The draw at Adelaide could only have been done randomly; no human
being would voluntarily have produced this pattern. All three
wildcards are in the top quarter, as are probably the two most
veteran players in the draw (Wayne Ferreira and Richard Krajicek).
The second quarter contains three of the four qualifiers.
What the field doesn't have is many big names. Tim Henman, last
year's winner, isn't here; neither is finalist Mark Philippoussis
nor semifinalist Hicham Arazi. Of last year's four semifinalists,
the only one to return is Alberto Martin. And Lleyton Hewitt isn't
playing his hometown event.
And the whole field has only four Top 50 players: #39 Wayne
Ferreira, #43 Max Mirnyi, #44 Thomas Enqvist, and #49 Ivan Ljubicic.
With no player in the field having more than 875 entry points, and
the title being worth 175, this will be a big chance for someone.
Which someone is another question. Ferreira rebuilt his career last
year after a dreadful 2001, and he lost first round in 2002. This
year, he starts against Franco Squillari (who is in a slump of his
own, and this isn't clay). The winner of that faces either wildcard
Scott Draper, still trying to rebuild his career, or Richard Krajicek,
whose biggest enemy is his own body. In the quarterfinal, the winner
of that will face #8 seed Vincent Spadea, unseeded Brian Vahaly, or
a wildcard. Sadly for the Australians, none of the wildcards face
each other, so they may lose all three of them in the first round.
The second quarter, headed by #3 seed Enqvist and #6 Alberto Martin,
is the one with the three qualifiers. It does feature some points of
interest, though: In the first round, Martin faces promising young
Austrian Jurgen Melzer, while Enqvist could face Harel Levy
in the second round. Levy didn't do much in 2002, but he was injured
for a long time; he's probably about due to rediscover the form that
put him in the top 40 in 2001.
The third quarter is highlighted by #4 seed Ljubicic and #5 Mariano
Zabaleta. It's also a great demonstration of the variety in men's
tennis: There are seven players with direct entry, and they come from
seven countries on four continents (Argentina, Croatia, Georgia,
Germany, the Netherlands, Russia, and the United States). Their styles
vary accordingly, from Zabaleta's clay style to Jeff Morrison's
attacking game to Irakli Labadze's general craziness to Ljubicic's big
serve. It's Ljubicic's quarter to win or lose. He'll certainly do one
or the other.
The bottom quarter is equally diverse (eight players, eight countries,
though all but Alex Kim of the United States are from Europe), and it
too features big stylistic contrasts. Not surprisingly when the #2
seed is the towering Max Mirnyi and the #7 seed is Olivier Rochus.
Ironically, if the court is as slow as it ought to be, the edge may
be with the tiny Rochus. His biggest challenge is likely to be Adrian
Voinea in the first round; in the second, he faces either Kim or Attila
Savolt. Mirnyi opens against Stefano Galvani, then either Karol
Beck or Anthony Dupuis.
This field, hardly stronger than some of the strongest Challengers,
is probably among the most wide open on the ATP this year.
--
France's bright young thing.
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