Rafael Nadal fell from the final frame of the Rotterdam ATP 500 before the start of the tournament to recover from the back pain that affected his physical condition during the Australian Open. But the loss of the Balearic is not the only sign that the incorrect preparation of the oceanic Grand Slam is wreaking havoc on the physique of tennis players, since many rackets from the noble zone of the ranking will not be in the Dutch tournament.
Among the most prominent names are those of Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils, Denis Shapovalov, Milos Raonic, Pablo Carreño, Casper Ruud, Taylor Fritz, Jannik Sinner or Nick Kyrgios, among others. Some casualties due to physical discomfort that are added to the absences of other important players who for calendar reasons decided not to be from the game in Rotterdam: Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer, Dominic Thiem …
Medvedev and Tsitsipas, forced to respond
Faced with this panorama of significant absences, the favoritism of those who will be the first seeds in the Dutch event grows exponentially: Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. The Russian will debut against the Serbian Dusan Lajovic, and it will not be until the final rounds when important rivals appear for his part of the table, such as Felix Auger-Aliassime, Roberto Bautista or Alexander Zverev, their greatest threat. While the Greek, driven like Medvedev by his good performance in Melbourne Park, will make his debut against Egor Gerasimov in a lower part of the table where there are alternatives that can stand up to him as Stan Wawrinka, David Goffin or Andrey Rublev. In the absence of Big Three, good are these names …