ATP MEMPHIS
Surface: Indoor Hard
http://www.memphistennis.com/home

John Isner headlines a strong field in Memphis and it also marks the return of the man, the myth, the purveyor of the J-Bock ... James Blake! More on him in a bit. Isner is the top seed. Andy Roddick, Radek Stepanek and Milos Raonic round out the top four seeds. This draw is littered with talent. Bernard Tomic, Grigor Dimitrov, Denis Istomin, Kevin Anderson, Jack Sock and Ernests Gulbis are all capable on their best days of springing an upset or two on this surface.

John Isner's quarter is full of talent. He'll have to get past a similar style player in Gilles Muller first. Then he could see Dimitrov or Donald Young in the 2nd round. The bottom portion of the quarter features Bernard Tomic as the other seed. Tomic appears to have taken time away from eluding police in Australia to come to Memphis, but he'll have a lot of work to do to elude a first round upset against Ivan Dodig. The hard serving Croat certainly could make Tomic's trip a short one with Tomic only have eight all-time matches on this surface. Isner had the bad fortune of drawing Del Potro in the first round here last year when he came in as the defending champion. Look for a smoother path early, but he will be tested to survive this quarter.

Stepanek leads the 2nd quarter with Kevin Anderson as the 7th seed. The guy I am pleased to see back on tour though is James Blake. Blake has been out due to knee issues since early November. Blake ended 2011 on a surge with a Challenger Final in Sacramento and a semifinal appearance in Stockholm on an indoor surface. His track record in Memphis is not strong though with four first round losses in his last five tries. He gets Sweeting in the 1st round. Blake's website is reporting that he is 95 percent certain of playing this week, so it sounds like rehab has gone well, but there are still some lingering questions. Here's to hoping that Blake comes back healthy whether he wins or not this week. Great to see him back. Stepanek could have a better run this week after some rest. He crashed out to Steve Darcis in San Jose last week. Kevin Anderson though is the player I like in this quarter. A qualifier first-up for him and then Querrey or Falla, both beatable.

Raonic is the top seed in the third quarter. He's got a tricky first-up with the inconsistent Gulbis. Raonic will have to get ready from the quick turnaround from San Jose and that could leave him susceptible to an upset, but he did the same thing last year and made the Memphis final. If he's in the same frame of mind, this is his quarter to take. Bogomolov is the seed on the other side and he's been woeful in 2012. His confidence has to be shaky at-best. He draws Olivier Rochus first and could be leaving the tournament just that quickly. A good American ball bash fest shapes up opposite that match-up with Ryan Harrison and Jack Sock. The two young Americans have never met before. Right now, Harrison has to be considered the favorite to advance. Harrison took advantage of less experienced competition in San Jose and could well do the same with Sock in Memphis. Harrison has a real shot here to make the quarters of successive events and then get handed a paycheck and an exit again from Raonic.

The bottom quarter is a crapshoot. Andy Roddick is the lead seed at #2, but he picked up an ankle injury last week and generally looked like a frustrated player whose game is not working well at all right now. HIs tantrums are great for the sport though, don't deny it. So even if he crashes and burns, it could at least provide for some legen ... wait for it ... dary meltdown moments. HE should however benefit from drawing Xavier Malisse in round one. Malisse looks like he's about three steps ahead of Roddick in the retirement race. Benneteau is the other seed in the top portion of the quarter. He's had a nice season so far, but fell short of the final in San Jose. He draws Petzschner first-up who has been looking like a singles player who has both feet solidly into playing doubles now. Kubot or a qualifier is second. Guys like Bobby Reynolds and Robert Kendrick are floating around as qualifiers this week and I think one of them might make a little noise. Benjamin Becker, Dudi Sela and Xavier Malisse are floating around in this quarter. It's really a who's who of inconsistency, injury and past-their-prime skills. If Roddick was healthy, like last week in San Jose, this would be a good draw for him and he has won two of the last three titles in Memphis. With health and mental strength in question though, this quarter is wide open. I would not be surprised if we see a real surprise come out of this quarter, but I'll side with Benneteau.

Semifinalists: Isner, Anderson, Raonic, Benneteau
Final: Isner over Raonic
Upset Watch: Rochus Over Bogomolov & Dodig over Tomic
Player to Watch: Kevin Anderson