Djokovic Heads Dubai, Loaded Field at WTA Doha: ATP/WTA Previews

by Staff | February 20th, 2016, 4:48 pm
  • 8 Comments

QATAR TOTAL OPEN
Doha, Qatar; Surface: hard
ADHEREL
Seeds:
Angelique Kerber, Simona Halep, Agnieszka Radwanska, Garbine Muguruza, Petra Kvitova, Belinda Bencic, Lucie Safarova, Carla Suarez Navarro, Roberta Vinci, Karolina Pliskova, Timea Bacsinszky, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Caroline Wozniacki, Jelena Jankovic, Elina Svitolina, Sara Errani

Floaters: Julia Goerges, CoCo Vandeweghe, (Q) Donna Vekic, (Q) Ana Konjuh, Caroline Garcia

Notes: Serena is out with the flu, but seven of the Top 10 post in Doha…Tough starts for (12) Kuznetsova vs. Goerges, (6) Bencic after a bye vs. Vandeweghe, (8) Suarez Navarro vs. Vekic, the struggling (13) Wozniacki vs. Kohjuh, and the struggling (2) Halep vs. Garcia…Wildcards were awarded to Oman’s Fatma Al-Nabhani, Canada’s Eugenie Bouchard and Turkey’s Cagla Buyukakcay…Withdrawing from Doha along with Serena were Maria Sharapova (arm), Mona Barthel, Irina-Camelia Begu, Alize Cornet, Camila Giorgi and Peng Shuai…The streaking Martina Hingis and Sania Mirza are the top seeds in doubles…Getting some potential Olympic doubles practice with wildcards are Romania’s  Halep/Raluca Olaru, and Czechs Kvitova/Barbora Strycova…Safarova beat the absent Victoria Azarenka (who is playing Acapulco this week) in last year’s final…Former champs in the field are Safarova (2015) and Halep (2014).


DUBAI DUTY FREE TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Dubai, U.A.E.; Surface: hard

Seeds: Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, Tomas Berdych, Roberto Bautista Agut, Viktor Troicki, Feliciano Lopez, Martin Klizan, Philipp Kohlschreiber

Floaters: Nick Kyrgios, Tommy Robredo, Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, Marcos Baghdatis

Notes: The world No. 1 Djokovic is joined by two other Top 10ers in the field…Interesting starts for (1) Djokovic vs. Robredo, who the Serb has lost to twice, including their last meeting on hardcourt two years ago, (6) F-Lo vs. G-Lo in an all-Spanish, (8) Troicki vs. Baghdatis, and (7) Klizan vs. Kyrgios…Wildcards went to India’s Yuki Bhambri, Turkey’s Marsel Ilhan and Tunisia’s Malek Jaziri…Pulling from the tournament were Roger Federer (knee surgery) and Janko Tipsarevic…The absent Federer is the two-time defending champ, beating Djokovic in last year’s final…Federer and Djokovic have won the last seven titles between them…Djokovic (2013,’11-09) is the lone former champ in the field.

BRASIL OPEN
Sao Paulo, Brazil; Surface: clay

Seeds: Benoit Paire, Thomaz Bellucci, Pablo Cuevas, Federico Delbonis, Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Paolo Lorenzi, Nicolas Almagro, Pablo Andujar

Floaters: none

Notes: No Top 20 talent in the ugly field…The top-seeded Paire took a last-minute wildcard, and additional wildcards went to Brazil’s Guilherme Clezar and Thiago Monteiro…Fabio Fognini pulled from the event citing an ab injury…Cuevas edged Luca Vanni 7-6 in the third in last year’s final…Former champs in the field are Cuevas (2015), Delbonis (2014), and Almagro (2012-11,’08).

 


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8 Comments for Djokovic Heads Dubai, Loaded Field at WTA Doha: ATP/WTA Previews

Batman Says:

Yes, he can :)


Michael Says:

So, once again, Novak will be adding another title to his already glittering resume !!


chrisford1 Says:

Just because he believes he can win each match doesn’t mean he is convinced he will win each and every match from now on. The guy is cautioning himself all the time that if his ego and confidence get too big, Karma will slap him upside the head. And Nole regularly tells reporters that started calling him invincible after the USO that he is NOT invincible at all. No athlete is. Defeats will come.

I do think in the background that he is telling himself and likely Boris is as well that he has sacrificed a lot to get in this position and it would be stupid beyond belief to break an ankle or wrench a back in a ski accident, and now is not the time to start a 2nd book, try to get in a movie again..
What is going on with Rafa is highly likely impacting Novak – in the sense Djokovic is seeing the reality through Nadal that his own time as a tennis star at the Top is going to be over in a short time. Next month, 6 years at the outside. So the focus has to be on the tennis….Less time spent on other things besides family..


Van Persie Says:

I think it would be better for Nole, if he would lose 2-3 matches until the RG will start, then he would pay more attention…just an opinion…


Wog Boy Says:

” So the focus has to be on the tennis….Less time spent on other things besides family..”

Agree, and agree about Boris influence too. I am to laisy to look for the links now, but I am sure that Boris said the same thing when they started their coach/player relationship, to focus on tennis and leave the other things to Jelena and his family. I’ve nevere liked those charity balls after USO and Wimledon, lost both, that took his focus from tennis, and Boris didn’t like them too.


Margot Says:

Lol he’s hardly going to say, “Oooer, think I’m gonna lose a few.”
Any tennis player with that level of doubt would be laughed out of court, so to speak.


Van Persie Says:

“Lol he’s hardly going to say, “Oooer, think I’m gonna lose a few.””

Would be enough if he would not be in the mood to play one day and some determined tennis player has the best tennis day of his life ;)

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