ROSMALEN CHAMPIONSHIP: With the end of the French Open in sight, the start of the grass-court season is just around the corner. Some players will be taking a short break with such a quick turnaround from the French open, but a selection of the world’s best will still be on show in the Netherlands this week.
Tim van Rijthoven – Defending champion
Tim van Rijthoven heads back to his home country in this tournament to defend a title which very few people would have predicted him to win last year.
Before 2022, van Rijthoven was not a household name on the ATP Tour, having never won an ATP title and holding a ranking of 205th when he headed into last year’s Rosmalen Championships.
The Dutchman was a wildcard but he started to gather attention after beating Taylor Fritz to win the quarterfinals. He carried on his momentum to beat the world number nine Félix Auger-Aliassime in the semis, and defeated world number two Daniil Medvedev in straight sets in the final.
Van Rijthoven has not played on the ATP Tour since February so he does not have a lot of match practice heading into his title defence. Having reached the fourth round at Wimbledon last year, a respectable attempt at a title defence here could give him the start to the grass-court season he needs to kick on again at Wimbledon.
Daniil Medvedev – Back for more
Daniil Medvedev entered last year’s Rosmalen Championships as the top seed and was performing as expected as he reached the final, before meeting the aforementioned van Rijthoven who inflicted a shock defeat on the world number two.
Medvedev has had a very impressive season on the ATP Tour with four titles from five finals to his name already. But all of these titles have come on the hard court, and grass has not been Medvedev’s strongest surface over the years. The Russian has never made it past the fourth round at Wimbledon and he has just one ATP title on grass.
Medvedev will certainly be hoping to go one better than last year to bag his fifth win of the year and give himself the perfect building block for a grass-court season, which he will ultimately want to end with an improved performance at Wimbledon.
Félix Auger-Aliassime – One step further
Félix Auger-Aliassime was another who fell in the wake of a rampant van Rijthoven in 2022, losing out to the Dutchman in the semi-finals. The young Canadian was second seed last year and will be up there again this year, hoping to go at least one step further.
Although he is still only 22-years-old, Auger-Aliassime is vastly experienced, having won his first ATP Challenger title back in 2017 at the age of just 16. Although he has not yet kicked on fully to win a Grand Slam he has steadily improved and now sits 10th in the World Rankings with four ATP Tour titles to his name.
The Canadian has struggled for form this year, most recently failing to make it past the first round at the French Open, and will be looking to rectify that heading in to the grass-court season.
Auger-Aliassime has never won an ATP Title on grass and a slightly weakened field could provide him with the perfect chance to do so here. However, he will certainly be hoping to avoid Daniil Medvedev, against whom he has a career record of no wins and six losses, but if Medvedev makes an earlier than expected exit, Auger-Aliassime will certainly be next in line.
Alex de Minaur – Consistency is key
Alex de Minaur is certainly not a flashy entertainer on the Tour, but one of his key qualities is his consistency in defensive, safe play. He also possesses great speed which is a key component of grass court tennis, and has earned him the title of ‘The Speed Demon’ on the tour.
De Minaur does have a grass-court title to his name and it is one of seven titles, a respectable figure for a player who is still only 24 years of age.
De Minaur was the fourth seed in last year’s competition but he didn’t live up to expectations after being knocked out by the unseeded Adrian Mannarino. Likely to be high in the seeding again, de Minaur will certainly be hoping to make it through the earlier rounds and mix in with the bigger names later on.
It has been over 20 years since an Australian player has won this tournament, and a certain Pat Rafter used to dominate it, completing a hattrick of titles from 1998 to 2000. De Minaur will be hoping to do the Australians proud here and bring Rosmalen Championship success back to the Southern Hemisphere.
