The Olympics and 3 out of 4 Grand Slams are over so tennis must be over. Wr...
Each calendar year consists of four Grand Slams. We’ve already blown past three grand slams and the Olympics too. The unconverted would think it’s time to put the 2021 season to bed after the last grand competition in August. They’d be wrong.
Tennis fans will be pleased to know that there are a few
major tourneys on the horizon. Seven, to be precise, barring a catastrophic last-minute cancellation. Here’s a look at the remainder of the major tournaments in these final months of 2021.
1. US Open Grand Slam
The US Open is the fourth and final of the annual majors, running for two tantalizing weeks. This year’s session begins on 30th August, with Novak Djokovic, Serena Williams, and Rafael Nadal confirming their attendance.
It’s a hard court affair, with participants aiming to dethrone Dominic Thiem and Naomi Osaka in the male and female events. Like the other contests, some of the fields include:
- Men Singles and Doubles
- Women Singles and Doubles
- Boys Singles and Doubles
- Girls Singles and Doubles
- Wheelchair Women’s and Men’s Singles and Doubles
For the main event–the men’s and women’s singles–a participant must win six matches to reach the final. That assures them of the lions-share of the $50 million total prize money up for grabs. The icing on the cake is the 2,000 ranking points for the winner.
2. The ATP Masters 1000
These are a series of tournaments classified as the second most prestigious in men’s and women’s tennis. There would have been four contests remaining, but China grew jittery about the pandemic and canceled the Shanghai leg.
Novak Djokovic is the only player to hold the Career Golden Masters after winning all nine titles in 2018.
a. The Western & Southern Open
The outdoor hard court tourney is ongoing, having begun on 16th August and is scheduled to end on 22nd. Competitors will be fighting to oust Novak Djokovic and Victoria Azarenka from the coveted titles.
As the name suggests, champions march away with 1,000 ranking points. The male and female winners scoop $391,240 and $255,220, respectively.
b. The Indian Wells
Also known as the BNP Paribas Open, the annual event
will run from 4-17th October. Its defending champions are the 2019 champions, Dominic Thiem and Bianca Vanessa Andreescu.
Its lucrative total prize purse worth more than $9,000,000 is bound to have a few star attractions.
c. The Paris Masters
The final Master 1000 competition, the Rolex Paris Masters, airs from 1-7th November. Unlike the others, it’s a men’s only hard indoor tourney.
Rivals have to contend with the defending champion Daniil Medvedev for the prize purse worth at least €5,000,000.
3. Laver cup
The Laver Cup is an annual international team men’s tournament created in 2017 by Roger Federer.
A typical competition features two singles matches followed by four doubles contests featuring players not competing in singles play. After that, two legends teams play against each other and then alternating matchups between mixed pairs.
Each match has a best-of-three rubbers format–the first to win six points wins the game. At five games all, it goes to sudden death until someone takes a two-point lead.
Team World will try to pry the title away from Team Europe in this exciting competition starting 24th September.
4. Next Generation ATP Finals
The Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals runs from the second week of November in Italy. It’s an annual exhibition featuring seven of the world’s best male young competitors aged 21 and under, plus one wild card.
Although there are no ranking points awarded, it does contribute to the player’s win and loss record. Participants get a share of the $2,275,000 prize spoils.
If you have the betting chops, you can have massive fun predicting the victors in these tourneys. Tennis is a highly unpredictable game, which translates to saucy odds and healthy winnings when you land the right prediction.
Evelyn Balyton suggests throwing your hat into other potentially lucrative ventures, such as
NBA betting online. She’s the resident expert on NBA betting at Mightytips. Check out her profile
here.
5. The ATP Finals
The season-ending contest also happens to be one of the most prestigious in the entire calendar. Industry players refer to it as “the fifth grand slam.”
The Finals historically features the top eight singles and doubles teams according to ATP rankings. Turin, Italy, will host this year’s showpiece event, set to start on 14th November.
To underline its status in the tennis circuit, an undefeated winner of this lucrative tournament walks home with over $2 million. Doubles’ champion scoop more than $300,000.
The singles winner gets to add the ATP No. 1 and ATP Finals trophies to their cabinets.
Which competition are you looking forward to?
With three out of four Grand Slams and the Olympics done and dusted, the season isn’t over yet. Aficionados have at least seven more major contests to look forward to.
The headline act is undoubtedly the US Open, with healthy helpings of three mouthwatering Masters Tourneys. Fans should keep their eyes peeled for the Laver Cup and Next Gen ATP before the show-stopping ATP Finals.
