How good is the Rotterdam field? It has nine of the top 17 players

The February swing on the ATP Tour heats up this coming week with the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam.

It is without question one of the best 500 tournaments on the entire tennis calendar, with a whopping nine players in the top 17 set to take the court. Jannik Sinner is No. 17 in the world and is not even seeded; that’s just how loaded this tournament is. Stefanos Tsitsipas leads the way as the top seed at third in the rankings, followed by Andrey Rublev, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Holger Rune, Hubert Hurkacz, Daniil Medvedev, Pablo Carreno Busta, and Alexander Zverev.

Also in the draw are Sinner, Stan Wawrinka, Grigor Dimitrov, Alex de Minaur, Roberto Bautista Agut, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, Alexander Bublik, Maxime Cressy, Emil Ruusuvuori, and Dutchmen Botic Van de Zandschulp and Tim van Rijthoven.

Auger-Aliassime (2022), Rublev (2021), and Wawrinka (2015) are former champions.

Auger-Aliassime’s triumph last February (6-4, 6-2 over Tsitsipas in the final) marked the first ATP title of his career. That sent him on his way to three more individual titles in 2022 and he also led Canada to the Davis Cup championship. Wawrinka beat Tomas Berdych in the 2015 Rotterdam title match and the 37-year-old Swiss also reached the final in 2019, losing to Gael Monfils.

“We like to see our former winners return at the ABN AMRO Open,” tournament director Richard Krajicek commented. “Especially when it involves a player with the track record of Stan Wawrinka. His [three Grand Slam titles] actually speaks for itself. Every tournament and every fan will look forward to being able to see him in action live.”

Wawrinka will kick off his campaign against Bublik in the first round. Other intriguing openers are Tsitsipas vs. Ruusuvuori, Medvedev vs. Davidovich Fokina, Hurkacz vs. Bautista Agut, and Rublev vs. De Minaur. Tsitsipas and Sinner are on a collision course for the second round.

Ricky contributes to 10sballs.com and also maintains his own tennis website, The Grandstand. You can follow him on Twitter at @Dimonator.