ATP Masters
The draw is out, much earlier than the women's was.
Red: Roger Federer, Guillermo Coria, Ivan Ljubicic, David Nalbandian.
Gold: Rafael Nadal, Andre Agassi, Nikolay Davydenko, Gaston Gaudio.
Federer, Agassi, and Nadal all have injuries (ligaments in foot, hip, left knee, respectively) that may yet take them out of the tournament, though as of now they're expected to play. (Rumors on rec.sport.tennis are that Puerta, the first alternate, has been told to get on a plane because Federer is still in pain, though I don't know how much credibility to give it.) If you're wondering where some of the other famous players are, Hewitt is home watching his wife get ready to produce a baby; Safin's left knee is still recuperating; and Roddick withdrew yesterday with a bad back and is replaced by Nalbandian. Like the women's draw at LA, it looks somewhat depleted, in part because the players who have moved up, especially Coria and Gaudio, are primarily clay-courters who aren't expected to do much on a faster surface.
If those in the above draw all play and are in reasonably good shape, I'd expect the following in the semis:
Federer
Ljubicic
Nadal
Agassi
A lot of people would love to see a Federer/Nadal final, and Nadal beat Agassi in the Canadian Open final back in August. If Shanghai is a faster surface, Agassi could well reverse that result here, though it would certainly be fitting if the two dominant players of the year finished it by facing off.
Either way, I'd expect Federer to win unless his injury becomes a factor. He has said (before the ankle ligament injury) that defending his Masters title is one of his priorities for 2005.
wg