Week in Preview: Munich, Istanbul, Estoril, Prague

Is the clay season too taxing? It’s a question that may be in the air in the coming weeks, now that it has been reported that Novak Djokovic won’t be playing Madrid, and Roger Federer has hinted that he might not play Rome. There’s a lot of tough-slog tennis packed into a short period of time, especially when it’s capped on the men’s side by two weeks of best-of-five play in Paris.

This is mostly a down week, though; a last, low-level breather before both tours commence on a month of nearly non-stop dirtball. But it’s not completely star-free on the men’s side. Andy Murray makes his post-wedding debut in Munich, and Federer picks up his racquet to help introduce a new 250 in Istanbul. Here’s a look at who will be grinding it out and where over the next six days.

Munich, Germany
$477,739; 250 ranking points
Clay
Draw is here

The trick, it seems, is to get married and stay off the tour for a few weeks. That’s how Murray spent his April, and he returns with his ranking still perched at a lofty No. 3.

The last time we saw Murray he was raging unsuccessfully against the machine—Novak Djokovic, that is. Which brings up a question: Will being a married man make for a mellower Muzzard? It’s doubtful. The next question is what kind of form Murray can find as he heads into the heart of the clay-court season. It’s always a tricky, and potentially distracting, time for him; the year he won Wimbledon was also the year he skipped the French Open. In 2014, though, he reached the semis in Paris. And his debacles against Djokovic aside, Murray is 21-5 so far this season.

He has yet to win a title, but his quest in Munich got a boost when No. 2 seed Gael Monfils pulled out. Murray will start against either Jan-Lennard Struff or Mischa Zverev.

Also here: Roberto Bautista-Agut, Philipp Kohlschreiber, David Goffin, Fabio Fognini

First-round matches to watch: Dominic Thiem vs. Vasek Pospisil; Bernard Tomic vs. Janko Tipsarevic

Istanbul
$477,739; 250 ranking points
Clay
Draw is here

The men's tour hasn’t felt the need to have a tour sponsor for years, but France’s BNP Paribas bank is getting closer: The BNP Paribas Open is held in Indian Wells; the BNP Paribas Masters is held in Bercy; the Davis Cup by BNP Paribas is a year-long affair. Now there’s the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open.

With just 250 ranking points and less than 500 grand on the line, Istanbul is the guppy in the BNP sea. But this year it comes with a very big in its ranks: Roger Federer will make a rare trip to a non-mandatory event to help open the proceedings—it still, obviously, pays to be a bank.

Federer has said that practice is what he needs most on clay, and that he may skip Rome to do some more of it before the French Open. This week, though, he’ll play live matches, starting against either Jarkko Nieminen or Marsel Ilhan.

Grigor Dimitrov, one of the players that Federer’s agency represents, is the No. 2 seed. Dimitrov, who plays Andrey Golubev to begin, will try to put a spark in his so-far dull season.

Also here: Thanasi Kokkinakis

Estoril, Portugal
$477,739; 250 ranking points
Clay
Draw is here

It’s not far at all from Spain to Portugal, so it’s hardly a surprise that this event has a Spanish flavor to it: Eight of its 28 players are from just across the border. The best of them are the first and third seeds, Feliciano Lopez and Tommy Robredo.

Also here are up-and-comers Borna Coric and Nick Kyrgios. Coric has won his first round. Can Kyrgios match him? It would be a breakthrough, in a backwards kind of way. In an odd developmental twist, the big-stage-loving Aussie has been to two Grand Slam quarterfinals, but he has never won a match at an event smaller than a Masters 1000. He’ll have another chance on Tuesday.

Prague
$250,000, WTA International
Clay
Draw is here

One Czech woman, Petra Kvitova, is absent, but there are three more where she came from. Home-country favorites and collective Fed Cup juggernaut Karolina Pliskova, Lucie Safarova, and Barbora Strycova are the top three seeds in Prague.

First-round match to watch: Belinda Bencic vs. Ana Konjuh

Marrakech, Morocco
$250,000’ WTA International
Clay
Draw is here

The tournament’s name is a mouthful, but the the draw is a little on the thin side. Spain’s Garbiñe Muguruza, the top seed, will try to win her second career title and ramp up her game heading for Paris, where she was a quarterfinalist last year.

Also here: No. 2 seed Timea Bacsinszky; No. 4 seed Elina Svitolina