ATP: The clay court season starts today in Houston and Marrakech
After the two hard-court combined events in Indian Wells and Miami, the next few months will mostly be on the clay courts of Europe.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Apr 03, 2022, 05:55 pm
"It's the most wonderful time of the year" is a famous US Christmas song, but it should also be the motto for all European clay court tennis fans in the months of April to July. Definitely not so happy are professionals à la Nick Kyrgios or Daniil Medvedev, who have often stated their dislike of the reddish surface - on the other hand, there are a large number of Central and Southern European clay court diggers, who especially prefer it in the spring and summer months go on a hunt for world ranking points.
Speaking of Kyrgios: Although the "enfant terrible" said at the beginning of the year that he did not want to set foot on the red ashes, the Australian made an exception for the ATP World Tour 250 event in Houston and accepted one wild card offered to him and tries his luck against local hero Mackenzie McDonald - an eagerly awaited duel against favorite enemy Casper Ruud could await the inclined fan in the quarter-finals. It remains to be seen whether Ruud won't want to take a well-deserved break from the tournament after the exhausting two weeks in Miami.
Gojowczyk in Houston, Hanfmann and Oswald in Marrakech at the start
Should the Norwegian want to serve in the state of Texas, after a bye in the first round there would be a duel with either the Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan or the US veteran Sam Querrey in the round of 16. The defending champion from 2019 - the event was canceled in 2020 and 2021 due to the corona pandemic - is Cristian Garin from Chile. The five-ranked world number 30. opens against wildcard holder Jack Sock. From a German point of view, Peter Gojowczyk will start in the individual in the south of the USA, who will meet Tommy Paul from the USA in round one, who is ranked seventh.
The Grand Prix Hassan II in Marrakesh has a slightly weaker field than the competing event on the American continent, but with Felix Auger-Aliassime from Canada and Daniel Evans from Great Britain it can also present two top players in the tournament grid. After Dominic Thiem (Covid-19 disease), Fabio Fognini, who would have been seeded third at the 250 event in North Africa, also had to withdraw his participation at short notice. Yannick Hanfmann, the only German represented in the main draw, meets the Spaniard Carols Taberner at the beginning. In doubles, the Austrian Philipp Oswald starts with the Czech Roman Jebavy - the two open against the Brazilian-Spanish duo Rafael Matos / David Vega Hernandez.
Here is the single tableau from Houston.