The creme de la creme of men’s tennis will come together from August 14 to August 22 to participate in the ATP Cincinnati Open. The Ohio tournament is the oldest event played in the same city where it first took place, and the best players in men’s tennis have been playing there since 1899.
The Masters 1000 tournament will once again play out on the hard courts of the Lindner Family Tennis Centre in Cincinnati, as has been the case since 1979.
Novak Djokovic won the tournament last year, but Roger Federer is the player that has won the event the most times. The Swiss maestro has triumphed seven times on Cincinnati’s hard courts, and he will once again be among the main contenders to take the Cincinnati trophy home. Let’s look at the chances of the top favorites for the ATP Cincinnati Open 2021 title:
Can Novak Djokovic Retain His Cincinnati Trophy?
The Serbian tennis star has won the ATP Cincinnati Open two times, in 2018 and 2020. However, that’s not a lot for a player of his caliber.
As he is affectionately known, the Joker made five Cincinnati final appearances between 2008 and 2015, and he didn’t win any of them. In three of those finals, he was defeated by Roger Federer, and in two finals, he lost to Andy Murray. So, to say that he was desperate to win the Cincinnati Open back then would be an understatement.
However, now that he has won the tournament two times, that curse seems to be broken, and Djokovic can start playing with the belief that fortune will favour him and not his opponent, as was the case in the past. Djokovic is a great candidate to back because he desires to win every tournament out there, and a Masters 1000 event such as Cincinnati ranks very highly on his list of priorities for 2021.
Can Roger Federer Win his 8th Cincinnati Open Title?
If you look at the recent ATP Cincinnati results, you will notice one constant thing. Roger Federer scores better than all the rest. Much better. The Swiss dynamo has won the ATP Cincinnati Open record-breaking seven times, and one has the feeling that he won’t stop at that number.
The likes of Novak Djokovic, David Ferrer, and Andy Roddick have all fallen victim to Federer’s intelligent type of tennis in Cincinnati en route to his Cincinnati titles.
However, the Swiss star hasn’t won the tournament since 2015, which worries his fans. Moreover, he only has one final appearance in Cincinnati since his last triumph and only managed to reach the Last-16 in 2019, his last Cincinnati tournament.
Therefore, even though Roger Federer scores better than all the rest in the all-time Cincinnati record charts, he might not be the force that he once was. If you are considering backing him, know that you might not see the player that won ATP Cincinnati seven times, but an older and slower version of him.
Can Medvedev Build on His Form and Win His Second Cincinnati Trophy?
Daniil Medvedev has won the Australian Open and the US Open, meaning he is a force to be reckoned with on hard courts. That proved true in 2019 when the super-talented Russian player defeated David Goffin to win his first ATP Cincinnati Open title.
So, he is a player to consider for this year’s event.
What makes his 2019 achievement even better is that he didn’t have it easy in that tournament. On the road to the final, Medvedev defeated Novak Djokovic in the semi-final and considering that he was in his early 20s back then, that was quite the feat for such a young player.
Daniil Medvedev has gone from strength to strength since then and is one of the top candidates to win the 2021 edition of the Cincinnati Open. Backing him to triumph will be a smart move, and many tennis fans will side with the Russian.
