Scouting Report: Sinner, Alcaraz headline at Halle, Queen's Club

pThe grass-court season continues with ATP 500 events at Halle and Queenrsquo;s Club. Many of the sportrsquo;s biggest stars, including World No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/jannik-sinner/s0ag/overview'Jannik Sinner/a and World No. 2 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/carlos-alcaraz/a0e2/overview'Carlos Alcaraz/a will be in action./p pThere is plenty at stake at the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/halle/500/overview'Terra Wortmann Open/a and the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/london/311/overview'Cinch Championships/a. Who will battle through the loaded fields?/p pATPTour.com looks at five things to watch at each tournament./p div style="position: relative; display: block; max-width: 100%;" div style="padding-top: 56.25%;" iframe src="https://players.brightcove.net/6057277721001/8gZSNwgH_default/index.html?videoId=6354880438112" allow="encrypted-media" style="position: absolute; top: 0px; right: 0px; bottom: 0px; left: 0px; width: 100%; height: 100%;"/iframe /div /div pstrongFIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN HALLEbr / 1) Sinner Makes Debut As No. 1: /strongFor the first time, Sinner will compete as the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings. The Italian is the top seed in Halle, where he played in qualifying in 2019 as a 17-year-old and trained with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/roger-federer/f324/overview'Roger Federer/a. Sinner, who made the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event last year, will begin his grass-court season against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tallon-griekspoor/gj37/overview'Tallon Griekspoor/a./p pstrong2) Zverev At Home: /strong One week ago,nbsp;a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-zverev/z355/overview'Alexander Zverev/a was a set from winning the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a title. How will he bounce back as his grass season begins? The German made back-to-back Halle finals in 2016 and 2017 and the semi-finals last year. A semi-finalist in 2023, the second-seeded Zverev will try to make a good start against a qualifier./p pstrong3) Medvedev Seeks First Title Of 2024:/strong a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniil-medvedev/mm58/overview'Daniil Medvedev/a is a 20-time tour-level titlist who will try to add to his trophy cabinet for the first time this year in Halle. The 28-year-old owns a 6-3 record at the ATP 500 event, where he advanced to the final in 2022. The third seed will play a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/nuno-borges/bt72/overview'Nuno Borges/a in the first round./p pstrong4) Past Champions: /strongTwo former Halle titlists are in the field: defending champion a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alexander-bublik/bk92/overview'Alexander Bublik/a and 2022 winner a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/hubert-hurkacz/hb71/overview'Hubert Hurkacz/a. According to Infosys ATP Stats, they have both led the ATP Tour in aces for a season (Bublik in 2021, Hurkacz in 2023) and are dangerous opponents on grass. Bublik, the seventh seed, opens against a qualifier. Hurkacz, the fifth seed, plays a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/flavio-cobolli/c0e9/overview'Flavio Cobolli/a in the first round and could meet #NextGenATP Brazilian a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/joao-fonseca/f0fv/overview'Joao Fonseca/a in the second round. The 17-year-old is making his tour-level grass-court debut./p pstrong5) Sinner Doubles Up:/strong Sinner is among several singles stars competing in the doubles field. The Italian is partnering a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/hubert-hurkacz/hb71/overview'Hubert Hurkacz/a, while a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrey-rublev/re44/overview'Andrey Rublev/a plays with Zverev. The top seeds are a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a finalists a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/simone-bolelli/ba98/overview'Simone Bolelli/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andrea-vavassori/va08/overview'Andrea Vavassori/a./p [ATP APP] pstrongFIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN QUEENrsquo;S CLUBbr / 1) Alcaraz Defending Champion:/strong Last year, the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/london/311/overview'Cinch Championships/a was just the third grass-court event of Alcarazrsquo;s professional career. Not only is he the defending champion this time around, but also a a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/wimbledon/540/overview'Wimbledon/a titlist. Alcaraz carries a 12-match grass-court winning streak into Londonrsquo;s ATP 500 event and will try to retain the momentum from his triumph at a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a./p pstrong2) In-Form De Minaur: /strongOf the Top 12 players in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, only seventh-placed a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/alex-de-minaur/dh58/overview'Alex de Minaur/a mdash; who will climb to sixth with a title Sunday in lsquo;s-Hertogenbosch mdash; has never competed in the a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/nitto-atp-finals/605/overview'Nitto ATP Finals/a. The Australian is on course to make his debut at the season finale this year and will try to maintain his form at Queenrsquo;s Club. The defending finalist, seeded second this edition, will face a tricky opening test against a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/lorenzo-musetti/m0ej/overview'Lorenzo Musetti/a./p pstrong3) Murray Back For More: /strongFormer World No. 1 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/andy-murray/mc10/overview'Andy Murray/a owns the record for Queenrsquo;s Club titles with five. Will he roll back the years over the next week to add a sixth singles trophy from the event to his resume? The last time the Scot claimed the crown in singles was in 2016. He opens his tournament against a qualifier./p pstrong4) American Contingent: /strongWith qualifying still to be completed, there are sixth Americans in the main draw: a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/taylor-fritz/fb98/overview'Taylor Fritz/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/tommy-paul/pl56/overview'Tommy Paul/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ben-shelton/s0s1/overview'Ben Shelton/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/sebastian-korda/k0ah/overview'Sebastian Korda/a, a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/frances-tiafoe/td51/overview'Frances Tiafoe/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/brandon-nakashima/n0ae/overview'Brandon Nakashima/a. Fritz, Paul and Shelton are seeded fourth, fifth and sixth, respectively. Korda has shown good form by reaching the lsquo;s-Hertogenbosch final (to be played Sunday) and Nakashima, who began his season at World No. 134, is up to No. 63 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings./p p/p pstrong5) Queen's Club Doubles Trial: /strongQueenrsquo;s Club is the second tournament participating in the 2024 ATP Doubles Trial. The top four seeds are all major champions, including first seeds a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/rohan-bopanna/b757/overview'Rohan Bopanna/a/a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/matthew-ebden/e690/overview'Matthew Ebden/a (2024 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/australian-open/580/overview'Australian Open/a) and third seeds a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/marcelo-arevalo/a853/overview'Marcelo Arevalo/a/a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/mate-pavic/pf00/overview'Mate Pavic/a (2024 a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/tournaments/roland-garros/520/overview'Roland Garros/a). Twelve of the Top 35 players in the PIF ATP Rankings are competing in the doubles draw as well as Murray, who won the title in 2019 with a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/feliciano-lopez/l397/overview'Feliciano Lopez/a. Murray and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/daniel-evans/e687/overview'Daniel Evans/a open against defending champions a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/ivan-dodig/d646/overview'Ivan Dodig/a and a href='https://www.atptour.com/en/players/austin-krajicek/ka00/overview'Austin Krajicek/a./p p[NEWSLETTER FORM]/p