ATP Mubadala Citi DC Open: Americans Fritz, Tiafoe Eye Hard Court Title

A New Champion to Be Crowned At ATP Event in Washington

The only combined men’s and women’s 500 events on the ATP and WTA tours will have plenty of American players in the men’s field as preparations for the US Open continues. The ATP Mubadala Citi DC Open field is headlined by U.S. players Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe with Sebastian Korda and the fast-rising Christopher Eubanks also set to play.

When it comes to the tennis rankings, Fritz and Tiafoe are both in the top 10.

It is not all good news as Daniil Medvedev and Denis Shapovalov are among the players who have pulled out of the tournament. Nick Kyrgios is the defending champion, but he also had to withdraw.

When it comes to the tennis odds, Medvedev is still third in the US Open outrights, coming in at +450 despite having the pull out of the tournament. Kyrgios is priced at +2500. Among the players still in the field, Fritz, Tiafoe, and Felix Auger Aliassime lead the way at +3300 odds. followed by Hubert Hurkacz at +4000 and Andy Murray at +5000.

The main draw for the tournament begins on Monday at the William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center in Rock Creek Park.

Will The Drought Come to An End?

The last American-born player to win the event was Andy Roddick in 2007 as he topped fellow American John Isner in the championship match.

Roddick and Isner combined to make three finals since that time with Mackenzie McDonald making a surprising run to the 2021 finals. That began with an upset of Kyrgios in the first round. McDonald only faced one seeded player before losing to Jannik Sinner in three sets in the final.

Fritz is ranked ninth and Tiafoe 10th with No. 28 Korda, No 32 Eubanks, No. 46 J.J. Wolf, and McDonald, ranked 55th, the top Americans in the field.

Eubanks is through to the quarterfinals in Atlanta after rallying for a three-set win over Brandon Nakashima.

Auger-Aliassime Looks to Rebound

Dealing with injuries and opening-round losses in four of his last five tournaments, Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime is hoping to use the Washington tournament to turn things around.

He hasn’t enjoyed too much success at the event, losing in the Round of 16 to Marin Cilic in 2019 and to Jenson Brooksby in 2021.

Auger-Aliassime reached the US Open semifinals in 2021, his best result at a Grand Slam. Can he recapture his form as he returns to the hard courts?

The 12th-ranked Auger-Aliassime posted three top-20 wins on the hard-court events at Montreal and Cincinnati a year ago and advanced to the Cincinnati quarterfinals in 2021 so is he ready for more strong results on the hard courts?

Ready to Turn Back the Clock?

It has been 17 years since Andy Murray made a run to the finals in Washington and 12 years since Gael Monfils did the same.

Murray is ranked 42nd and Monfils has fallen to No. 322. Can either of the veterans make their way through the field at the ATP Mubadala Citi DC Open?

It is not going to be easy for either of them or 2017 US Open finalist Kevin Anderson as they will have to contend with some hard-hitting youngsters.

Monfils has won just one ATP tour-level match this year and it came against Sebastian Baez at the French Open. He lost his opening match in the event in Atlanta and was critical of the tournament’s scheduling practices of putting him on the court right after he arrived in the U.S.

Anderson’s ranking has fallen to No. 645. He returned to the tour and won a pair of matches on grass in Newport. Murray hasn’t played since his marathon match with Stefanos Tsitsipas at Wimbledon.

No Return to D.C. Defending Champion Kyrgios

The list of three-time champions at the ATP event in Washington during the Open era includes Guillermo Vilas, Jimmy Connors, Andre Agassi, Andy Roddick, and Juan Martin Del Potro. Nick Kyrgios won’t be able to join that club in 2023 as the champion in 2019 and 2022 had to withdraw due to a knee injury that slowed him in a loss at the event at Stuttgart. He also had to deal with a wrist issue that led Kyrgios to pull out of Wimbledon.

His loss to Yibing Wu at Stuttgart is his only match of the 2023 season. He could be in danger of missing yet another Grand Slam event.

Kyrgios was 37-10 during the 2022 season with a trip to the Wimbledon final followed by the title run in Washington.

The Best of the Rest

No. 17 Hubert Hurkacz, No. 20 Grigor Dimitrov, No. 29 Adrian Mannarino, No. 30 Daniel Evans and No. 31 Yoshihito Nishioka are all worth keeping an eye on as the field has some depth even if it might be lacking in top 10 players.

Hurkacz has quietly put together a 25-15 record in 2023 with
three top-25 wins. Dimitrov eliminated Tiafoe at Wimbledon and also owns a win over Fritz this year.

The results for Evans since reaching the semifinals at Barcelona are not impressive.

Welcome Home

One of the wild cards went to University of Michigan graduate Andrew Fenty, the former Big Ten Player of the Year.

Fenty’s father is the former mayor of Washington, D.C. so expect him to have quite the cheering section when he takes the court for his first ATP-level match.

He is coming off a three-set loss to Alexander Bernard at the ITF event in Champaign, Illinois.

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