Hamburg, no more trips to the Reeperbahn, matches played in 12 degrees and bye to slow and heavy clay Preview and Discussion

This is what possibly could be the last Hamburg event, after Fearless Leader aka Mr. Disney otherwise known as Etienne de Villiers the head of the ATP. The man who has 2000 ideas a day and 2001 of them are bad, but the ongoing lawsuit with the ATP over the downgrading of its status is among the many problems associated with the game at the moment. It won't be long, before he leaves and if he had any sense, he'd leave gracefully, though if he had any sense then he would not have introduced Round Robin play into regular tournaments.

Will this event have another nauseating and tedious Nadal and Federer final on clay, where Nadal doesn't have to get out of neutral to win or will something different happen? This time last year Nadal had won the big 3 events before playing Hamburg for the first time in a while and he was very heavy legged in the final and Federer played well and still could only win in 3 for his only win on the surface. Federer loves the Hamburg clay, it's slow enough, that the ball doesn't kick up as much and that helps him and Nadal, will be that bit better for having the week off, but enough of these two.

We already have 3 winners because another ingenious Mr. Disney idea is start events on a Sunday, so there is no TV coverage, but they only show minor matches, the winners were Ljubicic who got revenge on Darcis, with Ivan saving match points and Darcis served for the match, while Karlovic in a huge shock won 7-6 7-6 and Simple Simon beat Malisse.

Onto the good stuff, well depending on results. Nieminen has a chance to win a match against Schuettler, though if he does, he plays Federer and sadly for the Finn, he is cannon fodder for Federer, the second serve gets too easily exploited. Andreev and the Toad is the interesting match, as to whoever wins this one, will be favoured to make the 3rd round against clay clowns Mahut or Tsonga.

"Colonel" Youzhny makes a comeback after suffering some injury problems, he has played well in Germany in the past, but Verdasco is not an easy opponent, but can play quite well after a break. Cañas will be looking to get back on track here, though slow hardcourt is his preferred surface. David Ferrer should be freshened up after his early loss in Rome and has a comfortable 2nd rounder against LaLo or Minar.

Davydenko and Ljubo in the 2nd round could produce an upset. Ljubo is not in great form, but he knows how to play Davydenko, at the same time with all the negativity around the ATP and with Ljubicic's role as the main players representative have impacted on his tennis.

Monaco should be able to get the better of Volandri, he needs some more matches and this section of the draw is good for him to do that as Gasquet is the other seed. Marcel Granollers qualifies for his first TMS and will fancy his chances against free swinging Bolelli, he should get enough balls back on this surface to frustrate the flashy Italian. Seppi has a kind draw, but he had that and lost to Querrey and turned in a woeful performance against Blake, as to Gasquet, not sure what mood he will be in.

Almagro not sure about the status of his wrist and Acasuso is lacking confidence, but they had an exciting tussle in Acapulco with Mucho getting it 7-5 in the 3rd, whoever wins, will be relishing a 2nd round match with Montanes or Fish, as they both can hit through them and heavy games, that match up well on this surface.

Former champ Boredo and Kohlschreiber, will be a classic one aggressive player against a passive one, it all depends on whether Kohli can use his backhand well to dominate and expose Boredo and make less errors in doing so, if not then Boredo will get the cash, though big Karlovic is waiting and Robredo doesn't like him playing him anywhere.

Welcome back to tour for Berdych, after his ankle problem, not sure how he'll perform, but that's not unusual. He will either play Safin or Cilic, the revenge factor with Safin will be there, just hope his ankle is fine.

Last of all the Lucho Horna qualifies and plays Starace in the 1st round, just hope it's on a TV court, it will be tough either way and whoever wins will play Nadal in the 2nd round. Lucho gave him plenty to think about in their last match and also loves playing the top 10 players and it will be a better match up than Starace who has been handled easily by Nadal in their 3 matches.

Lets hope for a non Federer-Nadal final, well hope is free.