Madrid Open Tennis preview - CopyBet
Madrid Open Tennis preview - CopyBet
World number two Alexander Zverev will next attempt to win his third Madrid Open title after landing his first tournament win of the year in Munich last week. The German, who won in the Spanish capital in 2018 and 2021, is the top seed for the event and has landed in the opposite half of the draw to Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz.
Defending champion Andrey Rublev, who ended Alcaraz’s 14-match unbeaten streak in Madrid, could meet the German top seed in the last eight. Last year’s ATP tournament at Caja Magica came down to survival of the fittest as Jannik Sinner and Alcaraz fell by the wayside at the quarter-final stage. And with Sinner still out and Alcaraz licking his wounds after an upset defeat in the final of last week’s Barcelona event, the path could be clear for Zverev to clinch his third crown.
Tip 1: Zverev was touted as a French Open winner after showing promise on clay in this event eight years ago.
He returned to Madrid to win the tournament a year later, adding it to the clay-court Masters titles he had already scooped in Munich and Rome.
But the German found his path to the Roland Garros final blocked at the semi-final stage for three years in succession before he finally made it through to face Alcaraz in the 2024 showpiece.
Zverev led 2-1 in that clash before the Spaniard won the battle of nerves to take the title.
But the 28-year-old Zverev arrives in great shape for this tilt with the confidence boost of having won the Bavarian Open title on his birthday.
The draw has been relatively kind in keeping him clear of Alcaraz or Djokovic until the final while defending champion Rublev, who could be his quarter-final opponent, is in nothing like the form of last year.
Third-seed Taylor Fritz, who reached the semi-finals last year, is Zverev’s main threat in the top half but the American has not played any clay-court matches in the build-up.
Alcaraz is always there or thereabouts at Caja Magica, but he was outwitted and outbattled by Holger Rune in the Barcelona final a few days ago and will need to recover quickly before a possible early test of his credentials from Jiri Lehecka, a Madrid semi-finalist last year.
Tip 2: Czech ace Lehecka pulled out of his first match in Munich with illness but is expected to be fit to take to the court in Madrid a week later.
Lehecka made an improbable run to the last four at this event last year when beating crowd favourite Rafael Nadal in the fourth round and taking the first set off Daniil Medvedev, who retired from their quarter-final clash.
The 23-year-old banked his second ATP winner’s cheque earlier this year when victorious at the Brisbane International and he has a recent win over Alcaraz, his potential third-round opponent, under his belt.
Lehecka beat the Spaniard 3-6 6-3 4-6 in the Doha quarter-finals in February and has the game to challenge him again.
The bottom half of the draw opens up for him if he passes that test with Lorenzo Musetti, who he leads 2-1 in their lifetime head-to-head, probably the next biggest threat before a potential semi-final clash with Djokovic.
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With over 25 years of journalistic experience, there are not many people with better knowledge across a number of different sports than Simon. He specialises in football, cricket, tennis and NFL.