[Wojtek]

Kuerten

 

[Sjengster]

Ferrero, Moya and Agassi will split the three Masters Series events in Europe, though I don't know who'll get what, but Kuerten and Costa will reach the latter stages in some. Hewitt will continue to be mediocre, judging by his form this year.

Then at Roland Garros, Ferrero and Kuerten will reach the final and this time Ferrero will score his first ever victory over Guga in Paris. I do of course make no apologies for these predictions turning out to be completely wrong.

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Last year I predicted before the tournament that Ferrero would finally win Roland Garros - stinker of a draw and all. And well, I was close but I think that i'll just keep my predictions to myself this time...

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Erm, right, I see you weren't just talking about Roland Garros.. so I suppose I can comment on the masters series..

I imagine that Moya and Ferrero will each grab one, and don't know about the third.

 

[Layla]

I like your predictions Sjengster. Honestly, I don't think there will be a single king of clay this year. I wouldn't completely rule out Corretja either. Who knows, maybe this year he'll start playing well earlier than usual.

 

[bcoene]

I think Moya will have a very good clay season. I hope Kuerten can get back to his old form, but I doubt it. He was so good on clay.
Lleyton will not be great on clay I think, but not bad too.
The others will be good because they all love clay.

 

[Lee]

I don't think Guga will dominate the clay courts as he used to mainly because I think he is trying to do better in other surfaces. Moya and Ferrero will be major players this year too provided Juanqui recovered nicely from his recent injury.

But I will definitely vote for Guga

 

[claudine140]

I think Moyke is the king on clay, last year he was one of the best on clay and this year starts also with a tournement winning. I surely hope he will play well on the big clay tournements;
But Ferrero and Kuerten are also big concurrents on clay. But Kuerten is surching for his good game and Ferrero is struggling with an injury.
Agassi is a player who is among the best players on each underground.
=)) Sampras king on clay????=))

 

[GabbylovesLleyton]

I think that this year will be Lleyton's break out year on Clay.

 

[TennisHack]

Juan Carlos will have the best year of all on clay, taking at least one Masters' title and (hopefully!) his first Slam

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

I wouldn't really say that Ferrero's current injury is going to effect him during the clay season, especially when he's supposed to be back practicing on it as soon as tomorrow...

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

Seeing as nobody has talked much about him, I'll give my Costa prediction..

As the defending champ, I think that he'll make the quarters or semis, before bowing gracefully to one of the eventual finalists. I don't see him flaming out early.

I don't think that he'll win one of the masters series, but I do think that he'll post a decent result in a couple of them.

 

[Sjengster]

I'll second that - I reckon that either Corretja or Ferrero will have their revenge on him, although I also wouldn't bet against Agassi taking him out if they met in the latter rounds. It's quite ironic, really, that after Agassi's breathtaking destruction of Costa in Rome last year in the QFs, everyone instantly labelled him the huge favourite for Paris, and yet it was Costa who learnt from that defeat and decided to adopt Agassi's aggressive style and step further into the court to play his shots, something which worked wonders against Kuerten, Canas, Corretja and Ferrero in the final.

 

[Mr. Man]

I hope Guga does get back to his old forum on clay. But...ah.. I just don't see it happening. So I'm goin' with Ferrero, Hopefully he will win at least one or two Clay court titles.

 

[Pea]

Why is fagassi in the poll and not Alex? I vote for Alex!

 

[Sjengster]

Because 'fagassi' is on an unbeaten 12-match winning streak, while Alex has accumulated an illustrious 0-2 record for the year so far. Also, bear in mind Corretja's poor form during the clay court Masters events last year; he only really got it together at Roland Garros, and even then he had one hell of a lucky escape against Clement in the third round. He'll probably do better this year, but I doubt he'll have the same success during the warm-up tournaments as the other Spaniards.

 

[RogiFan]

Why is fagassi in the poll and not Alex? I vote for Alex!

lol! good one!

Juanqui keeps progressing in that direction... he HAS to win RG this year or he'll go loco! You really think Guga will regain his former glory given his injury and surgery?? It'll be tough for him w other players improving on clay, i.e., Federer, Safin. Don't count out Costa [I think he's won the most clay tourneys -- correct me if I'm wrong], and Corretja -- pls just win a tourney this year... he missed his chance in 98, damn! Well, he did win Gstaad and Kitz last year.

Then there are the Sudamericanos...

Hewitt still needs to learn to slide effectively on the red stuff before he can be a contender... too many other good guys in front of him... but he IS getting better!

Hey, even Timmie did OK last year on clay!

But I vote for Juanqui -- por favor, gane RG este ano!!

 

[Vera]

I'll boldly predict that Agassi won't win any clay TMS title this year. As for who will, I wish Ferrero will win them all , but I reckon that he'll probably have to share with Moya and maybe Costa. But I think at least one of the title will be taken by an Argi, maybe Canas if he's back in form soon enough.

 

[Sjengster]

That's a good point... someone like Nalbandian or Gaudio may well be ready to step up and challenge for one of the TMS events, after all Gaudio made the semis of Monte Carlo back in 2000 beating Safin and Ferrero on the way, so anything's possible. The way Canas' injury recovery is going, though, it'll be hard for him to get back into form especially with his style of game.

 

[Chloe le Bopper]

If Gaudio gets the right draw, I think that he could make the QF at Roland Garros this year. Perhaps i'm getting a bit excited for him, but consider that he almost beat Ferrero in the third round last year, and consider that he's beaten just about every top clay court player on that surface, and I happen to like his chances to make it to the second week.

I'm also keeping an eye on Coria.. not just based on his recent results, but based on the fact that he seems to be picking up where he left off before his suspension.

David lost to Safin in 4 last year, although it was pretty routine looking aside from the one set that Safin lost... In fact, David's entire clay season last year was plagued with early losses to top players, due to not being seeded. This year it's a whole new ball game for him...