ATP Rotterdam Preview

ATP Rotterdam Preview

The Rotterdam Open began as an indoor carpet event in 1972. The carpet lasted until 1999 when it became an indoor hard court event.

Past winners include some great names – Federer, Becker and Murray.

The narrative of ‘the next generation’ and ‘passing of the guard’ has become boring at this stage but this tournament is a chance to assess this new generation. In my opinion, the next generation is nowhere nearly as good as the older and that doesn’t happen very much in sport. Can Medvedev, Thiem and Tsitsipas really become the next Federer, Djokovic and Nadal? No chance. Only when Nadal’s knees give up, and Djokovic gets sick of the crowd booing and Federer can’t take any more, will the next gen stars win Grand Slams.

Medvedev had a sensational 2019 and will be looking for his first win here. 6 consecutive finals in 2019 resulting in some great tournament wins including Masters events in Shanghai and Cincinnati. Medvedev will begin on Tuesday against Vasek Pospisil who is coming off a great run in Montpellier where he was beaten finalist.

Stefanos Tsitsipas, who claimed the World Tour Finals crown at the end of 2019, is another player to watch out for. He didn’t look his sharpest in the Australian Open and was knocked out in the third round by Milos Raonic. He will be hoping for much better here in Rotterdam. His first round opponent will be Hurkacz and if he makes it to the quarter finals, we are looking at a difficult match against Shapovalov.

Shapovalov has not been at his best so far in 2020 with early knock outs in Auckland, Australian Open and Montpellier. His first round opponent is Dimitrov who was also knocked out in the first round in Montpellier. Whomever wins this match will move forward with more confidence and hope for a deep run.

Action begins tomorrow morning!

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