Going towards the 2009 tennis season, the current world No.1, Rafael Nadal, will have to deal with Juan Martin Del Potro on clay and that might prove to be his toughest task to date on his favourite surface. Will he be able to beat him at Roland Garros if they were to meet?

Meanwhile, Spain and Argentina will meet indoors in late November. That will be a final round I will watch with immense interest. It is a wise move for Argentina to not play Spain on clay.

They will make it tougher for Nadal to record two singles victories. David Nalbandian is arguably a better player on hard courts than he is on clay, and Del Potro definitely knows how to play on fast courts.

By then, Del Potro will almost surely have moved past Nalbandian to No.1 for his nation. Nalbandian has a ton of points to protect from winning the Masters Series titles a year ago in Madrid and Paris, where he twice defeated Roger Federer, twice toppled Nadal, and also beat Novak Djokovic.

That was a golden stretch for Nalbandian, but he has not been the same player in 2008. However, if Del Potro is indeed the No.1 player for Argentina, he would not play Nadal until the final day. That would mean Nadal would square off against Nalbandian on the opening day.

If that happens, perhaps Nalbandian would have a better chance against Nadal than he would if the cup was really on the line the last day. Nalbandian might feel less of a burden confronting Nadal in that situation.