Grass court season talking points: Will Roger Federer make a winning return and can Angelique Kerber bounce back?
We identify six major talking points ahead of the return of the grass court summer season
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Your support makes all the difference.Tennis’s gruelling clay court season culminated in Paris with the French Open, signalling the beginning of the very short summer grass court season.
The WTA Tour heads straight to the UK for the Nottingham Open – which features Johanna Konta, Tara Moore, Heather Watson and Laura Robson – before tune-up tournaments in Birmingham, Mallorca and Eastbourne.
There’s been a change to the ATP calendar, with players having the choice of two new events in the third week of the grass season.
The ATP 250 Aegon International at Eastbourne returns, having been absent from the calendar for the last two years, while late last year the ATP announced that the grass-court swing would be enhanced with the introduction of the Antalya Open – the seventh grass tournament on tour.
The grass court season, of course, culminates in the third Grand Slam of the season: Wimbledon. Both the men’s and women’s singles seem more open than ever, especially after a series of surprising results at the French Open.
Here, we analyse some of the biggest talking points heading into the grass-court swing, as well as outlining the schedule for the six weeks ahead.
All eyes on the return of Roger
With his 36th birthday looming ominously on the horizon, Roger Federer made a difficult decision. “Regrettably,” he wrote on his website, “I’ve decided not to participate in the French Open.” The decision wasn’t entirely unexpected, and confirmed that the Swiss would be focusing all his efforts this summer on winning an eighth Wimbledon title.
It is a gamble, because although Federer is the bookies favourite to win at SW17, he has never dominated Wimbledon in quite the same emphatic fashion as Nadal has Roland Garros. Plus, Federer will also have to contend with the improving Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic – while Nadal himself cannot be counted out of winning his second Slam of the season.
How high are Konta's expectations?
There were no surprises from Johanna Konta’s first press conference of the grass court season. “I am not feeling any more expectation than previous years. My own expectations in terms of how I want to do have stayed the same,” a stoic Konta told reporters ahead of her first match at the Nottingham Open.
But if Konta has high expectations of herself – and if she truly sees herself as a top ten player – she will need to improve on her current 1-5 record at Wimbledon. Konta is a better grass court player than her record suggests and anything less than a run to the third round would ultimately be considered a disappointment.
Murray's French form will have inspired confidence
Andy Murray headed to Roland Garros with expectations at an all-time low. He had endured a woeful clay court season, exiting to lucky loser Borna Ćorić in Madrid and the enigmatic Fabio Fognini in Rome, and struggled with both injury and sickness.
But against all the odds, Murray performed admirably in Paris, feeling his way past Andrey Kuznetsov and Martin Kližan before impressing in wins over Juan Martin del Potro, Karen Khachanov and Kei Nishikori.
The Scot eventually crashed out to eventual runner-up Stan Wawrinka, but he will be pleased with the progress he has made ahead of a month spent playing on his favourite surface. The defending champion at both Queen’s and Wimbledon, Murray will be tough to beat and should be optimistic of becoming the first British man since Fred Perry to win three Wimbledon titles.
Ostapenko on grass is a scary prospect
Spare a thought for literally every woman on the WTA Tour that isn’t Jelena Ostapenko. Mere minutes after the 20-year-old’s stunning French Open success, her coach, Annabel Medina Garrigues, came out with the following: “She won Wimbledon juniors on grass. She told me: ‘I love to play on grass. It's my favourite surface.’ So she will believe in herself that she can play well on grass.”
The thought of Ostapenko raising her level even further is a scary, scary thought. Of course, it would be wise not to heap too much pressure onto Ostapenko’s shoulders given her age and the fact she had never before reached the second week of a Slam until Roland Garros this year. But with the current power vacuum at the top of the women’s game, stranger things have happened.
Kyrgios has to begin showing us how good he is
Nick Kyrgios made a depressingly common exit at this year’s French Open. Having won the first set of his match against Kevin Anderson – a man ranked 37 places below him – Kyrgios conspired to lose in four, smashing his racquet in a fit of rage and rapidly accused of tanking.
But the combustible Aussie has taken steps to improve his game, such as hiring Sebastien Grosjean as a part-time coach, and tends to perform better at Wimbledon than anywhere else.
What with Alexander Zverev’s win at the Italian Open and Dominic Thiem’s successive French Open semi-finals, it is beginning to feel like Kyrgios is being supplanted as the most talented youngster on the Tour. At Wimbledon, he has to take some steps to correct that.
Kerber will be delighted to be off the clay
It says much about Andy Murray’s well-publicised struggles that the incredibly underwhelming form of the other World No 1, Angelique Kerber, seemed to fly under the radar until the French Open. There she lost in the first round to Ekaterina Makarova, her straight-sets loss marking the first time the top women's seed had lost her first round match at the French Open in the Open era.
With her position atop the WTA Rankings now under serious threat, Kerber is in dire need of a good grass court season. Fortunately, she performs far better on grass than she does clay, having won her first grass-court title in Birmingham two years ago and reaching the final of Wimbledon last year. Another good run at Birmingham this year could give her the confidence she so desperately needs to end her funk.
Grass court season schedule
Week One (12/06 - 18/06)
Mercedes Cup, Stuttgart (ATP 250)
Top seeds: Roger Federer (World Ranking 5), Grigor Dimitrov (12), Tomas Berdych (14), Lucas Pouille (16)
Defending champion: Dominic Thiem
Ricoh Open, 's-Hertogenbosch (ATP 250)
Marin Cilic (7), Alexander Zverev (10), Ivo Karlovic (24), Giles Muller (28)
Defending champion: Nicholas Mahut
Aegon Open Nottingham (WTA International)
Johanna Konta (8), Anastasija Sevastova (19), Lauren Davis (28), Alison Riske (43)
Defending champion: Karolína Plíšková
Week Two (19/06 - 25/06)
Gerry Weber Open, Halle (ATP 500)
Roger Federer (5), Dominic Thiem (8), Kei Nishikori (9), Tomas Berdych (14)
Defending champion: Florian Mayer
Aegon Championships, Queen's Club (ATP 500)
Andy Murray (1), Stan Wawrinka (2), Milos Raonic (3), Richard Gasquet (4)
Defending champion: Andy Murray
Aegon Classic, Birmingham (WTA Premier)
Angelique Kerber (1), Simona Halep (2), Karolína Plíšková (3), Elina Svitolina (5)
Defending champion: Madison Keyes
Mallorca Open (WTA International)
Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova (18), Anastasija Sevastova (19), Caroline Garcia (21), Carla Suárez Navarro (23)
Defending champion: Caroline Garcia
Week Three (26/06 - 02/07)
Eastbourne International (ATP 250)
Pablo Cuevas (23), Kevin Anderson (37), Joao Sousa (60), Alexandr Dolgopolov (81)
No men's singles last year
Antalya Open (ATP 250)
Dominic Thiem (8), Fernando Verdasco (32), Paolo Lorenzi (36), Karen Khachanov (39)
Joined the ATP World Tour calendar in 2017
Eastbourne International (WTA Premier)
Karolína Plíšková (3), Dominika Cibulková (6), Caroline Wozniacki (7), Johanna Konta (8)
Defending champion: Dominika Cibulková
Weeks Four/Five (03/07 - 16/07)
The Championships, Wimbledon (Grand Slam)
Defending champions: Andy Murray and Serena Williams
Week Six (17/07 - 23/07)
Hall of Fame Tennis Championships, Newport (ATP 250)
Steve Johnson (25), Ivo Karlovic (38), Gilles Muller (39), Marcos Baghdatis (43)
Defending champion: Ivo Karlovic
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