ABN Amro, Rotterdam, Netherlands, ATP 500

[isabelle]

Cilic / Paire
Coric / Khachanov
Grielspoor / Muller
Tsitsipas / Tsonga

Berdych / Q
Troicki / Gasquet
Klizan / Verdasco
Kholshreiber / Pouille
-------------------------------------------
Dimitrov / M.Zverev
Q / Q
Haase / Mayer
Kutznetsov / Goffin

Bautistat . Agut / Granollers
Lopez / Q
Mahut / Simon
A.Zverev . Thiem

will Klizan defend his title ? difficult task for him

 

[britbox]

DATE: 13-19 February 2017
SURFACE: Hard
PRIZE MONEY: €1,724,930
FIELD SIZE: 32
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Martin Klizan

Seeds:

1. CILIC, Marin
2. THIEM, Dominic
3. GOFFIN, David
4. BERDYCH, Tomas
5. DIMITROV, Grigor
6. TSONGA, Jo-Wilfried
7. BAUTISTA AGUT, Roberto
8. POUILLE, Lucas

The Tournament:

The first edition of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament, held in 1974, was won by Dutch tennis ace Tom Okker. Tennis fans in The Netherlands had to wait until 1995 for another Dutchman, Richard Krajicek, to title at the indoor hard-court event. Winners in the intervening years have included illustrious players, such as Arthur Ashe, Jimmy Connors, Björn Borg, Boris Becker and Stefan Edberg. Since then, stars such as Roger Federer, Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Murray have all lifted the trophy. Src: ATP

The Players:

Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka were late withdrawals from the Rotterdam field, but the lineup remains a strong one. Marin Cilic is the top seed and he is joined by Dominic Thiem and David Goffin.

Tomas Berdych and in-form Grigor Dimitrov will also be competing for the title currently held by Martin Klizan. Klizan is back to defend.

About Rotterdam

Rotterdam is a major port city in the Netherlands' province of South Holland. The Maritime Museum's vintage ships and exhibits trace the city's seafaring history. The 17th-century Delfshaven neighborhood is home to canalside shopping and the Pilgrim Fathers Church, where pilgrims worshiped before sailing to America. After being almost completely reconstructed following WWII, the city is now known for its bold, modern architecture.

Tourism Guide:

 

[britbox]

The Draw:

 

[britbox]

Pretty good field even with the withdrawal of Nadal and Wawrinka. A lot better than last year.

 

[mrzz]

^Yep, half dozen quite interesting matches in the first round. Few tournaments have that.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

RBA is out due to some injury.

 

[Moxie]

A couple of #NextGen face-offs right up front: Coric v. Khachanov and Thiem v. S. Zverev.

 

[Puppet Master]

Berdych was interviewed ahead of this tourney, he praised Roger a bit, pretty standard stuff and then said the following: "My goal remains to win a grand slam."

As the song says:
Sweet dreams are made of this, who am I to disagree?

https://youtu.be/qeMFqkcPYcg

 

[Shivashish Sarkar]

I hope Dimi is not overplaying. I hope his body can withstand the stress. He looks poised to cause some grand slam upsets this year.

 

[mrzz]

^Let´s see. The fact that the previous tournament was at home was surely a factor. Anyway I always feel that we overrate overplaying a bit here on the boards...

 

[isabelle]

Herbert beat Lopez

 

[isabelle]

Herbert beat Lopez 7/6 7/6

 

[kskate2]

^Let´s see. The fact that the previous tournament was at home was surely a factor. Anyway I always feel that we overrate overplaying a bit here on the boards...

Except when it's true. Some players really do play too many tournaments. As for Dimi, I won't say 2 tournaments back-to-back is overplaying just yet. Let's see the rest of his schedule before we make that claim.

 

[JesuslookslikeBorg]

mr grannyrollers has entered the arena.

he plays tennis..grannies with rollers in their hair may be watching mr grannyrollers..or maybe the grannies are too busy in the toilets sorting out the rollers in those blue rinse hairdo's.

i dunno.

 

[El Dude]

This is a nice tournament, with an interesting mix of players. Zverev v. Thiem should be interesting. I wouldn't be surprised if Khachanov takes his quarter. Dimitrov is the player to beat, even though Tsonga and Berdych are the big names.

 

[Front242]

Won't be able to see any of this with work but hope Muller does well. Fast surface and big lefty serve and s&v veteran. Take some scalps man.

 

[GameSetAndMath]

Why is Zverev vs. Thiem a 1st round match in a lowly 500 tourney? Is sasha ranked that low?

 

[El Dude]

It is odd, I know, but as a 32-player tournament, there are only eight seeds and Sascha is ranked #18, so not seeded. That said, it is weird because RBA is out so I would think Sascha slips into the 8th seed as he's ranked right behind Pouille.

But it would seem that the lucky loser (Istomin) just slips into RBA's slot in the draw.

 

[mrzz]

But it would seem that the lucky loser (Istomin) just slips into RBA's slot in the draw.

And Istomin gets to play exactly the guy he beat him on the qualies (A. Bedene)

 

[mrzz]

Except when it's true. Some players really do play too many tournaments. As for Dimi, I won't say 2 tournaments back-to-back is overplaying just yet. Let's see the rest of his schedule before we make that claim.

For sure it might happen occasionally, but my point is that I feel that there much more complains about overplaying than the actual fact. Anyway, I was about to touch the subject on the Nadal´s schedule thread, were it seems more appropriate, and we can take it from there.