Rafael Nadal poses for a photograph with a model of the CN Tower after taking part in the draw for the 2010 Rogers Cup on top of the CN Tower in Toronto on Friday, August 6, 2010. The CN Tower is a communications and observation tower standing 553.3 metres (1,815 ft) tall. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan DenetteNathan Denette/The Canadian Press
Rafael Nadal pulled out all the tokens with the various players' numbers on them when the 2010 Rogers Cup draw was done on Friday at Horizons restaurant in the CN Tower in Toronto.
The guide taking media up the in the elevator explained that it is the equivalent of 118 stories in the air.
That's a lot, as is the lead that Nadal, the player representative at the draw, has in the ATP rankings over No. 2 Novak Djokovic and No. 3 Roger Federer.
With 10,745 points, he leads Djokovic by 3,950 points and Federer by 4,440.
That Federer slipped behind Djokovic, after his quarter-final loss at Wimbledon to Tomas Berdych, has resulted in a situation where he is seeded third and that created some suspense at the draw ceremony on Friday afternoon.
Tournament director Karl Hale offered to have someone other than the top-seeded Nadal pull out the first two crucial tokens - a No. 3 and Federer would go in Nadal's top half of the draw and a No. 4 and it would be Andy Murray in Nadal's half. But Nadal was more than willing to do the random selection of the tokens for those positions, and subsequently for the entire draw. "Bravo Rafa" said one wag in the crowd present when the Spaniard first pulled out No. 4, keeping alive the possibility of a Nadal - Federer final on Sunday August 15 at the Rexall Centre in Toronto.
It was only the fifth time (all in 2009 and 2010) since 2005 that Nadal and Federer were not the top two seeds in a tournament they both entered, and the fourth time that they have been selected in opposite halves of the draw. Only in Rome in May did they come out in the same half. But then the chance for a rare semi-final meeting was quashed when Federer lost to Ernests Gulbis in his opening match.
Any instant analysis of this year's Rogers Cup draw may be overtaken by events - namely withdrawals after Lleyton Hewitt (calf) and John Isner (fatigue) pulled out before the draw. Now, Andy Roddick, seeded eighth, has complained of not feeling well (and lethargic) "for some weeks" and suggested it could be a "vitamin deficiency" after losing 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to Gilles Simon in Washington.
He will undergo tests and could decide not to play before Monday's opening round begins. If he did so, the current unseeded, highest-ranked player, Stanislas Wawrinka, would move into the position of No. 9 seed Fernando Verdasco, who would then replace Roddick at No. 8.
That would be good news for Frank Dancevic because the Canadian is slated to play Wawrinka in the first round. If the Swiss No. 2 - you'll never guess who is No. 1 - does move into the seeds, Dancevic will get either a qualifier or a lucky loser as a first-round opponent.
A footnote about Roddick, with his loss Thursday in Washington, after being runner-up to Juan Martin del Potro a year ago, he will likely drop out of the top 10 in next Monday's new ATP rankings. That means there will be no Americans in the top 10 for the first time since computer rankings were introduced in 1973.
Even with Roddick in the draw, Nadal would appear to have the easiest path to the semi-finals, along with Djokovic. Things look a little tougher for Federer - he could play heavy-hitting Nicolas Almagro in his second match and then Berdych in his third (the quarter-finals). As for Murray, if he gets through his opening match, he would play the winner of Gael Monfils and Fernando Gonzalez (coming back after a long layoff with a knee injury) and then possibly No. 5 seed Robin Soderling in the quarter-finals.
Monfils - Gonzalez is a 'popcorn' first-rounder as are Simon versus Mikhail Youzhny and David Ferrer against David Nalbandian.
The other Canadians in the draw are Peter Polansky (vs. French Open semi-finalist Jurgen Melzer), Milos Raonic (vs. Victor Hanescu) and Pierre-Ludovic Duclos (vs. a qualifier).
Nothing is a certainty, but fans wanting to see the two top singles seeds on the court at the same time should probably go for the day session on Monday. It is expected that is when Nadal and Djokovic, teaming up to get the feel under match conditions on the Rexall Centre courts, will play doubles together.
The last time such a glamorous pair competed in doubles was in 1992 when John McEnroe and a young Andre Agassi reached the final, after Agassi had won his first Canadian Open title in the singles.