Is anyone suffering from Wimbledon blues? I’m sure. But I think Alex Michelsen was pretty happy with his week.
Wimbledon Blues? Not for Alex Michelsen
This week saw some of the top ATP and WTA players return to the clay courts. Off the back of his quarter-final appearance at The All England Club, Andrey Rublev continued his stellar season, lifting the trophy in Bastad, Sweden.
The world number 7 defeated top seed, and defending champion, Casper Ruud 7-6 (3), 6-0 to lift his second ATP of the year, and 14th overall.
On the grass courts of Newport, Rhode Island, USA, the veteran Adrian Mannarino collected his third ATP trophy of his career, defeating Michelsen. The Frenchman may have won the title, but the major talking point was his opponent. Before this week, few tennis fans would have heard of Alex Michelsen.
The 18-year-old was competing in only his second ATP tour-level event. On his way to the final, he beat four-time champion, John Isner and former world number 31, Maxime Cressy. With his spectacular result, Michelsen rises to a career-high 139 in the ATP singles rankings.
Keep an eye out for Michelsen, as I think we will see more of him during this year’s hard-court season.
TN Comment: Michelsen looks to be using a Babolat Pure Aero 2019 with a healthy dose of lead at 10 and 2. If you have more info, please comment or message us.
Michelsen wasn’t the only teenager to stamp their mark on the tour this week.
Introducing Maria Timofeeva
In Budapest, Hungary, 19-year-old Maria Timofeeva won her first WTA tour-level title, defeating Kateryna Baindl, 6-3, 3-6, 6-0.
TN comment: Timofeeva seems to be using a 16×19 Blade 98 strung with Luxilon 4G.
China’s number 1, Qinwen Zheng also collected her first WTA title of her career in Palermo, Italy.
Zheng brushed aside her first-round exit at Wimbledon to defeat home favourite Jasmine Paolini in the final.
Now let’s look ahead to this week’s action on the ATP and WTA tours.
This week in tennis – Predictions
On the ATP tour, players will compete in the Hamburg European Open, Atlanta Open and the Croatia Open.
Hamburg ATP 500
Casper Ruud leads a stacked draw in Hamburg, Germany. The top seed will look to gain revenge from last week’s loss to Andrey Rublev, who is the second seed in the tournament.
Former world number 3 Alexander Zverev has also entered, as has the defending champion Lorenzo Musetti.
Rublev has been in great form the past few weeks, so I’m going with the Russian to win back-to-back ATP titles.
Atlanta ATP 250
After an underwhelming grass-court season, Taylor Fritz will look to kick-start his US Open preparations in Atlanta.
Fritz could face the likes of defending champion, Alex de Minaur, Dan Evans, Yoshihito Nishioka, and surprise Wimbledon quarter-finalist Chris Eubanks.
This draw is hard to predict, but I’m going with Alex de Minaur to defend his title.
Croatia Open ATP 250
Defending Croatia Open champion Jannik Sinner has decided not to enter this year’s tournament.
Youngster Jiri Lehecka leads the field in a fairly open draw. The standout name who is competing is 3-time major champion Stan Wawrinka.
Former US Open champions Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic are also in the draw.
Wawrinka has been playing some top-level tennis in recent weeks, so I wouldn’t be surprised if he adds another trophy to his impressive collection.
WTA Events
On the WTA tour, players will compete in the Hamburg European Open, Warsaw Open and the Ladies Open Lausanne.
In Hamburg, Bernarda Pera will attempt to defend her title but will face tough competition from the top seed, Donna Vekic.
The world number 1, Iga Swiatek, will compete in her own country as she looks to win her first Warsaw Open title.
The tournament is stacked with talent. French Open finalist Karolina Muchova, seven-time major doubles champion Katerina Siniakova, and the two young, promising Czechs, Linda Fruhvirtova and Linda Noskova, have all entered and will test the world number 1.
After her disappointing quarter-final exit from last year’s tournament, Swiatek will be motivated to lift this year’s title.
The Ladies Open in Lausanne, Switzerland, will feature 16-year-old Mirra Andreeva, who made headlines by reaching the fourth round of this year’s Wimbledon on her debut.
Can she continue this form and win her first WTA tour-level title? I think she can.
Ana Bogdan, Alize Cornet, Dianna Parry, Jill Teichmann and Andreeva’s older sister, Erika will also be competing in Lausanne.
Who do you predict will take titles during this week in tennis?
