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No, John Isner will actually be playing doubles this week with James Cerretani. (If you think that headline was a bait and switch to get you to read this post, well then you must be a regular reader of this blog.)

First, Isner's singles draw. It's not great, but there is potential. Isner drew No. 5 seed Marat Safin. Safin, as you probably know, just reached the semifinals of Wimbledon. So that's bad. Safin, as you may also now, is also one of the most mercurial performers on the ATP tour. If he's interested, he has as much talent as anyone on the tour, seriously. But that's a big. Safin's a thoughtful guy, which in tennis can be a bad thing. Once he starts thinking - "Why am I here? Do I really want to be on a broiling hard court in Los Angeles in August?" - his game starts tanking. So that's good. If Isner can get enough first serves in, he may be able to frustrate the big Russian. Steal the first set in a tiebreaker - Isner's usual M.O. - and things will likely get easier from there. Pull the upset of Safin and then the draw opens up. Isner would then be a favorite to reach the quarterfinals (there are only 28 players in the draw), where he'd likely meet No. 4 seed Feliciano Lopez. Two wins would pick up 40 ranking points for Isner, who comes into LA ranked No. 133 in the world.

As for doubles, Isner's recent strong results with Mardy Fish have pushed him up to No. 91 in the world those rankings. But Fish isn't entered in LA, forcing Isner to come up with another partner.

Enter James Cerretani.

He's hardly a known quantity, like Fish. And while Fish has been a consistent top 50 singles player in recent years, Cerratini's career high in rankings was No. 620, back in 2006.

But that doesn't mean Isner's taking a step down in quality. In Cerretani, 26, Isner is getting the epitome of a doubles specialist. And he's a guy who's paid his dues and is finally starting to make a dent on the ATP Tour.

Take a look at the playing activity for Cerretani in 2007. By my rough count, he played a whopping 37 tournaments in 2007. If that's enough grinding for you, consider that NONE of them were on the ATP level. He started off playing mostly Futures (14 in all), which is essentially Double A. Then he worked his way up to Challengers and played 23 of those. His highet pay day was $3,100, for winning a challenger event in Orleans, France.

That, folks, is a guy who is dedicated to doubles.

Finally, this year Cerretani has worked his way up to the big leagues. He played his first ATP even in February, in Zagreb. In his third ATP even, in Morrocco in May, Cerretani and his partner, Aussie Todd Perry, reached the finals.Then in July, Cerretani teamed with Romanian Victor Hanescu to win an ATP event in Austria. That $15,000 check brought his ATP winnings this season up to over $73,000. Cerretani is now No. 45 in the world in doubles.

Clearly Cerretani is a hungry player who will certainly take his pairing with Isner seriously. Whether they'll have enough chemistry to prosper is another question. They play today - which will be late this evening on the east coast, against the French duo of Florent Serra and Sebastien Grosjean.