MEN’S TENNIS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GRASS COURTS, RAFA IN FINALS VS. TROICKI, PLUS THIS WEEKS DRAWS & MATCH UPS

Written by: Staff on 13th June 2015

MEN'S TENNIS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GRASS COURTS, RAFA IN FINALS VS. TROICKI, PLUS THIS WEEKS DRAWS & MATCH UPS |

TENNIS NEWS AND LOOK AHEAD AT ALL THE GRASS EVENTS

‘s-Hertogenbosch

Singles – Semifinal: (2) D Goffin def. G Muller 7-6(7-4) 6-4

There isn’t much to say about this. David Goffin faced only one break point, which he saved, and he won most of his second serve points, whereas Gilles Muller lost more than half of his. Goffin remains at #15, but his Top Sixteen Wimbledon seed is looking like a much better bet.

Singles – Semifinal: (Q) N Mahut def. (WC) R Haase 5-7 6-3 6-4

How much does Nicolas Mahut like grass? In the last decade, he has won three or more matches at an ATP event five times: At Queen’s 2007, he made the final. He also made the final at Newport 2007. He won ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2013. He won Newport 2013. Now this. That right: He has never won four or more matches at an ATP event on any surface other than grass. Coming here, we show his ATP record since the start of 2006 as 105-118. His grass record? 42-26. (And that despite repeated encounters with John Isner….) So 40% of his wins have been on grass! This may well be his last-ever chance to win another title. It will be interesting to see how he does.

Doubles – Final: Karlovic/Kubot def. Herbert/Mahut 6-2 7-6(11-9)

Not the result Nicolas Mahut wanted going into the singles final, probably — but a big day for Lukasz Kubot. It’s career title #10. It’s his first grass title — meaning he has now completed the surface sweep. And, amazingly, it is his first title since winning the 2014 Australian Open. As a trophy, it’s hardly comparable to winning Melbourne. But at least he can still do it! Amazing to realize that he needed help to get in: “It was great. I’m thankful to Ivo [Karlovic] that he said yes and he didn’t refuse me when I asked him to play. It was a lot of fun. I think we played good from the first match on. I hope it’s not our last tournament together.

“I needed someone, so I asked Ivo to help me out and get me into this tournament. His best surface is grass. I think overall we played really well and it was great quality tennis.”

Karlovic picks up only his second doubles title, the first having been all the way back at Memphis 2006. Not a big deal for him, probably, but perhaps it’s nice to know that that one title wasn’t a fluke.

Lleyton Hewitt practicing. Photo by 10sBalls

Stuttgart

Singles – Semifinal: (1) R Nadal def. (4) G Monfils 6-3 6-4

Rafael Nadal is 21-6 on clay this year — 78%. He’s now 3-0 on grass. He can’t win as many grass matches as he did on clay, but it suddenly looks as if he might end up with a better winning percentage on grass! Talk about goofy. He leaves Gael Monfils still at #16, allowing David Goffin to clinch the #15 ranking.

Singles – Semifinal: (8) V Troicki def. (2) M Cilic 6-3 6-7(1-7) 7-6(7-2)

No question now: Viktor Troicki is back in the Top 25. And likely to be promoted by the Wimbledon formula.

Marin Cilic’s situation is a lot more complicated. He’s #9, and will stay #9 — but he didn’t earn many grass points. He and Rafael Nadal would both like to take the #8 Wimbledon seed away from Milos Raonic or David Ferrer. (There is no real chance they can both hit the Top Eight.) Cilic’s lead is large in the rankings — currently 480 points. But Nadal is adding grass points and Cilic isn’t….

Doubles – Semifinal: (4) Bopanna/Mergea def. (2) Matkowski/Zimonjic 6-3 6-6(6-8) 10-7

Official car of the queens club tournament in London. Photo by 10sBalls

LOOKING AT HALLE , AND LONDON FOR THE QUEENS CLUB

The more things change, the more they stay the same.

The weeks before Wimbledon have been completely rescheduled, and yet, somehow, the two biggest Wimbledon warmups are Halle and Queen’s, and both are two weeks before Wimbledon — and they’re still competing for top players this coming week.

They both ended up with pretty good fields — as witness the fact that Vasek Pospisil and Janko Tipsarevic ended up in Halle qualifying, while Queen’s qualifying featured Simone Bolelli and Yen-Hsun Lu, who aren’t far from the Top Fifty. (Of course, the fact that Queen’s has cut back from a 56-draw to a normal 32-draw plays some part in that.)

It’s pretty clear that Queen’s is the deeper of the two, but it’s by no means clear which is stronger at the top. Halle has the highest-ranked player in action; Roger Federer is the #1 seed. The next two players on the rankings list are at Queen’s: Andy Murray is the #1 seed there, with Stan Wawrinka #2. Kei Nishikori, the fourth-highest player in action, is in Halle; he’s the #2 seed there, meaning that both events have two Top Five players. (No, world #1 Novak Djokovic is not playing this week.) It’s below that that Halle starts to taper off. World #6 Tomas Berdych is the #3 seed, but he is the last Top Ten player in Germany; the #4 seed is Gael Monfils, followed by #5 Tommy Robredo, #6 Pablo Cuevas, #7 Bernard Tomic, and #8 Ivo Karlovic. That’s a cutoff for seeding around #25. Queen’s, by contrast, has five of the Top Ten (meaning that eight of the Top Ten are in action in all; the only ones missing are Djokovic and David Ferrer). It’s equally noteworthy that all eight seeds in London areTop Fifteen. In addition to Murray and Wawrinka, Queen’s can boast of the return of Milos Raonic; he returns to action as the #3 seed. Marin Cilic is #4, and Rafael Nadal will try to back up his Stuttgart success as the #5 seed. Grigor Dimitrov is #6, Gilles Simon #7, and grass-loving but struggling Feliciano Lopez #8.

That leaves a lot of strong unseeded players. Murray’s second round will be against Roberto Bautista Agut or Fernando Verdasco. Dimitrov has to open against Sam Querrey. Cilic starts against Adrian Mannarino, then very likely Viktor Troicki, who beat him in Stuttgart. Lopez’s second round may be against John Isner — talk about a serving contest! Simon starts against David Goffin, ranked just two spots below him, then maybe Jeremy Chardy. Raonic is lucky enough to face wildcard James Ward in the first round, but then could come Richard Gasquet. Nadal opens against Alexandr Dolgopolov. Wawrinka starts against Nick Kyrgios, then Kevin Anderson or Lleyton Hewitt.

The list of tough unseeded players at Halle isn’t as long, but Federer opens against Philipp Kohlschreiber, who just missed seeding and who of course is a local favorite . Ernests Gulbis might be next, if he ever comes out of his funk. Tomic has to start against Steve Johnson. Berdych might face Borna Coric in round two. Robredo’s second round is against Andreas Seppi or Tommy Haas, whose shoulder seems to be surviving so far. Cuevas starts against Jerzy Janowicz. And Nishikori opens against Dominic Thiem.

The Rankings

This is a big week and a strange one. Big, because the rankings after this week will be used to seed Wimbledon. Strange, because what is coming on is two 500 point events (which is rare enough in itself) and what is going off is two 250 point events — ‘s-Hertogenbosch and Eastbourne. Feliciano Lopez won the last men’s edition of Eastbourne, over Richard Gasquet; Denis Istomin and Sam Querrey were semifinalists. (And Istomin isn’t in a main draw this week, so he’s going to sink even lower). The ‘s-Hertogenbosch winner was Roberto Bautista Agut (whose Top 25 ranking is looking endangered, although, unlike Istomin, he’s playing), over Marcel Granollers (also missing), with Jurgen Melzer and Joao Sousa semifinalists.

It won’t matter at the top; Novak Djokovic will be #1, Roger Federer #2, Andy Murray #3. We might have a contest at #4, since Kei Nishikori is only 220 points behind Stan Wawrinka. If Wimbledon were a normal event, Nishikori would be trying to catch Wawrinka to earn the #4 spot.

But, of course, what matters is the Wimbledon seeding formula. Nishikori has 360 grass points in the last two years; Wawrinka 460 (plus 150 from ‘s-Hertogenbosch 2013, and we’re not sure if that counts). So Wawrinka’s lead is bigger than it looks. It appears Nishikori needs a title this week to have any shot.

#5-#8 will likely be Nishikori, Berdych, Ferrer, and Raonic, although Cilic and Nadal have outside chances, especially if Nadal wins Stuttgart. Still, odds are that Cilic and Nadal will be in the #9-#12 block. The other spots in that block are interesting. Dimitrov and Tsonga are near-locks to be #11-#12 in the rankings, but with a 2014 Queen’s final, an Eastbourne win, and a 2014 Wimbledon four round, Feliciano Lopez has a real shot to nab the #12 seed under the formula.

In addition, it’s only 40 points from #16 Monfils to #18 Isner in the ranking. The formula could have a lot of fun with that.

Finally, there is the question of who gets the last few seeds. Entering this week, it’s Thiem, Sock, Kohlschreiber, and Mannarino, but Kohlschreiber is opening against Federer, so it’s going to be hard for him to add points, and from #29 Thiem to #37 Chardy is only 125 points! So we really don’t have much idea who will get the last few seeds, let alone what the seeding formula will do for them. We will of course be updating as the week passes.

THIS WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

‘s-Hertogenbosch (250/Grass). Defending Champion: Roberto Bautista Agut

Stuttgart (250/Grass). Defending Champion: Roberto Bautista Agut (but on clay at a later time in the schedule)

NEXT WEEK ON THE ATP WORLD TOUR:

Halle (500/Grass). Defending Champion: Roger Federer

Queen’s (500/Grass). Defending Champion: Grigor Dimitrov

STATS AND FACTS

RANKINGS

Estimated ATP World Tour Rankings

As of June 13, 2015

Rank &

Prior…Player………..Points

1..(1) Djokovic……….13845

2..(2) Federer…………9165

3..(3) Murray………….7040

4..(4) Wawrinka………..5790

5..(5) Nishikori……….5570

6..(6) Berdych…………5050

7..(7) Ferrer………….4490

8..(8) Raonic………….4440

9..(9) Cilic…………..3505

10.(10) Nadal…………..3035

11.(11) Dimitrov………..2600

12.(12) Tsonga………….2565

13.(13) Simon…………..2300

14.(14) Lopez…………..2140

15.(15) Goffin………….2010

16.(16) Monfils…………1885

17.(17) Anderson………..1880

18.(18) Isner…………..1845

19.(19) Gasquet…………1715

20.(20) Robredo…………1710

21.(21) Bautista Agut……1705

22.(22) Mayer…………..1580

23.(23) Cuevas………….1502

24.(24) Tomic…………..1355

25.(28) Troicki…………1354

26.(26) Fognini…………1250

26.(27) Karlovic………..1250

28.(25) Kyrgios…………1245

29.(30) Thiem…………..1225

30.(31) Sock……………1215

DRAWS

‘s-Hertogenbosch — Week of June 8

………………QF…………..SF…….F

5 Karlovic……..(5)Karlovic

7 Verdasco……..Haase(WC)…….Haase

3 Bautista Agut…Mahut(Q)……..Mahut….Mahut

6 Mannarino…….(6)Mannarino

9 Pospisil……..Muller……….Muller

4 Garcia-Lopez….Copil

8 Sousa………..Marchenko(Q)

2 Goffin……….(2)Goffin…….Goffin…Goffin

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Tsonga………WITHDREW

2 Goffin

3 Bautista Agut..lost 2R (Mahut)

4 Garcia-Lopez…lost 2R (Copil)

5 Karlovic…….lost QF (Haase)

6 Mannarino……lost QF (Mahut)

7 Verdasco…….lost 2R (Haase)

8 Sousa

9 Pospisil…….lost 2R (Muller)

Stuttgart — Week of June 8

……………..QF……………SF……..F

1 Nadal……….(1)Nadal………Nadal…..Nadal

5 Tomic……….(5)Tomic

4 Monfils……..(4)Monfils…….Monfils

6 Kohlschreiber..(6)Kohlschreiber

8 Troicki……..(8)Troicki…….Troicki…Troicki

3 F Lopez……..Groth

7 Thiem……….(Q)M.Zverev

2 Cilic……….(2)Cilic………Cilic

STATUS OF SEEDS:

1 Nadal

2 Cilic………..lost SF (Troicki)

3 F Lopez………lost 2R (Groth)

4 Monfils………lost SF (Nadal)

5 Tomic………..lost QF (Nadal)

6 Kohlschreiber…lost QF (Monfils)

7 Thiem………..lost 1R (M. Zverev)

8 Troicki

Halle — Week of June 15

1 Federer

Kohlschreiber

Gulbis

Stakhovsky

Struff (WC)

F Mayer (PR)

Johnson

7 Tomic

3 Berdych

Estrella Burgos

Young

Coric

A Zverev (WC)

Qualifier

Giraldo

8 Karlovic

5 Robredo

Qualifier

Seppi

Haas (PR)

Vesely

Kukushkin

Rosol

4 Monfils

6 Cuevas

Janowicz

Qualifier

Brown (WC)

Haider-Maurer

Thiem

2 Nishikori

Queen’s — Week of June 15

1 Murray

Qualifier

Verdasco

Bautista Agut

Muller

Youzhny

Querrey

6 Dimitrov

4 Cilic

Mannarino

Troicki

Qualifier

Isner

Sousa

8 Lopez

7 Simon

Goffin

Kokkinakis (WC)

Chardy

Gasquet

Qualifier

Ward (WC)

3 Raonic

5 Nadal

Dolgopolov

Andujar

Garcia-Lopez

Anderson

Hewitt (WC)

Kyrgios

2 Wawrinka

* SCORES

SATURDAY

‘s-Hertogenbosch

Singles – Semifinal

(2) D Goffin def. G Muller 7-6(7-4) 6-4

(Q) N Mahut def. (WC) R Haase 5-7 6-3 6-4

Doubles – Final

Karlovic/Kubot def. Herbert/Mahut 6-2 7-6(11-9)

Stuttgart

Singles – Semifinal

(1) R. Nadal def. (4) G. Monfils 6-3 6-4

(8) V. Troicki def. (2) M. Cilic 6-3 6-7(1-7) 7-6(7-2)

Doubles – Semifinal

(4) Bopanna/Mergea def. (2) Matkowski/Zimonjic 6-3 6-6(6-8) 10-7

Content via Bob Larson tennis services

Topics: 10sballs, Atp World Tour, Mercedes Cup, Rafa Nadal, S Hertogenbosch, Stuttgart, Tennis Results, Topshelf Open, Viktor Troicki

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10sBalls_com says:

June 13, 2015 at 5:26 pm

MEN’S #TENNIS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GRASS COURTS, #RAFA IN FINALS VS. #TROICKI, PLUS THIS WEEKS DRAWS & MATCH UPS http://t.co/zYt0wa4SsC #ATP
dusanVemic says:

June 14, 2015 at 1:41 am

RT @10sBalls_com: MEN’S #TENNIS NEWS FROM AROUND THE GRASS COURTS, #RAFA IN FINALS VS. #TROICKI, PLUS THIS WEEKS DRAWS & MATCH UPS http://t…