Porsche Grand Prix
Stuttgart, Germany
Indoor clay
$740,000; Premier
Draw is here
The first thing I noticed, or thought I noticed, on this draw sheet was that Caroline Wozniacki, Sam Stosur, and Na Li must have decided to skip town while no one was looking. None of these Top 10 players’ names appeared where they usually appear, on the second line, where the seeds who are given first-round byes always go. But a closer look revealed that all three are indeed here; they’ve just suffered the indignity of having to play first-round matches. This is an exclusive event, and no one outside of the Top 4—Azarenka, Sharapova, Kvitova, and Radwanska, who also happen to be the Top 4 players in the world at the moment—gets a free pass.
But it’s not a draw that lacks for storylines. They start at the top, with Vika: Now that the self-fulfilling momentum of her streak is over, can the standard of play that she established during it live on? Clay has never been her best surface, but it shouldn’t be kryptonite for her, either. If she can win on slow hard courts, she should be able to do it on dirt as well. Azarenka could get the newly returned crowd favorite Andrea Petkovic in her first match.
Next we have Radwanska. She is currently riding some momentum after her win in Miami, but her crafty counterpuncher’s style isn’t a perfect fit for this surface. The question for her is: Considering her relative lack of size and power, what is her ceiling? She seems already to have smashed through it many times to get to No. 4 in the world. Aga has a manageable draw. She’ll open against a qualifier, and the highest-ranked player in her section is Na Li. A semi against former friend Vika looms.
As for Wozniacki, you might wonder whether the glass is half-full or half-empty at the moment. Despite her loss in the final in Copenhagen to Kerber, I’m sticking with half-full over the longer term. She’s going to be working with Sven Groeneveld more seriously, which is good news. But she’s also not a dirtballer, she has a tough first round against Jelena Jankovic, and she could get Kerber after that. It’s hard to avoid people in this draw.
At the bottom are Kvitova, Stosur, Sharapova, and defending champ Julia Goerges. Of these, the most interesting case to me is Kvitova's. She bottomed out, as she tends to do, on U.S. hard courts, but she says she has made a concerted effort to get back in shape after suffering early season illness and injury. We’ll get an idea of which direction she’s heading this week. With her, it’s usually straight up or straight down.
Sleepers: A German, Goerges, won this last year, and this one has its share of potential native Cinderellas. Mona Barthel plays Ana Ivanovic first and could yet another shot at Azarenka after that. Kerber has Vinci and then the winner of Caro and JJ. Petkovic is healthy again. And Goerges has a winnable first round with Pavlyuchenkova for the right to play Sharapova.
For fans of all-Slovak first-round throwdowns: Hantuchova vs. Cibulkova