Paris Draw: “Roger always has cake walk draws”- well look at this.

 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2009_BNP_Paribas_Masters_-_Singles Paris Masters draw

Cilic, Muzza, FeVer, Monfils, Del Potro, Isner, Wawrinka, Stepanek are all in Federer’s half, Cilic, FeVer, Wawrinka and Monfils and are in his Quarter, in order to seal the number 1 before London Fed needs to win Basel and match Nadal, looks like he is going to need to play his best tennis if he wants to win in Bercy and seal the number 1 as he’s gonna lose 200 points from last year’s WTF whilst Nadal will lose none as he didn’t participate.

The danger men:

Muzza: After putting myself through torture (watching Muzza) and taking advice from a family member who is an avid Muzza fan, we have concluded that Muzza is not 100%, if he maintains the level he has shown in Valencia and if Roger plays similarly to how he’s played in Basel then we would expect a tight straight sets victory to Rogi of course picking up the title in Valencia would give Muzzza some much-needed confidence after slipping from 2 to 4 in the rankings when many thought he’d be knocking at number 1, which could then alter the outcome of that possible meeting, Roger said  that he took the foot off the pedal once he was up a set or break against Muzza hence some of the losses to him, so he’ll have to play aggressively throughout and give the young pretender another thrashing before the year is out.

Cilic: Cilic is prone to having good showings then having a first round exit but he’s also been very surprising this year, so I wouldn’t count him out upsetting Verdasco in the third round for a quarterfinal meeting with Roger who is the last player in the top 5 he hasn’t played yet. 

Wawrinka: Signs of the old Wawrinka were present in Basel, he’s been due for another top 10 win for a long time, it’s always hard to play against a compatriot, no matter how easy Rog makes it look and Roger remains to be the only player in the top 10 Wawrinka has beaten.

FeVer: A title in Valencia will perk him up and boost his chances for making the WTF, he’ll be playing lights-out tennis all week to make sure his hard work in Valencia isn’t undone, Roger has never been beaten by Verdasco in 3 meetings but he hadn’t been beaten by Del Potro either until that final, leftys are always dangerous and when FeVer is in a winning mood a good performance is needed to stop him.

Monfils:A bit disappointing lately, is due for a good win which is why he’s dangerous, cannot qualify for WTF anymore so he might play lights out tennis to end the year on a high, a victory over the world number 1 in his home country would certainly do just that.

Isner: The serve and the fact that  he moves better than Karlovic- need I say more? 

Del Potro: Needs to prove the win in New York wasn’t a fluke, another win would make any doubters realise that Del Pony is the real deal and can mix it up with the big boys in the top 3 one day, is also fresh after withdrawing from Basel.

Stepanek: The worm is a tricky opponent, his antics can frustrate opponents who can soon find themselves match point down against him, with his skill at the net and good yet surprising baseline play, hasn’t beaten Rog since 2004 but that could all change.  

I’m not sure about you but I would like a Roger vs Rafa final, with Roger winning of course, I would like Roger to end the masters series on a high winning another first and claiming another win over Rafa. There is no guarantee that they’ll play against each other in the WTF, so letting the Parisian fans have the Roger-Rafa final they were denied in Roland Garros, would be great to end the year.

Just for fun, the Roger Federer song.