Scouting Report: Djokovic & Medvedev Lead Adelaide Draw; Cilic In Pune | ATP Tour

With the United Cup underway in Australia, two ATP Tour occasions will comply with because the 2023 season opens in type throughout two continents. A pair of ATP 250 occasions are set to start in the course of the first week of the brand new 12 months: the Adelaide Worldwide I and the Tata Open Maharashtra in Pune.

Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev are amongst 4 2022 Nitto ATP Finals contributors within the loaded Adelaide singles draw, whereas Marin Cilic leads the sector in Pune.

ATPTour.com seems to be forward at 10 issues to look at this week.

View Attracts: Adelaide | Pune

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ADELAIDE:1) Prime Seed Djokovic Returns To Australia: Again in motion Down Below for the primary time since he received the 2021 Australian Open, the World No. 5 leads the sector in Adelaide, the place he received his third ATP Tour title in 2007. The Serbian completed the 2022 season by profitable a record-tying sixth Nitto ATP Finals crown, and lifted the title in 4 of his previous 5 ATP Tour tournaments courting again to Wimbledon.

Djokovic has an enormous alternative to stand up the Pepperstone ATP Rankings within the coming months, having performed only one tour-level occasion within the first quarter of 2022. He enters this season with 4,820 Pepperstone ATP Rankings factors, precisely 2,000 factors shy of World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz.

2) Can Medvedev Attain The Summit Once more?: After reaching the head of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in February 2022, Medvedev completed the season with two tour-level titles — but it surely was not sufficient to take care of his place as World No. 1, which he misplaced after failing to defend his US Open title. 

Coming into this season as World No. 7, Medvedev is making his Adelaide debut. He’ll look to get off to a powerful begin this 12 months after ending 2022 on a four-match shedding streak — although that run got here after he lifted the title in Vienna and included three Prime 10 defeats in Turin, all in third-set tie-breaks.

3) Extra Turin Stars: Felix Auger-Aliassime, Andrey Rublev and alternate Holger Rune full Adelaide’s checklist of gamers who have been concerned on the 2022 Nitto ATP Finals. Auger-Aliassime adopted up his Turin debut by serving to lead Canada to the Davis Cup title in November as he completed the season with 60 match wins.

Rublev reached the Turin semi-finals for the primary time in his third strive whereas Rune accomplished a shocking rise into the Prime 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings by beating 5 straight Prime 10 opponents to win the Rolex Paris Masters title in his final motion of 2022. Rune, the 19-year-old Dane, shall be motivated to climb again into the that prestigious group after ending the season at World No. 11.

4) Former Subsequent Gen Champs Sinner, Nakashima Characteristic: 2019 Subsequent Gen ATP Finals champ Jannik Sinner and 2022 winner Brandon Nakashima are additionally within the Adelaide subject, with each making their match debuts. The 21-year-old Sinner, who enters the season as World No. 15, will search to enhance upon his career-high Pepperstone ATP Rating of No. 9, first achieved in 2021. The Italian is in search of his second tour-level title in Australia after his Melbourne 1 triumph in 2021.

5) Britons Murray, Draper In Motion: Two males at reverse ends of their careers will nonetheless have related objectives for this season, as each enter contained in the Prime 50. Murray is keen to reap the benefits of his clear invoice of well being and brings an improved health stage into 2023, whereas Draper will bid to crack the Prime 40 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the primary time. The 21-year-old is at the moment one spot off his career-high of No. 41.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN PUNE:
1) Former Champ Cilic: Marin Cilic seeks his third title on the Indian occasion after back-to-back triumphs in 2009-10, when the match was held in Chennai. A last victory towards Stan Wawrinka accomplished his profitable title defence 13 years in the past. The Croatian shall be making his seventh look on the ATP 250, his most up-to-date a semi-final displaying in 2018.

2) Returning Finalist Ruusuvuori: Emil Ruusuvuori shall be assured in his means to enhance upon his last run final 12 months in Pune as he enters this 12 months’s occasion at a career-high of No. 40 within the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. If he can accomplish that feat, the 23-year-old Finn would earn his first ATP Tour title.

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3) Botic Debuts: World No. 35 Botic van de Zandschulp makes his first look in Pune after a 2022 season which noticed him attain three ATP Tour semi-finals in addition to his first tour-level last in Munich. Because the second-highest-ranked participant in Pune’s preliminary entry checklist, the 27-year-old Dutchman joins Ruusuvuori in pursuit of a primary ATP Tour title.

4) Prime 50 Expertise: Sebastian Baez and Alex Molcan spherical out the Prime 50 illustration in Pune, with World No. 59 Aslan Karatsev and 2022 Subsequent Gen ATP Finals competitor Chun-Hsin Tseng additionally set to compete.

They’re joined by three Indian wild playing cards, together with 15-year-old Manas Dhamne, who shall be making his tour-level debut.

5) Van Rijthoven Appears To Construct: Dutchman Tim van Rijthoven, who received his first ATP Tour title final season in ‘s-Hertogenbosch and adopted it with a run to the Wimbledon fourth spherical, will look to again up his breakthrough season with extra success within the new 12 months. After having to qualify for his previous two ATP Tour main-draw appearances, the World No. 114 was the second-to-last man to make the minimize on the preliminary main-draw entry checklist for Pune, simply forward of World No. 115 American Michael Mmoh.