Nine active players own three or more Major singles titles: Serena, Roger, Rafa, Novak, Venus, Maria, Andy, Stan, and Angelique. Of those nine names, three of them have recently suffered significant setbacks in their career.
39-year-old Venus Williams is only 14-10 on the year and currently ranked outside the top 50. Maria Sharapova can’t seem to stay healthy since her 2016 drug suspension, and is ranked 81st in the world with only seven match wins this season. And it was believed that Andy Murray had retired from singles competition this past January due to his ongoing hip issues. But after successful surgery six months ago, he is now pain-free, and will return to singles action today. These three stars will play back-to-back-to-back as they headline Monday’s schedule in Cincinnati.
Richard Gasquet (PR) vs. Andy Murray (WC)
It’s hard for Murray to ask for a better opponent in his return than a man playing on a protected ranking against whom he owns an 8-3 record. Andy has prevailed the last five times they’ve played, with Gasquet’s last win coming over seven years ago. Of course none of us, including Andy himself, are exactly sure what to expect from him today in his first singles match since January’s Australian Open. And while a groin injury forced Gasquet to miss the first four months of 2019, he seems to be rediscovering some form. The 33-year-old Frenchman claimed two nice wins last week in Montreal over Benoit Paire and Kei Nishikori. But I’m still going with Murray to be victorious in his return. He’s looked rather sharp on the doubles court over the past two months, and I’m confident he wouldn’t be returning to singles action if he wasn’t fully ready.
Alison Riske (WC) vs. Maria Sharapova (WC)
Riske is only a wild card here since entry is based on the rankings from many weeks ago. Riske is now ranked 37th in the world thanks to her 14 grass court wins between June and July, including her run to the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. Ali also picked up three wins last week in Canada (including qualifying rounds), and pushed world No.3 Karolina Pliskova to three sets, so the 29-year-old American is playing with a lot of confidence. Sharapova on the other hand can’t have much confidence at all. She missed four months of this year due to injury, and is just 1-3 since returning. And she had to retire from one of those losses due to a left forearm injury. But she did thoroughly test Anett Kontaveit in defeat last week in Toronto. And she’s 3-0 against Riske, with her most recent victory coming just last year on a hard court. But considering Riske has won 17 of her last 20 matches played, she may be too much for a Sharapova without much match play.
Other notable matches on Monday:
Venus Williams vs. Lauren Davis (Q). Venus has won all three of their previous meetings, but Davis claimed a few nice wins in the past few weeks over Angelique Kerber and Sofia Kenin.
Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo (2) vs. Novak Djokovic and Janko Tipsarevic (WC). This will be Djokovic’s first match since his epic Wimbledon triumph last month.
