The 2017 edition of the Rio Open features two top-10 players, and then no one else inside the top 20. Either a prime figure on tour will win this event, or a dirt-loving clay specialist will take home the trophy, offering an intriguing contrast for fans in the heart of Brazil’s most internationally known city, the host of the recent 2016 Olympics. If you were hoping that one of the Top 10 players at this event was one of the big boys, it is not. There’s no Andy Murray, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal or Novak Djokovic here. Each of those four big brand names will be skipping the event in Rio de Janeiro. However, we will see Kei Nishikori and Dominic Thiem. These two games are quality players but both always seem to fall short at the grand slams. They are still in the Top 10 because they do well at tournaments like this and eat up the field when they’re the top dogs. It would be a surprise if one of these two players didn’t capture the 2017 ATP Rio Open.
The competition in the 32-player main draw begins on Monday, February 20.
Event Details
Event: Rio Open
Category: ATP World Tour – 500 Series
Date: February 20 – 26, 2017
Location: Jockey Club Brasileiro – Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
With a prize money allotment of just over $1.4 million, the 500-point tournament isn’t in the same league as the upcoming Dubai ATP 500 event, but as is the case with other events in the winter portion of the season, the European and Middle Eastern events draw bigger fields to hardcourt tournaments. The South American events aren’t as funded and are more for clay-court specialists at a point in the calendar which is outside the heart of the clay season. This is what one could reasonably call a “niche” event, and that will lead to a lesser prize purse. This is still an attraction for clay-courters. It’s not as though this is chump change. It’s just not the same as Dubai a week later, which will offer at least another million dollars in prizes. The 500-point rankings boost is also a considerable incentive for this tournament, regardless of the money.
Points
Champion – 500
Runner-up – 300
Semifinal – 180
Quarterfinal – 90
Round of 16 – 45
Former Champions and Results (5 Years)
Year Champion Runner-up Score
2016 – Pablo Cuevas def. Guido Pella – 6-4, 6-7, 6-4
2015 – David Ferrer def. Fabio Fognini – 6-2, 6-3
2014 – Rafael Nadal def. Alexandr Dolgopolov – 6-3, 7-6
Player Info:
It’s a showcase of two players more than any others: Kei Nishikori is seeded first, Dominic Thiem second. Nishikori has made a major final, Thiem a major semifinal last year at the French Open. The only other seeded player to make a major semifinal at this tournament is David Ferrer, who is seeded sixth but is outside the top 25 and is clearly wearing down at this stage of his career. Nishikori and Thiem stand above the rest of the field in terms of talent and accomplishments, with the exception of Ferrer.
Thiem arrives at this tournament at a disadvantage relative to Nishikori. Whereas Nishikori played the previous week in Buenos Aires, Argentina, Thiem stayed in Europe on indoor hardcourts at the Rotterdam event. He’s making the long flight to South America instead of going to Dubai for another hardcourt tournament. This is the crazy, compact scheduling which wore down Thiem late last season.
The other players of note beyond Nishikori, Thiem and Ferrer are third-seeded Pablo Cuevas, the defending champion and an above-average clay specialist; and Pablo Carreno Busta, who steadily built up his ranking to 25 after a strong 2016 season and is trying to climb into the top 15 by the end of the 2017 season.
Jockey Club Brasileiro
The club, which claims to have 5,700 members, was founded in 1932 – that’s the organization and its history. A racetrack was built in 1926, and the club formed around it. In time, the club created facilities which can host several different kinds of sports. Tennis is one of them, in a multi-claycourt layout as part of the sprawling nature of the architecture on club grounds. Members partake of these sports year-round, but this week, the clay-court tennis world comes to the Jockey Club for dual tournaments on the ATP and WTA Tours.
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