ATP Rio de Janeiro, Delray Beach, Marseille; WTA Dubai
I think the WTA management team's performance over the years deserves the title of this post.
For those of you who still don't know, this week there was a WTA International tournament scheduled in Debrecen, Hungary. WTA still had it listed on their calendar two weeks ago. Turns out they didn't manage to book a venue there after all. What is particularly shitty is that they didn't announce the players that entered there. They found out from local media. As a lame attempt to sugar things up, the Dubai qualies draw was extended from 32 to 48 players for two extra spots in the MD (so seeds #3 and #4 in the MD have no bye now). WTA ends their only communique related to this debacle with "There are also ITF playing opportunities that same week." which is dunno... slap worthy? But enough about Steve Simon and his crew, right?
So WTA is left with one Premier tournament: Dubai; meanwhile ATP has, like last week, an ATP 500 and two ATP 250s.
For those of you who still don't know, this week there was a WTA International tournament scheduled in Debrecen, Hungary. WTA still had it listed on their calendar two weeks ago. Turns out they didn't manage to book a venue there after all. What is particularly shitty is that they didn't announce the players that entered there. They found out from local media. As a lame attempt to sugar things up, the Dubai qualies draw was extended from 32 to 48 players for two extra spots in the MD (so seeds #3 and #4 in the MD have no bye now). WTA ends their only communique related to this debacle with "There are also ITF playing opportunities that same week." which is dunno... slap worthy? But enough about Steve Simon and his crew, right?
So WTA is left with one Premier tournament: Dubai; meanwhile ATP has, like last week, an ATP 500 and two ATP 250s.
Rio Open presented by Claro
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| Cliche, right? But how can you go for anything else for Rio? Seriously? |
ATP 500, clay, outdoor. Still into The Golden Swing. Draw is not particularly impressive for this level, and Thiem, the dirtballer that he is, shows up as the only seed from top twenty. The other seven seeds (after Djere withdrew with abdominal injury) are Lajovic, Garin, Pella, Coric, ARV, Ruud, Verdasco. No bye for anyone, though. Who else is there? Sousa, Cecchinato, Cuevas, Delbonis and... Thiago Seyboth Wild! Yeah baby!
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| Guga Kuerten. ...ah yes... and the winner Cristian Garin |
Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com
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| This could be anywhere, but I trust my sources! Aaahhahhahahhahaah! In any case it's gorgeous. |
ATP 250, HC, outdoor. I hear Florida is nice this time of year. OK. Ten Americans in MD, maybe even more will join from qualies. Kyrgios is the top seed (and only one from top twenty) and he's joined by Raonic, Fritz, Opelka, Millman, Humbert, Mannarino, Albot. No byes for them. 1st rounder to watch: Tennys Sandgren v The Tiaf. Other notables: Edmund, Vesely, Carl GustavJason Jung, Nishioka, Johnson.
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| Reilly Opelka and Yoshihito Nishioka (tiny runner-up) - No, this is not a frame from a cartoon. |
Open 13 Provence
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| Notre-Dame de la Garde basilica. That thing on top is an 11.2 meters copper statue gilded with gold leaf. |
ATP 250 HC, indoor. It's this week toughest tournament by far. First four seeds have byes: Medvedev, The Tsi, Goffin, The Shap. The other four: The Khach, Paire, FAA and last seed is #29 Hurkacz. Seven Frenchmen in the MD, maybe more after qualies. Some names now: Sinner, Simon, Herbert, Cilic, Pospisil, Gasquet.
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| Stefanos Tsitsipas and Felix Auger-Aliassime (runner-up) - I got nothing... :( |
Onto the women.
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships
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| The Dubai Frame, framing Dubai (well... a bit of it, anyway...) |
WTA Premier (470 points), HC, outdoor. Five top tenners (Bertens was excused as she's playing the St Petes Final today) show up. First two seeds have byes: Halep and Pliskova, the other six: Svitolina, Bencic, Kenin, Sabalenka, Muguruza have to play from the start. Man, listing other names here is hard. I want to write them all, almost! Let's try though: Mertens v Wang(Q), Vondrousovs v Sevastova, Pavlyuchenkova, Yastremska, Muchova, Sakkari, Rybakina, OK, gotta stop. Very very special mention: Kim Clijsters begins her 2nd (or is it 3rd?) comeback. Some of us are skeptical, but let's keep our fingers crossed for her anyway.
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| Simona Halep (her 2nd whatever that is) and Elena Rybakina (runner-up) |
That's it.
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