The Mubadala DC Open (along with the Mifel Tennis Open in Los Cabos) marks the start of of the North American hard-court summer.
It is one the busiest times on the annual tennis calendar, headlined by the U.S. Open in addition to a pair of preceding Masters 1000 tournaments in Montreal and Cincinnati. And it begins with a bang, as the Washington, D.C. field is one again loaded. Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev recently withdrew, but the draw still features Alex de Minaur, Ben Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Lorenzo Musetti, Frances Tiafoe, Jakub Mensik, Arthur Fils, Tommy Paul, and Rafael Jodar.
De Minaur is the defending champion and top seed. His odds are already drawing plenty of interest in tennis predictions for the DC Open. The fifth-ranked Australian’s bid for back-to-back trophies gets underway against Gstaad champion Stefanos Tsitsipas. De Minaur could face either Mensik or Brandon Nakashima in the quarterfinals before possibly running into Fritz, Paul, Learner Tien, or Jack Draper in the last four.
At the bottom of the draw, Shelton and Tiafoe are on a collision course for the quarterfinals. They also went head-to-head on quarterfinal Friday last summer, when Shelton advanced 7-6(2), 6-4. Both Americans have favorable paths through the first two rounds and should be able to set up their rematch. Meanwhile, Musetti’s comeback from a leg injury begins against fellow Italian Matteo Arnaldi.
The Mubadala DC Open is tennis’ only combined ATP-WTA 500-level tournament. It takes place July 25-August 2 at Rock Creek Park Tennis Center.
who ya got?
An American