States and schedule: what awaits our leading tennis players in the USA

After catching their breath after Wimbledon, the tennis players embark on a North American tour, which will end with the US Open. There are three important stops on the tour schedule until the last Grand Slam tournament of the season. The overseas trip will begin on July 21 in Washington, where the WTA 500 and ATP 500 tournaments will be held. After that, there will be two "thousandth" / "Masters" — the Canadian Open (girls will play in Montreal this year, men in Toronto) and competitions in Cincinnati. Izvestia talks about the layouts for the leaders of Russian tennis.

Almost a thousand

After the disastrous Wimbledon, Daniil Medvedev lost his place in the top 10 of the ATP rankings. He is currently ranked 14th. He took his defeat in the first round of the grass major against the 64th racket of the world Benjamin Bonzi calmly and with hope for a bright future.:

— I lost to Seibot Wild and others, but then I reached the semifinals of Wimbledon and the US Open. We just need to play better against such opponents. With Bonzi, from the very first prank, I felt: No matter what I did, the ball didn't slip on the grass as I would have liked. I couldn't make it difficult for him, but he did. I fought, I tried. I should have played better in the tie-breaks. The result is on the scoreboard — we need to work on the game against such opponents, especially on the hard court.

Now he has a great chance to improve the situation in the ranking even before the start of the US Open. He just doesn't have much to lose. A year ago, Medvedev flew to North America after a lackluster performance at the Paris Olympics. Prior to the major tournament, the Russian had not won a single match: early departures in Montreal and Cincinnati. The density on the outskirts of the top ten is high, so we need to take advantage of this opportunity.

After Wimbledon, Daniil had more time to reboot than Karen Khachanov or Andrey Rublev. Plus, the victory in the exhibition match for the King's Cup in Spain, where he beat Alejandro Davidovich-Fokin in three sets, should add positive emotions. Of course, we shouldn't expect a rise like the one in 2019, when Medvedev reached the finals of all four major autumn North American tournaments. However, Daniel is in a good position to break through.

Paris draw: Medvedev faces tough opponents at Roland Garros

Four Russians and 12 Russians recognized the first opponents at the dirt major in the French capital

The situation is more complicated for the first racket of Russia and the 10th racket of the world Andrey Rublev. Last summer, he did not go to the Olympics in Paris, but performed quite well in North America: he reached the quarterfinals in Washington and Cincinnati, and in Montreal he lost only in the title match to Australian Alexei Popyrin. Thus, before the US Open, Andrei needs to defend 950 points, so it will be difficult to climb up, but it will not be difficult to fall down.

Andrey's North American tour started this week. The Russian entered the ATP 250 tournament in Los Cabos, where he was seeded at number one. However, it was not possible to win in Mexico. After two wins at the start over opponents noticeably inferior in class, Andrey lost in the semifinals to Aleksandar Kovacevich in the semifinals.

Then he will follow the same path as Daniel: Washington, Toronto, Cincinnati. There won't be many top players in the U.S. capital yet, so the Russians have fairly high seeding numbers: Rublev's 5th and Medvedev's 8th. But in subsequent tournaments, the grid will be more difficult for both of them.

The path to the final

On Monday, July 14, Mirra Andreeva climbed to the fifth place in the women's ranking. In North America, she has a good opportunity to secure a ticket to the final tournament: in the WTA race, she is in high fifth place in the singles ranking and third in the doubles with Diana Schneider.

Before the US Open, Mirra is scheduled to attend the "thousandths" in Montreal and Cincinnati, but she skips the WTA 500 in Washington. However, she doesn't need to protect a lot of points right now. A year ago, after the silver Olympics in Paris, she was not too eager for the ranking, having played before the New York major only in Cincinnati. There she reached the quarterfinals, where she lost in three sets to world number one Iga Sventek. Now she needs to defend 215 points in two tournaments, provided that the grids for them should be easier than last summer (Andreeva will also burn 250 points for last year's title in Romania).

Andreeva feels good on fast American courts. This season, she won the "thousandth" in Indian Wells, where she arrived after a victorious tournament in Dubai in the same category. The main thing now is to move on from her defeat at Wimbledon, where she lost to Belinda Bencic in two tiebreaks in the quarterfinals.

— I had a hard day in the quarterfinals, but I will definitely take a lot of positivity out of these two weeks. We will move on and progress," Mirra said after the match. — First, I'll talk to Conchita (Martinez) — we'll discuss the match, my feelings, her opinion and mine. Then I'll try not to think about tennis for a couple of days, not to pick up a racket. Over time, you let go, and when you go on the court, you realize that there is no point in getting angry because of defeats. We need to practice and improve the game.

Fatal breaks: Mirra Andreeva lost offensively in 1/4 of Wimbledon

She won back a serve for the match, but still lost to Bencic, Samsonova gave a fight to Sventek

The status of the second racket of Russia is still held by Diana Schneider, who occupies the 15th place in the ranking. But her singles season is getting unstable. This also reflects her position in the WTA race — 20th place. Above her in this list of Russians is not only Mirra Andreeva, but also Ekaterina Alexandrova (11) and Lyudmila Samsonova (15).

Before the New York Major, Schneider needs to defend 760 points. Last summer, she played in the semifinals of the "thousandth" in Toronto and reached the third round in Cincinnati, and also won the title in Budapest. Diana is scheduled to begin her North American tour at a tournament in Washington. Ekaterina Alexandrova has also been announced in the US capital, who does not need to protect a large number of glasses. However, the Russian needs to prove herself in the coming month in order to break into the top 8 tennis players to participate in the final tournament.