The first grass week has gone quickly and we managed to secure a small profit (Kontaveit won the tournament in Netherlands with odds of 11) and now the tournaments are getting bigger: 2 ATP World Tour 500 (instead of 250 last week) and 2 WTA (one Premier and one International). Let’s take a closer look:

 

ATP London, UK (Aegon/Queen’s Club Championships) – ATP World Tour 500 series

Website: www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-championships/home

 

Queen’s is one of the most prestigious grass court tournaments, as well as one of the oldest Tennis tournaments in the world, and serves as a warm-up for Wimbledon. Seven different players have completed the Queen’s Club-Wimbledon title double in the same year, including John McEnroe (1981, ’84), Jimmy Connors (’82), Boris Becker (’85), Pete Sampras (’95, ’99), Lleyton Hewitt (2002), Rafael Nadal (2008) and Andy Murray (2013). In 2016, Murray became the first player to win five Queen’s Club titles, separating himself from the elite group of players who have won four Queen’s Club crowns, including McEnroe, Becker, Hewitt and Andy Roddick.

 

With Rafa Nadal announcing his withdrawal, the top 8 seeds are Murray, Wawrinka, Raonic, Cilic, Tsonga, Dimitrov, Berdych and Kyrgios. Outside the top-8 but also dangerous could be Isner, Muller, Querrey and F. Lopez. Sock and del Potro were entered but withdrew later due to injuries. Obviously the man to watch for here is Andy Murray as he has won 5 trophies in the last 8 years (‘09, ‘11, ‘13, ‘15 and ‘16). Other (active) winning players are Nadal (‘08), Querrey (‘10), Cilic (‘12) and Dimitrov (‘14).

 

Possible QFs:

Murray – Tsonga

Isner – Kyrgios

Dimitrov – Raonic

Berdych – Wawrinka

Risky straight winner pick (Bet365 odds): Kyrgios (13)

High value picks which could be traded out later (Bet365 odds): Isner (26)

 

ATP Halle, Germany (Gerry Weber Open) – ATP World Tour 500 series

Website: https://www.gerryweber-open.de/en/

 

Halle, one of seven grass-court events on the calendar, was re-categorised as an ATP World Tour 500 (upgraded from 250) tournament in 2015. Along with Queen’s (which is held at the same time as Halle), it is seen as the two primary warm-up tournaments for Wimbledon. There were five German winners since the inaugural event in 1993: Michael Stich (1994), Nicolas Kiefer (1999), David Prinosil (2000), Tommy Haas (2009 & 2012) and Philipp Kohlschreiber (2011). Roger Federer is certainly the star here, holding the record for most overall titles (8, 2003–06, 2008, 2013–15), most consecutive titles (4), as well as most finals (10, 2003–06, 2008, 2010, 2012–15)

Top 8 seeds are Federer, Thiem, Nishikori, A. Zverev, Monfils, Pouille, Bautista-Agut and Ramos-Vinolas. Other players who could make an impact include Karlovic, M. Zverev and previous title winners Haas (‘09, ‘12), Kohlschreiber (‘11) and F. Mayer (‘16).

 

Possible QFs:

Federer – Struff

Nishikori – Ramos-Vinolas

Bautista Agut – A. Zverev

Monfils – Thiem

Risky straight winner pick (Bet365 odds):  Thiem (6.50)

High value picks which could be traded out later (Bet365 odds): Struff (67), Brown (67)

 

WTA Birmingham, UK (Aegon Classic) – WTA Premier series

Website: https://www.lta.org.uk/major-events/aegon-classic-birmingham/

 

Held at this location since 1982, the tournament is played on outdoor grass courts. It is seen as a major warm up tournament for Wimbledon and a sister tournament to the men’s Queen’s Club Championships. From 2014 onwards it has been upgraded to a Premier 500 level tournament.

This year there is a very strong list of players participating. Top-8 seeds are Svitolina, Cibulkova, Konta, Mladenovic, Muguruza, Strycova, Kvitova and Gavrilova but take a look also at the other seeds: Vandeweghe, Riske, Safarova, Barty and more!!! Obviously a  very tough tournament to predict..

Sharapova, Keys and Kerber have all withdrawn due to various reasons, so it’s interesting to note that none of the participating players have previously won the title here.

 

Possible QFs:

Cibulkova – Gavrilova

Mladenovic – Kvitova

Muguruza – Vandeweghe

Barty – Svitolina

Risky straight winner pick (Bet365 odds):  Svitolina (13)

High value picks which could be traded out later (Bet365 odds): Gavrilova (41)

Note: Qualification matches have yet to finish, so the qualifiers that will eventually make it to the main draw are not represented here.

 

WTA Mallorca, Spain (Mallorca Open) – WTA International series

Website: https://www.mallorcaopen.org/

 

Directed by Rafa Nadal’s uncle, Toni, this tournament is one of the newest on the tour. Last year marked its debut and Caroline Garcia lifted the trophy. This year we’re eagerly waiting to see the return of Victoria Azarenka in her first competitive match since her pregnancy. From a field of players that seem wide open we note last year’s winner Garcia and also Bouchard, Pavlyuchenkova, Suarez-Navarro, Lisicki, Sevastova, Kontaveit and Konjuh.

 

Possible QFs:

Pavlyuchenkova – Bertens

Suarez Navarro – Bouchard

Kontaveit – Garcia

Azarenka – Mertens

Risky straight winner pick (Bet365 odds):  Bouchard (19)

High value picks which could be traded out later (Bet365 odds):  –

Note: Qualification matches have yet to finish, so the qualifiers that will eventually make it to the main draw are not represented here.