By Matt Hill
After spending over two months on the clay which began in Charleston and Houston in the USA and ended with Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz holding trophies in Paris, the tennis scene at least for a about a month switches to the grass in preparation for the sport’s greatest championship, Wimbledon. Of all the surfaces the WTA and ATP play on this has the shortest season and it will become even shorter next year when the Hall of Fame Tournament in Newport, Rhode Island, disbands in favor of a lot of longer Canada and Cincinnati tournaments. There has been a lot of debate about whether tennis should have a longer grass court season. The biggest stumbling block is the majors and trying to squeeze three majors in during the summer which this year is also an Olympic year. It is something I do not object to, I just don’t think it is feasible and that is a surface you must play during the summer. The only option would be to change the US Open back to grass and that is never going to happen. Another shift in the grass court season has been the swath of top players prepping in Germany instead of the UK. There was even a tournament last week in The Netherlands. I think some of the reasoning might be the tax rate on money won in the UK but other than that it is a little surprising to see because the grass is obviously different in Germany. On the ATP side, six of the top ten are playing in Halle and on the WTA side, nine of the top 10 are playing in the Berlin 500 event which honestly looks more like a mandatory Masters 1000. Without further ado let’s preview next week’s tournaments starting with the WTA in Berlin.
WTA BERLIN
This tournament, which was added to the WTA calendar a few years ago, looks more like a slam with nine of the top 10 playing in this event. Iga Swiatek pulled out of this event before the start of the tournament, citing fatigue. Most likely she wanted to get some rest with Wimbledon and the Olympics coming up. I am not sure how she would have done on this quick turnaround but certainly a big loss for the Berlin tournament. Most experts have Ayrna Sabalenka as the pre-Wimbledon favorite right, and she is in this tournament. Look for her stomach bug to be cured by next week and she will be ready to win the biggest prelim tournament heading into Wimbledon. Coco Gauff is the new No. 2 player in the world, though grass admittedly is not her best surface. Gauff is still dangerous on the grass, having reached the fourth round of round of Wimbledon when she was 15 years old. Elena Rybakina will be the No. 4 seed and she is tough on the grass having won Wimbledon in The biggest question mark for the grass court season is her health. Is she going to be able to hold up? There are a lot of issues right now, but if she gets healthy, she can win this week and contend for Wimbledon. Other big names in the tournament include Jessica Pegula, Marketa Vodrousova, Ons Jabeur Qinwen Zheng and Daria Kasatkina are also in the field
PREDICTIONS:
WINNER: Aryna Sabalenka
DARKHORSE: Ons Jabeur
ATP HALLE
Six of the top ten are in this tournament which has become the premier warm up tournament on the men’s side for Wimbledon. World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, Roland Garros runner up Alexander Zverev, Danil Medvedev, Andrey Rublev, Hubert Hurkacz and Stefanos Tsitsipas are all in the field. Sinner has had a mixed bag this week. He reached No. 1 in the world but fell in the semifinals to Carlos Alcaraz. If you look at it since last year’s US Open, he has been the best player in the world and that is why he has achieved that lofty ranking. Sinner proved with his run to the Wimbledon semifinals last year that he is a threat on the grass. He comes in as the favorite this week as he is now on a more preferred surface. Zverev is playing in his home tournament, one of two in month as he will play in Hamburg for an Olympics tune-up in July. After facing a hostile crowd in France, he will have plenty of support this week. Medvedev and Rublev are going to be hard to handle this week as well while Hubert Hurkacz is probably the dark horse pick this week and may honestly win this thing with his huge serve. Tsitsipas is very hard to figure out right now.
PREDICTIONS
WINNER: Hurkacz
DARKHORSE: Probably Hurkacz still
QUEEN’S CLUB
Only two players in the top 10 are in this field this week, but one of them happens to be three-time grand slam winner Carlos Alcaraz. We will see how Alcaraz adjusts to the grass, but he should be in good shape considering he missed a good portion of the clay season with an injury. Grigor Dimitrov and Alex De Minuar are also going to be contenders here. Then you have Americans Taylor Fritz, Ben Shelton and Tommy Paul. Expect Fritz to be very dangerous on the grass as he has a game suited for the surface. Shelton is still trying to get accustomed to the grass Paul has been solid over the last few years. Holger Rune is struggling but he is in this tournament.
PREDICTIONS
WINNER: Alcaraz
DARKHORSE: Shelton
SHOULD THERE BE A MENS GRASS MASTERS ADDED AND WHO SHOULD GET IT?
There are currently nine Masters 1000 tournaments on the ATP calendar, six of them are on hard and three of them are on clay during the spring, but there is a gaping hole between May and August and especially during the grass court season. Despite calls from fans to have a grass Masters between Roland Garros and Wimbledon the request has fallen on deaf ears. There are probably some valid reasons why it has not been done. A grass Masters would be the 10 th Masters 1000 on the calendar…well actually the 11 th because Saudi Arabia is in talks about getting a Masters 1000 at the beginning of what is now the Australian summer season, A grass Masters would be the 11 th Masters and that is just too much. Also, critics of the idea state that this particular week is fine as it is with two strong 500s where everybody is playing one or the other that gives people even more tennis to watch. There is also the issue of having a huge tournament with just a week’s break between RG and Wimbledon. With the setup now if someone doesn’t want to play, they have a choice. There is also the question of who would host the tournament. For many years, Queen’s Club in London was the premier grass court warmup leading into Wimbledon. In the last decade, probably going back to Roger Federer, Halle has probably at least evened the playing field if not surpassed Queen’s as the premier grass court lead in. There are probably several factors involved, including the tax rate in Germany being a lot lower than the UK and players from Eastern Europe not wanting to stay in the UK for a month. Also, Germany had its Masters downgraded to a 500 in Hamburg about 15 years ago so it would be natural to give Halle the Masters since the UK already has Wimbledon and until recently, they held the ATP finals at the O2 Arena. A lot of this is speculation and I wish it could be done, but a grass Masters just doesn’t look possible based on the current calendar.
NADAL TO SKIP WIMBLEDON; SLATED TO PLAY BASTAD DURING MAIN OLYMPIC TUNEUP WEEK
Rafael Nadal is serious about playing in the Olympics. After announcing he would miss Wimbledon this year because of the surface change, the 22-time grand slam champion has apparently entered the 250 tournament in Bastad, Sweeden on clay the week of July 15 th which is going to be for most players the main tune-up week for the Olympics in Paris at Roland Garros less than a week after that tournament ends. It makes sense for Rafa, he literally has no shot on the grass at this point despite being a two-time champion and I think he is shooting to make one run at the Olympics or possibly make one in men’s doubles with Carlos Alcaraz, a team I honestly would probably favor for the gold even against doubles specialists. In what is a very cramped calendar players must decide what their best options are where do they have a chance to win and when do they need to rest. I expect others to skip as well, possibly Casper Ruud, but I think it is a good move for Nadal. His best shot of course is Paris and I expect him to be totally healthy when the tennis world reconvenes on the clay, what is interesting is Rafa chose this tournament over what is going to be the more loaded ATP 500 Tournament in Hamburg and I think that is a great move for Nadal to get some confidence. Jannik Sinner has also entered that event.
