Week in Preview: Djokovic, Kerber aim for turnarounds at Eastbourne

Eastbourne is the last-chance saloon of grass-court tournaments. For players looking for a last-minute tune-up before the Championships at Wimbledon, it’s pretty much the only game in town, or out of town. That’s doubly true in 2017, when this little seaside town event will be headlined by two big stars in desperate need of some tuning up, Novak Djokovic and Angelique Kerber. Here’s a look at who else in the Eastbourne fields, and in this week’s men’s grass event in Turkey.

Aegon International Eastbourne (WTA)

*Eastbourne, England

$753,900; Premier

Grass

Draw is here*

Eastbourne is a small town and a small site, but a big field travels there for its WTA event. This year’s 56-player draw includes Kerber, wild card Simona Halep, French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, local favorite Johanna Konta, world No. 3 Karolina Pliskova, French Open semifinalist Timea Bacsinszky, French quarterfinalist Kristina Mladenovic, Garbiñe Muguruza, Caroline Wozniacki and Birmingham champion Petra Kvitova.

Kerber reached the Eastbourne final in 2012 and 2014, but if she was looking for a place to get in a few quick wins and maybe a title before defending her runner-up finish at Wimbledon, this might not be the place for her. Still, after getting a tough draw and losing in the first round in Paris, she’ll probably be happy to start against either Naomi Broady or Kristyna Pliskova here.

First-round matches to watch:

—Barbora Strycova vs. Genie Bouchard

—Naomi Osaka vs. Riza Ozaki, in an all-Japanese affair

American to watch: CiCi Bellis. The teenager, who is having a sneaky-good season, will start Julia Goerges.

Potential third-round match with ramfications: Konta vs. Ostapenko

Aegon International Eastbourne (ATP)

*Eastbourne, England

$693,910; 250 ranking points

Grass

Draw is here*

Djokovic has traditionally skipped the Wimbledon warm-up events. After two months of heavy competition on clay, he didn’t feel like he needed the matches, and he was usually right. This time, though, after his disappointing quarterfinal effort against Dominic Thiem at Roland Garros, the Serb is looking to mix it up, and he’s probably right again. A title, or even just some positive play, could help him turn the page after Paris and give him a boost for Wimbledon. He’ll start against either Jiri Vesely or Vasek Pospisil.

Also here: Gael Monfils, John Isner, Steve Johnson, Sam Querrey, Mischa Zverev.

Player to watch: Daniil Medvedev. This talented but unorthodox young Russian pushed Grigor Dimitrov to three sets at Queen's Club. He opens against Querrey this week.

Antalya Open (ATP)

*Antalya, Turkey

$550,000; 250 ranking points

Grass

Draw is here*

Before I clicked on the draw for this event, I wondered who would be heading to Turkey the week before Wimbledon. I should have known: Thiem, the man who would play 52 weeks of the year if he could, is the top seed.

Also here: Paolo Lorenzi, Fernando Verdasco, David Ferrer.

LIVE this week on Tennis Channel Plus: 20 hours of live match coverage from The Boodles.

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