Wawrinka, Raonic Among Lots of Big Names at ATP Geneva, Lyon Before French; Previews

Back in the day, the big dogs rested the week before the French Open, unless there were some game problems needing last-minute tune-ups.
ADHEREL
Must be a lot of problems this May.

Top 10ers Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic and Kei Nishikori, along with big names Tomas Berdych, Nick Kyrgios, Juan Martin del Potro and others are flooding the courts at Geneva and Lyon this week to get some last-minute matches (or last-minute guarantee money) before they take to the dirt at Roland Garros.

Here’s a look at the fields at the last two ATP events before the start of the French Open:

BANQUE ERIC STURDZA GENEVA OPEN
Geneva, Switzerland; surface: clay

Seeds: Stan Wawrinka, Kei Nishikori, Albert Ramos Vinolas, John Isner, Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, Paolo Lorenzi, Ryan Harrison

Floaters: Joao Sousa, Kevin Anderson

Notes: Geneva boasts two of the Top 10 after last-minute wildcards…Potential tough starts for (1) Wawrinka vs. Sousa who always plays him close, and (7) Lorenzi vs. Anderson…Wildcards were awarded to Wawrinka, Nishikori and Janko Tipsarevic…Pulling out of the field were Martin Klizan, Lu Yen-hsun, Adrian Mannarino, and Viktor Troicki…Wawrinka, the lone former champion in the field, beat Marin Cilic in last year’s final.

OPEN PARC AUVERGNE-RHONE-ALPES LYON
Lyon, France; surface: clay

Seeds: Milos Raonic, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych, Nick Kyrgios, Gilles Simon, Juan Martin del Potro, Borna Coric, Benoit Paire

Floaters: Thanasi Kokkinakis, Jordan Thompson

Notes: One Top 10er in Raonic, and three others in the Top 20 make for some solid seeding…Interesting starts for (1) Raonic vs. the once-promising but always-injured Aussie Kokkinakis, and (8) Paire vs. the steady Aussie Thompson…Wildcards were awarded to seeds Berdych, Del Potro and Simon…Lyon hosted an indoor hardcourt event from 1987-2009, but this is the first edition of the new claycourt stop.

 

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