After a month away from the clay, Carlos Alcaraz returns to his home surface this week at the ATP 500 stop in Hamburg as the top seed and tournament favorite.

The 19-year-old who is 19-2 on the dirt is joined by No. 2 seed and former champion Andrey Rublev, No. 3 Diego Schwartzman and the fourth-seeded Pablo Carreno Busta who is out to defend his 2021 title.

Alcaraz could face Bastad finalist Sebastian Baez in the second round, Karen Khachanov in the third round and possibly in the semifinals French quarterfinalist and fellow teen Holger Rune.

Alcaraz lost in the fourth round at Wimbledon to Jannik Sinner. He fell to Alexander Zverev in the French Open quarters.

Rublev opens against Alexander Bublik who will have to fly from the grass of Newport on Monday and then quickly adapt to the clay and take on the Russian second seed Tuesday night!

Rublev would then face Bastad champion Francisco Cerundolo in the second round.

Last year, Carreno Busta topped Filip Krajinovic for his biggest career title.