Wimbledon, Indian Wells, Miami, Monte Carlo, Madrid, and the Rogers Cup all won’t take place this year. But after nearly six months of inactivity, there will be two Majors and two ATP Masters 1,000/WTA Premier 5 events in the next seven weeks.
The US Open will be held directly after this week’s Western & Southern Open, with the Italian Open to begin right after that, and Roland Garros just a week after Rome’s conclusion. At these four tournaments alone, players can accumulate up to 6,000 ranking points. With the ATP and WTA rankings to gradually unfreeze, the majority of the 2020 rankings will be decided between now and mid-October.
How will players perform after such a long lay-off? And how will their bodies react to so much tennis in a short period of time? That will be especially key for the men, who will be playing best-of-five in four of the next seven weeks.
Switching focus to Sunday’s action at the Western and Southern Open, a combination of first and second round matches will be taking place. In the women’s draw top seed Karolina Pliskova get her bid underway but surprisingly not on the premier Grandstand Court, she will be playing on Court 17. Meanwhile in the men’s draw, Stefanos Tsitsipas could be tested when he plays a former Wimbledon finalist.
Here are two matches to watch out for :-
Stefanos Tsitsipas (4) vs. Kevin Anderson (PR)
Anderson is coming off a nice win just yesterday over Kyle Edmund. After missing much of 2019 due to injury, the two-time Major finalist showed some nice form to start the year despite some tight losses. Tsitsipas ended 2019 with the biggest title of his career at the ATP Finals. The 22-year-old struggled a bit to start 2020 before winning in Marseille and reaching the final in Dubai, losing to Novak Djokovic. Tsitsipas is 2-1 against Anderson, though all three of their encounters have been closely contested. The courts are reportedly playing very quickly in Flushing Meadows, which should favor the tall South African. But just 24 hours after a three-hour battle with Edmund, Anderson may not have too much left. I expect Tsitsipas to continue his pre-pandemic success and extend his winning record against Anderson.
Caroline Garcia vs. Sloane Stephens (WC)
Stephens was crowned US Open champion on these grounds just three years ago. She went on to have more success in 2018, but last season was a struggle for Sloane. In 2019, she won no titles and reached no finals, with a record of just 24-19. And Sloane has won just one of seven matches played this year. Her only victory came in March against a player currently ranked outside the top 500. Needless to say, Stephens will be looking to use this restart to begin anew. Similarly, Garcia peaked in the top five a few years ago, but is now barely ranked inside the top 50. The Frenchwoman won the same number of matches as she lost in 2019. They’ve only met once within the last few years, with Caroline victorious, but that was on clay. Based on Sloane’s performance last week in Lexington, where she lost to a qualifier, I like Garcia’s chances to advance on this day.
Other Notable Matches on Day 2:
The singles world No.1’s first match since February will take place on the doubles court, as it’s Novak Djokovic and Filip Krajinovic vs. Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe (WC).
The women’s top seed Karolina Pliskova (1) vs. Veronika Kudermetova, a 23-year-old Russian who survived a tough three-setter on Saturday. Pliskova was the champion in Brisbane at the start of the year.
Australian Open champion Sofia Kenin (2) vs. Alize Cornet. Kenin twice defeated Cornet last year on hard courts.
David Goffin (7) vs. Borna Coric. Goffin is 4-0 against Coric, though they haven’t played in over four years.
American No.1 John Isner (16) vs. Hubert Kurkacz. These two easily prevailed as a doubles team just yesterday. Isner took their only previous meeting, last summer on a US hard court.
Last year’s US Open double champions Elise Mertens and Aryna Sabalenka (1) vs. Ann Li and Bernarda Pera (WC).
