The ATP Tour version 2017 has kicked off in Doha, Brisbane and Chennai. First action I’ve seen is David Ferrer swinging his Babolat Pure Drive Plus
 against hothead Bernard Tomic using a Head Graphene XT Radical MP A
 (actually a HEAD TGT 260.5 pro stock model). Ferrer was steady while Tomic slightly less so and the Spaniard won 6-3 7-5. Both players wore pink tops (Ferrer wore a Lotto shirt and Tomic a Nike Winter Advantage shirt with some cool Nike Zoom Vapor 9.5 in Purple/Crimson
)Â so the neon tennis trend that started last year is perhaps here to stay (for a while).
Pretty cool look from Nike on Bernard Tomic. Didn’t help him on court though in his loss to Ferrer 3-6 5-7 at Brisbane.
Roger Federer played his first match of the year at Hopman Cup where he beat Daniel Evans comfortably 6-3 6-4. Federer went all baby blue in his Nike attire
.
Another interesting match on the agenda today is the Dimitrov vs Johnson affair in Brisbane. Dimitrov played very confidently and never looked to be in danger in a 6-2 6-3 win. For racquet nerds it will be extra interesting to watch Steve Johnson this year, as he has switched to a Yonex SV 98
. Talking about racquets, Dimitrov also has a history of changing but is reportedly back to his Wilson Pro Staff 93S (not sold in stores), but still endorses the Wilson Pro Staff 97S
. Read about Dimitrov’s racquet here.
Dimitrov smelling some balls in his victory against Steve Johnson.
Steve Johnson using his new Yonex SV 98.
Will be interesting to see how he performs with this new racquet and Asics tennis wear.
Another player that has been snapped out by the increasingly more active (in the sponsorship market), Yonex, is young gun Francis Tiafoe who used to wield a Wilson Blade 98
.
Young gun Francis Tiafoe using his new Yonex racquet.
Yonex really became strong again much due to their sponsoring of Stan Wawrinka, but is now making new inroads into the tour thanks to solid products (the Yonex AI 98
and DR 98
were massive hits for broad player category) and smart product placement. Even the “fugly” Roland Garros 2015 shorts used by Stan Wawrinka sold like hotcakes.
World number one, Andy Murray, was also in action today, playing doubles with Marius Furstenberg in Doha. He did looked rusty, but that could have been the doubles format troubling him.
Andy Murray missing a smash in his doubles match in Doha.
Where do you catch all this tennis action? I watch it mainly on TennisTV and Eurosport Player, two great streaming services.
