Tokyo Olympics 2020 - 2 ATP 250s

Olympic Tennis, Tokyo, Japan (Hardcourt)
Truist Atlanta Open, Atlanta, Georgia ATP 250 (Hardcourt)
Generali Open, Kitzbuhel, Austria, ATP 250 (Clay)

Games on! No secret I was concerned the Olympics would be cancelled any moment, up until I saw the Opening Ceremonies. Praise Sweet Baby Jesus the links and the work held fast or I might have blown a Gasquet!

 
For those not competing in the Olympics this year, there’s 2 ATP 250s - details below. There’s also 2 WTA 125s - not detailed below in Belgrade, Serbia and Charleston, South Carolina.  So let’s see what’s happening this week in Tokyo Tennis, Hardcourts and Clay!

Tokyo Olympics (officially Tokyo 2020 Olympics)

July 24-August 8, 2021

Tennis (Harcourt) July 24 – August 1, 2021

Best of 3 for all rounds (a change this year, leading to considerable confusion. No ranking points or prize money

Draw: Singles 64, doubles 32, mixed doubles 16.

172 players representing 46 nations

Defending champ: Andy Murray (2012 and 2016)

2016 Champ: Monica Puig is unable to defend her title because of shoulder surgery

The competition is a single-elimination tourney with a bronze medal match played between the 2 losing semi-finalists. The gold medal match will take place on Sunday, August 1. For singles there will be standard tie breaks (first to 7 points) and doubles will have a match tie break (first to 10 points) instead of a third set.

To go or not to go? That was the question. Many top players answered with a no, including Nadal, Federer, Thiem, Shapovalov, Bautista Agut and Ruud for the men. Also Berrettini withdrew with a thigh injury shortly before the Games began. On the women’s side the no-shows included Serena, Kenin, Andreescu, Azarenka, and Kerber and Halep, because of injury. Sadly Gauff was a late withdrawal because of contracting Covid (and is listed as an NBC Athlete cast commentator).

But many top players did say yes, including World #1 Djokovic, Medvedev, Tsitsipas, Zverev, Rublev, Carreno Busta (fresh off his Hamburg title), Schwartzman, and Felix Auger-Aliassime (unfortunately his time cut short). The last direct entry spot went to Liam Broady of Great Britain, who is ranked #146. Perhaps because his ranking has slipped to #69, Kei Nishikori seems like a forgotten man, but he’s representing Japan and that has helped, so far!

For the women we have World #1 Barty, Osaka (representing Japan so far, no pressure), Sabalenka, Svitolina (Monfils, her married name), Pliskova, Swiatek, Muguruza, Krejcikova, Bencic, Kvitova.

Japan, as the host country, and the USA have the largest teams with 11 each. Australia and France are sending 10 players and Germany 9. Interestingly 8 Russian players are participating, although they cannot compete under the Russian flag because of the doping scandal. Instead they are under the ROC banner, for Russian Olympic Committee.

Of course the BIG story is Novak Djokovic’s chance of achieving the Golden Slam - all 4 Majors and Olympic gold in the same year. To date only Steffi Graff has that honor, achieving it in 1988.

A Brief History

Tennis was part of the Olympics at the inaugural 1896 edition in Athens. However it was removed from the Games in 1928 following a dispute between the IOC and the ITF, in part over what constituted an amateur player. Tennis was a demonstration sport in 1968 and again in 1984, but did not return as a full medal sport until the 1988 Seoul Olympics.

Men Selected 1R Round Matches

Novak Djokovic(1) d. Hugo Dellien

Daniil Medvedev(2) d. Alexander Bublik

Stefanos Tsitsipas(3) v. Philipp Kohlschreiber
Alexander Zverev(4) d. Yen-Hsun Lu
Kei Nishikori d. Andrey Rublev(5)
Pablo Carreno Busta(6) d Tennys Sandgren
Diego Schwartzman(8) d. Juan Pablo Varillas
Ilya Ivashka d. Gael Monfils(10)
Felix Auger-Aliassime(9) d. Andy Murray via Sir’s w/d, but then d. by #109 ranked 23 yo Aussie Max Purcell

Women Selected 1R Matches

Sara Sorribes Tormo d. Ashleigh Barty(1)
Naomi Osaka(2) d. Zheng Saisai
Aryna Sabalenka(3) d. Magda Linette
Elina Svitolina (Monfils)(4) d. Laura Siegemund
Karolina Pliskova(5) d. Alize Cornet
Iga Swiatek(6) d. Mona Barthel
Garbine Muguruza(7) d. Veronika Kudermetova
Barbora Krejcikova(8) d. Zarina Diyas
Belinda Bencic(9) d. Jessica Pegula
Petra Kvitova(10) d. Jasmine Paolini
Elena Vesnina d. Jelena Ostapenko
!!Carla Suarez Navarro d. Ons Jabeur!!

The situation this year is an unfortunate one with the tight Covid restrictions and no fans allowed. Many players cited these as the reasons they’re not taking part. But many other players are excited about fulfilling their dream of playing in the Olympics. Let’s hope the Games go well and these players and the fans watching on TV from around the world have a wonderful experience. For Ash Barty, she still has OG Doubles Dream, let’s wish she keeps her Aussie Dream alive!

FULL OLYMPIC SCHEDULE

Not the Olympics

Generali Open Kitzbühel ATP 250 (Clay)

Kitzbühel, Austria July 26-31

Draw: singles 28, doubles 16

2020 Champ: Miomir Kecmanovic

2019 Champ was Dominic Thiem, the first Austrian champion since Thomas Muster in 1993.

Seeds (in order of seeding): Casper Ruud, Roberto Bautista Agut, Filip Krajinovic, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Federico Delbonis, Laslo Djere, Other notables: Carlos Alcaraz (Alcaraz just won a Title in UMAG Croatia and pulled out Sunday), Arthur Rinderknech, Mikael Ymer. 

And Ernesto Gulbis - the Gulbi - won his entry into the Main Draw via qualies. may his Phoenix rise!

Wildcards: Thiago Seyboth Wild, Dennis Novak, Alexander Erler

Kitzbühel, a famous ski resort, is known for its natural beauty. The tournament has early roots. It was first known as the Austrian International Championships from 1894 – 1969. This is the 77th edition because the tourney was not played during several years, including WWI and WWII.

Singles Draw

Doubles Draw

OOP

Truist Atlanta Open ATP 250 (HC)

Atlanta, Georgia USA July 26 – August 1

Draw: singles 28, doubles 16

2019 Champ: Alex de Minaur

John Isner has won the tournament an incredible five times, in 2013 and 2014 – 2018.

Seeds (in order of seeding): Milos Raonic, Jannik Sinner, Cameron Norrie (Cam just won his 1st title in Los Cabos, we'll see if he still flies off to Atlanta), Reilly Opelka, Taylor Fritz, John Isner, Benoit Paire, Lloyd Harris

Other notables: Mackenzie McDonald, Nick Kyrgios - who will play doubles/singles - partner Jack Sock dubs and v. Kevin Anderson 1R singles.

WCs: Milos Raonic, Trent Bryde and Jack Sock (in both singles and doubles). Of interest is a qualies wildcard to 17-year-old American Samir Banerjee, this year’s Wimby Junior Champion. Samir (known for his aggressive, all-court game) unfortunately lost in qualies to Sebastian Ofner.

There will be a special on-court tribute to doubles greats Bob and Mike Bryan, who retired in 2020.
Fun fact: Since 2010 an American or Australian has won every edition of the tournament.

Singles Draw

Doubles Draw

OOP

**Thanks again to Shirley, the Sweet-@Hartt!**