ATP 250: Newport, Stuttgart, Bastad

As they say: life goes on.....


ATP 250: Newport, grass
The first U.S. National Lawn Tennis Championship was played in Newport, Rhode Island, in 1881 on the now legendary grass courts at the International Tennis Hall of Fame & Museum. That tournament evolved into the US Open. The Hall of Fame Tennis Championships remains the only professional tournament played on grass in North America.

Players: Isner, Hewit, Harrison, Sock, Mahut, Karlovic, Young, Berankis, Mannarino, Strakhovski
Draw
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/315/mds.pdf
Order Of Play
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/315/op.pdf


ATP 250: Stuttgart, clay
There's always an added incentive for ATP World Tour players to win the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, Germany. The 2013 champion, Fabio Fognini, took home a Mercedes-Benz A 45 AMG ‘Edition 1’. Argentines and Spaniards have dominated the event in recent times, combining to win the past eight of the past 11 titles.

Players: Fognini, Youzhny, F. Lopez, Paire , Agut, Golubev, Vasselin, Kohlschreiber, Rosol, Giraldo, Delbonis and a PHILIP (!!!) Davydenko
Draw
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/321/mds.pdf
Order Of Play
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/321/op.pdf


ATP 250: Bastad, clay

The SkiStar Swedish Open in Bastad has been voted by players as the ATP World Tour 250 Tournament of the Year for 11 consecutive years from 2002-13. The clay court event, which has been held every summer since 1948, has consistently improved its venue and tournament. In 2011, Robin Soderling became the first multiple Swedish titlist since Magnus Norman in 2000.

Players: Ferrer, Robredo, JJ, Chardy, Vesely, Verdasco, Anduhar, HP Mathieu, Lajovic
Draw
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/316/mds.pdf
Order Of Play
http://www.atpworldtour.com/posting/2014/316/op.pdf

Top 10 looking quite different today!

1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB)	13,130	1	18
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP)	12,670	-1	20
3 Federer, Roger (SUI)	6,100	1	21
4 Wawrinka, Stan (SUI)	5,770	-1	21
5 Berdych, Tomas (CZE)	4,410	1	24
6 Raonic, Milos (CAN)	3,920	3	20
7 Ferrer, David (ESP)	3,875	0	24
8 Del Potro, Juan Martin (ARG)	3,360	0	19
9 Dimitrov, Grigor (BUL)	3,270	4	23
10 Murray, Andy (GBR)	3,040	-5	20

ATP Race to London, gives a clearer picture, though:

1 Djokovic, Novak (SRB)	7,250	1	10
2 Nadal, Rafael (ESP)	6,645	-1	13
3 Federer, Roger (SUI)	4,560	1	12
4 Wawrinka, Stan (SUI)	4,095	-1	11
5 Berdych, Tomas (CZE)	3,050	0	14
6 Dimitrov, Grigor (BUL)	2,785	4	13
7 Murray, Andy (GBR)	2,435	2	12
8 Nishikori, Kei (JPN)	2,405	-1	13
9 Ferrer, David (ESP)	2,385	-3	14
10 Gulbis, Ernests (LAT)	2,265	-2	15

American pre USO hard court season will be very interesting, with Nadal defending a mountain of points.

^^ love the change between no 1 and no 2. No 8 hanging in tough, but will be overtaken by Dimitrov soon very likely. Murray to drop out of the top 10 soon? Has 630 points to defend until USO, will depend on his draw considering that he still hasn't beat a top 10 player this year iirc.

I am most impressed with Raonic's jump to number 6, as well as Murray's sliding to number 10.
Those are biggest changes, they could affect quite a few things.

It's also good that Fed's gone up another spot, he's got good two years in those legs still.
Wait for that  FH to click!

That aside...Match of the day:

Hewitt-Harrison!

These tournaments really suffer from their position on the calendar right after Wimbledon. I know that they are very necessary to give the lower ranked players a chance for additional income. And good on Rosol to beat Kohlschreiber in Stuttgart, hope he can win there, he gained new respect by showing obvious disrespect.

It's just tough to get interested in them after such a big tournament, personally I needed a break.

Good news is Stuttgart is switching to grass next year and will be played BEFORE Wimbledon, making the pre-Wimbledon grass season longer by a week, so 3 weeks in total for grass prep and us fans to enjoy.
I think that's a wonderful move and I don't know what took them so long...
Next would be to try and raise the profile of some of them to 500 event.

I personally like watching these small tournaments, the "lesser" players get to shine unshackled from the over-towering presence of The Show names.

Having said that, I haven't seen any tennis post Wimbledon, was keen to see Paire, but he lost in his first match....

For those who need a tennis watching fix:

Hewitt-Karlovic 
Agut-Rosol


I can't believe Wimbledon final was only last Sunday, how time flies!

noleisthebest wrote:Next would be to try and raise the profile of some of them to 500 event.

Queens and Halle will be 500 tournaments.