Sizzling Summer in Store For ATP

It's hard to imagine a clay-court season as enthralling as the last, but all the makings are in place for yet another fantastic ride on the red stuff.

In fact, we're only two weeks into the dirtball season and one more Roger Federer/Rafael Nadal clash is already in the history books. The two titans of tennis met last week in the final of the Masters Series Monte-Carlo, where Nadal took out Federer with surprising simplicity, overwhelming the No. 1 player in the world 6-4, 6-4.

Although Federer failed to mount any real challenge to Nadal's clay-court superiority, hope is by no means lost. For those Federer fans who are disheartened by Nadal's convincing win to the point where the already-old question of "Will Roger ever win the French?" is creeping back in their minds, I have good news. Of course that is not to say some bad news inevitably stems from the loss, as well, so I will start with that.

The bad news for Federer is that this was his most disappointing effort yet against Nadal. He is now 3-7 against the Spaniard, and still winless in five attempts on clay. Unlike Monte-Carlo's championship match, the previous four clay-court meetings were three-out-of-five set duels, and Federer extended the clay-court master to at least four sets in all of them. So last month was the first time Nadal had swept his adversary off of his favorite surface in straight-set fashion. If Federer goes into a potential French Open Championship rematch with this taste in his mouth, he will have little to no chance.

In other words, he must get another shot at Nadal before going to Roland Garros in order to restore confidence that surely eroded with the events in Monte-Carlo. Federer was ever so close multiple times last summer to extinguishing Nadal's clay-court dominance, so it seemed like the breakthrough was inevitable this time around. Now, however, it looks like Nadal is as invincible as ever on the dirt.

But, alas, there is good news yet for Federer and his legion of fans. It would be nothing less than shocking if Federer does not get another crack at his nemesis prior to the French Open. Nadal was in Barcelona this week, where he steamrolled a Federer-less draw, while Federer took a break before the brutal clay-court stretch leading up to the French. There are still two Masters Series events between now and then, one in Hamburg and one in Rome. Federer and Nadal met in both finals last year, and there is no reason to think they will not do so in at least one this time. Only a dose of immense upsets could prevent the dynamic duo from colliding once more before taking their rivalry to the ultimate stage of Roland Garros.

For hardcore tennis fans, what's almost as tantalizing as a potential Nadal/Federer rematch at Roland Garros is that the two will have some worthy company on the clay this summer. Yes, an incredible spring has set the stage for what should be a most entertaining clay-court season.

Two players, in very different circumstances, enjoyed especially incredible runs on U.S. hard-courts this spring. One was back-from-the-dead Guillermo Canas, a 29-year-old Argentine. Canas, against the odds, is returning from what all fans must have thought was certain tennis death. Players aren't supposed to come back strong from two-year suspensions, in Canas' case, for doping (he steadfastly maintains his innocence). Especially not when the sentence is handed down when you are 27-years-old, 29 upon return.

But that's just what Canas has done. Prior to February of this year, Canas had not been heard from since the 2005 French Open, where he lost a five-setter in the quarterfinals to eventual runner-up Mariano Puerta. Coincidentally, Puerta is now serving a two-year suspension of his own.

After spending 2006 in South America dominating various Challenger-level tournaments, Canas came back with a vengeance on the ATP Tour by winning a February tournament in Brazil. In three consecutive matches there, he defeated Agustin Calleri, Juan Ignacio Chela, and then Juan Carlos Ferrero in the finals.

While that accomplishment — albeit extremely impressive — went mostly unnoticed, Canas was just weeks away from sending shockwaves through the tennis world. At the Masters Series tournament in Indian Wells, Canas pulled of the year's biggest upset by taking out Roger Federer in the second round. And he did it emphatically in straight sets, 7-5, 6-2.

Two weeks later at the Masters Series event in Miami, Federer had his chance to exact revenge on Canas. Few doubted that Federer would come out and put a thorough beat-down on the Argentine. After all, Federer rarely loses. And he practically never loses more than once to players not named Rafael Nadal. But Canas, who had already defied the odds in his comeback effort, defied even bigger odds in Miami. With another victory over Federer, this one a 7-6 (7-2), 2-6, 7-6 (7-6) thriller, Canas announced he — and his comeback — was for real.

Before vanquishing the world No. 1, Canas took out Tim Henman, No. 18 Juan Carlos Ferrero, and No. 15 Richard Gasquet. Unlike the Indian Wells tournament in which Canas suffered a letdown to Carlos Moya in the match after Federer, the Argentine went on to upset No. 7 Tommy Robredo and No. 8 Ivan Ljubicic en route to the final match. I challenge anyone to provide a more accomplished list of victories in a single tournament by any player this season.

Canas' incredible run ended at the hands of the player behind the other big story of the year, Novak Djokovic. The 19-year-old Serbian, who has simply been on fire in 2007, notched by far the biggest win of his young career by defeating Canas 6-3, 6-2, 6-4.

While winning arguably the fifth biggest tournament in the world was certainly a surprise, it didn't exactly come out of nowhere. Djokovic's 2007 campaign began with a victory in Adelaide, which he followed up with three wins at the Australian Open before bowing out to Federer. One month later he lost to Federer again in Dubai, but by extending the Swiss to three tough sets, Djokovic perhaps laid the foundation for a strong spring.

Strong? More like devastating. At Indian Wells, Djokovic absolutely destroyed his opponents on his way to the finals. The highlights included a 6-3, 6-4 win over No. 16 David Ferrer in the quarterfinals and a 6-2, 6-3 semi-final victory over No. 10 Andy Murray. He did not come close to losing a set in his three other wins.

At the Indian Wells final, Djokovic was clearly not ready to handle the grandeur of a Masters Series final stage. He lost to Nadal 6-2, 7-5 and played an abysmal first set.

But Djokovic's learning curve was about as short as learning curves can get. Two weeks later in Miami, Djokovic met Nadal in the quarterfinals and erased the Spaniard 6-3, 6-4. He then embarrassed Andy Murray again by a 6-1, 6-0 score before taking care of business against Canas.

Djokovic will always have a better chance to win on hard-courts than on clay, but anyone playing this well and with this much talent has a chance to win every time out on the court, regardless of surface. When the French Open rolls around, Djokovic has to be considered one of the elite contenders to challenge Nadal.

While it would be unrealistic to try to swindle tennis fans into thinking that anyone other Federer and Nadal has a legitimate chance to win the French Open, there are other contenders who will be intriguing to watch on the clay. Chilean Fernando Gonzalez is all the way up to No. 6 in the world after his incredible showing in Australia. If Djokovic destroyed people in Indian Wells, Gonzalez absolutely decimated people in Australia. I still think Tommy Haas and James Blake might never recover from the beatings they received.

Gonzo has cooled off considerably since January, but considering the way he pummels the ball with every single swing, he is a threat to win every time he steps on a tennis court. He is one player who can beat both Nadal and Federer at the French, but I just don't see him putting together another seven-match string to win the whole tournament.

Other players who seemed poised for a solid summer are 21-year-old Czech Thomas Berdych and 6'4'' Croat Ivan Ljubicic, who is surprisingly adept on the clay. Ljubicic reached the semifinals of the French Open last year before losing to eventual champion Nadal, and Berdych made it to the semis of Monte-Carlo two weeks ago, where his run was also ended by Rafa.

As for the Americans, well, once again there is not much to get excited about heading into the clay-court summer. The red stuff has been the bane of United States' tennis ever since Andre Agassi won the French Open in 1999, and this year shows no signs of bucking that unfortunate trend. James Blake has been extremely disappointing this year, and Andy Roddick has been dealing with injuries. The streaky Robby Ginepri is in the midst of yet another disappearing act.

For tennis fans who care exclusively about the fates of Americans, this summer will give them every reason to tune out for a while. But for hardcore followers who simply live to see intense, slug-it-out, grind-it-out, in-your-face tennis, the clay-court season, as it always does, will provide just that.

And while some fans might be turned off by the assumption that Nadal and Federer will blow past people in their inevitable paths to meet in every clay-court tournament final, remember that nothing — not even a shocking upset or two — is beyond the realm of possibility.

Just ask Guillermo Canas.