The grass-court season may be low on quantity, but it’s high on quality. With so little time to waste, players pretty much have to take the court at least once in June prior to the beginning of Wimbledon. And the best opportunities, of course, come this week with a pair of 500-point tournaments on the ATP schedule. Halle and Queen’s Club boast absolutely loaded fields, with the former headlined by Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, Jannik Sinner, and Nick Kyrgios, while the latter features Carlos Alcaraz and Andy Murray.
Here is a breakdown to go along with some picks for the two events.
Terra Wortmann Open
Where: Halle, Germany
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 2,195,175 Euros
Points: 500
Top seed: Daniil Medvedev
Defending champion: Hubert Hurkacz
Draw analysis: How good is the Halle field? Well, Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev, Alexander Bublik, Jan-Lennard Struff, Lorenzo Sonego, and Denis Shapovalov are not even seeded. Dominic Thiem, Yibing Wu, Brandon Nakashima, Ricard Gasquet, Nicolas Jarry, and Tallon Griekspoor are also part of the unseeded contingent. There are simply no easy outs in Halle this week.
The top half of the draw is especially difficult, as Medvedev vs. Zverev and Rublev vs. Hubert Hurkacz are potential quarterfinal contests. Although the bottom half looks interesting on paper, all kinds of players are question marks—such as Kyrgios, Thiem, Shapovalov, and Felix Auger-Aliassime. Everyone in that group is either injured or slumping…or both. Auger-Aliassime and Thiem are going head-to-head in round one, while Kyrgios is getting his week underway against Sonego. Guys like Kyrgios, Struff, and Bublik can get hot and take the racket out of opponents’ hands on grass, but Sinner looks to be the cream of the crop on that side of the bracket.
Hot: Jan-Lennard Struff, Nicolas Jarry, Lorenzo Sonego, Tallon Griekspoor, Yannick Hanfmann
Cold: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Roberto Bautista Agut, Denis Shapovalov, Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Mikael Ymer, Oscar Otte
Quarterfinal predictions: Daniil Medvedev over Brandon Nakashima, Andrey Rublev over Hubert Hurkacz, Jannik Sinner over Jan-Lennard Struff, and Alexander Zverev over Nicolas Jarry
Semifinals: Rublev over Medvedev and Sinner over Zverev
Final: Sinner over Rublev
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Cinch Championships
Where: London, England
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 2,195,175 Euros
Points: 500
Top seed: Carlos Alcaraz
Defending champion: Matteo Berrettini
Draw analysis: Alcaraz will be making his 2023 grass-court debut at Queen’s Club, playing for the first time since physical problems plagued him in a Roland Garros semifinal loss to eventual champion Novak Djokovic. The draw is subject to change a bit with qualifiers—many of whom could be very dangerous—yet to be placed, but as it stands right now the top half of the draw may not be too tough for the 20-year-old Spaniard. He could face Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in round two, Emil Ruusuvuori in the quarterfinals, and either Cameron Norrie over Frances Tiafoe in the semis.
The bottom half of the bracket is a bit more stacked with Murray, Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, Alex de Minaur, Ugo Humbert, Maxime Cressy, and Ben Shelton. All of those guys are capable of doing serious damage on grass—and really on any surface. De Minaur vs. Murray is an especially intriguing first-round encounter, while Rune will kick off his campaign against Cressy. Fritz, who opens against Bernabe Zapata Miralles, is on a collision with either De Minaur or Murray for the quarterfinals.
Hot: Carlos Alcaraz, Holger Rune, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Francisco Cerundolo, Jordan Thompson, Bernabe Zapata Miralles
Cold: Matteo Berrettini, Sebastian Korda, Milos Raonic, Diego Schwartzman, Maxime Cressy
Quarterfinal predictions: Carlos Alcaraz over Grigor Dimitrov, Cameron Norrie over Dan Evans, Andy Murray over Adrian Mannarino, and Ugo Humbert over Ben Shelton
Semifinals: Alcaraz over Norrie and Murray over Humbert
Final: Murray over Alcaraz
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