10 THINGS TO WATCH IN ANTALYA
Two for Turkey: The inaugural Antalya Open begins on Sunday and is the second ATP World Tour 250 event to be held in Turkey. The third-annual TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open was won by Marin Cilic on 7 May. Antalya is being held on grass courts, while Istanbul was played on clay.
Thiem is Top Seed: World No. 8 Dominic Thiem is the No. 1 seed and leads the tour with 10 quarter-finals or better in 2017. The 23-year-old Austrian enjoyed his eighth title at Rio de Janeiro, second Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros and first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final at Madrid. He owns wins this season over No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 2 Rafael Nadal and No. 4 Novak Djokovic.
Big Names Abound: Four former Top 10 players are also in the field, including No. 3 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 4 seed David Ferrer of Spain. Verdasco was runner-up at Dubai in March, while Ferrer has not reached a final since 2015 Vienna, a stretch of 37 tournaments. Also seeking their first ATP World Tour final of the season are ex-World No. 8s Marcos Baghdatis and Janko Tipsarevic, though Tipsarevic is 20-0 in 2017 on the ATP Challenger Tour with four titles.
Grass Champions: Thiem (2016 Stuttgart), Ferrer (2008, 2012 ’s-Hertogenbosch) and unseeded players Denis Istomin (2015 Nottingham) and Andreas Seppi (2011 Eastbourne) are the only players in the draw to have won a grass-court title. Seppi’s countryman, Paolo Lorenzi of Italy, is ranked a career-high No. 33 and seeded second despite a 3-15 lifetime record on grass.
Red-Hot Khachanov: Karen Khachanov, 21, played and won the first three grass-court matches of his career last week at Halle before losing to Roger Federer in his second ATP semi-final.
#NextGenATP Contingent: The fifth-seeded Khachanov is one of three #NextGenATP players in the Antalya field, joining No. 7 seed Borna Coric and Hyeon Chung. Only Alexander Zverev of Germany leads the trio of Khachanov, Coric and Chung in the Emirates ATP Race to Milan.
Sugita on the Rise: Yuichi Sugita, who meets a qualifier in the first round, reached a career-high No. 64 on 12 June after winning the grass-court Challenger at Surbiton, U.K., without losing a set.
Diverse Draw: Twenty-eight players from at least 22 countries will make up the Antalya singles draw. The country count will be 24 if Ramkumar Ramanathan of India and Mohamed Safwat of Egypt qualify.
Wild Cards: Ferrer and Turkish players Marsel Ilhan and Cem Ilkel are the wild cards. Ilhan, 30, seeks his first ATP World Tour victory since beating Tatsuma Ito in the 2015 Moscow first round. Ilkel, 21, is 0-6 on tour, winning a set for the first time against Mikhail Youzhny at Istanbul on May 1.
Altuna Teams with Ferrer: Ferrer also received a doubles wild card with 28-year-old Tuna Altuna of Turkey. Altuna made history last month at Istanbul by becoming the first Turk to reach an ATP World Tour final. However, he and Alessandro Motti of Italy lost the championship match 6-0, 6-0 to Roman Jebavy and Jiri Vesely -- the first double-bagel in a doubles final since 2010 Acapulco.
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10 THINGS TO WATCH IN EASTBOURNE
Back and Forth: The Aegon International returns to Eastbourne, where it was held from 2009 through 2014. Nottingham hosted the event from 1995 through 2008 and 2015.
Djokovic Arrives on Grass: Novak Djokovic will make his tournament debut as a wild card. The World No. 4 is the second-highest-ranked men’s player to ever compete at the Aegon International, behind then-No. 2 Marcelo Rios in 1998. Though Djokovic is ranked outside the Top 3 for the first time since 2009, he is one of four players who could leave Wimbledon as World No. 1. Djokovic is playing a grass-court event prior to Wimbledon for the first time since 2010 London/Queen’s Club.
WCs are Top 2 Seeds: Gael Monfils is joining Djokovic as a late entrant. The Frenchman is playing in Eastbourne for the first time, having made Nottingham appearances in 2005 and 2008. Monfils won the 2004 Wimbledon junior title, but has yet to reach an ATP World Tour final on grass.
American Takeover: Americans make up 25 per cent of the Eastbourne singles draw, with No. 3 seed John Isner, No. 4 seed Steve Johnson and No. 5 seed Sam Querrey leading a group of seven. Johnson is the defending champion after defeating Pablo Cuevas at Nottingham last season.
Up-and-Down Zverev: After upsetting World No. 1 Andy Murray at the Australian Open, Mischa Zverev lost 10 of his next 11 matches. The No. 6 seed is back on track lately, reaching the Geneva final (d. Kei Nishikori, l. to Stan Wawrinka) and Stuttgart semi-finals (l. to Feliciano Lopez).
Great on Grass: No. 7 seed Richard Gasquet is coming off a run to the Halle semi-finals. The Frenchman won titles at the 2005 and 2006 Aegon International in Nottingham before reaching the Eastbourne final in 2014. Gasquet is also a two-time semi-finalist at Wimbledon (2007, 2015).
Not Great on Grass: No. 8 seed Diego Schwartzman has already equalled a career-high with 17 wins this season. However, he is seeking the first grass-court victory of his career. The Argentine is 0-4 on grass and fell 6-0, 6-3 to qualifier Ernesto Escobedo in the 2016 Nottingham first round.
Back the Brits: Kyle Edmund, 22, and Cameron Norrie, 21, are the only Brits in the main draw prior to the completion of qualifying. Norrie seeks his first ATP win after leaving Texas Christian University as the No. 1 player in college tennis. Edmund earned his first win at 2013 Eastbourne.
#NextGenATP Trio: London/Queen’s Club and ’s-Hertogenbosch quarter-finalist Daniil Medvedev of Russia joins Americans Frances Tiafoe and Jared Donaldson as #NextGenATP players in the field. Tiafoe is making his grass-court debut after reaching a new career-high Emirates ATP Ranking nine times in 2017.
Bryans Return: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan signed in on site and will make just their second Aegon International appearance as a team. The No. 1 seeds count 2003 Nottingham among their record 112 titles. However, they have not won a title since Rome in May 2016. The twins have played in 22 events since then, their longest drought since first lifting a championship trophy at 2001 Memphis.