Setting Up Sunday: With grass season just launched, contenders seek early victories

WATCH: Frances Tiafoe defeats Marton Fucsovics in the 2023 Stuttgart semifinals to reach his first ATP final on grass

‘s-Hertogenbosch: Veronika Kudermetova has the game for grass

Just a step off the WTA’s center stage, world No. 14 Veronika Kudermetova has the power, versatility, and mobility to become a factor on grass. Kudermetova has earned one career singles title. It happened two years ago in Charleston, a run highlighted by wins over Sloane Stephens and Paula Badosa.

On Sunday, Kudermetova hopes to win a second when she plays her fellow Russian, 26th-ranked Ekaterina Alexandrova, in the finals of the Libema Open. Kudermetova has won two of their three matches. But Alexandrova’s one victory came at this same event, last year in the semis.

No question, Kudermetova can be streaky. After reaching the semis in Madrid and Rome, she lost in the first round of Roland Garros to 100th-ranked Anna Karolina Schmiedlova.

At Wimbledon, Kudermetova is only 1-2 in singles. That one victory came four years ago. The pandemic led to the All England Club canceling the tournament in 2020. She was upset by Viktorija Golubic in the first round in 2021. Last year, Kudermetova did not play Wimbledon due to the ban on Russian and Belarussian players.

One proof point for Kudermetova’s potential at Wimbledon was her 2021 run to the doubles final. Paired with compatriot Elena Vesnina, the unseeded pair won five matches, toughing out three three-setters. The teams they beat included such skilled tandems as Bethanie Mattek-Sands and Sania Mirza, 12th-seeded Caty McNally-Coco Gauff, and the number one seeds, Barbora Krejcikova-Katerina Siniakova. The final was a heartbreak. Against the third-seeded team of Elise Mertens and Hsieh Su-Wei, Kudermetova and Vesnina held two championship points, but ended up losing, 3-6, 7-5, 9-7.

But beyond that singular effort, Kudermetova has won enough high-quality singles matches that demonstrate she has what it takes to do well at Wimbledon. A title win on Sunday will take her one step closer.

Both players in the men’s final, Tallon Griekspoor and Jordan Thompson, are also looking for their first ATP breakthroughs on the surface. Home hope Griekspoor, ranked No. 38, is seeking his second trophy—but his first on grass—after his season-opening win in Pune, while 103rd-ranked Thompson seeks his first tour-level title.

ATP Stuttgart: Yet another first for Frances Tiafoe

The last 10 months have been a time of seasonal breakthroughs for Frances Tiafoe. Last summer at the US Open, he reached his first Grand Slam singles semifinal. This spring in Houston, Tiafoe won his first clay court singles title. Now, at the BOSS Open in Stuttgart, as summer nears, the No. 12-ranked Tiafoe has reached his first grass court singles final.

Seeded third, Tiafoe fought hard to win his last two matches. In the quarters, Tiafoe took two hours and 41 minutes to beat sizzling Lorenzo Musetti, 6-7 (6), 7-6 (4), 6-2. And though his semifinal victory over Marton Fucsovics was won in straight sets, 6-3, 7-6, the second set tiebreaker was a drama all its own, Tiafoe fighting off six set points before closing it out, 13-11. “Crazy match, crazy second set,” said Tiafoe. “I’m just happy to get through.”

It's inspiring to watch Tiafoe. He’s always loved playing in front of crowds and can come up with remarkable shots from anywhere. An engaging mix of movement, power, and touch make Tiafoe an effective disruptor. Again, that’s been the case for many years, but over this recent period of improvement, every aspect of his game has become even more consistent.

Sunday’s final is versus a formidable grass-courter: powerful German Jan-Lennard Struff. When he’s in full flight, the 6’ 4” Struff has everything from a big serve, forceful groundstrokes off both sides, and a willingness to charge the net. He and Tiafoe have played each other twice, Struff winning their most recent, a five-setter in the first round of Roland Garros in 2020.

Versus someone as imposing as Struff, Tiafoe’s keen sense of strategy and tactics will surface frequently—and also provide a significant glimpse into his further grass season possibilities.

WTA Nottingham: Kudos to Cornet

Though Alize Cornet is not playing a final this Sunday, what she accomplished this week in Nottingham commands attention—a representative case of what this intriguing Frenchwoman has done twice at Wimbledon.

One-word descriptions abound for players like Cornet.

From a Hall of Famer: Stopper. “They stop the players who should win the tournament from winning it,” he said. “But that doesn’t mean they win it.”

From a tournament director: Nightmare. “They blow up my marquee,” he said.

From rivals: Pain. “What can I say?” asked world No. 1 Iga Swiatek after losing to Cornet in the third round of Wimbledon last year. “I mean, I know I didn't play good tennis. ...As a solid player, she used that pretty well.” Back in 2014, Cornet beat Serena Williams at the same stage of The Championships.

Ranked No. 36 at the end of 2022, Cornet is now No. 72. That hardly mattered on grass. At the Rothesay Open in Nottingham, Cornet beat the top seed, Maria Sakkari, as well as British veteran Katie Swan and ascendant Elizabeth Mandlik. But in the semis, Cornet lost to another British player, No. 131 Jodie Burrage, who will face countrywoman Katie Boulter in the final.

At its best, Cornet’s game is a spider web of paces and spins, punctuated by intermittent dashes forward and dollops of eclecticism. “I’m just a passionate and exalted person,” Cornet writes in her book, Transcendence: Diary of a Tennis Addict. “And yes, from time to time a neurotic person who tries to cure herself.”

Transcendence is like no other tennis book I’ve ever read, a scattered yet compelling series of philosophical musings, observations about the game, emotional confessions. The book’s seemingly random structure does much to explain Cornet’s playing style. Or maybe it doesn’t. Either way, when the Wimbledon draw comes out, consider Cornet—for something.