When the 2017 tennis season began, there were numerous players on both the WTA and ATP tour with significant opportunities within their grasp in both ranking and title births.

Fast forward 8-months and the race to the Big Apple is on to secure a favorable position for the US Open.

As of Sunday, August 13th, 33 different players have won WTA titles and 30 players have won ATP titles this year. Leading the pack in title counts are Federer (5), Zverev (5), Nadal (4) and Tsonga (3).

Those reigning supreme on the WTA tour are Svitolina who just captured the title in Canada over Wozniacki, Pliskova, and Konta. Few would have expected Rafa and Roger to be the 2017 favorites for year-end No. 1, yet here we are. This year has been an unusual state for tennis and this diversity of winners is exciting.

WTA Singles Draw-The Quarters

The Top Half

Headliner: Karolina Pliskova-2016 Western & Southern Open Defending Champion

I have named this quarter “Tenacity” and here’s why: Among the ranks are Kristina Mladenovic, Alison Riske, Caroline Wozniacki, and Venus Williams. Pliskova is directly opposite Wozniacki who ended her run at Rogers Cup last week and is the six-seed this week.

Compelling 1st round matches: Kristina Mladenovic v. Venus Williams, Elena Vesnina v. Caroline Garcia

Headliner: Garbine Muguruza-2017 Wimbledon Champion

This is the power punch quarter. Joining Muguruza are Stanford Champion & Finalist, Madison Keys & Coco Vandeweghe, French Open Champion-Jelena Ostapenko, Aussie Open passion play-Mirjana Lucic-Baroni, and former grand slam champions Svetlana Kuznetsova and Maria Sharapova. Sharapova has withdrawn due to an arm injury but there’s still plenty of punch in this pack including youngster, Daria Kasatkina.

Compelling 1st round matches: Stanford Final replay-Coco Vandeweghe v. Madison Keys and Mirjana Lucic-Baroni v. Carla Suarez-Navarro

The Bottom Half

Headliner: Angelique Kerber-Former No. 1 and Grand Slam Champion

This quarter is full of women who have a wealth of experience and wisdom. It includes Ekaterina Makarova, former grand slam champion Petra Kvitova, Agnieszka Radwanska, accomplished singles and doubles champion Lucie Safarova, and grand slam quarterfinalist, Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova. Lastly, opposite Kerber in this quarter is hard hitting Roger’s Cup champion, 5th seed Elina Svitolina.

Compelling 1st round matches: Petra Kvitova v. Anett Kontaveit, returning American Sloane Stephens v. Lucie Safarova and Ekaterina Makarova v. Barbora Strycova

Headliner: Simona Halep-2017 French Open Finalist

Halep’s quarter is characterized by a diverse set of playing styles and aggression. We will see the creative stylings of former US Open finalist Roberta Vinci, fearlessly aggressive Catherine “Cici” Bellis, Timea Babos, and 7th seed Jo Konta. Not to be forgotten is slight but powerful Dominika Cibulkova who is currently ranked No. 11.

ATP Singles Draw

Let’s begin with the ATP Injured reserve list. At present, 4 of the top-10 on are this list: Andy Murray, Novak Djokovic, Stan Wawrinka, and Western & Southern Open 2016 champion and world No. 6 Marin Cilic. Despite these gaps, there is plenty of amazing talent in all four sections of the draw.

The Top Half

Rafa’s Quarter

In Cincy, Rafa is the No. 1 seed and may face another showdown against Wimbledon spoiler, Gilles Muller. Muller is having a banner 2017. This quarter is ripe with others that can step up including Nick Kyrgios, and David Goffin who faced Nadal in the Monte Carlo semi-final in April.

Compelling 1st round matches: David Goffin v. Nick Kyrgios and Ryan Harrison v. Gilles Muller

Thiem’s Quarter

Currently ranked No. 7, Dominic is having another successful year having played in several finals and capturing the Rio Title. His quarter includes “NextGen” player Danil Medvedev, Sam Querrey fresh off a 2nd title in Mexico, Spanish Armada-Pablo Carreno-Busta, Fernando Verdasco and, David Ferrer and Steve Johnson. Directly opposite from Thiem is Kei Nishikori, the 5th seed.

Compelling 1st round matches: Fabio Fognini v. Daniil Medvedev, Mischa Zverev v. Fernando Verdasco and Steve Johnson v. David Ferrer

The Bottom Half

Federer’s Quarter

Roger Federer will be landing in Cincy after playing the 2017 final in Canada’s Rogers Cup against Alexander Zverev. Twenty-year-old Zverev defeated the 19-time major champion in the final to even their head-to-head record at 2-2. When Roger arrives, there is an arsenal ready and waiting. Players filling out this quarter are Grigor Dimitrov, Feliciano Lopez, Juan Martin Del Potro, Tomas Berdych, Jack Sock, and rising star Karen Khachanov.

Compelling 1st round matches: Feliciano Lopez v. Hyeon Chung; Juan Martin Del Potro v. Tomas Berdych and Jack Sock v. Yuichi Sugita

Zverev’s Quarter (Sascha)

Alexander Zverev is the 1st player to qualify for the ATP NextGen Year-End Final in Milan. With five titles to date, he is an ATP leader now ranked world no. 8. If he continues to deliver strong performances along with the physical struggles in the current top-10, a year end top 4 finish is possible for the 20-year-old. In Cincy, Zverev is joined by Milos Raonic, Gael Monfils, Roberto Bautista-Agut, “Big” John Isner fresh off a title in Atlanta, Donald Young, and Borna Coric. Raonic stands opposite Zverev.

Compelling 1st round matches: John Isner v. Viktor Troicki, American face-off Donald Young v. Tommy Paul [WC] and Borna Coric v. Nikoloz Basilashvili

Cincy Doubles is Stacked!

Cincinnati has some very interesting doubles pairings. Leading the way are 2017 WTA dominators Martina Hingis and Yung-Jan Chan.

WTA Pairing Picks: Hingis-Chan, Mirza-Peng, Makarova-Vesnina, Ostapenko-Dabrowski, Konta-McHale, Mladenovic-Pavlyuchenkova, Barty-Dellacqua, Vandeweghe-Atawo, Spears-Srebotnik and Safarova-Strycova

ATP Pairing Picks: Kontinen-Peers, Bautista-Agut-Ferrer, Harrison-Venus, Bryan-Bryan, Paes-A. Zverev, Lopez-Lopez, Isner-Young, Herbert-Mahut, Klaasen-Ram, Murray-Soares, Bopanna-Dodig, Sock-Withrow, Kubot-Melo

Cincy qualifying wrapped up on Sunday and the winners advanced to the main draw which is now underway. So, prepare for the long haul as the race to New York heats up. My forecast? There will be great tennis in your future!