Rafael Nadal will look to regain the Mutua Madrid Open title after reasserting his dominance on clay.
Federer returns but Murray sits out as the clay turns blue in Madrid
Rafael Nadal will be looking to regain the Mutua Madrid Open title after reasserting his status as the 'King of Clay' with back-to-back titles in Monte Carlo and Barcelona.
The 11th instalment of the 1000 Masters event will be played on blue clay for the first time, with a strong field headed by Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer.
However, Andy Murray will miss out due to a back injury under doctor's advice as Federer makes his first appearance of the season on clay, but it is tough to look past another final meeting between the game's dominant duo.
World number two Nadal ended a seven-match losing streak against Djokovic to claim a remarkable eighth successive title in Barcelona, before prevailing from a gruelling battling with David Ferrer a week later.
Now, after retaining two of the three titles he claimed last year, the Spaniard will set about attempting to regain further ranking points by avenging last year's defeat to Djokovic.
Battle for dominance
That loss represented a significant shift in the dominance of men's tennis as the Serb consolidated his status as the game's number one player on a surface where his opponent had previously dominated with such authority.
The Mutua Madrid Open trophy had actually only had Nadal's name etched on it twice previously, but Djokovic put any doubts of his supremacy to bed with a straight-sets win in Rome, where the Spaniard had won in five of the last six years, before finally having his 43-match unbeaten run ended by Roger Federer at Roland Garros.
Titles have not come quite so easily to Djokovic this year, with his Australian Open triumph involving five-set battles with Andy Murray and Nadal at Melbourne Park before losing to Murray in Dubai and then John Isner in Indian Wells.
Now, after losing in the Monte Carlo final, the Serb is
Sky Bet's 7/4 second favourite to win on the blue dirt in what the online bookmaker see as a straight two-horse race.
Another final meeting between the duo is evens despite Roger Federer returning to action following an extended break.
The 16-time Grand Slam winner is
13/2 to triumph in the Spanish capital despite the environment suiting his game best of all the clay events, as proven with his success here in 2009.
The outsiders
The increase in altitude and indoors environment serves for a quicker pace, working in favour of the big, flat hitters of the game, reflected in Juan Martin del Potro's price of
14/1, almost half the odds of clay-court specialist Ferrer (
25/1).
Ferrer had a remarkable 15 breaks points but only managed to convert three in his gruelling battle with Nadal in Barcelona, which lasted two hours and 40 minutes despite being settled in straight sets.
Elsewhere in the field, 21-year-old Milos Raonic will be looking to make another statement of intent after ousting Murray in Barcelona.
Such is the growing respect for the tour's biggest server,
Sky Bet make his the eighth favourite in Madrid despite clay being his least favoured surface, albeit at a price of
80/1.
The WTA Tour also heads to Madrid this week with Victoria Azarenka favourite for the title despite having her winning start to the year ended with defeats to Mario Bartoli and Maria Sharapova.
Sharapova avenged finals defeats in the Australian Open and Indian Wells on the clay to end a year-long wait for a title.
Kaia Kanepi and Sara Errani are the other in-form women heading to Madrid following titles in Estoril and Budapest respectively, but
Sky Bet's tennis trader Chris Kennedy expects world number three Petra Kvitova to retain the title and claim her first one of 2012.
He said: "The conditions will certainly favour Kvitova's powerful strokes and serve and she'll be desperate to put in a big performance after a disappointing start to the season.
"It's a typically wide-open field on the women's side while it's almost impossible to looks past the top two in the men's draw, although the likes of Federer and Del Potro will believe they can cause problems in the quicker environment."
