Our Miami Vice - Men's Preview

The most historical tour event outside of the slams starts tomorrow, and ever since Butch Buchholz led the charge in 1983 to stage the best coed (non-slam) tennis tournament in the world; to the fruition of that dream in 1988 when he found its permanent home and built one of the world's finest tennis stadiums, Miami has been a dream event for players and fans alike.

It has went though several name changes (International Players Championships, Lipton Championships) but it has always boasted a slam field and with a schedule that spans the majority of a fortnight and to me just feels positively GRAND.

We at RMB thought that Indian Wells (A Miami Wannabe) had the potential to be unpredictable and it was certainly that! Both our Men’s and Women’s picks went out early and I’m not sure anyone had Jankovic and ‘old man’ Ljubicic inked in as the titleholders. But, things should return to form in Miami, while the surface is still a bit slow, it's still faster than Indian Wells which should help the bigger hitters get deeper into the draw.

Without going into too much detail, the Men’s draw looks great! Murray has a chance at redemption against Soderling, though if he couldn’t handle Soderling in California I’m not sure why the outcome would be different in Miami. That one will the most interesting potential quarterfinal and with a qualifier packed quarter I don’t see much getting in Murray’s way before that.

Federer too will have a chance to repay Baghdatis (who survived two match points against Fed last week) but Baghdatis will have to get by the favourite in that part of the draw, Marin Cilic. Again, like Murray I don't see much bothering Federer but, as usual in non-slams, Roger may be his own worst enemy. Remember last year’s meltdown against Djokovic.

The bottom half is definitely the tougher of the two and is riddled with potential dark horses. The three favourites in the bottom half, Djokovic, Nadal and Roddick each face perilous paths to the second week. Nadal’s half is littered with names like Tsonga, Isner, Ferrero (playing hot since his return) and Karlovic; all dangerous players who can upset the top guys on any given day. Nadal still isn’t his old self and I don’t expect him to get to the semis. Look for an upset by Ferrer, Isner or Ferrero.

Roddick’s likely opening match is a nightmare encounter against Igor Andreev. Andreev’s serve rivals Roddick’s greatest weapon and Andreev can be more inventive off the ground and takes risks like nobody’s business. If Roddick is off, even a bit, he could go home early. Tommy Robredo and Ivan Ljubicic (California Champ) loom in his part of the quarter and while I don’t expect a repeat performance from Ljubicic, why not pick him to get to the quarters. Djokovic has his share of potential spoilers as well, with a likely opener against flashy Frenchman Richard Gasquet. I can’t get a bead on Djokovic this year. He’s had great success and great failures and like the rest of the top four has struggled to find his game. I suspect his motivation after Indian Wells will push him through to a potential quarterfinal against Roddick. If that happens I can’t predict a win for the Djoker, but for some reason I don’t think it will.

Semi Final 1
Murray defeats Cilic

Semi Final 2
Djokovic defeats Isner

Final
Murray defeats Djokovic