By Rosangel Valenti, TW Contributing Editor
Good morning. This will be your daily post for discussing the tennis taking place at the ATP Masters Series event in Hamburg, and also the women's event in Rome. The Hamburg draw can be found on this link, and the women's Rome draw is here. As a certain R. Nadal is now in Hamburg, it's looking likely that I will be paying a visit there this week, for the next stage of the Rafa Euro-spectator Slam. Tickets are still officially available for the event - much easier to source than for any of the other Masters Series tournaments I've attended in recent months.
Match of the Day:
Looking through today's Hamburg Order of Play, for me, this would be Andy Murray's match against Dmitry Tursunov. It was at this stage in Hamburg last year that Murray sustained the injury to his right wrist that kept him off the tour for several months, but at the time he was playing some inspired tennis. Murray's head-to-head with Tursunov is 3-0, although they have never met on clay. For some reason, although his results on the surface this year haven't been particularly exciting, I keep thinking that Murray's style of play should work well on the red stuff, and am interested to see how he progresses under the tutelage of Alex Corretja. He will be 21 this Thursday - also the day on which, the draw suggests, he's due to meet Rafael Nadal.
The other match I'm keeping an eye on is the one between two 22-year-olds, Simone Bolelli and Marcel Granollers. I enjoyed Bolelli's spirited play last week against Andy Roddick in Rome, while Granollers won Houston, in a three-set final against James Blake. The event wasn't televised here in the UK, meaning that I've yet to see him in action.
Weather Report:
In Hamburg this could be the hottest, sunniest day of the week, with temperatures forecast to rise to 24 degrees celsius, and minimal wind. Rome, however, could be a different story, with heavy rain expected today and tomorrow.
As always, enjoy today's tennis.