It will be jam-packed first week on the 2019 ATP Tour, with Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, and Stan Wawrinka among a whole host of marquee attractions in action.
Nadal (the top seed) and Murray (unseeded) headline the field at the Brisbane International. The second-ranked Spaniard’s season opener following a first-round bye could come against Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, who is back from various injuries and used a protected ranking to enter the tournament. Murray will kick off his campaign against Australia’s own James Duckworth. One marquee first-rounder is a rematch of the 2018 final, featuring Nick Kyrgios and Ryan Harrison.
Djokovic is joined in a traditionally tough Qatar ExxonMobil Open by Wawrinka, Dominic Thiem, Karen Khachanov, David Goffin, and Tomas Berdych. Wawrinka and Khachanov have to go head-to-head right off the bat, while Berdych has finally returned to the tour and will get started against Philipp Kohlschreiber.
The Tata Open in Pune, India will once again be overshadowed by Brisbane and Doha, but it at least boasts 2018 Wimbledon runner-up Kevin Anderson–who also finished runner-up at the most recent Pune event. Gilles Simon, who upset Anderson in the final, will begin his title defense against either Hubert Hurkacz or Ilya Ivashka and the veteran Frenchman could run into Anderson in the semis.
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WHO YA GOT?
Anderson, Djokovic and Nadal!
Actually I think Rafa will have a very tough quarterfinal vs The Demon, assuming he gets past Tsonga in his opener.
Yes, Demon could be his toughest match .An in-form Raonic could be dangerous if he’s in -form and Medvedev isn’t. Millman another dark horse.Cant back Kyrgios to go far , Edmund could be too solid.
Nadal over Nishikori ,Anderson over Chung, Djokovic over Thiem.
True, De Minaur will be a tough one. One thing I don’t like in the present Rafa, too much hesitation and sometimes making the wrong shot selection. I feel he overthinks esp during crucial moments and sometimes ended up losing rather than winning – IOWs, he’s no longer clutch at crucial moments, at least not as good as before. He’s losing more TBs these days than he won them – sometimes one simple great serve is good enough to win the point if he can have full concentration doing it, instead of thinking complicated like serve and rush the net and ended up being passed there and loses the point!
Really tricky draws. A lot of good players, some of them coming back from injuries. In my opinion the favorites in Brisbane are nadal, medvedev, Nishikori, Edmund, Kyrgios, De Minaur. But how will they perform? And Murray? Tsonga? Pune is the easier, Anderson the first favorite belong Simon and chung. The winner will be most likely one of them. MAYBE paire or lord Gulbis. Doha is kinda tricky as well…. Stan, Khachanov,domi, berdych, Goffin and nole… Cecchinato is not that good on hard while we also have Verdasco, rublev, seppi, Basilashvili and Bautista. I think it will be Djokovic vs thiem with nole winning.
Stuart Fraser (journalist): “Andy Murray returns to action in Brisbane at 3am UK time tonight. He has noticeably been very candid in talking about the pain that remains in his hip. And his surgeon John O’Donnell offered further insight during a BBC radio appearance yesterday [Dec.30]”
https://twitter.com/stu_fraser/status/1079663110393393152
Things don’t look good for A.Murray.
ATP Tour: “Rafael Nadal withdraws from the Brisbane Tennis with a left thigh strain”:
https://twitter.com/ATP_Tour/status/1080403049829621761
🙂
BrisbaneTennis: “It’s a small thing that can become a much bigger…when you compete the intensity on the muscle it can get worse,” he adds. “I feel better than I did four days ago…It’s a risk to damage my body for one month if I play here”:
https://twitter.com/BrisbaneTennis/status/1080401793585012736
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