Preview: Even as the Paris Olympics near, the ATP and WTA tours don’t slow down
Looking ahead at this week’s five events, including a U.S.-heavy Atlanta draw led by Ben Shelton.
“How is tennis possibly going to squeeze the Olympics into its schedule?” is a question I ask every four years. And every four years they squeeze themselves in without making a major disturbance in the season’s flow. It helps that, intentionally or accidentally, the Games have yet to be held during a Grand Slam fortnight.
As the game’s elite heads back to Roland Garros, their non-Olympian colleagues—and some who will be in Paris as well—fan out to four tournaments in Europe, and one in the United States. Here’s a look ahead at what those draws portend, and who might benefit most from all of the Top 10 absences.
Atlanta Open (ATP)
Atlanta
$841,590; ATP 250
Hard court
Not everyone who could be in Paris will be there, of course. That’s certainly true among the American men. The No. 1 and No. 3 seeds in Atlanta, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe, decided to get their summer hard-court seasons, and their US Open preparation, started early. After spending the spring and early summer in Europe, they wanted to stay home, collect ranking points and prize money, and stay on asphalt rather than having to switch back to clay for a week.
Can one of them continue the home-country dominance at this tournament? An American has won it in 10 of its 13 years. This will be the last chance to get some home cooking, though. The Atlanta Open won’t be back next year. Its owners, GF Sports and Entertainment, chose to upgrade another of its events, the Dallas Open, to a 500 instead.
- Also here: No. 2 seed Adrian Mannarino, No. 4 seed Jordan Thompson
- First-round match to watch: David Goffin vs. Denis Shapovalov
Livesport Prague Open (WTA)
Prague
$267,082; WTA 250
Red clay
The Czech Republic has a strong women’s Olympic team, led by major champions and runners-up of recent years. The squad also includes the top seed in Prague, Linda Noskova. She’s not a Slam winner yet, but she’s the type of hard-hitter who might slay some giants in Paris, the way she did when she knocked Iga Swiatek out of the Australian Open this year.
First she’ll try to get this Czech-heavy draw, where her countrywoman Katerina Siniakova is the second seed.
Plava Laguna Croatia Open (ATP)
Umag, Croatia
$709,647; ATP 250
Red clay
With the Games at Roland Garros, red clay reps are a priority right now. Umag’s courts fit the bill for three Italians, Lorenzo Musetti, Luciano Darderi, and Matteo Arnaldi; two Argentines, Francisco Cerundolo and Mariano Navone, and two Czechs, Jakub Mensik and Tomas Machac, all of who are seeded here, and all of whom are Paris bound.
The No. 1 seed, Andrey Rublev of Russia, has declined a chance to compete as a neutral athlete. The No. 3 seed, Holger Rune, withdrew Monday to recover from a knee injury he just suffered in Hamburg ahead of his planned Olympic debut.
Generali Open (ATP)
Kitzbuhel, Austria
$709,647; ATP 250
Red clay
Kitzbuhel is Umag’s twin: Same red-clay surface, same number of ranking points, same prize money. But the draw isn’t quite as strong here. The top seeds are Sebastian Baez, Alejandro Tabilo, Tomas Martin Etcheverry, and Pedro Martinez, all of whom are dirt-ballers, and all of whom will be Olympians.
- Also here: Matteo Berrettini, Dominic Thiem.
Berrettini just won a title in Gstaad. Thiem, an Austrian native, will play for the home folks here one last time before retiring at the end of the year. Nuno Borges, coming off a once-in-a-lifetime achievement—a win over Rafael Nadal on clay, in the Bastad final, pulled out Monday and will head straight to Paris.
Unicredit Iasi Open (WTA)
Iasi, Romania
$252,439; WTA 250
Red clay
Mirra Andreeva is the name of note in Iasi. The 17-year-old and top seed has a chance to win her first career title, as she gets ready for the first of what may be many Olympic Games. Like all Russians in Paris, she’ll be competing as a neutral athlete.