Events / Sean Calvert / 08 June 2009 /

Goodbye to the red stuff and hello to the grass as Sean Calvert previews this week's action in the Queen's Club Wimbeldon warm-up...

The French Open was another hugely profitable tournament with both Roger Federer and Fernando Gonzalez earning us bumper back-to-lay payouts.

I'm not one to rest on my laurels though and armed with sizable profits from the clay court season it's time to sadly say goodbye to the red dirt, as grass takes over for a month.

Everyone was shocked with the speed of the courts at the French Open this year, which contributed to Rafa Nadal's demise, but generally speaking you know what conditions to expect at Queen's.

It's normally a touch quicker than Wimbledon and is very much a 'horses for courses' type of venue.

The chances of an outsider coming good at Queen's are slim. This event has been won by the current world number one or a former world number one in each of the last 10 years, with the only shock in recent memory being Scott Draper's 1998 success.

If anyone can recall off the top of his or her head who Draper beat in that '98 final then they really need to get out more... the answer of course is Lawrence Tieleman and it's fair to assume that the sponsors weren't overly enamoured with that particular finals day match-up.

Draper apart, each and every Queen's Club winner is a household name or recognised grass court exponent, which limits our shortlist to a few of this year's entrants.

Nadal's withdrawal means that Andy Murray [2.62] has been installed as favourite and number one seed. However, Queen's hasn't been the happiest of hunting grounds for the Scot so far.

Murray has won just three completed matches at the West London venue, where no Brit has triumphed in the Open era and he has never beaten anyone ranked higher than number 30 in the world in the process.

Janko Tipsarevic [75.0] defeated him here in 2006 in the first round and last year Murray retired prior to his quarter-final clash with Andy Roddick, but at least the world number three has a great draw to boost his chances.

He has been paired with Mardy Fish [65.0] in his quarter, while Marat Safin [44.0] and Gael Monfils [18.0] are the seeds in the adjacent section, which also houses a collection of players with little or no grass court form to speak of.

Opponents such as Feliciano Lopez [65.0], Guillermo Garcia-Lopez [250.00] and Gilles Muller [140.00] should not concern Murray; indeed his toughest opposition may come in his opening match with either Andreas Seppi [160.00] or Robby Ginepri [90.0].

Monfils' best effort here is a solitary quarter-final in 2006, while Safin - formerly one of the 'grass is for cows' brigade - has a similarly poor record. His best was a last eight showing way back in 2000.

So, it would be a disappointment if Murray failed to reach the championship match given the paucity of genuine challengers in the top half of the draw, but the bottom half is thankfully more competitive.

Number two seed Andy Roddick [4.5] has a stellar 26-3 record at Queen's Club and will be a strong contender to regain the title, having been beaten by Nadal in the semis in 2008.

The American has had a very decent year so far, posting an impressive 27-6 winning mark in 2009 and is fresh from his best ever showing at Roland Garros, which proves that he is developing weapons other than the serve under the watchful eye of Larry Stefanki.

Roddick has an abundance of clay courters to dispose of before a likely last 16 meeting with another former champion, Lleyton Hewitt [32.0], who himself has a great record at Queen's.

The veteran Aussie has 34 wins from his 41 Queen's Club matches and he will be out to prove that there's still a few good years left in him yet following recent hip surgery.

Hewitt will be glad to have avoided former nemesis Ivo Karlovic [21.0] in the early stages, but could meet the man who he finally managed to beat at Roland Garros last week in the quarter-finals.

Karlovic has a good record here too, having reached the final in 2005 and the giant Croatian was only very narrowly defeated by Nadal in three breakers here last year. He is always dangerous in the shorter format of the game on grass and could be worth a saver.

Also in that very competitive corner are the dangerous Janko Tipsarevic, Marin Cilic [16.0] and 2007 finalist Nicolas Mahut [110.00] and any of these should make Roddick work for a semi-final place.

The adjacent quarter to Roddick's has some big hitters in it too, with former semi-finalist James Blake [42.0], who has a victory over Roddick here to his name leading the way, along with wildcard Marcos Baghdatis [65.0] and big servers Sam Querrey [80.0], Ivan Ljubicic [90.0] and Jeremy Chardy [75.0].

Gilles Simon [36.0], making his Queen's debut and unproven on grass thus far in his career is the top seed in that section, but he is one to avoid at the moment on any surface let alone grass.

In conclusion, Murray has the perfect draw in which to progress, but his record here suggests that he doesn't take this event too seriously. Therefore Roddick is the outright selection to add to his Queen's Club title winning haul.

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