Preview: Djokovic, Nadal and Barty all return for prime week of events

The stakes on both tours go up as February winds down. This week the women play their first Premier 5 level event, in Doha, while the top two men, Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, return for 500-level tournaments in Dubai and Acapulco. Indian Wells and—maybe, hopefully, possibly—spring are around the corner.

Before we get ahead of ourselves, though, here’s a look at the five events on tap this week.

Doha, Qatar

$3,240,445; Premier 5

Hard court

Draw is here

The courts have hardly had a chance to cool down in Dubai, but matches were already underway on Sunday in Doha. What’s the difference between the two tournaments? Essentially, Doha is Dubai times two—last week’s 28-player draw has grown to 56 this week, and the prize money has grown to $3.2 million.

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The players, not surprisingly, have followed. Ashleigh Barty, Karolina Pliskova, Belinda Bencic, Elina Svitolina, Sofia Kenin, Kiki Bertens, and Petra Kvitova round out the Top 8. No. 11 Garbiñe Muguruza is already through to the second round in three sets, over Daria Kasatkina. One big name who won’t be there is Simona Halep; she pulled out even before winning a long final in Dubai on Saturday. So far, the woman she beat, Elena Rybakina, is still in the field; she’s scheduled to face Sorana Cirstea in her opener.

Dubai, UAE

$2,950,420; 500 ranking points

Hard court

Draw is here

No rest for the weary, and not much more for the good, either. Three weeks after winning the Australian Open, Djokovic comes back to the tour as the top seed in Dubai. A few days after winning his first tournament of 2020, in Marseille, Stefanos Tsitsipas will take his place as the second seed here. Could we see a generational-battle final between them next weekend? The Serb and the Greek have split their four career meetings 2-2.

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But let’s not pencil Djokovic and Tsitsipas into the final quite yet. Gael Monfils, the No. 3 seed, is coming off back-to-back titles in Montpellier and Rotterdam. He’s on Djokovic’s side of the draw, and will start against Marton Fucsovics.

First-round matches to watch:

Tsitsipas vs. Pablo Carreño Busta

Fabio Fognini vs. Dan Evans

Acapulco, Mexico

$2,000,845; 500 ranking points

Hard court

Draw is here

The last time we saw Rafael Nadal in Acapulco, he was losing, unhappily, to Nick Kyrgios in the second round. The Spaniard and the Aussie return 12 months later, but this time they’re in opposite halves of the draw. Nadal, who, like Djokovic, will look to pick up some points this week, starts against Pablo Andujar. Kyrgios, who is defending 500 champion’s points, starts with a potential test against Ugo Humbert.

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But there’s more to the draw than just Rafa and Kyrgios. Last year’s runner-up, Alexander Zverev, is back, as are Stan Wawrinka, John Isner, Grigor Dimitrov, Felix Auger-Aliassime, and Reilly Opelka. FAA and Opelka don’t have byes, but they could use them after reaching the finals in Marseille and Delray, respectively, this weekend.

First-round matches to watch:

Nadal vs. Pablo Andujar

Kyrgios vs. Humbert

Santiago, Chile

$674,730; 250 ranking points

Red clay

Draw is here

The Golden Swing through South America comes to Santiago, for a tournament whose name doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue: the Chile Dove Men+Care Open.

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The top two seeds, fittingly, have been the top two performers on this clay-court mini-tour so far: Cristian Garin, champion in Cordoba and Rio, and Christian Ruud, champion in Buenos Aires.

Acapulco, Mexico

$275,000; International

Hard court

Draw is here

Sloane Stephens could use a win. She’s 0-3 so far in 2020, and ranked just 35th. Acapulco, where she was the champion in 2016 and where she’s the top seed this year, would seem to be a logical place for her to get her season into gear.

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Also here: Venus Williams, Coco Vandeweghe, and last year’s winner, Yafan Wang