The 17^th session of the Delray Beach Championships, an ATP 250 World Tour event, will take place from February 21 thru March 1, 2009 at the Delray Beach Stadium and Tennis Center.

The 32 person singles’ draw features Tommy Haas, the 2006 champion along with Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis, the 2006 Australian Open finalist. Other familiar names taking the court include Americans Mardy Fish, Robby Ginepri and the always charismatic, Vince Spadea.

Fascinating is the word in a nutshell that perhaps best describes this past season. With 2009 looming, the time has come to reminisce as to why 2008 was such a quintessential year for the ATP.

The abundance of talent littering the tour foretold of a possible shake up as the year began, threatening Roger Federer’s supremacy. All dynasties have gone through a period of decline; perhaps, for Federer, 2008 will be viewed as such. In Australia, Federer faced two foes, mononucleosis and Serb Novak Djokovic. Unable to vanquish either, Roger succumbed in the semifinals. For Federer, this calendar had many ebbs and few flows with a spanking by Spaniard Rafael Nadal in the French final, a gut wrenching loss in the Wimbledon final in five sets, a much desired gold medal at the Olympics, but in doubles. Roger regained a bit of respect by capturing his fifth consecutive U.S. Open. But, for the first time since the dawning of the Federer era, Roger failed to grab a single masters’ shield. In 2008, not only did the Swiss have to get acclimated to the fact that Wimbledon was no longer his playpen, he also lost his grip on the number one ranking.

What a year for Nadal! Undoubtedly talent is an important part of success, yet hard work cannot be discounted. As the season started, the smart bet would have been on Djokovic yanking the top spot from Federer. Nevertheless, Roger’s clay nemesis, after more than two years of serving as best man, finally moved up to number one. After crushing defeats in the quarterfinals in Australia and finals at the Sony Ericsson, Nadal had a surreal clay run with one solitary loss. Moreover, Rafa won his fourth consecutive French Open and the crown jewel, his first Wimbledon trophy.  He was the first man in over twenty years with this dual combination. The ultimate feather in Rafa’s cap was getting Olympic singles gold. An arduous and lengthy schedule put the breaks to Nadal’s play with tendonitis stopping him from participating in the year-end tournament and the Davis cup finals. Regardless, Nadal could not have scripted this year any better.

In many respects, Djokovic had an up and down ride. After hoisting the Australian and Indian Wells trophies, the world number three had a reality check. Nadal unwilling to relinquish his hold on number two, schooled Djokovic when the two met in Rome and Paris. His confidence slightly dented, Novak was a non-factor mid-year with an early exit at Wimbledon. However, Djokovic finished strongly by winning the year-end tournament in Shanghai.

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In Houston, the U.S. Clay Court Championship final was played with 22 year old Marcel Granollers of Spain, ranked 75 in the world, taking on James Blake ranked 8 in the world and the top seed at this event. After losing the first set, Blake recovered nicely, effortlessly winning the second. The hope was that the tides had turned. After having an early lead in the third set, Blake went down a break. With Granollers serving for the match at 5-4, Blake managed to break back. Yet, Blake was unable to harness this momentum and allowed the Spaniard back in the match. On the subsequent game because of a bunch of unforced errors, Blake was on the ropes once again. This time though, the Spaniard did not falter and edged in front. With a solid service game, Granollers won the match and with it his first ATP career title 6-4, 1-6, 7-5.

This represents the second time this year that Blake has been beaten in the finals by a no-name opponent whom he technically should have defeated handily. At the tournament in Delray Beach, 19-year-old Japanese qualifier, Kei Nishikori, triumphed over Blake. The American continues to be inconsistent. Just last week, Blake was instrumental in terms of the USA advancing to the next round in Davis Cup play. Ernests Gulbis of Latvia and Rainer Schuettler of Germany won the doubles title.

In Valencia Spain, another clay court final was underway with two Spaniards David Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro fighting it out. The latter, the champion the last two years, went down in a third set tiebreak to Ferrer who snatched his first Valencia Open title 4-6, 6-2, 7-6. The Argentinean team of Juan Monaco and Maximo Gonzalez won the doubles crown.

The next stop on the ATP tour will be Monte-Carlo which starts on April 20th where Nadal, Federer along with an elite field of clay court virtuosos will be in action.