If you blinked, then you missed the tennis offseason. The 2017 season is on.
The Qatar ExxonMobile Open kicks off Monday and it boasts a few big names trying to tune up their game before the Australian Open later in January.
One of those names is Andy Murray. Did Murray have a good year last year? He just got knighted the other day. So confidence isn’t going to be a problem. He’s so confident that he’s playing his first warmup tournament before Melbourne on the ATP Tour since 2014, opting to end his two-year stint at the Hopman Cup. His half of the draw is no cakewalk, though. He opens against Frenchman Jeremy Chardy, but faces stiffer competition later in the draw with third-seeded Tomas Berdych and fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Both men have the potential to be dangerous, and should they advance, will face each other in the quarter-finals prior to a potential last four showdown against the Brit. That should be the first popcorn match of the tournament. Nevertheless, the two combined are 0-5 in matches against Sir Andy in 2016.
Former world No. 1 Novak Djokovic is hoping to right his own ship. The 2016 season started well for him, but he stumbled out of the gates at Wimbledon in a shock loss to Sam Querrey and spent the rest of the year trying to recover, losing his No. 1 ranking in the process. He comes to Doha having split with Boris Becker in the 20-minute offseason. So there’s some chaos surrounding Djokovic. Can he pull it together? He’s got a good shot here. He opens Doha against Jan-Lennard Struff, a regular on the challengers circuit and ranked 63 in the world. Djokovic’s draw involves far fewer mine fields than Murray’s, but someone struggling with confidence might have some trouble with the likes of David Goffin (seeded fourth), and sixth-seed Ivo Karlovic. Fernando Verdasco, who has seen a bit of career resurgence in the last two years, also lurks unseeded in the bottom half.
Although this is the beginning of a new season, there’s not much in the draw to suggest that the seeds won’t hold, which means it’s likely Murray and Djokovic would square off in the final. If they do, it would be difficult to bet against the newly minted No. 1.
An aside: This seems like as good a time as any to register amazement at the longevity of Phillipp Kohlscreiber’s career. He’s 33, and even as he approaches his 16th year on the tour, is still Germany’s top tennis player. He’s not as dangerous as he used to be, but still is a threat.
The draw
