Week two of three in the grass-court buildup to Wimbledon features a pair of ATP 500 tournaments at Queen’s Club and in Halle.
As usual, the fields at those events are absolutely loaded. Among those suiting up this week are Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Andy Murray, Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Jannik Sinner, Nick Kyrgios, and Alexander Zverev.
Alcaraz returns at Queen’s Club
Alcaraz will be making his 2023 grass-court debut at the Cinch Championships, playing for the first time since physical problems plagued him in a French Open semifinal loss to Novak Djokovic. The 20-year-old Spaniard is the top seed at Queen’s Club ahead of Rune, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, and Cameron Norrie.
It isn’t going to be an easy road to the title for anyone, as there are no first-round byes for seeded players and the unseeded contingent is incredibly strong. Headlining the unseeded ranks are Murray, Matteo Berrettini, Emil Ruusuvuori, Milos Raonic, Sebastian Korda, Ben Shelton, Ugo Humbert, and Maxime Cressy. First-round matches to watch are Rune vs. Cressy, Berrettini vs. Ruusuvuori, and Murray vs. Alex de Minaur.
If the seeds hold to form (which isn’t likely), quarterfinal matchups would be Alcaraz vs. Francisco Cerundolo, Tiafoe vs. Norrie, Fritz vs. De Minaur, and Rune vs. Lorenzo Musetti.
Zverev, Stuff unseeded in Halle
The story is a similar one at the Terra Wortmann Open, where the draw is so stacked that players like Kyrgios, Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff, Alexander Bublik, Lorenzo Sonego, and Denis Shapovalov are not even seeded. Kyrgios and Sonego have to go head-to-head right off the bat, while other notable first-rounders are Bublik vs. Borna Coric, Zverev vs. Bautista Agut, and Felix Auger-Aliassime vs. Dominic Thiem.
With Tsitsipas, Auger-Aliassime, Thiem, and Shapovalov all struggling and Coric not much of a grass-court player, the bottom half of the Halle bracket is especially wide open. Struff, who currently finds himself in the Stuttgart title match, and Sinner have a great chance to reach the final.
At the top of the draw, Medvedev could face Zverev in the quarterfinals and either Rublev or Hubert Hurkacz in the semis.
who ya got?