The quiet weeks that can make a lot of noise

Now and then in the season we get the odd ‘quiet’ week. These weeks, usually before a Major or between two big tour events, have a few tournaments where the points and prizes are of a second or third tier level and the player entry lists lack the names of Djokovic, Nadal, Federer, Williams or Sharapova. The mainstream sports media is low on coverage, too. You might find the results in your sports pages, or a paragraph if the winners are locals, but the quiet weeks do not blockbuster headlines makes. Yet though they do not makes the careers of greats, the quiet weeks serve as stepping stones to such careers and the events are anything but quiet if one was to take a step into the stadiums and listen to the cheers.

Last week was a quiet one. Events were held in Munich, Germany and Oeiras, Portugal (location formerly known as Estoril). These events come in the first third of the Clay season. The ATP host tournaments in both. For the ATP, these events come after the first blockbuster clay event, the Monte Carlo Masters and the week before the start of the Madrid Masters. For the likes of Nadal and Djokovic who expect to get far in these Masters, and for the likes of Federer who has been there done that x1000, these tournaments have little or no interest. As for the WTA, the Oeiras tournament comes the week after Stuttgart and the week before Madrid and so the big names, like their ATP counterparts, take a rest.

For the ATP, with the elite putting their feet up, tournaments such as Munich and Oeiras rely on good relationships with the second tier players in order to get some headlining players. Top ten players can compete in ATP 250 events and factors such as appearance money and location will play a major part in that decision. Thus the Munich and Oeiras tournament usually pull in some big names. Both tournaments have a long history and some prestige and both are clay events in Europe, close to Monte Carlo and Madrid. These events are a good chance to put together some wins and gain some confidence in preparation for an encounter with one of the elite in the upcoming big tournaments.

Oeiras had Wawrinka and Ferrer headlining its line up. Both players are the typical kind of players who can really benefit from these events. Being in the top ten or thereabouts, they will have a high seeding and be the favorites. And both players lived up to their seedings and made the final. It was not much of a final though. Wawrinka never let it go far, racing through the match 6-1, 6-4 to continue his run of good clay court form and good form this season overall.

In Munich, the crowd were treated to an German final as Haas saw off Kohlschreiber in straight sets. The stadium was a full-house and the tournament definitely benefited from Haas’ presence. The 31 year old is the closest Germany has to tennis royalty, having been a former world number two and a key player on the tour, albeit on and off due to injuries, since the late 90s.

Meanwhile on the women’s front, in Estoril, Pavlyuchenkova, coached by Hingis, beat Suarez-Navarro in the final. It will be interesting to see what Hingis can bring to the patchy Russian’s game in the Clay season, a season where she had so many remarkable runs and one very infamous end.

For Haas, Wawrinka and Pavlyuchenkova, these wins are not only trophies to put in the cabinet but important confidence and reputation boosters in the run up to Roland Garros where none of them will be favored to win. But these victories mean not only will they gain the confidence that comes with winning but that they will go into the next month labelled as dangerous players and ‘floaters’. When draws come out, opponents such as Djokovic and Serena who see their names in their draws will know they have to be on their best game. And if one of this trio manage to get a favorable match-up they might be able to get a win, take that players seeded position in the draw and cause some damage to the established order.

So, while these weeks might be quiet weeks when it comes to the tour elite and the mainstream media interest in the game, they are anything but quiet for the winners who might use wins in these events as spring boards to make an awful lot of noise in the next month.