Tennis News • Medvedev, Tsitsipas Headline ATP Tour’s Return To Action At Citi Open In Washington DC

 

By Ricky Dimon

The countdown has decreased to less than a month for the comeback of the ATP Tour.

Following a five-month hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic, men’s professional tennis is set to officially return with next month’s Citi Open in Washington, D.C. Aside from multiple exhibitions that have been put on with varying degrees of success, tennis has been shelved since the February swings in the United States, Europe, South America, and Mexico. Indian Wells was the first tournament to get the axe and almost every other tournament through July was also cancelled.

Only the French Open survived, having been postponed from late May and early June to late September and early October.

But we won’t have to wait until the modified clay-court season in Madrid, Rome, and Roland Garros to see tennis. An abbreviated American hard-court swing begins in Washington, D.C. before both the Western & Southern Open (previously in Cincinnati) and U.S. Open are planned to be held at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Although there will be no fans at any of those hard-court events, Citi Open chairman Mark Ein sees this as a huge opportunity.

“It won’t just be the eyes of Washington, or the tennis world, but the entire sports world will be tuned in to see what happens in our city as tennis comes back on the world stage,” Ein said last month. “It’s a great honor, but it’s also a great responsibility.

“We’ve put a huge amount of time and effort into collaborating with world class health experts to put in a series of protocols and a framework that is going to keep the players healthy and safe while they’re here. And that’s what’s enabled us to have the confidence that we can host this event.”

It could be a great event, too–if not to see in person than at least to watch on television. As usual, the Citi Open boasts an outstanding entry list. The preliminary lineup of players was announced earlier this week and it will likely become official this coming Monday.

Top-10 players Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas headline the field along with David Goffin, Roberto Bautista Agut, Diego Schwartzman, Karen Khachanov, Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, John Isner, Alex de Minaur, Milos Raonic, Kei Nishikori, and Borna Coric.

Four wild cards will also be handed out, so the list could get even better–especially if any top players are holding out hope that the virus situation improves and therefore paves the way for safer play in the United States.

The full list:

MAIN DRAW SINGLES (PRELIMINARY)
1 MEDVEDEV, Daniil RUS 5
2 TSITSIPAS, Stefanos GRE 6
3 GOFFIN, David BEL 10
4 BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto ESP 12
5 SCHWARTZMAN, Diego ARG 13
6 KHACHANOV, Karen RUS 15
7 SHAPOVALOV, Denis CAN 16
8 GARIN, Cristian CHI 18
9 AUGER-ALIASSIME, Felix CAN 20
10 ISNER, John USA 21
11 PAIRE, Benoit FRA 22
12 LAJOVIC, Dusan SRB 23
13 FRITZ, Taylor USA 24
14 DE MINAUR, Alex AUS 26
15 BASILASHVILI, Nikoloz GEO 27
16 EVANS, Daniel GBR 28
17 HURKACZ, Hubert POL 29
18 RAONIC, Milos CAN 30
19 NISHIKORI, Kei JPN 31
20 CORIC, Borna CRO 33
21 STRUFF, Jan-Lennard GER 34
22 PELLA, Guido ARG 35
23 RUUD, Casper NOR 36
24 OPELKA, Reilly USA 39
25 RAMOS-VINOLAS, Albert ESP 41
26 HUMBERT, Ugo FRA 42
27 MILLMAN, John AUS 43
28 EDMUND, Kyle GBR 44
29 QUERREY, Sam USA 45
30 SONEGO, Lorenzo ITA 46
31 KECMANOVIC, Miomir SRB 47
32 GASQUET, Richard FRA 50
33 BUBLIK, Alexander KAZ 51
34 LOPEZ, Feliciano ESP 56
35 PAUL, Tommy USA 57
36 CHARDY, Jeremy FRA 59
37 CUEVAS, Pablo URU 60
38 BEDENE, Aljaz SLO 61
39 [WC]
40 [WC]
41 [WC]
42 [WC]
43 [Q]
44 [Q]
45 [Q]
46 [Q]
47 [Q]
48 [Q]

ALTERNATES
1 LONDERO, Juan Ignacio ARG 62
2 THOMPSON, Jordan AUS 64
3 VESELY, Jiri CZE 65
4 SOUSA, Joao POR 66
5 ALBOT, Radu MDA 67
6 YMER, Mikael SWE 68
7 GERASIMOV, Egor BLR 69
8 KWON, Soonwoo KOR 70
9 BERANKIS, Ricardas LTU 72
10 SINNER, Jannik ITA 73
11 MOUTET, Corentin FRA 75
12 NORRIE, Cameron GBR 77
13 DELBONIS, Federico ARG 78
14 MAGER, Gianluca ITA 79
15 DJERE, Laslo SRB 80

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.