While the majority of the players are already preparing for the All England Championships in Wimbledon, stars like Alexander Zverev and Juan Martin del Potro are using the preparation tournament The Boodles to gather practice on grass.
The danger of sitting underdressed in the stands at the “The Boodles” preparation tournament (live on DAZN) is quite high for the regular tennis fan: not only the players get the finishing touches for Wimbledon in Stoke Park, many spectators also practice the emergency – and present themselves in a dressing room that would also suffice for the final days at Church Road.
From a sporting point of view, the matches, which will take place from today’s Tuesday to Saturday, are lined up in a deer row with those at the Kooyong Classics before the Australian Open: world ranking points are not awarded, but a small protection money for a training session under competition conditions is.
This applies above all to those professionals whose lawn season has been very short or non-existent up to now: Alexander Zverev, for example, announced his appearance, as he did last year. The German number one played two sets in singles on Gras 2018, both losing against the later champion Borna Coric in Halle/Westphalia. The Hamburg native was able to use the rest of the week for training – after all, he and his brother Mischa made it to the final of the double.
Behind Zverev’s physical condition are small question marks after the efforts of the French Open, whether his matches at The Boodles can shed light on a lasting improvement.
Kevin Anderson, last year’s US open finalist and actually an expert on the green track, is looking for the disappointing interlude in the Queen´s Club (first-round knockout against Leonardo Mayer) that form that brought him to a sensation against Novak Djokovic three years ago, except for a few points.
Anderson will meet Fabio Fognini on Tuesday. He’s a stranger on grass.
Finally, Juan Martin del Potro has also announced himself. The Argentinean is scattering his 2018 bets very selectively, the very respectable results of the season – crowned with triumph at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Indian Wells, confirm del Potro right.
But the ladies will be the first: Andrea Petkovic will be the first player to enter the pitch, which is said to be exactly 24 miles from Wimbledon. Petkovic meets a woman who is just happy that she can play tennis again without any problems: Victoria Azarenka. And it won’t get any easier than in The Boodles.