The final week of tennis’ busiest month in terms of events concludes with nine of the ATP World Tour’s top-10 ranked players scheduled for action. No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 2 Novak Djokovic, No. 6 Rafael Nadal and No. 9 Roger Federer are featured in two 500-level tournaments, in Dubai and Acapulco. The women are also in Acapulco, as well as Malaysia. Here’s what else we’re watching for this week in professional tennis:
Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, Dubai, United Arab Emirates (outdoor hard)
Top seeds: No. 1 Andy Murray, No. 2 Stan Wawrinka (defending champion), No. 3 Roger Federer, No. 4 Gael Monfils, No. 5 Tomas Berdych.
Storylines: The 25th anniversary of this event has three Grand Slam singles titlists (24 championships all told). This is the first time we’ve laid eyes on the 35-year-old Federer since he won the Australian Open, and it will be interesting to see if his upper leg strain remains any kind of issue. Federer is a seven-time winner here and has a winning streak of 10 matches.
The No. 1-ranked Murray, too, is also making his first appearance since Melbourne, where he was ousted in the fourth round. Last year, Wawrinka, who lost to Federer in the Australian Open semifinals, returned to Dubai for the first time since 2008 and won the title, beating Marcos Baghdatis in a straight-sets final.
Of note: Philipp Kohlschreiber, the No. 2 German, needs three match wins to reach the milestone of 400. He reached the semifinals here in 2014.
Abierto Mexicano Telcel, Acapulco, Mexico (outdoor hard)
Great news! You’ll see me back on court next week in Acapulco at @AbiertoTelcel Did you miss me?
