The 2018 Brisbane International tournament is one of three main ATP Tour warm-up events for the 2018 Australian Open. Players return to the court after six to eight weeks away from the sport. Some had to nurse injuries. Some had the chance to practice on their games. Some took time away from tennis to decompress and seek life-work balance. Pros all come back to the tennis season in January from a range of different perspectives. Now begins the new chase and the urgent task of getting ready for the two weeks of major-tournament play in Melbourne.
The competition in the 28-player main draw begins on Sunday, December 31, 2017.
Event Details
Event: Brisbane International
Category: ATP 250 Series
Date: December 31, 2017 – January 7, 2018
Location: Queensland Tennis Centre – Brisbane, Australia
The 2018 Brisbane International
With a prize money allotment of just over $468,000, this is a standard ATP 250 purse, but actually a little less lucrative than the event in Pune, India ($501,000) and noticeably less than the unusually rich event in Doha ($1.286M). The advantage of playing in Brisbane is that players are already in Australia and have a very short commute to Melbourne. They can get used to Australian heat and other conditions instead of having to travel a long way from India or Qatar to Melbourne. That is the main attraction here.
Points
Champion – 250
Runner-up – 150
Semifinal – 90
Quarterfinal – 45
Former Champions and Results
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2017: Grigor Dimitrov def. Kei Nishikori, 6-2, 2-6, 6-3
2016: Milos Raonic def. Roger Federer 6-4, 6-4
2015: Roger Federer def. Milos Raonic 6-4, 6-7, 6-4
2014: Lleyton Hewitt def. Roger Federer 6-1, 4-6, 6-3
2013: Andy Murray def. Grigor Dimitrov 7-6, 6-4
Player Info:
This is a very good field. Grigor Dimitrov is the top seed and ranked No. 3 in the world after his stirring ATP Finals championship run. Dimitrov withstood inspired efforts from Jack Sock in the semifinals and David Goffin in the final to win the biggest title of his career. He has a lot of talent – no one disputes this. Can he fight well enough and hold his nerves in important tournaments? This is not an important tournament in the bigger picture, but Dimitrov is trying to build better habits. He certainly became better at the end of 2017. Can he remain strong at the start of 2018?
Andy Murray is the second seed, but he is ranked No. 16 after missing the second half of the tennis season due to injury. He missed every tournament after Wimbledon with a hip injury which prevented his body from rotating into and through groundstrokes with the force needed to hit shots at a high level. He is still not 100 percent and has had to limit his training schedule in the offseason, both signs that he is not likely to do much in Australia, if he even chooses to compete in the Australian Open. This week in Brisbane is very uncertain. The main thing is to preserve health and not overextend.
Nick Kyrgios is the third seed and a player who has tremendous ability but a lot of injury questions of his own. Kyrgios has to establish a stronger base of fitness – reliable enough to carry him through whole tournaments – if he is to fulfill his promise. It is hard to think that he will be able to reach that level of physical wellness in 2018. It might be a longer-term goal than he or his staff realize.
Milos Raonic also got overwhelmed by injuries last year. He is one of several prominent ATP players who just need to play injury-free for a season, in order to have a chance to build career-sustaining momentum. Raonic will have a good tournament if he can play two injury-free matches and leave Brisbane healthy.
Gilles Muller beat Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon last year and enjoyed one of his best seasons on tour. In his mid-30s, the man from Luxembourg can still play attacking serve-and-volley tennis with the aggression needed to put his opponents on their heels. Muller did, however, run out of steam at the U.S. Open last September. Will he be refreshed or rusty in this tournament at the start of a new year?
Queensland Tennis Centre
Marked by a main stadium court and two other show courts, this decade-old facility has temporary seating which can boost the normal stadium court’s 5,500-seat capacity to 7,000 if need be. The central stadium court also has a fabric roof to allow for indoor play if needed.
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