Get your popcorn ready for what is arguably the best 500-point tournament of the entire tennis season. The ABN AMRO Open begins on Monday in Rotterdam, where an absolute loaded field is on hand. Jannik Sinner is in action since winning his first Grand Slam title at the Australian Open; he is joined in Rotterdam by the likes of Andrey Rublev and Holger Rune.
Here is my preview of this week’s festivities in addition to tournament picks.
ABN AMRO Open
Where: Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Surface: Indoor hard
Points: 500
Prize money: 2,134,985 Euros
Top seed: Jannik Sinner
2023 champion: Daniil Medvedev (not playing)
What will Sinner do for an encore? If the fourth-ranked Italian’s winning ways come to an end any time soon, it will probably be a result of mental–and perhaps some physical–fatigue. It is unlikely to be a result in any dip in his general tennis level. After all, the large sample size of Sinner’s success is enough to prove that he is without question the best player in the world right now–regardless of what the rankings say. Even before triumphing in Melbourne, Sinner was on fire at the end of last year.
Unseeded last season at this Rotterdam event, Sinner is now the No. 1 seed. Of course, that doesn’t mean he has an easy draw at the ABN AMRO; no one does. The 22-year-old could meet Dens Shapovalov or Gael Monfils in round two, while Alexander Bublik is a potential quarterfinal foe and Hubert Hurkacz and Marseille champion Ugo Humbert are possible semifinal opponents.
Rublev is the No. 2 seed and his quarter is also home to Alex de Minaur, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Sebastian Korda. Also in the bottom of the bracket are Rune and Grigor Dimitrov. The Rune-Dimitrov quarter is pretty wide open, as the Dane has been dealing with some injury issues and the Bulgarian is coming off a long week in Marseille (lost to Humbert in the final on Sunday).
Quarterfinal picks: Jannik Sinner over Alexander Bublik, Hubert Hurkacz over Emil Ruusuvuori, Grigor Dimitrov over Roman Safiullin, and Andrey Rublev over Alex de Minaur
Semifinals: Hurkacz over Sinner and Rublev over Dimitrov
Final: Hurkacz over Rublev
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.
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