Marat Safin gives an interview to Russian Hello! Magazine in his Moscow apartment. It looks like someone is a photography buff (Spletnik via GOTOTENNIS)

Carlos Moya is expecting his first child with his girlfriend Carolina Cerezuela (Revista Tenis)

Ivan Lendl will play against Mats Wilander in his first exhibition match since retiring in Atlantic City. Marat Safin will play Andy Roddick in the other match (The Canadian Press)

Uncle Toni wanted Nadal to withdraw BEFORE his Aussie semifinal match with Andy Murray (Revista Tenis)

The story of Johan Brunstrom and Jean-Julien Rojer’s disqualification after they had match point in their second-round match. Moral to the story – don’t throw your racquet. Rohan Bopanna and Aisam-Ul-Haq Qureshi went on to win the South African tournament (iol)

Dmitry Tursunov pulled out of the SAP Open this week and may need a third surgery on his ankle (Sacramento Bee)

Jo-Wilfried Tsonga pulled out of Rotterdam because of a stomach muscle injury (ESPN)

Gilles Simon withdrew from Rotterdam because of a right knee injury (Tennis Connected)

Mark Philippoussis lost his first match in a Challenger event in Dallas (Open Court)

Bernard Tomic wins a Challenger event in Tasmania (Fox Sports)

(Image: Spletnik)

City: Metz, France
Surface: Indoor Hard
Championship Points: 250
2008 Singles Champion: Dmitry Tursunov
2008 Doubles Champions: Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra

Defending champion, Dmitry Tursunov will not defend his title this year, as he is out because of ankle surgery. Gael Monfils tops the seeds and is the hometown and crowd favorite. Mostly French and German players join him this week.

Philip Kohlschreiber, Paul-Henri Mathieu, Philipp Petzschner, Fabrice Santoro, Benjamin Becker, Andreas Beck and Ivan Ljubicic round out the other seeds. Richard Gasquet will also be on hand to try to return to form. Fabrice Santoro puts in his last appearance at the tournament since he will retire at the end of the year. On the doubles side, Arnaud Clement and Michael Llodra are back together and will defend their title for the second-straight time.

As stated before, it is harder to tell the clear favorites, as injuries and burnout become the tale of the season. This should be an exciting tournament, as there are plenty of quality players duking it out this week.

Tournament Draw
Singles / Doubles

Monday’s Order of Play

(Image: Open de Moselle)

Juan Martin del Potro puts Tandil on the map (NYT)

Jeremy Chardy replaces Gilles Simon for Davis Cup (ESPN)

Juan Carlos Ferrero will replace Rafael Nadal for Spain’s Davis Cup semifinal (Fox Sports)

Nadal's pull out gives Israelis hope (Jerusalem Post)

Rafael Nadal admits 2009 year has been unlucky. I suspect a certain someone possesses a voodoo doll (Live Tennis)

2009 and Nadal’s injuries (USA Today)

Dmitry Tursunov will have ankle surgery. He could miss four to six months (Sacramento Bee)

Tennis is becoming more brutal (NYT)

Goran Ivanisevic will play Andrei Pavel in his last match (Croatian Times)

Czech Ivo Minar tested positive for a banned substance and denies the allegation (The Guardian)

Gasquet returns to the circuit in New Haven but fails to qualify. Let's hope he gets back into form soon (BBC News)

Novak Djokovic gained confidence from his week in Cincinnati and looks forward to the US Open. (Reuters)

Dmitry Tursunov is questionable for the US Open and may need a second surgery (The Sacramento Bee)

Le baiser à la cocaine as told in grand fashion by the Brits (Times Online)

An interview with Novak Djokovic, who thinks he was born at the wrong time (Blic)

Andre Agassi will release his autobiography in November (CBS Sports)

Safin wedding rumors (Oh No They Didn’t)

How you can obtain an autograph from Rafa (Gossip Barf)

Nicolas Kiefer and Marat Safin were both upset at Wimbledon today. Frenchman Fabrice Santoro sent Kiefer home 6-4 6-2 6-2 in a battle of the veterans. Santoro is playing in his last Wimbledon tournament, as he is retiring this year. American Jesse Levine took out Safin 6-2 3-6 7-6(4) 6-4 in the Russian's final Wimbledon appearance.

Also, Dmitry Tursunov retired against German Mischa Zverev 6-4 6-2 3-0. He injured his ankle in last Saturday's Eastbourne final. He promised to play in Wimbledon but was not able to make it through his first-round match.

(Images: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images, AP)

Dmitry Tursunov won his sixth career title and his maiden grass title. The Russian surpassed Canadian qualifier Frank Dancevic 6-3 7-6(5) after 82 minutes of play. Tursunov denied the Canadian of his first career title.

Despite winning the title, Tursunov injured his ankle towards the end of the match. Asked if his it will affect him at the all-England club:

I am definitely going to try to come out, unless I am going to be on crutches. Even then I will try to come out.

The title win gives the Russian some momentum for Wimbledon, and Tursunov definitely agrees:

It's a good win and it doesn't matter what surface it is on. Playing on grass can be tough because we only get three or four weeks on it, but it seems like a good surface for me. It's human nature to want to beat someone whether it's Eastbourne, Wimbledon or a Futures or Challenger event. And it's given me some practice on grass which is very important in the lead-in to Wimbledon.

(Image: AP)