Happy New Year kids. Be rolling out a preview for the one tournament I am most interested in for the week. Hope it gives you some good info to make your picks with.
If you wanna talk more on picks, @tennispig on Twitter is the best place to find me as I don't always check back here often enough after posting.
Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016 Singles Champion: Novak Djokovic 2016 Doubles Champions: Feliciano & Marc Lopez Surface: Outdoor Hard
Doha Doozy: Murray & Djokovic Lead The Field of 32
The new season kicks off with the top two players in the world set to compete in Doha at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Defendhing champion Novak Djokovic is slotted in as the #2 seed behind top ranked Andy Murray to begin 2017. 2016 was a tumultuous one for Djokovic who ran roughshod over the ATP World Tour in taking the first two Grand Slams of the season, including the elusive French Open title. From there, things would spiral downward as Djokovic battled personal issues and injuries for the last half of the season. The end result would be Andy Murray ascending to the #1 spot while winning both the Wimbledon crown and the gold medal at the Rio Olympics. The season would culminate with Murray whipping Djokovic in the ATP World Tour Finals title match in straight sets to complete his amazing chase down of the Serb who at one point led the Scot by over 8,000 points after winning at Roland Garros.
The ignition point for Murray’s surge was his reunion with Ivan Lendl. The Czech had coached him to his first Grand Slam wins at the U.S. Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013. The pair split in March 2014. Lendl rejoined Murray’s camp last June and the assault on Djokovic’s number one ranking began. Meanwhile, Djokovic ended a fruitful three year run with coach Boris Becker at the tail-end of 2016 and heads into the new season with Marian Vajda now in the lead role. Vajda was the Serb’s main coach from 2006 until 2013, when Becker joined Team Djokovic. Djokovic will also continue to bring his spiritual guru Pepe Imaz on tour with him and his brother Marko is expected to provide some sort of support role on his team in 2017.
So that is where 2017 begins. The top two players in the world in very different positions than they were a year ago. Murray now the hunted and Djokovic as the hunter in Doha. Murray opens the year a little more than 600 points ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. The Serb will be playing this tournament for the third consecutive season, where he has compiled a 7-1 mark. Last year, he won the title over Rafael Nadal after being dumped out in the quarterfinals by Ivo Karlovic in 2015. Murray comes back to Doha for the first time since 2014. He is 15-2 all-time at this tournament with titles in 2007 and 2009. It’s a bit of a switch-up for Murray who chose not to play an ATP tournament prior to the Australian Open the last two seasons.
Happy New Year kids. Be rolling out a preview for the one tournament I am most interested in for the week. Hope it gives you some good info to make your picks with.
If you wanna talk more on picks, @tennispig on Twitter is the best place to find me as I don't always check back here often enough after posting.
Qatar ExxonMobil Open 2016 Singles Champion: Novak Djokovic 2016 Doubles Champions: Feliciano & Marc Lopez Surface: Outdoor Hard
Doha Doozy: Murray & Djokovic Lead The Field of 32
The new season kicks off with the top two players in the world set to compete in Doha at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open. Defendhing champion Novak Djokovic is slotted in as the #2 seed behind top ranked Andy Murray to begin 2017. 2016 was a tumultuous one for Djokovic who ran roughshod over the ATP World Tour in taking the first two Grand Slams of the season, including the elusive French Open title. From there, things would spiral downward as Djokovic battled personal issues and injuries for the last half of the season. The end result would be Andy Murray ascending to the #1 spot while winning both the Wimbledon crown and the gold medal at the Rio Olympics. The season would culminate with Murray whipping Djokovic in the ATP World Tour Finals title match in straight sets to complete his amazing chase down of the Serb who at one point led the Scot by over 8,000 points after winning at Roland Garros.
The ignition point for Murray’s surge was his reunion with Ivan Lendl. The Czech had coached him to his first Grand Slam wins at the U.S. Open in 2012 and Wimbledon in 2013. The pair split in March 2014. Lendl rejoined Murray’s camp last June and the assault on Djokovic’s number one ranking began. Meanwhile, Djokovic ended a fruitful three year run with coach Boris Becker at the tail-end of 2016 and heads into the new season with Marian Vajda now in the lead role. Vajda was the Serb’s main coach from 2006 until 2013, when Becker joined Team Djokovic. Djokovic will also continue to bring his spiritual guru Pepe Imaz on tour with him and his brother Marko is expected to provide some sort of support role on his team in 2017.
So that is where 2017 begins. The top two players in the world in very different positions than they were a year ago. Murray now the hunted and Djokovic as the hunter in Doha. Murray opens the year a little more than 600 points ahead of Djokovic in the rankings. The Serb will be playing this tournament for the third consecutive season, where he has compiled a 7-1 mark. Last year, he won the title over Rafael Nadal after being dumped out in the quarterfinals by Ivo Karlovic in 2015. Murray comes back to Doha for the first time since 2014. He is 15-2 all-time at this tournament with titles in 2007 and 2009. It’s a bit of a switch-up for Murray who chose not to play an ATP tournament prior to the Australian Open the last two seasons.
Karlovic Poses Significant Threat Among Remaining Seeds
Tomas Berdych and David Goffin round out the top four seeds in this year’s field. Berdych is battling back from health issues that curtailed his 2016 season with appendicitis forcing him to miss the U.S. Open. That was the first Slam Berdych has missed since 2003. Berdych is clinging to the final spot in the Top 10 to start the season. It is a place he has resided since June 2010 outside of one week when he dropped to 11th this past October. He is 7-3 in three trips to Doha with the last two years being good to him with a finals run in 2015 and semifinals showing last season. Goffin makes his debut in Doha this year and will look to shake off what have been traditionally sluggish starts prior to the Australian Open the last two years.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the ageless Ivo Karlovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marcos Baghdatis round out your top eight seeds in the 28 player field. Tsonga won this tournament in 2012 and owns a 7-1 career mark, but has not been back to Doha since winning his lone title here. Karlovic plays in Qatar for the 9th time. He scored the notable upset of Novak Djokovic in 2015 at this tournament and also beat Tomas Berdych when the Czech was ranked 7th in the world at the beginning of the 2014 season. As per usual in the early portion of the season, his cannon of a serve can be very tricky even for the elite returners in this field. Kohlschreiber is 7-8 all-time in Doha and has not won back-to-back matches here since 2009, a string of five years without two straight wins. Baghdatis begins his 14th year as a pro with a return to Doha after last playing this tournament in 2007. He made back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in 2006 and 2007.
Draw Preview
Quarter #1 Seeds Andy Murray (1) Philipp Kohlschreiber (7)
Breakdown Murray lost his 1st match of the season at the Mubadala Championships with Goffin beating him 7-6, 6-4. That should give him a nasty streak already as he faces Jeremy Chardy in his Doha opener. The Scot is 8-1 against Chardy who has only won four sets against this week’s top seed. The other seed here is Kohlschreiber. The German faced Malek Jaziri in his opener, an opponent he has beaten three times in three tries. The other two first round matches in this quarter pit Gerald Melzer against Paul-Henri Mathieu and Nicolas Almagro against Paolo Lorenzi.
The talent is clearly with the seeds here. It’s difficult to see Murray not getting to the quarters at the very least. Almagro looks like the only fly-in-the-ointment type here as he has owned Lorenzi and beaten Kohlschreiber six times in nine matches. Kohlschreiber did win two of their three hard court matches. A Murray-Kohlschreiber QF is advantage Murray as the Scot has beaten him four straight times after the German’s lone win on clay back in 2010.
Quarter #2 Seeds Tomas Berdych (3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5)
Breakdown Berdych got blanked in two tries at the Mubadala exhibition with Nadal beating him in straights and potential foe Tsonga beating him in a tiebreak after splitting two sets. The Czech gets qualifier Alessandro Giannessi in round one. Tsonga faces talented Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to open. Tsonga played Goffin tough in an opening loss in Mubadala before scoring the Berdych win. Kuznetsov made the quarterfinals in Doha last year, narrowly losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets. There is upset potential for him against Tsonga.
The other two matches in the first round in this quarter have some dangerous floaters with Jiri Vesely taking on wild card Anil Yuksel and Dustin Brown battling Facundo Bagnis. Vesely’s power game should be too much for his Turkish opponent who has had very little success on hard courts. Brown has some good results at this tournament, making the quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015. Last year, he had a poor draw that put him against Djokovic after he made it through qualifying. He could make some noise in this quarter.
Karlovic Poses Significant Threat Among Remaining Seeds
Tomas Berdych and David Goffin round out the top four seeds in this year’s field. Berdych is battling back from health issues that curtailed his 2016 season with appendicitis forcing him to miss the U.S. Open. That was the first Slam Berdych has missed since 2003. Berdych is clinging to the final spot in the Top 10 to start the season. It is a place he has resided since June 2010 outside of one week when he dropped to 11th this past October. He is 7-3 in three trips to Doha with the last two years being good to him with a finals run in 2015 and semifinals showing last season. Goffin makes his debut in Doha this year and will look to shake off what have been traditionally sluggish starts prior to the Australian Open the last two years.
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, the ageless Ivo Karlovic, Philipp Kohlschreiber and Marcos Baghdatis round out your top eight seeds in the 28 player field. Tsonga won this tournament in 2012 and owns a 7-1 career mark, but has not been back to Doha since winning his lone title here. Karlovic plays in Qatar for the 9th time. He scored the notable upset of Novak Djokovic in 2015 at this tournament and also beat Tomas Berdych when the Czech was ranked 7th in the world at the beginning of the 2014 season. As per usual in the early portion of the season, his cannon of a serve can be very tricky even for the elite returners in this field. Kohlschreiber is 7-8 all-time in Doha and has not won back-to-back matches here since 2009, a string of five years without two straight wins. Baghdatis begins his 14th year as a pro with a return to Doha after last playing this tournament in 2007. He made back-to-back quarterfinal appearances in 2006 and 2007.
Draw Preview
Quarter #1 Seeds Andy Murray (1) Philipp Kohlschreiber (7)
Breakdown Murray lost his 1st match of the season at the Mubadala Championships with Goffin beating him 7-6, 6-4. That should give him a nasty streak already as he faces Jeremy Chardy in his Doha opener. The Scot is 8-1 against Chardy who has only won four sets against this week’s top seed. The other seed here is Kohlschreiber. The German faced Malek Jaziri in his opener, an opponent he has beaten three times in three tries. The other two first round matches in this quarter pit Gerald Melzer against Paul-Henri Mathieu and Nicolas Almagro against Paolo Lorenzi.
The talent is clearly with the seeds here. It’s difficult to see Murray not getting to the quarters at the very least. Almagro looks like the only fly-in-the-ointment type here as he has owned Lorenzi and beaten Kohlschreiber six times in nine matches. Kohlschreiber did win two of their three hard court matches. A Murray-Kohlschreiber QF is advantage Murray as the Scot has beaten him four straight times after the German’s lone win on clay back in 2010.
Quarter #2 Seeds Tomas Berdych (3) Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (5)
Breakdown Berdych got blanked in two tries at the Mubadala exhibition with Nadal beating him in straights and potential foe Tsonga beating him in a tiebreak after splitting two sets. The Czech gets qualifier Alessandro Giannessi in round one. Tsonga faces talented Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to open. Tsonga played Goffin tough in an opening loss in Mubadala before scoring the Berdych win. Kuznetsov made the quarterfinals in Doha last year, narrowly losing to Rafael Nadal in three sets. There is upset potential for him against Tsonga.
The other two matches in the first round in this quarter have some dangerous floaters with Jiri Vesely taking on wild card Anil Yuksel and Dustin Brown battling Facundo Bagnis. Vesely’s power game should be too much for his Turkish opponent who has had very little success on hard courts. Brown has some good results at this tournament, making the quarterfinals in 2014 and 2015. Last year, he had a poor draw that put him against Djokovic after he made it through qualifying. He could make some noise in this quarter.
Quarter #3 Seeds David Goffin (4) Ivo Karlovic (6)
Breakdown Goffin should have some confidence heading into the week after beating Murray and playing Nadal tough in a 6-4, 7-6 loss in Mubadala. He starts with Robin Haase who he beat in their only career meeting in Miami in 2013. Haase has generally not been a major factor on hard courts, so the Belgian should get through. Karlovic has Illya Marchenko in round one. Marchenko was a surprise semifinalist last year in Doha, but rarely does a ton on this surface. If Karlovic’s serve is cooking, expect Dr.Ivo to advance.
Your other first round matches see wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid against up and comer Karen Khachanov along with Fernando Verdasco against qualifier Vasek Pospisil. That could be one of the better first rounders in Doha. Pospisil had a miserable 2016, but made a coaching change and will hope to get off the good foot this week. Watch the young Russian Khachanov who win his first ATP title on this surface last Fall in Chengdu. The 20-year-old is one to watch in 2017 and he’s got a serve that can match someone like Karlovic in round two. He’s a legit darkhorse in this quarter.
Breakdown All eyes will be on Djokovic to see how he starts 2017. He faces Jan-Lennard Struff to begin this tournament. Struff is a tall, lanky guy who can contend against the best when everything is working. He’ll likely have a tough time with Djokovic breaking down his serve in this one. Baghdatis always has the game to compete on this surface, but draws Radek Stepanek in the opening round as a rough start.
The other opening round match see Florian Mayer go up against Horacio Zeballos. Both are quality veterans who should put forth a competitive opener, but will likely serve as nothing more than straight sets fodder to Djokovic after that. Should Baghdatis get past Stepanek, then this quarter looks hell bent on a Djokovic-Baghdatis QF.
Early Bird Specials
A weekly look at how seeds fare early historically in these tournaments. In Doha, seeds should be on alert early as three of the last four years have seen three seeds drop their opening matches. Some of that can of course be attributed to many of these players making their season debuts in Doha.
Among the seeds, Tsonga, Karlovic, Kohlschreiber and Baghdatis look most prone to an early upset to yours truly. Tsonga and Baghdatis have the two toughest match-ups to me and would be the more likely to falter. Karlovic is always an upset candidate simply because of his game and the frequency of tie breaks played, where one point can win a set.
Quarter #3 Seeds David Goffin (4) Ivo Karlovic (6)
Breakdown Goffin should have some confidence heading into the week after beating Murray and playing Nadal tough in a 6-4, 7-6 loss in Mubadala. He starts with Robin Haase who he beat in their only career meeting in Miami in 2013. Haase has generally not been a major factor on hard courts, so the Belgian should get through. Karlovic has Illya Marchenko in round one. Marchenko was a surprise semifinalist last year in Doha, but rarely does a ton on this surface. If Karlovic’s serve is cooking, expect Dr.Ivo to advance.
Your other first round matches see wild card Mubarak Shannan Zayid against up and comer Karen Khachanov along with Fernando Verdasco against qualifier Vasek Pospisil. That could be one of the better first rounders in Doha. Pospisil had a miserable 2016, but made a coaching change and will hope to get off the good foot this week. Watch the young Russian Khachanov who win his first ATP title on this surface last Fall in Chengdu. The 20-year-old is one to watch in 2017 and he’s got a serve that can match someone like Karlovic in round two. He’s a legit darkhorse in this quarter.
Breakdown All eyes will be on Djokovic to see how he starts 2017. He faces Jan-Lennard Struff to begin this tournament. Struff is a tall, lanky guy who can contend against the best when everything is working. He’ll likely have a tough time with Djokovic breaking down his serve in this one. Baghdatis always has the game to compete on this surface, but draws Radek Stepanek in the opening round as a rough start.
The other opening round match see Florian Mayer go up against Horacio Zeballos. Both are quality veterans who should put forth a competitive opener, but will likely serve as nothing more than straight sets fodder to Djokovic after that. Should Baghdatis get past Stepanek, then this quarter looks hell bent on a Djokovic-Baghdatis QF.
Early Bird Specials
A weekly look at how seeds fare early historically in these tournaments. In Doha, seeds should be on alert early as three of the last four years have seen three seeds drop their opening matches. Some of that can of course be attributed to many of these players making their season debuts in Doha.
Among the seeds, Tsonga, Karlovic, Kohlschreiber and Baghdatis look most prone to an early upset to yours truly. Tsonga and Baghdatis have the two toughest match-ups to me and would be the more likely to falter. Karlovic is always an upset candidate simply because of his game and the frequency of tie breaks played, where one point can win a set.
With an ode to Scott Hall, hey yo. This weekly look lets you know if qualifiers and other non-seeds have any realistic expectation of making a deep run. Doha traditionally shows well for at least one non-seed to make the semifinals. Each of the last four years has seen that with multiple unseeded semifinalists in 2013 and 2014. 2013 has the last time a non-seed made the final, when Nikolay Davydenko did the trick.
Of this year’s qualifiers, you’ve got some skill present with Stepanek and Pospisil as the top two. Pospisil is the only one I could see perhaps stunning his way to a semifinal as he’s in Goffin’s group and the Belgian does start slow some times at these early tourneys. Of the unseeded players, keep your eyes on Khachanov as previously mentioned. Jiri Vesely is another to monitor. He could play Berdych in round two with the Berdman holding a 3-0 advantage all-time, but Vesely has played him tough the last two meetings.
If there’s a true shocker early on this season, Florian Mayer could spring it. The German vet fially got healthy late in 2015 and his quirky shots could fluster Djokovic if the Serb isn’t properly prepped for a potential round two meeting.
With an ode to Scott Hall, hey yo. This weekly look lets you know if qualifiers and other non-seeds have any realistic expectation of making a deep run. Doha traditionally shows well for at least one non-seed to make the semifinals. Each of the last four years has seen that with multiple unseeded semifinalists in 2013 and 2014. 2013 has the last time a non-seed made the final, when Nikolay Davydenko did the trick.
Of this year’s qualifiers, you’ve got some skill present with Stepanek and Pospisil as the top two. Pospisil is the only one I could see perhaps stunning his way to a semifinal as he’s in Goffin’s group and the Belgian does start slow some times at these early tourneys. Of the unseeded players, keep your eyes on Khachanov as previously mentioned. Jiri Vesely is another to monitor. He could play Berdych in round two with the Berdman holding a 3-0 advantage all-time, but Vesely has played him tough the last two meetings.
If there’s a true shocker early on this season, Florian Mayer could spring it. The German vet fially got healthy late in 2015 and his quirky shots could fluster Djokovic if the Serb isn’t properly prepped for a potential round two meeting.
Was thinking the same thing. Took the extended spread, +6 at 1.300. Also Murray just looked a bit flat against Mugs. 6-3,6-3 is the absolute best Murray can do considering how tricky the wind is and how well Berdych's been holding.
Was thinking the same thing. Took the extended spread, +6 at 1.300. Also Murray just looked a bit flat against Mugs. 6-3,6-3 is the absolute best Murray can do considering how tricky the wind is and how well Berdych's been holding.
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