The Week in Preview: Season's Greeting

Through the years, there has been no shortage of ideas for how to make tennis more popular among the general public. Shorter sets, slower courts, super-tiebreakers, fifth Slams, wood racquets, team tennis, players’ names on their jerseys: They’ve all been mulled over, and most have been tried. Along those lines, there used to be some talk about starting the year with an “Opening Day,” the way Major League Baseball does in the U.S., to let the world know that a new season has begun. The idea never got off the ground. It probably doesn’t do much good to tell people the new year has started when they have no idea the last one ever ended.

More important, why bother with an Opening Day when New Year’s Day can serve the same purpose? Basically, each tennis season begins as soon as the calendar allows it. In 2015, the sport was obviously champing at the bit to get started. As of this weekend, less than 48 hours after the ball dropped and the champagne froze in Times Square, tournaments were underway in Brisbane, Doha, Chennai, Shenzhen, and Auckland. If that wasn’t enough, there was also the Hopman Cup team exhibition in Perth, just for fun.

Looking at all of those far-flung locales, it was obviously never going to be feasible to gather the top players together for an Opening Day ceremony. Ten years into this Golden Age, though, the extra hype doesn’t seem necessary; having the stars competing again is enough to let the world know that tennis is back, and the slate is clean. And the stars are willing to oblige. Between Hopman Cup and the tour events, Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Wawrinka, Murray, Nishikori, Berdych, Ferrer, Raonic, and Dimitrov are in action on the ATP side; while Serena, Venus, Sharapova, Halep, Kvitova, Radwanska, Bouchard, Ivanovic, Azarenka, Wozniacki, and Kerber are playing among the women. There have already been a concerning number of pullouts and injuries, but there are also a lot of players who seem ready to go.

Here’s a look at what they’ll face, and how they may fare, during Opening Week.

Doha, Qatar
$1,221,320; 250 ranking points
Hard courts
Draw is here

It doesn’t take long to see the significance, and the possibilities, in Doha: The world’s No. 1 and No. 3 players, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, are both playing this small but lucrative 250. A title could hardly be called essential for either of them in their preparations for the Australian Open; Djokovic has won in Melbourne four times without ever entering this event in the past. But Nadal did win in Doha last year, and if he hadn’t injured his back in the Aussie final, there’s a good chance he would have gone all the way there as well.

Djokovic typically hasn’t played any tune-ups in January. This year, though, whether because of a need for more work, or a need for more a little more appearance money, or some combination of both, he decided to mix things up. He certainly finished 2014 on a high note, with titles in Paris and London in November, but he did have to pull out of the final of an exhibition this weekend in Abu Dhabi with a fever. Djokovic will start in Doha against his countryman Dusan Lajovic; the highest seed in his half is David Ferrer.

Nadal will be playing his first official event since having his appendix removed in November. He was rusty in his first exhibition match in Abu Dhabi, losing to Andy Murray 6-2, 6-0, but was much more like himself in beating Stan Wawrinka in straight sets the next day. He says he wants match play more than anything, and to that end he’s entered in the doubles here with Juan Monaco. Nadal will start against a qualifier, and the top seed in his half is Tomas Berdych.

While Djokovic and Nadal will likely downplay the significance of their results here, if they do face off in the final, it will be a match that neither should be OK with losing. In their rivalry, once the momentum swings in one direction, it has historically stayed with that player for a few more matches.

Who will finish No. 1 in 2015—Djokovic or Nadal? Steve Tignor gives his answer in our podcast.

Brisbane, Australia
$494,310; 250 ranking points
Plexicushion
Draw is here

While his Big 3 rivals duke it out in Doha, Roger Federer starts his season in Brisbane for the second straight year. He says he’s ready for another summer in Oz, and do you dare to doubt him? After his fine 2014, Federer should feel like the new season is one that will hold major—as in Grand Slam—opportunities for him.

Federer reached the final in Brisbane last year, before falling apart against Lleyton Hewitt. This year Rusty is back as well, but he’s on the other side of the draw. Federer will start against either a qualifier, or another, less famous Aussie, John Millman. More interesting may be how Federer plays. He had a new, net-rushing look in 2014; will he try any new experiments in the early days of 2015, or will he feel like he's set to go with what he has?

The second seed, Kei Nishikori, should be an equally intriguing figure this season. How will he react to being Top 5, to being the hunted rather than the hunter? How much does this easygoing guy need to go higher? The slow-to-medium Plexicushion surface in Australia should be to his liking, and he reached the quarters on it in Melbourne last season. Nishikori will start against either Marinko Matosevic or Steve Johnson.

Also here: Milos Raonic, who is in Nishikori’s half; Grigor Dimitrov, who is in Federer’s half. Dimitrov made the final in 2013.

First-round matches to watch:

Bernard Tomic vs. Sam Querrey. Can either of these two tennis Hamlets find love for the game in 2015?

Julien Benneteau vs. Aussie wild card Thanasi Kokkinakis. This year Kokkinakis will try to join his buddy Nick Kyrgios on a bigger stage.

Brisbane, Australia
$1,000,000; WTA Premier
Plexicushion
Draw is here

The women’s event in Brisbane can’t quite match the star power of years past—Serena Williams, winner in 2014, has opted to play the Hopman Cup this time. But most events would be happy with who has decided to play: Maria Sharapova, Ana Ivanovic, Victoria Azarenka, Angelique Kerber, and Dominika Cibulkova, among others, are among the 30 players entered.

Sharapova and Ivanovic are the top two seeds, and there’s reason to keep an eye on the results of each. Sharapova usually works herself into a high, if noisy, polish to start the season, and after her strong 2014 a win here could be an early indication of big things to come in Melbourne. With Ivanovic, unfortunately, I still look for early indications of bad things to come. She also had an excellent 2014, but am I wrong to think that a disappointing loss in Brisbane would set an ominous tone for the new season? Am I wrong to still think of Ivanovic as a confidence player? Last year Ana won her first event, in Auckland, beat Serena in Melbourne, and was off to the Top 10 races.

First-round matches to watch: Cibulkova vs. Madison Keys; Caroline Garcia vs. Angelique Kerber

Sleeper: Victoria Azarenka. Vika is unseeded, but she reached the Brisbane last year, and she sounds ready, physically and emotionally, to get back on track in 2015.

Already Out: Jelena Jankovic, Andrea Petkovic, Sam Stosur—Sam was up 5-1 in the third against Varvara Lepchenko before losing six straight games. Maybe she should just skip her home-country summer circuit from now on.

What should we expect from Ivanovic this season? Read Steve Tignor's 2015 preview.

Chennai, India
$458,400; 250 ranking points
Hard courts
Draw is here

Stan Wawrinka goes back to his roots in Chennai; two of his seven career titles have come here, and his win last year helped build momentum for Australia. This time he could face Croatian hot shot Borna Coric in his opener.

Also here: The 24-year-old David Goffin of Belgium, and 33-year-old Feliciano Lopez of Spain, two very different players who each put together career seasons in 2014. A Goffin-Wawrinka semi could be a barn-burner.

Shenzhen, China
$500,000; WTA International
Plexipave
Draw is here

There’s not much talk about this tournament so far, but there is money at stake—half a mil—and there are a couple of big names trying to collect it: Simona Halep and Petra Kvitova are the top two seeds. Neither of these women has typically played her best at the season’s start, but they both have their eyes on bigger prizes in 2015. Halep may be the more interesting case at the moment: She finished strong last year and will be hungry to win a major this season, but she also parted ways with the coach who  helped take her to the Top 5. Can she build on that 2014 momentum while getting used to a new coaching situation? We’ll get an early answer here.

Auckland, New Zealand
$250,000; WTA International
Hard courts
Draw is here

To a New Yorker facing the early days of winter, the sight of the sun blanketing the festively tidy little stadium in Auckland is one of the most welcome of the new year. Who will feel most welcome among the women there? In 2014, Ana Ivanovic built a solid season around her title at this event. In 2015, top seed Caroline Wozniacki will try to do the same.

Also here: Venus Williams, Sloane Stephens, Barbora Zahlavova-Strycova, CoCo Vandeweghe, and wild card Taylor Townsend, who has already won her first match.