ATP Singapore 2021

[PKBasu]

Yuki Bhambri makes his long-awaited tour comeback with a direct entry (using his protected ranking of 127) in the ATP Singapore Open 2021 (a one-off tour stop in the island-republic). Ramkumar Ramanathan has a wildcard into the single main draw, and there will be some Indian representation in the doubles too.

[sameerph]

Rohan Bopanna is there in the entry list with his Australian open partner Ben McLachlan and RamK/Purav have also got into main draw.

Balaji with Margaroli are 4 out and Yuki- Jeevan are 6 out. Hopefully one of these pairs get into main draw either directly or as wild cards.

Singles main draw cut has now gone way down to 175 now and qualifying draw down to 357.

[Dinesh]

Great news that we will have 2 players in the main draw. Wish Prajnesh had entered here but he committed to the Astana Challenger, instead. And, of course now this ATP event has subsided into a challenger level tournament with so many withdrawals.

[Rajiv]

Even VSP/Vishnu are in the alt list and are 8 out
Bala and partner are 1 out while Yuki/Jeevan are 3 out.

Bala could make the cut while Yuki/Jeevan could get WC's

[sameerph]

Great news that we will have 2 players in the main draw. Wish Prajnesh had entered here but he committed to the Astana Challenger, instead. And, of course now this ATP event has subsided into a challenger level tournament with so many withdrawals.

Yes, challenger level tournament but with ATP level points and prize money. So, unfortunate for both Prajnesh and Sumit to miss out.

[PKBasu]

Challenger-level tournament? How many Challengers have Marin Cilic (ex US Open champ), Felix Auger Aliassime (current AO last 16), Casper Ruud (ditto), Daniel Evans, Adrian Mannarino, John Millman, etc. in the field? (Those are the names still advertised on the ATP tournament site...).

[PKBasu]

Ok, it seems FAA and Ruud have withdrawn, but Daniil Medvedev (semifinalist at the AO, and world #4) has been given a wildcard and will be the top seed in singles. Cilic is the fourth seed.

[Rajiv]

Now @190 Ram too gets into the MD List, so probably his WC would go to another player.

Bala as expected makes the MD of Dbls while Yuki/Jeevan move up a spot to be 2 out.

[sameerph]

Ok, it seems FAA and Ruud have withdrawn, but Daniil Medvedev (semifinalist at the AO, and world #4) has been given a wildcard and will be the top seed in singles. Cilic is the fourth seed.

Evans also withdrew from here. Is Medvedev really travelling here after his AO high.

Still I would say the top 4 or so may be pretty good. But, below that the quality drops off compared to usual ATP main tour tournaments. A cut-off of 190 is what you will get at manyhigh level challengers in US and Europe.

[Dinesh]

2020 Pune ATP (strange to realize we had a tennis tournament in India during the pandemic year!) had a better cutoff (133) compared to this tournament, and we still have 2 days to go before the event kicks off, so there maybe more withdrawals. KAZ challenger which has a 23 player direct acceptance has a cut off of 209.

[Rajiv]

It is quite idiotic and naive to compare the situation in Feb 2020(Pune) with that off today, During Pune ATP for the whole world this was just another innocuous illness, nor were there any travel restrictions  and life was pretty much normal during Pune.

Due to exhemption from quarantine,  do you even know how grim the situation for players it is out there, they are virtually locked up, and only allowed to go at certain times to practice, Did these conditions even exist during Pune 2020 or anywhere in the world during that period.

If things were normal, Singapore ATP would be more glitzier and sought after tournament,  So stop criticizing and belittle the tournament and just be thankful we are having some Tennis in these unprecedented times.

[jayakris]

^^ Rajiv, I think Dinesh and others are not trying to belittle the tournament. More like showing the frustration on how this damn virus' effects won't go away. Of course, everybody knows that in the normal circumstances, an ATP event in Singapore would be so much more well-attended than any event we can organize in India.

[sameerph]

True, no question to belittle this tournament. I do not think anyone here has any reason for doing that. It is just stating a fact which brings out the strange way the ATP tour has to function these days. Comparision with last year's Pune ATP was probably not correct. But, if you compare it with same week's Challenger in Kazakhstan, the cut-off is only slightly worse than Singapore. It was not in the case at the time of intial entry lists but lot more players withdrew from Singapore than from Kazakastan challenger. Perhaps, it is easier to travel to Kazakshstan than Singapore. I am sure that the like so Prajnesh, Sumit and other Indian players would have entered Singapore ATP if they had known earlier that the cut for main draw and qualies would drop so much.

Again not blaming the tournament organisers but it is just the circumstances.

[Dinesh]

Bringing out entry list summaries is not necessarily criticizing, I’m merely just stating the facts. LOL. If anything, I love a tournament like this since it not only helps our lower ranked players but also the general lower ranked demographic - who supposedly need the money more than these top 50 players.

42 year old Japanese Matsui, ranked 804 in the world is one spot away from entering the Q draw.

Balaji just got married last week. Glad he has been keeping in shape to turn to work right away. I can’t wait to watch Yuki play, I hope they stream it on Tennis Channel.

[Dinesh]

Ohh we all can breathe a little, our champion Yuki is in Singapore based on his IG story.