Kiefer's comeback stalled by knee injury

	Cynthia Lum/WireImage.com Finally on a high, James Blake is playing his best tennis in rough 2007.

Player injuries and withdrawals keep all tournament directors awake at night, but the smaller tournaments like here seem to get hit the hardest. Unlike a Masters Series or Grand Slam, the smaller tournaments rely heavily on one or two big-name players. Losing one these players - sometimes hours before the tournament starts - can have a devastating impact on attendance and future ticket sales.

The LA tournament has two other factors working against it. One, it's now become the first tournament of the hard-court season, as it was forced by the ATP to switch dates with Indianapolis this year. Now, it begins a mere eight days after the men's Sunday final at Wimbledon. That's too soon for many of the top players.

Coming off the French Open, the grass-court tune-ups, and then Wimbledon, many of the top players need to take a break. (Roger Federer won't reappear until the first Masters Series in Montreal.) Look at Andy Roddick, who was actually in LA at the ESPY award ceremony last week, just a few days before the start of this event. Tournament officials tried to convince Roddick to play but to no avail. He'll play next week in Indianapolis.

Second, the tournament is geographically out of the way. Players on the East Coast or in Europe are hesitant to schlep out to California, then turn around and fly back across the country to play in the rest of the US Open Series. Andre Agassi used to faithfully play Los Angeles, but it was just a short flight from his home in Las Vegas. Pete Sampras played intermittently, but he could practically walk from his home to the tournament.

Right now, this tournament is attracting good but not great European or South American players that want the fair-sized guarantees that are offered (i.e Marat Safin, David Nalbandian and Fernando Gonzalez), and lesser lights who are in search of ranking points and prize money. The tournament has also been able to pull in a fair share of Americans like Blake, who is a decent-size draw, and the Bryan Brothers, the only real draw on the doubles tour, and journeymen like Vince Spadea and Zach Fleishman.

© TennisReporters.net 2007