Dish-Houston

Four former winners of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship headline the initial acceptance list for the 2012 tournament that will be played April 9-15 at River Oaks Country Club.
 
Defending champion Ryan Sweeting will be joined in the field by former champions Marcel Granollers (2008), Ivo Karlovic (2007) and World No. 8 Mardy Fish (2006). They are joined in the field by James Blake, who was a two-time winner of the River Oaks International (2003, ’05).
 
Blake is also one of three US Men’s Clay Court Championship finalists in the field. The 2008 runner-up is joined by countrymen Sam Querrey (2010) and Wayne Odesnik (2009) in returning to River Oaks.
 
Those Americans are part of a contingent of eight US players in the field. Joining Sweeting, Fish, Blake, Querrey and Odesnik will be John Isner, who reached a career high ranking of No. 11 this week, Ryan Harrison and Bobby Reynolds.
 
“It is a great sign for the tournament to have so many players coming back to a place where they have previously had success,” said tournament director Van Barry. “This field represents a great mix of Americans as well as international stars, some very accomplished clay court players, veteran talent and rising stars. We really feel there is something for every fan with this roster of players.”
 
Here’s a look at the initial field and their ranking as of February 27, 2012:
44 Carlos Berlocq (ARG)                     
63 James Blake (USA)                       
35 Alex Bogomolov, Jr. (RUS)           
8 Mardy Fish (USA)                       
101 Daniel Gimeno-Traver (ESP)          
28 Marcel Granollers (ESP)           
65 Ryan Harrison (USA)                       
11 John Isner (USA)                       
105 Tatsuma Ito (JPN)                       
41 Ivo Karlovic (CRO)                       
77 Igor Kunitsyn (RUS)                       
102 Paolo Lorenzi (ITA)                       
66 Xavier Malisse (BEL)                      
108 Wayne Odesnik (USA)           
109 Bjorn Phau (GER)
103 Eric Prodon (FRA)
87 Sam Querrey (USA)
113 Bobby Reynolds (USA)
100 Joao Souza (BRA)
82 Ryan Sweeting (USA)
98 Adrian Ungur (ROU)

Four other players will join the field through the qualifying tournament that begins April 7. Three players will also be awarded wild cards into the field.
 
The doubles field will be announce just before the tournament, but four-time winners of the US Men’s Clay Court Championship Bob and Mike Bryan have committed to return and defend their title once again.

It’s not too late to purchase individual session tickets and the very popular “Champ Pass” for the 2012 US Men’s Clay Court Championship! The Champ Pass includes a ticket to the Friday, Saturday and Sunday sessions, which are usually sold out before the tournament begins. Information on tickets can be found at www.mensclaycourt.com or by calling 713-874-6294

Tennis fever has clearly hit Houston!! Mardy Fish became the No. 1 player from the U.S. on Wednesday with a straight sets win over David Ferrer in the Miami quarterfinals. When the new rankings are released Monday, Fish will be ranked higher than Andy Roddick, who has been the top American since 2008. Fish is projected to climb from his current career high of No. 15 to No. 11 by reaching the Miami semifinals, and would likely reach the Top 10 if he were to advance to the Miami final.

Ryan Sweeting's wild card brings the total number of Americans in the field for 2011 to eight, including six of the seven Americans who are ranked in the Top 100. The 23-year-old played a brief collegiate career at the University of Florida and was the 2005 US Open junior champion. This will be Sweeting's third main draw appearance in Houston, including last year when he reached the second round as a qualifier before falling to Chile's Nicolas Massu in a third set.

Four players have been added to the field this week. In addition to Sweeting, former Australian Open finalist Rainer Schuettler of Germany, Russian Igor Kunitsyn and Germany's Mischa Zverev have joined the field. Schuettler took the place of 2010 champion Juan Ignacio Chela, who withdrew for personal reasons, while Kunitsyn and Daniel entered the field after all possible special exempt spots from Miami were eliminated.

Twenty-four of the field of 28 players has been set, with four more to enter through this weekend's qualifying tournament, including Americans James Blake and Ryan Harrison, who join Sweeting as the wild card entrants. The top four seeds for this year's event will be Fish at No. 1, 2010 finalist Sam Querrey at No. 2, Spain's Guillermo Garcia-Lopez at No. 3 and American John Isner at No. 4. These four players will have first round byes.

DISH will have tickets to give away so follow us on TWITTER or Facebook to win your tickets!

It's getting heated here at the River Oaks Country Club! The U.S. Men's Clay Court Champoinships is full of drama as day two comes to a close.

We started out the day with 2004 double Olympic Gold Medalist Nicolas Massuplaying his heart out for a win after having to get through the qualies in Miami last week just to lose in the first round. He plays again tomorrow at Noon if you are coming out and want to see a part of tennis history live in person.  Massu made it to the finals here at the USMCC a few years ago only to have to retire due to injure in the 2nd.

Last year's winner Lleyton Hewitt and his double partner won their first match today as they should have since they have played together since they were juniors.

Speaking of junior, up am coming American Donald Young just lost his first clay match of the season to South African Kevin Anderson but had the best attitude knowing that he has plenty of clay ahead of him this year and hopes to break the top 50 soon.

The drama comes in with Taylor Dent finally coming back from a back injury and having to retire in his first round with groin injury. He didn't say if he was headed home to spend time with his new 10 week old sun but did have the most amazing perspective on his game and life in general..."If I got upset every time I was disappointed out there I'd never be happy."

The REAL drama is with American Wayne Odesnik. Once he touched down in Australia for the Aussie Open he was stopped while going through customs and a big ole Texas sized mess of Human Grown Hormone was found in his bag! He is playing here in Houston and the other players are NOT happy with his being here at all! 10 Days ago he pleaded guilty in an Australian court and that kicked off the International Tennis Federation investigation into the subject. The higher ranked players are the ones that are tested frequently, however Odesnik is only ranked 103 therefore has not been caught. Of course now there will be TONS of testing although he's had plenty of time to get the substance out of his system. American Mardy Fishwas due to play Wayne this evening but had to pull out also due to injury. Before his decision to not continue play today, Fish had this to say about Odesnik's being here.

“I’m the kind of guy who’s been around for a long time,” Fish told the Chronicle. “This is my 11^th year. I’ve seen a few guys come and go who have cheated and he seems to be no different. There’s no room for him. There is no gray area. He pleaded guilty. Any points and money he wins here are going to be gone anyway (if the ITF suspends him).

“It would be pretty awkward (for me) to play him here. He’s a pretty good clay court player. What you don’t know now is if any of that is real. It doesn’t seem to be. I’d have a serious beef if I were (Jerzy Janowicz, whom Odesnik defeated in the first round). And, if I were (Odesnik), I’d take myself out.”     

“I think there’s some kind of misunderstanding,” Janowicz said. “I think he shouldn’t play at this point. He for sure should be suspended. It’s a bad feeling when I know he shouldn’t play. It’s very tough to play with that kind of guy.”

Needless to say if you want to speak to Mr. Odesnik you have to go through his lawyer in Florida.  

Wednesday's schedule is looking good if the rain holds off.  Chela is taking on Schwank at Noon in the Stadium followed by Massu and Sweeting. Then the Bryan Brother's take over the Stadium at 3 pm to no doubt beat Damm and Polasek followed Hewitt and whomever wins today out of Niland and Devvarman!

Don't forget the Tootsie's Fashion show for the ladies! Hats, dresses, heals and beautiful men! Ah, it's spring in Houston!