Opinion: Washington Citi Open – ATP 500 – Outdoor/Hard court

It’s only four weeks left until the last grand slam of the year, the US Open.

The US open series have begun and we head this week to a prestigious one in the US capital, Washington D.C, where I will pick my top 3 to win in this year’s competition.

The Citi Open at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center is one of only 13 prestigious ATP World Tour 500 tournaments worldwide and World number 22, Gael Monfils defends title.

This year it has attracted a very strong talented field offering over just $2 million in total financial commitments and it’s the perfect warm up competition to the US Open at the end of the month.

Citi Open organisers and fans haven’t been this excited since Andre Agassi & Andy Roddick where the stars of the field over 10 years ago. This year’s field includes 4 past champions in Argentinian, Juan Martin Del Potro who has won it 3 times (2008,2009,2013), Canadian, Milos Raonic (2014), Japanese, Kei Nishikori (2015) & Frenchman, Gael Monfils (2016). All four men could claim that they are defending champions as none have played since.

Also known as the ATP Washington, it has a few assets that make it attractive for top players: It’s long enough after Wimbledon to allow players to recover but early enough in the summer that they can get acclimated to the heat and humidity of the U.S. Open at the end of the month. Nine of the World’s Top 20 players will also feature in Washington D.C as the US Open Series season picks up speed and with a high quality field it looks pretty tough to call.

Austrian World number 7, Dominic Thiem, one of my picks of the week who with only 23 year’s old is definitely one of the star’s of the tournament and future prospects to dominate the World of Tennis in years to come. The young Austrian has a record so far of 38-16 (win/loss) this 2017 season and we’ve seen him win once already in Rio de Janeiro (Outdoor/Clay).

My 2nd pick of this week is none less, World number 8 and Germany’s World number 1, Alexander Zverev.

The German star, who is only 20 year’s old is another one to watch this week. He has already won 3 times this season at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Rome (Outdoor/Clay), Munich (Outdoor/Clay) & in Montpellier (Indoor/Hard) and has a fantastic record of 36/13 (win/loss) this 2017 season.

Last but not least, my last pick of the week is former three-time champion here, Juan Martin Del Potro, the experienced Argentinian, who will try and go for a 4th title in Washington, where Andre Agassi holds the record with 5 titles in the US capital. “Delpo”, 28, who hasn’t yet won a title in 2017 looks to get his season back on track. The former US Open champion, who has had a troubled weak season so far with injuries has a record of 14-8 (win/loss) this year but will be hoping a glory return to a place he’s performed so well at in the past. If he can find some kind of form he’s capable of beating anyone at this tournament.

With the competition starting today Monday, let’s just sit back, relax and enjoy the Tennis.