Players Under the Microscope / Editor / 16 April 2007 /

The Masters series event in Monte Carlo got underway yesterday and already Marat Safin has toppled 15th seed Jarko Nieminen of Finland. The Russian went through to the second round 5-7 6-3 6-2.

And that kept him on course for a potential third-round clash with the second seed Rafael Nadal, who won in Monte Carlo last year when he beat Roger Federer 6-2 6-7 6-3 7-6 to retain his title.

There is no doubting that clay is Nadal's favourite surface - but it's also the surface Federer wants to master with a capital M.
He needs a good claycourt season not only to prepare well for the French Open in Paris at the end of next month but also to put those two upsets in the Masters events at Indian Wells and Miami firmly behind him.

Having just become the first living Swiss person to appear on a postage stamp, the 25-year-old will now want to put his own stamp on the Monte Carlo Masters.

He can at least sit out the first round as he has a bye. And he has been drawn against a qualifier in the second round.
But Federer will need no reminding how dangerous a qualifier can be. Guillermo Canas came through the qualifying in Miami to beat Federer in the last 16 7-6 in the third set, having already toppled him in two sets less than a fortnight before in Indian Wells in the second round. And Federer had received a first-round bye then.

Federer will no doubt be relieved that Canas, who is now up to No 27 in the world, is one of three big names forced to pull out of Monte Carlo through injury. Third seed Andy Roddick and fellow American James Blake are also missing from the line up through injury.
So Federer will start his Monte Carlo bid against Russian Teimuraz Gabashvili or Italy's Andreas Seppi, with Russian Mikhail Youzhny or Spain's Carlos Moya likely to be lurking in the third round.

But a fourth-round clash with sixth seed Novak Djokovic would be the match most fans would want to see. Djokovic was a runner-up to Nadal in Indian Wells and the victor over Canas in Miami.

His victory in Miami made the 19-year-old the youngest winner in the 23-year history of the Sony Ericsson Open and gave him his first Masters title. But it is likely to be the first of many as he is the rising star of world tennis along with fellow 19-year-old Andy Murray.
What a contrast to last year when Federer won the titles at Indian Wells and Miami on his way to finishing second best to Nadal in Monaco.
He will want a good showing at Monte Carlo this week to prove the doubters wrong and to pick up important points as the top eight on the Masters circuit qualify for the end of season Masters Cup in Shanghai.

Only two players - Nadal and Murray - beat Federer last year. In the space of a fortnight Canas did it twice! So is the Fed-Ex power on the wane or is it simply a case of the others starting to catch up?

Certainly Federer's form at the Australian Open showed that even if the opposition can raise their game, he can still raise his own a notch higher. Just ask Fernando Gonzalez, who was irresistible on the way to the final but found it hard to live with Federer in the final showdown as the Swiss ace won the title without dropping a set.

Among those victims were Youzhny and Djokovic, likely opponents in Monaco. But that was over five sets. Perhaps that's the difference. In a three-set contest the odds favour the others more than Federer unless he starts out with all guns blazing.
It won't be a surprise if top seed Federer loses out to Nadal again this week. But it will start more mumblings and rumblings if he doesn't make the final by falling to one of the young guns.

That might be bad news for Federer but it would be good for the game to see his stranglehold starting to loosen.
Against that is his passion to prove he is the king on all surfaces. Clay, of course, is the one that gets the better of him although he has won the Hamburg Masters two years running in 2004 and 2005.

But the French Open title is the one he really wants, the missing Grand Slam crown in his long list of successes. He came so close last year in losing the final to Nadal after dominating the first set. A good performance in Monte Carlo - indeed the title itself - would show his eye is back on the ball and that he really is ready to make a serious assault on Roland Garros.

Following his defeat in Miami he has had plenty of time to practice, having sat out last week's two clay-court openers in Valencia and Houston and giving the previous weekend's Davis Cup action a miss.

As he warned: "I would rather lose to the same guy twice than two different guys I think if I lost to two different players I would think I wasn't playing well but with one guy I think 'OK, this guy is on a role'."

And the early defeat in Miami has been of benefit by giving him a longer break. "It's exactly what I didn't have for the last two or three years," he added. "One of those surprise losses where I got more time off so I hope it can help me out."
In between practice he has visited Basel for his stamp ceremony. Now he's back on tournament business and, unlike the stamp, will take some licking.

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