Week in Preview: Washington D.C., Stanford, Kitzbuhel

Every year, when the calendar ticks over to August 1, the same thought goes through my mind: Where has the summer gone? As always, the beach season is flying by. That's not necessarily bad news if you're a tennis fan. For the next month, the stakes on both tours rise a little higher each week. As of today, the men and the women have started their long, winding road trips to the US Open in New York.

Washington, D.C.
$1,508,815; 500 ranking points
Hard
Draw is here

While other U.S. hard-court tournaments have fallen by the wayside in recent years—Indianapolis, Los Angeles, San Diego—the Washington, D.C., event has been revitalized. A deep-pocketed title sponsor, a spot among the ATP's 500-level events, and a stronger women's draw have helped give D.C. a higher international profile. Between 1995 and 2007, nine American men won this tournament; none have done it since.

And if the men's draw goes according to form, a U.S. player won’t win it this year, either—John Isner, the highest-seeded American, is the No. 8 seed. Not that Isner doesn’t have a chance. This is the event where he made his professional breakthrough in 2007, when he reached the final as an unknown just out of college. Isner did the same again two years ago, and on Sunday he won this third straight title in Atlanta. Which means we could be in for another summer of speculation in the States about Isner: Is this, finally, going to be the year when the big man saves U.S. tennis? The Open itself will be a struggle, as it always is for him, but he’ll be part of the mix at the two-out-of-three-set events that lead up to it.

Jumping into that mix right away is Andy Murray, who is making the trip to North America a week early this year. The top seed has been rewarded with a favorable draw. He’ll start against either Teymuraz Gabashvili or Benjamin Becker, and might play Pablo Cuevas after that. The second-highest seed in his half is Richard Gasquet. In light of his semifinal run at Wimbledon, do we need to start taking Gasquet seriously, or quasi-seriously, as a contender again at 29?

And how seriously should we take Kei Nishikori as a contender here? It pretty much goes without saying that he’s returning from an injury—a calf problem forced him to withdraw from Wimbledon last month. A 500-level event on hard courts, with only one of the Top 4 in the draw, would seem to be right in Nishikori’s wheelhouse. But last year’s U.S. Open runner-up has yet to reach a final during the summer hard-court season.

Also here: Jack Sock, Grigor Dimitrov, Marin Cilic, Bernard Tomic

Qualified: While Lleyton Hewitt picked up one last wild card here, it’s nice to see that another frequent recipient of them, Ryan Harrison, made it through the qualifiers.

First-round match to watch: Tommy Haas vs. Donald Young

Here in spirit: Three-time champion Juan Martin del Potro

Stanford, Calif.
$731,000; Premier
Hard
Draw is here

Like the Citi Open, the Bank of the West Classic has also had its profile lifted this decade. That’s due in large part to the regular presence of Serena Williams. The world No. 1 has won the tournament three of the last four years.

But Stanford will have to go without Serena in 2015. She pulled out last week, citing an elbow injury; this year, it’s obviously all about peaking for the U.S. Open for her. That will hurt TV ratings in Stanford, but the draw retains its interest for full-time tennis fans.

The Serena-less seeding list is still a solid and appealing one: Wozniacki, Radwanska, Suarez Navarro, Pliskova, Kerber, Petkovic, Keys, and Svitolina. Of those players, I’ll be most interested to see if Radwanska’s bounce-back at Wimbledon carries over here, and where Keys’ game is as the Open Series begins.

Wild Card of interest: Local favorite CiCi Bellis

Washington, D.C.
$250,000; International
Hard courts
Draw is here

Like Serena's pullout in Stanford, Victoria Azarenka's withdrawal from D.C. due to a shoulder injury has left the event with a little less star power. World No. 11 Ekaterina Makarova is the top seed, but of greater interest may be a few of the players who follow her on that list. No. 2 Sam Stosur is coming off a title this summer in Bad Gastein. No. 3 Belinda Bencic is a teenager in mid-rise, who will look to match her quarterfinal run at the U.S. Open next month. No. 8 CoCo Vandeweghe will make her first appearance since reaching the quarterfinals at Wimbledon and catapulting her ranking to No. 32.

And, just in case none of those players create enough drama for you, Alizé Cornet is in town, too.

Alliterative Americans to Watch: Sloane Stephens, Taylor Townsend

Kitzbuhel, Austria
$482,163; 250 ranking points
Clay
Draw is here

The official summer hard-court season has begun, but the unofficial clay-court summer interlude hasn’t faded away just yet. There’s still Kitzbuhel, the last chance for dirtballers to do their thing in 2015.

This year all eyes will be on a fairly new face. Dominic Thiem, who over the last two weeks has won two events and pushed his ranking up to No. 21—the same as his age—is the No. 1 seed. That’s perfect timing for the event, considering that Thiem is Austrian. We’ll see how he deals with being the favorite in front of his home-country fans.