Not even the red dirt of Europe could turn Rafael Nadal’s season around. Now the beleaguered former world No. 1 will try his hand on grass as he tries to restore some confidence in his game prior to Wimbledon. The grass-court swing begins this week in Stuttgart and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, with Nadal headlining the former along with Marin Cilic and Gael Monfils. A less impressive field is on hand in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where contenders include David Goffin and Ivo Karlovic.
Mercedes Cup
Where: Stuttgart, Germany
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 574,965 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: Rafael Nadal
2014 champion: Roberto Bautista Agut (on clay, not playing this year)
Draw analysis: The tournament’s two biggest attractions find themselves in the top quarter of the draw and are part of what is a positively loaded half of the bracket. Joining Nadal is Germany’s own Tommy Haas, who is attempting to make yet another comeback at 37 years old. Haas will be unranked at this event, as he has not played since the 2014 French Open. The crowd favorite appears to have a winnable opener against Mikhail Kukushkin, but he could run into Bernard Tomic in round two. Nadal could have a tantalizing first match against 2012 Wimbledon conqueror Lukas Rosol. Also on the same side are Gael Monfils, Philipp Kohlschreiber, and Alexandr Dolgopolov.
Cilic has to be content with his draw as the No. 2 seed. The 2014 U.S. Open champion is part of a bottom half that is nowhere near as strong but does have some dangerous performers. Feliciano Lopez and Sergiy Stakhovsky, for example, are extremely capable on the slick stuff. Those two veterans could collide in round two and neither one would get Cilic until the semifinals. At different ends of the career spectrum, both Dominic Thiem and Radek Stepanek are also ones to watch.
First-round upset alert: Borna Coric over (8) Viktor Troicki. Their only previous encounter came earlier this season in first-round Davis Cup action. Coric, an 18-year-old Croat, stormed out of the gates and had a chance to pull off a statement-making win in his young career on the road in Serbia. Instead, the crowd helped Troicki to a comeback victory and his experienced proved too much in a 4-6, 1-6, 6-3, 6-2, 6-1 decision. Fast forward three months and both players are in solid form. This should be a high-quality encounter and one that Troicki knows will be a real danger.
Hot: Dominic Thiem, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Borna Coric
Cold: Rafael Nadal, Tommy Haas, Mikhail Kukushkin, Radek Stepanek, Andreas Seppi
Semifinal predictions: Bernard Tomic over Jerzy Janowicz and Marin Cilic over Sergiy Stakhovsky
Final: Cilic over Tomic
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Topshelf Open
Where: ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands
Surface: Grass
Prize money: 537,050 Euros
Points: 250
Top seed: David Goffin
Defending champion: Roberto Bautista Agut
Draw analysis: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga had been the No. 1 seed at the top of the bracket, but he withdrew after the draw ceremony had already been conducted. Thus Karlovic (seeded fifth) assumes Tsonga’s place and Vasek Pospisil (now seeded ninth) slides into where Karlovic had once resided in the field of 28. Pospisil was initially scheduled to face Jurgen Melzer in the opening round before possibly running into the second-seeded Goffin. The Canadian now begins his week against an ice-cold Marinko Matosevic and his nearest seed is Guillermo Garcia-Lopez.
Each tournament this week features a veteran on the comeback trail. In ‘s-Hertogenbosch it is two-time major champion and former world No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt. The 34-year-old Aussie skipped the European clay swing and is a mere 1-4 for his 2015 campaign. He has not won a match since the first round of the Australian Open. Hewitt starts things off with either a qualifier or lucky loser before potentially meeting defending champion Roberto Bautista Agut. Goffin, Pospisil, and Garcia-Lopez are part of a weaker, less intriguing bottom half.
First-round upset alert: Marinko Matosevic over (9) Vasek Pospisil. Pospisil continues to find success on the doubles court, but due to both injuries and general poor play he has struggled in singles. The Canadian has not won a match since Miami, where he got the best of Juan Martin Del Potro. Matosevic has been even worse—by far. He is 3-13 this season and has lost nine matches in a row. That being said, grass should give him more of a chance than clay to find the win column. Posipisil should get the job done, but nothing is coming easy for him these days (at least when he does not have Jack Sock on his side of the net).
Hot: None
Cold: Vasek Pospisil, Blaz Kavcic, Lleyton Hewitt, Denis Istomin, Mikhail Youzhny
Semifinal predictions: Ivo Karlovic over Roberto Bautista Agut and Gilles Muller over David Goffin
Final: Muller over Karlovic
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Comments and your own predictions are appreciated!
Feli is a very good grass-court player, it’ll be good for him to rub elbows a bit 🙂
It sounds as if Rafa has never won anything on grass… I’m still seeing him as a patient on his way to recovery this season.
Schedule for Wednesday (Rafa will play doubles):
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2015/321/op.pdf
Final game of the match
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-ryN8xiuno
Rafa finished the match with an amazing forehand winner!
vamosrafa,
Thanks so much for the link! At least I got to see the last game and their reaction when they won! 🙂
Obviously I’m completely clueless in doubles… there’s no deuce? Rafa won the match at 40 all… also, I like him playing with the cap since he’s hairline is not as it used to be (I can relate to that too alas)
^^snap! I too was caught out by the “no deuce” rule in dubs yesterday. Blinked expecting to see an “advantage” point played only to “wake up” seeing the players shaking hands….
The Bryan Bros were the #1 seeds I think they got scares of playing Nadal/Lopez so they pulled out. ?
Poor Inverdale, I’m sure Marion Bartoli WILL be commentating at Wimby. Sweet.
RT @BackSwings: “Guys, Clare Balding instead of Inverdale for Wimbledon is huge. If you don’t know Balding already, rest assured she’s the best of the best.”
wow!!! is this true! no Invertwerp one of the most hated men in british broadcasting!
please please let this be true…!
Clare Balding is LOADS better as well as having the overwhelming advantage of not being a sexist asshole…..!
oh no. just looked it up and they are saying he will still be there just won’t have the anchor role for the evening shows. what a pity! was hoping to see the back of him for good…..this is a start i suppose….
Invertwerp! lol. I hope Marion is indeed a guest commentator.
So bummed my TV feed not showing Stuttgart at all. Cancelled my Tennis Channel subscription ‘coz didn’t think I was getting value for money…..
Please Tenngranders, those lucky enough to catch any of Rafa’s Stuttgart singles matches, post your un-varnished takes on his play/level, thanks.
I say singles because no way is he going to be stopped by Baggy…….*cough*
You can re-subscribe in a matter of seconds and being able to watch on catch up for a week is a big bonus. It’s a bore they can’t cover the ITF matches.
Thanks for reminding me what put me off Tennis Channel in the first place: the non coverage of ITF matches. I was working out of Tunisia last year during the USOpen, had trouble getting feed off TV and unsubscribed in a huff.
Scar still to heal I’m afraid………
^^^^@RITB
Forgot to mention there is a channel which shows historic footage of Wimbledon down the years. Great stuff when nothing else of TV. Near the top of the list of channels you’ll see SPORTS CHANNEL. Click on that and up comes Tennis TV and take pot luck what you will see.
rafaisthebest ( at 1:05 pm),
Are you still angry with TennisTV.com ?
Angry’s a bit strong Gussie. More like latent resentment……….
I’ll give it a little more time before re-considering…
But it’s only Stuttgart I am unable to view. I will be able to watch Queens live next week.
ritb, there is an App – FilmOn Live TV which is free and gives you access to live programmes all over the world. it works on Apple devices not sure if it does on Windows.
Thanks @nadline10. Let me try it on my IPad……..
I have a feeling FilmOn only gives Free-to-Air Channels. It’s certainly the case for English TV but like Nadine says it will give you Wimbledon main courts.
All the Hot men – Dominic Thiem, Andreas Haider-Maurer, Borna Coric – are out.
Something is seriously wrong with Ricky’s heating system.
^^^giggle, giggle.
maybe he meant hot as in good looking? **runs to check profile photos**
^^Gimme the cold guys anyday, except for Monsieur Grouper!
ritb, forgot to mention it doesn’t work for Sky TV but for all the UK terrestrial channels it’s great.
Ritb TennisTV is showing Stuttgart this week.
I figured as much @hawkeye63 but as mentioned above, I un-subscribed from Tennis TV last year. At the time, I felt I was not getting value for money. Still doing my “cost-benefit-analysis”……………
Let me know what you find!
The problem in Canada is that there is no reliable source for the Slams.
TennisTV is at least reliable for ATP and picture quality has finally improved in the last year.
Will do. I loved the TennisTV picture quality, that was not a problem. My TV feed in Mauritius pretty much covers all ATP 500 and above tournaments Plus the Slams. It’s the ATP 250s and DC matches I don’t get. I mean, how many 250s is Rafa gonna play to justify a subscription for me? That is the conundrum. I am just being greedy wanting to watch Rafa play Stuttgart………….
@Hawkeye63: can you stream ESPN3 in Canada? I just avoid the TV and watch what I want on my tablet.
No just in the US.
Thursday, June 11, 2015
Previous Day
CENTER COURT Start 12:00
[Q] Mischa Zverev (GER)
v
Andreas Seppi (ITA)
Not Before 13:55
[WC] Tommy Haas (GER)
v
[5] Bernard Tomic (AUS)
[1] Rafael Nadal (ESP)
v
Marcos Baghdatis (CYP)
[LL] Matthias Bachinger (GER)
v
[2] Marin Cilic (CRO)
The doubles team of Felizcano Lopez and Rafael Nadal “walked” into the SFs.
Oh! I’m sure Rafa would have liked some court time.
Why Gussie? What happened to their opponents?
R.Farah had a wrist problem.
Thanks Gussie.
Oh Vashy, a Canadian losing his cool? Now I’ve seen everything………
https://twitter.com/stroppadel/status/608692022812286976
What’s up with RBA these days? He seems to be losing more than winning………..
The doubles team of Rafa & Feliciano withdrew before their SF match.