Preview for the week of April 28-May 4, 2008, Barcelona, Munich

The tour takes a breather from its hectic masters series schedule this week as it crams in two smaller level international series tournaments. With the Roma Masters coming up next week, most of the top players will be out of action this week. Barcelona in particular will have its share of great players entered as the Spaniards do never want to disappoint the home crowd. Munich, will host a smaller level draw as local talent will be looking to gear up their games as the up coming masters series in Hamburg is around the corner.

On to the 1st review of the week and Barcelona, Spain. It seems as though this is the year of 4 peats for Rafa Nadal. The defending champ of pretty much every major claycourt tournament is going for his 4th Barcelona crown and as usual it will not be easy. The Mayorcan will have to contest against fellow top ten players David Ferrer and David Nalbandian and surprise wild card entry James Blake. The event hosts 13 local heroes in the 56 draw, and I have a feeling the hometown crowd will have a Spaniard to cheer for in the final. Nadal is running with a remarkable record on clay, since July 25, 2005-present, Nadal has a 137-13 career record on clay (18 titles). In 2007 he captured five of his six season titles on clay at the AMS Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, AMS Rome, Roland Garros and Stuttgart. If anything is able to top those astounding numbers, Rafa has also won 97 of his last 98 matches on the dirt.

However, don’t be surprised if Nadal doesn’t take home the title in this years Open Sabadell Atlantico. Reasons being that he has just come off of a victory in Monte Carlo and has the Roma Masters to defend next week. Rafa has already voiced his utter displeasure for the ATP and how they have condensed 3 claycourt masters series into a 4 week span. Clearly, if Nadal can win all 3 events as well as Barcelona and Roland Garros, this will have to have been the best year by any player on clay in the history of the game.

The draw breakdown looks favourable for the top players to move through the draw. Nadal has a relatively easy draw with a potential clash with fellow Feliciano Lopez in the third round and either former number one players Juan Carlos Ferrero of Carlos Moya in the quarter-finals. With all this adversity I still like Nadal to climb his way through the draw.

Second seed David Ferrer with Fernando Verdasco and Tommy Robredo standing in his way towards the quarter final. The feisty Spaniard looks good to reach at least the semi-final, with King David Nalbandian a potentially waiting for him. Although this is not a masters series its undoubtedly the 5th biggest claycourt tournament in the world to win.

The second review of the week, takes the tour to the once mighty tennis nation of Germany. Munich will hold the BMW open this year and they were able to attract a relatively decent field. Defending champ Philipp Kohlschreiber will be joined be Paul-Henri Mathieu and Fernando Gonzalez as the top two seeds. As well the flashy Frenchmen Gael Monfils and in form Igor Indreev will be participating. The 32 man tournament does not have the fire power of the Barcelona draw but will still provide many good matches for the Munich fans to chear for. Along with the €59,100 1st prize winners check, the champion also receives a brand new 2008 BMW. Nice life!

On to the draw and not to many compelling matches early on to get excited about. This is truly a very open draw and I believe there will be a surprise winner or finalist this year. Perhaps Juan Martin Del Potro will finally make some noise as he has been off with injury as of late. Marat Safin and Tommy Haas are also entered and will try and gain a few wins as both players are on the downward side of their careers. Look for Philipp Kohlschreiber to make a deep run in hopes of a repeat performance.

Please check back throughout the week as we will have updates from the matches as well as comments. Please check out the links provide below to both tournaments.Enjoy!

Barcelona, Spain www.opensabadellatlantico.com

Munich, Germany www.bmwopen.de

Technorati Tags: Carlos Moya, David Nalbandian, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Gonzalez, Fernando Verdasco, Gael Monfils, Igor Indreev, James Blake, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Juan Martin Del Potro, Marat Safin, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Philipp Kohlschreiber, Rafael Nadal, Tommy Haas, Tommy Robredo