- Sven Tennis • Day 13 • Melbourne • We Heart AO, and Some Bad News
- Rising Tennis Stars Photo Gallery • Auger-Aliassime, Shapovalov, Sinner, Tsitsipas and More
- Australian Open Tennis 2021 Quarantine Off To Ominous Start, 47 Players And Counting Already Impacted
- Sven Tennis • Day 12/13 • Not The Start We All Wanted
- Tennis • Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov Headline Melbourne 1 • Rafa Nadal and Novak Djokovic set for ATP Cup
- Sven Tennis • Day 11/12 • Australian Open • Hotel Room Quarantine
- Sven Tennis • Day 11 • Travel Day #2 • Welcome to Melbourne
- Sven Tennis • Day 11 • Travel Day #1 • Doha to Melbourne
- Sven Tennis • Day 10 • Recovery and Travel Day
- Ymer, Alcaraz Qualify for Australian Open Tennis Main Draw, Join Veterans Stakhovsky and Tomic
- Andy Murray Hit By Covid Ahead Of Australian Open Tennis
- De Minaur Triumphs In Antalya, Hurkacz Holds Off Korda For Delray Beach Tennis
- Sven Tennis • Day 9 • 3rd Round At The Australian Open Tennis Qualifiers
- Bernie Tomic, Dustin Brown, Taro Daniel, and Viktor Troicki Part of Final Round at Australian Open Tennis Qualifying
- Updated Tennis Draws, Results And Order Of Play For Jan. 13th • Antalya Open and Delray Beach
ATP Men’s Tennis Is Officially Back! Cincinnati Qualifying Begins And Main Draw Revealed
- Updated: August 20, 2020

By Ricky Dimon
For any harcore tennis fan, today is like being a kid on Christmas.
Well, maybe not quite to that extent…but it’s exciting!
Men’s tennis is officially back, as the first draw ceremony since February took place at the Western & Southern Open on Thursday evening. Combined with qualifying matches going on throughout the day, festivities inside the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center bubble made the return of men’s tennis a reality.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic is obviously the top seed and he awaits either Tommy Paul or a qualifier for his first match since capturing the Dubai title on Feb. 29. The Serb is 18-0 this season, having also led Serbia to an inaugural ATP Cup triumph to go along with another victorious run at the Australian Open. Djokovic could face Felix Auger-Aliassime in the third round and 2019 Cincinnati runner-up David Goffin in the quarterfinals.
Also in the top half is defending champion Daniil Medvedev, whose 2019 summer hot streak not only featured his first Masters 1000 title but also runner-up performances at the Rogers Cup and the U.S. Open. The fifth-ranked Russian’s section also includes Karen Khachanov and Roberto Bautista Agut.

Dominic Thiem, who played more exhibition matches than anyone throughout the five-month coronavirus hiatus, headlines the bottom half of the bracket as the No. 2 seed. It is the opposite side of the third-ranked Austrian’s quarter, however, that is especially intriguing. That eighth of the draw is home to Alexander Zverev, Andrey Rublev, Andy Murray, and Frances Tiafoe. Murray and Tiafoe are going head-to-head in round one, with the winner to meet Zverev in the last 32.
Stefanos Tsitsipas’ section is not quite as loaded, but the Greek could have a tough time of things against former Cincinnati runner-up John Isner in the third round. If there is one thing you can count on having not gone anywhere in five months away from the game, it is Isner’s serve. Fellow big servers Kevin Anderson and Reilly Opelka are unseeded threats who could do some damage in the Tsitsipas-Isner quarter.
In qualifying action on Thursday, among the winners were Ricardas Berankis, Aljaz Bedene, Marton Fucsovics, Jordan Thompson, Soonwoo Kwon, J.J. Wolf, Jaume Munar, Mackenzie McDonald, Thiago Monteiro, and Emil Ruusuvuori.
Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on twitter at @Dimonator.