There are 2 PTA 500 tournaments this coming week - one in Dubai and the other in Acapulco and here are the seedings of the Dubai Tournament:-
1 Novak Djokovic
2 Andrey Rublev
3 Felix Auger Aliassime
4 Jannik Sinner
5 Hubert Hurkacz
6 Denis Shapovalov
7 Aslan Karatsev
8 Roberto Bautista-Agut
This is going to be an eye-opener. In 2021 Djokovic took part in the Aussie Open and then went into hiding and not play in any tournament until the Monte Carlo Open where he was send packing by Daniel Evans in round 2 of that tournament. He then went back to Belgrade to play in a local tournament and lost against Karatsen - whom he beat in the semi in the Aussie Open. The is a difference though - both the two tournaments mentioned were on clay.
So what is the position at present. The last tournament Djokovic played in ended on 21 November 2021 and he was not really starring in that tournament. Went through to the semi's where he lost against Zverev on 20 November 2021. He played no competitive tennis since then and has been out of competition for three months. Will he be matchfit? S o lets wait and see what happens.
ROUND 2
QUARTERFINALS
Top Half of the DrawSEMIFINALS
SEMIFINALS
Unfortunately what I referred to above about Djokovic has materialized, He as not match-fit and the way he played against a completely unknown Vesely showed that clearly. As to Rublev he was atrocious in both the Round 2 and quarterfinal first sets and came back from the near death to win the second and third sets - indeed surprising he actually won the matches. I give him a near to zero chance to beat Hurkacz and if by sheer luck he wins in the semi- he has s similar chance in the final.
There is to my mind a three player way chance of winning the tournament - it is between Rublev, Hurkacz and Denis Shapovalo. However - I would say that Hurkacz is no 1, Shapovalov is no 2 and Rublev no 3 in that stakes.
FINAL
2 Andrey Rublev vs Jiri Vesely
I was wrong about Rublev losing to Hurkacz - he played against him twice before and was twice beaten by him. Rublev seems to play the tennis he played in 2020 and there is a vast difference in his approach to the game.
The other game after Shapovalov led 5-4 serving for the match lost his serve. Thereafter he lost in the third set tie-break.
Having beaten Hurkacz Rublev must be the favorite to win the Final.
So Rublev is back - two championships in two weeks is not won easy especially as in the past three weeks Rublev played in the semi's of three successive tournaments. He not only won the Marseilles single tournament - he also played in the doubles and won that trophy as well. Congrats to the guy.
Jerry Vesely did only lose one service game in 4 matches and broke many services. Today Rublev won four service breaks and lost one in a match where he seems to be in charge all the time.
I think that on the performance today Djokovic would not have beaten Rublev anyway,