In „episode 2“ of our quick review of last week – the prestigous Queens Club tournament, the only other ATP 500 on grass next to Halle. I didn’t quite make the trip after Halle, but followed the action closely and you can say one thing for sure, there was quite a few surprises.
Top seeds and draw in London
The top seed in London was no other than World No. 2 and defending champion Carlos Alcaraz. The Wimbledon champion came to London with an impressive resume on grass in 2023, but no time to prepare after his win in Paris. He was joined by grass standout Alex DeMinaur, Grigor Dimitrov, Holger Rune and the American army of three: Fritz, Paul and Shelton. All these players were looking for rhythm and match-time on grass, a surface that doesn’t give a lot of time to adapt, as previously mentioned.
The draw had a few interesting matchups from the beginning, such as Sebastian Korda meeting Karen Khachanov (both unseeded) and DeMinaur running into an in-form Lorenzo Musetti early. Korda got the better of Khachanov in a two-set thriller, while Musetti won against DeMinaur, once again proving his great adaption to grass in previous weeks. The other seeds advanced as planned, only Ben Shelton lost to fellow strong server Mpetshi Perricard in classic grass-court shootout.
Heating up in the round of 16
The round of 16 proved to be one of many surprises, as Carlos Alcaraz exited the tournament against Jack Draper, who shapes up as a strong contender in Wimbledon. The left-handed British talent came from his first ATP title in Stuttgart and made quick work of Alcaraz, who seemed rushed and not in shape yet. Grigor Dimitrov faced Korda, who continues to be a promising pick on grass, as he beat the Bulgarian in three sets. It was a much more balanced match than the Draper/Alcaraz one, leaving both players in a good position for the upcoming slam in my eyes.Â
Unfortunately, Andy Murray had to pull out with a back injury, which proved to require surgery and most likely will keep him from what could have been his last Wimbledon. We all hope that Sir Andy makes a full recovery in time, and much to the British fans’ joy, Billy Harris took the chance of his wildcard and beat the young Frenchman Mpetshi Perricard to face Musetti in the quarters.
Final rounds and the American conquering the grass
This left us with an interesting quarterfinal, where Taylor Fritz and Tommy Paul were the seeded players left. But while Tommy Paul got the better of Draper, who seemed a bit worn out from the two weeks of grass tennis, Taylor Fritz fell short to Australian Jordan Thompson. Thompson is another one of these players, who seem to regularly shine on grass every year and will surely be an opponent that top players do not want to see at Wimbledon early on.
In the semis, Tommy Paul faced compatriot Korda, who had previously beat Rinky Hijikata and seemed to finally be ready for a first title. But Paul prevailed here as well, which surprised many experts, who most probably didn’t see him as a favorite on grass. His finals opponent would be Lorenzo Musetti, a player who was widely regarded a clay courter before this year, but who seems to enjoy grass more and more. His improved serve, incredible forehand and good touch at the net help him to excel on the green surface, and he will surely be dangerous at Wimbledon.
But in this year’s Queens final, the American Paul took his first grass court title, defeating Musetti 6:1 7:6 and later sporting even his girlfriend on the title photo. All-in-all this tournament had a lot of surprises in for us, including the matchup and result of the final to me. Tommy Paul served incredible and seems to really have figured out how to move on the court, which will make him a threat on the court in a week’s time.
He is joined by Musetti, Korda and Draper, who all surely are in form for the upcoming Slam. I personally also liked Dimitrov’s tennis and chances in London, even though the result most probably is sub-par for him.
On the other hand, Taylor Fritz, Carlos Alcaraz and Holger Rune seemed like the players that need to practice a lot now, in order to fulfil their own expectations at Wimbledon.
Alcaraz is known to always figure it out in the end, but while Fritz and Rune might not be grass-court naturals, they surely don’t want to have a Casper Ruud approach to it.
Surprise of the week must go to Billy Harris, a lovely story of a player grinding and taking his wildcard chance, which hopefully gives the British another player to compete at Wimbledon, with Murray most likely being out.
Is there any surprise I might have missed or that you see coming up? Let us know in the comments!
