murray is also not really inform maybe
ReplyDeleteWell, a qualifier in R1 sounds good but I'm not sure whether Murray in R2 is a blessing or a curse. Probably the latter. I mean, I just can't imagine that he'll play as poorly again as he did this week.
ReplyDeleteQualifier... relief - I think. I'm often wary about qualifiers as they're already on a roll and there's always at least one who gets through a round or two.
ReplyDeleteAny Murray 2nd round? :(
Mind you, he had an equally dismal showing in Montreal, so you never know. I'm a Murray fan too, so I'm disappointed that they might meet so early. But while David is unseeded for these things, this sort of thing could keep happening.
True, but at least he can pull an easy win in round 1 hopefuly that maybe boosts him a little bit, he had enough 1st match losses.
ReplyDeleteAs for Murray, not a blessing for sure, but him rather than Fed, Nole or Rafa.
Hey, maybe Murray will continue his first-round funk at hardcourt Masters - Indian Wells, Miami, Montreal. We can always hope.
ReplyDeleteYeah, it could've definitely been a lot worse.
ReplyDeleteI think a nice goal should be to win a match and then just try to give Murray a run for his money,no shame in losing to him.
ReplyDeleteIf David is going to beat Andy, I want it to be because he plays well, not because Andy plays badly. :(
ReplyDeleteOf course, if he DID manage to beat Andy, that would take care of the not-being-seeded problem for the rest of the tournament.
Agree with Adrian.
ReplyDeleteIt's unfortunate that if he goes out in the second round that means yet more points lost, but not as bad as the last two weeks. And that's how the draw has fallen because he's unseeded, nothing to be done about that.
Beating the qualifier is vital, but not to be taken for granted. I'll be following the qualifying closely.
As far as I can tell now (with the full draw not out yet), should David make it past Murray somehow then the next seed in his path would be Tsonga.
ReplyDeleteSome of the names that are on the qualifying entry list: Nishikori, Mannarino, Nieminen, Stepanek, Chardy and Gulbis.
Normally I wouldn't be that worried about any names in the qualifying where David is concerned, but right now...
ReplyDeleteI should be more positive. We expected Washington and Montreal to be better for David than Cincinnati. Maybe he'll surprise us all, turn things around completely and have his best ever showing here. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, some of those have caused him trouble before but are not in top form at the moment, either.
ReplyDeleteBut that he plays a qualifier also means that he'll probably won't get to play on Sunday - and that's good because on Sunday there's no coverage.
ReplyDeleteNot probably, definitely. Anyway. How long can it possibly take them to put up the draw? I'm really, really hoping they're not trying to set a new record and beat Madrid......
ReplyDeleteWent to the courts today to see how everything was going to be set up and I got to see Juan Ignacio Chela practicing...from the way he was hitting it looks like I'm going to have a lot of fun here. I'll be on the lookout for David tomorrow as he should probably be practicing.
ReplyDeleteGood luck with the weather tomorrow, John. It would be interesting to know who's with David on the practice court.
ReplyDeleteI love watching players practise, it's such a different perspective.
The draw still isn't up. :(
The draw is up now, but it's the middle of the night here. See you all tomorrow.
ReplyDeleteNalbandian to Montreal Gazette:
ReplyDelete"I need to still work on my game, my shape, need some matches to be ready for a good level. Need time, need practice, so it's just a matter of time," he said.
"I hope Milos will come back soon. Everyone's completely different, bodies are completely different, so nobody knows exactly when."
Wawrinka: “With David, you never know. Today he was not playing really good. I think he’s not really ready. But in one week he can change his level. Playing last year in Washington, I lost 6 1, 6 3 there was no chance for me, he won the tournament.”
ReplyDelete“He’s not the kind of guy you want to play in the first round of a tournament leading up to the U.S. Open."
Lets hope the Swiss is right, and David does change his level this week.
When asked whether Nalbandian was on the downside of his career, Wawrinka said: “All the players still think that he can play really well. He’s 29 now, maybe it’s not easy for him to play many matches at the top level. Next week he can play really well, beat every player, and be in the semi-final or final.”
ReplyDeleteIstabraq, the draw was up first on the Cincy site, not too long after I complained. :)
ReplyDeleteNoubar, yeah, I've seen that Montréal Gazette article. But I have to say that Stephanie Myles is kind of like the "female Pete Bodo" for me - I don't trust anything she writes and I prefer not to use it for VD.
And John H. - good luck with the David-spotting today. :)
ReplyDeletecan't wait to see who the qualifier is. And I'm not even thinking about the 2nd round vs. Murray.
ReplyDeleteThank you all for the comments, I don't have much time to comment but it's always a pleasure to read your insights ;)
David himself was playing like a qualifier in last 2 matches and his serve was even worse. And I don't want to tell about his movements. So it will be an entertaining first round match.
ReplyDelete"Istabraq, the draw was up first on the Cincy site, not too long after I complained. :)"
ReplyDeleteWell, that's just typical. I kept checking the Cincy site as well as the ATP site, but then gave up for a while. They must have waited until I'd gone, and sneaked it in. ;)
Anyway, qualifying is underway now. We know it wan't be Chardy (how did he lose to Johnson?), Nieminen, Devvarman, Young or Sweeting. Either Bogomolov or Cipolla will qualify, and either Schoorel or Ilhan.
Noubar, thanks for the quotes.
your welcome istabraq.
ReplyDeletebut how does this qualifying thing works? why did you rule out Gulbis and Andereev for example, and how do they decide which qualifier will play david for example ?
It's basically like a mini-tournament where in this case you have to win two rounds in order to get one of the qualifier spots in the main draw.
ReplyDeleteToday, it's the first round and Chardy etc have already lost their matches, they're out. Those who win today will play the second round tomorrow - and those who win tomorrow are in the main draw. But where exactly in the main draw - we'll have to wait and see.
Istabraq, yeah, maybe they did. ;)
It's unusual though for the draw to first appear on the tourney site. And it was actually by chance that I looked there.
thanks more making it clear 4 me.
ReplyDeleteIt's just that Masters qualifying draws are not far away for David... Actually, four of the players in the qualy draw here are ranked higher than he is at the moment.
ReplyDeleteYes, it's a bit of an eye-openier to see the calibre of some of these players in the qualies.
ReplyDeleteNoubar, sorry for the confusion. I was just reporting on some of the first round results at that point. The two pairs of names I mentioned will give us two of the qualifiers, as they're drawn against each other in the final round.
Gulbis and Andreev (and lots of others) haven't started yet.
For anyone interested with no access to the qualifying draw, the seeds (in order) are:
ReplyDeleteStepanek, Andujar(out), Nishikori, Nieminen(out), Mannarino, Gulbis, Bogomolov Jr, Kukushkin, Chardy(out), Devvarman(out), Tomic, Sweeting(out), Haider-Maurer & Rochus.
Also people in there like Petzschner, Falla and Benneteau.
Although I think Petzschner must have withdrawn.
Yeah, De Voest seems to have taken Petzschner's place.
ReplyDeleteTomic is out as well, he lost to Benneteau.
I like Julien Benneteau. I'd be happy for him to be David's opponent. Much as I like him, I don't see him beating David. :)
ReplyDeleteI want Ilhan
ReplyDeleteAren't we mean, cheering on particular players to win through to the main draw just so they can be beaten by David. ;)
ReplyDeleteI do hope that statement doesn't come back to haunt me!
pls let it be ilhan. I assure u david will smash him
ReplyDeleteI saw David play yesterday at about 4pm. He had a hitting session with Juan Monaco on court 14 (it was the second time monaco played after a morning time with nadal). David hit really well and looked fit as he joked around wit his camp. When they played a practice set however, Davids serve really was a weakness as he double faulted almost 2 times a game. If he does that in a match he will surely loose so we will see what level he brings on probably monday...
ReplyDeletethanks for the insights John.
ReplyDeleteYea, David's serve is becoming a key factor for winning matches now, he must pull his strings together. And pls whatever you see david is doing, dont hesitate mentioning it on VD
I think there must come more from his feet when serving
ReplyDeleteSerena Williams seems to serve in the same way but she is the best on serve in WTA
ReplyDeletelast Anonymous, it's me
ReplyDeleteJohn H., thanks and as Noubar said, every detail will be welcome here on VD. :)
ReplyDeleteThe last two qualifying matches are under way now. With Stepanek, Roger-Vasselin, Ilhan, Benneteau and Bogomolov already through. Qualifiers will be placed later, when all spots have been decided.
Apart from that, there's a new interview with David that I'll post later on, together with the info about his opponent.
sounds good, anyone but Gulbis will be fine imo
ReplyDeletePracticing with Nadal today.Just say some photos on twitter.
ReplyDeletedavid with Nadal ?
ReplyDeleteYa,check out the photos i sent you,John will i guess give us the full story.
ReplyDeletehttp://rafaelnadalbr.tumblr.com/tagged/nalband%C3%ADan
ReplyDeletethank you Adrian
Looks like Kei Nishikori will be the opponent,could have been worse,could have been better.
ReplyDelete