Scouting Report: Fritz and Paul compete at Eastbourne; Shelton leads in Mallorca | ATP Tour

Scouting Report

Fritz and Paul compete in Eastbourne; Shelton leads in Mallorca

A summary of what every fan should know about next week

June 23, 2024

The grass season continues on the ATP Tour this week at the Rothesay International and Mallorca Championships.

Two-time champion Taylor Fritz and American Tommy Paul compete in Eastbourne, where Francisco CerÚndolo returns as defending champion at the ATP 250. Ben Shelton leads the Mallorca team, with Ugo Humbert also in action.

ATPTour.com reviews 10 things to take into account in the two events.

FIVE THINGS TO SEE IN EASTBOURNE

1) Fritz Goes For The Hat-Trick: Top-seeded Fritz has a 9-2 record in his four appearances at the ATP 250, where he lifted the trophy in 2019 and 2022, the latter a week before his quarterfinals at Wimbledon. The American, seeking his second title of the year, has not won the same event three times in his career.

2) Defending Champion Cerúndolo Leads the Seeds: Paul, Alexander Bublik and Cerúndolo want to expand their record on grass. Cerúndolo won his first grass title last year by beating Paul in the Eastbourne final. Halle 2023 champion Bublik, who has reached two other grass finals, is participating in Eastbourne for the third time.

3) Son Lidera At Los Aspirantes In Jeddah: #NextGenATP Arthur Fils looks to increase his significant lead in the PIF ATP Live Race to Jeddah. The 20-year-old, who aspires to return to the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, leads second place, Jakub Mensik, by more than 320 points. Fils arrives in Eastbourne after reaching the quarter-finals in Halle, the best result of his career on grass.

4) Watch With ‘ZZZ’: Zhang Zhizhen, a quarter-finalist last year, achieved one of the biggest wins of his career in Halle, where he defeated world No. 5 Daniil Medvedev en route to the semi-finals. Zhang is on the verge of breaking into the Top 35 of the PIF ATP Rankings and aims to build on this momentum.

5) Nishikori Returns To The Pasture: Japanese star and former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori will contest his first grass-court event since Wimbledon 2021. The 34-year-old reached the Eastbourne semi-finals in 2011 and now, 13 years later, Nishikori returns to the ATP 250 where he will be his third tournament of the year.

FIVE THINGS TO SEE IN MALLORCA

1) Shelton Wants His First Victory On Pasture In 2024: After his early eliminations in Stuttgart and Queen’s Club, Shelton is looking for his first victory of the season on grass in Mallorca and the third of his career on this type of surface. The top seed won at Queen’s and Wimbledon last year, but he has yet to win multiple matches in a grass-court tournament. He will debut against Luca Nardi or Rinky Hijikata in Spain.

2) Monfils And Thiem Say Present: Mallorca’s first round popcorn match will see sixth seed Gael Monfils take on wild card Dominic Thiem. Thiem leads their ATP Head2Head 6-0, with their most recent meeting at the 2020 Australian Open – but they have never met on grass before. Both players are competing on this surface for the first time this season.

3) Humbert, Mannarino Complete The French Seed Trio: Second-seeded Humbert and third-seeded Adrian Mannarino join Monfils among the French seeds in the ATP 250 draw. Both Humbert and Mannarino will try to make up for their opening defeat at Queen’s. Before that, Humbert was a semi-finalist in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, where Mannarino reached the round of 16.

4) Carballes Baena Leads the Spaniards: Five Spaniards (plus those qualified) will compete at home, in Mallorca, led by Robert Carballes Baena, No. 62 in the PIF ATP Rankings. RCB will face his compatriot and wild card Pablo Carreno Busta in the first round. They are accompanied by Jaume Munar (against Sebastian Ofner), Pedro Martínez (against Luciano Darderi) and Roberto Bautista Agut (against Taro Daniel) in the singles draw.

5) Candidates from the same country in Doubles: The top three doubles seeds share the flag. The Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow are the first seeds, followed by the Belgians Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen, and the French Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul. Indian Yuki Bhambri, who won the Mallorca 2023 doubles title with Lloyd Harris, will partner this year with Frenchman Albano Olivetti.