ATP: European clay court summer - again on the red ashes
The coming month will once again bring a lot of joy to European tennis fans. The clay court summer starts this week in Bastad and finally ends with the tournaments in Kitzbühel and Umag.
by Stefan Bergmann
last edit:
Jul 10, 2022, 10:13 pm
Even if Wimbledon finalist Nick Kyrgios finds the short summer swing on the European clay court surfaces dispensable, fans in Germany, Austria and Switzerland in particular have reason to be happy. In the next 21 days, all forces will be bundled and every court will be thoroughly rummaged through with red ashes - so top-class tennis is absolutely guaranteed until the end of July.
It traditionally starts in Bastad, Sweden, where the 2020 US Open champion, Dominic Thiem, will make his next comeback attempt on the regular ATP tour. As already reported, the Austrian will open against the Finn Emil Ruusuvuori. Should the Lichtenwörther remain victorious, the Spaniard Roberto Bautista Agut could wait in the round of 16. Top seed in the far north is Casper Ruud, who won the tournament last year.
Another hat trick for Ruud?
Speaking of Ruud, the Norwegian certainly has his eye on a repeat of his flawless hat-trick from last year when he won back-to-back tournaments in Bastad, Gstaad and Kitzbühel. The Paris finalist has also named in all these events this season. The ATP World Tour 500 event in Hamburg left the current number six in the ATP ranking behind, but that doesn't mean that there aren't enough top players at the Rothenbaum start.
In addition to Carlos Alcaraz and Andrey Rublev, Jannik Sinner and Diego Schwatzman will also open in the Hanseatic city. The sand court season comes to a really fine conclusion in the Monaco of the Alps - that is, in Kitzbühel. In addition to Ruud, Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils and of course local hero Thiem also called in Tirol. Alcaraz and Sinner, on the other hand, pay a visit to Umag and thus to Croatian Istria. On August 1st, the ATP entourage finally switched to the US hard courts.