The 2016 edition of the Citi Open comes earlier than it normally would on the calendar. This tournament would generally be played at the very end of July and the very beginning of August. However, the staging of the Summer Olympic tennis tournament has compressed the calendar. Lots of players will quickly transition from the short grass season to hardcourts. Because the top ATP players (Andy Murray played in this tournament last year) won’t be on hand, the people in this tournament have a big opportunity.
The competition in the 48-player main draw began on Monday, July 18.
Event Details
Event: Citi Open
Category: ATP World Tour – 500 Series
Date: July 18 – 24, 2016
Location: William H.G FitzGerald Tennis Center – Washington, D.C.
With a prize money allotment of just over $1,629,000, the 500-point tournament doesn’t offer as much of a purse as the Dubai ATP 500 event, but it’s still fairly substantial for any of the players who participate in the event. Before the Masters 1000 events in Canada and Cincinnati, this is a chance for players to pick up a significant amount of points, affecting their ability in some cases to qualify for the Masters; avoid qualifying in the Masters and proceed directly to the main draw; or get a seed in a Masters tournament and thereby earn a first-round bye.
The points structure under the ATP system is that the championship means 500 points. A runner-up finish is worth 300. A semifinal result is 180 points, and a quarterfinal appearance offers 90 points. A round-of-16 results provides 45 points.
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2015 – Kei Nishikori def. John Isner – 4-6, 6-4, 6-4
2014 – Milos Raonic def. Vasek Pospisil – 6-1, 6-4
2013 – Juan Martin del Potro def. John Isner – 3-6, 6-1, 6-2
2012 – Alexandr Dolgopolov def. Tommy Haas – 6-7, 6-4, 6-1
2011 – Radek Stepanek def. Gael Monfils – 6-4, 6-4
Player Info:
It’s a very solid field which will gather in America’s capital city for this tournament. Five players in the ATP top 20 will be here: Tomas Berdych will be the top seed. John Isner is the second seed. Gael Monfils will be third. Nick Kyrgios will be fourth, a real ticket-selling magnet for fans in Washington, D.C. Bernard Tomic rounds out the group in the top 20. He’ll be the No. 5 seed.
Berdych had a strong run at Winbledon and will be looking to keep his momentum going. Isner had a solid grass court season too and will try to challenge here. Kyrgios is always a wild card while Monfils tends to be sharper on other surfaces.
Four players ranked between 20 and 29 will be here. Benoit Paire is the sixth seed. Steve Johnson is the seventh seed. Jack Sock is the eighth seed. Sam Querrey, who upset Novak Djokovic at Wimbledon, is the ninth seed. Six players ranked between 30 and 39 are in this tournament. Kevin Anderson is the tenth seed. Viktor Troicki is eleventh. Alexandr Dolgopolov is the No. 12 seed. Grigor Dimitrov is the No. 13 seed. Ivo Karlovic is the No. 14 seed. Gilles Muller is the No. 15 seed. Marcos Baghdatis is the 16th and final seed, the No. 43 player in the world. All 16 seeds get a first-round bye and will need only five wins to win the tournament, not six.
William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center
The William H.G. FitzGerald Tennis Center is a public tennis facility in Washington, D.C. It has a stadium court with 7,500 seats. There are 15 hard courts which facilitate the staging of this event, which requires a large first and second round. There are also 10 clay courts and five indoor courts. The indoor courts are heated and that’s where everyone flocks to play in the winter.
The court is named after a Washington-based private investor, who was a prominent financial figure locally. He also served as ambassador to Ireland.
Remember that since we’re playing on the hard surfaces here, you’re going to want to focus on betting players who do well on this type of surface. That means players who rely on big serves and strong first serves are the ones that do well here. Players who rely on speed and defense are better bets during the clay-court season and are better to avoid here.
