Aegon International
After two years in Nottingham, the ATP World Tour event returns to Devonshire Park in Eastbourne, and it has attracted a high quality field of grass court players looking to fine tune their game before Wimbledon commences next week.
Novak Djokovic, who is currently ranked number four in the world, is the top seed and current odds on favourite, and he will be looking to get over his disappointment over his surprise French Open quarter final defeat at the hands of Dominic Thiem. He appears to have lost his way a little bit of late, and will be hoping that by playing here his rediscovers his lost mojo and get back to the kind of form that has seen him win Wimbledon three times (2011, 2014 and 2015).
Djokovic has a bye in the first round and he is likely to face Jiri Vesely, the very tall left hander from the Czech Republic, who actually won the only meeting that these two have played. He is still just 23, and is ranked number 46 in the world, therefore is Novak isn't firing on all cylinders, Vesely can definitely cause him problems. Vesely's first round opponent Pospisil is no push over however, so Novak isn't certain to have to face him.
Gael Monfils, the powerful frenchman, is the number two seed and the bottom half of the draw appears the tougher place to be. He is most likely to face the Russian Mischa Zverev in the quarter finals and although Zverev leads the head to head one nil, that was back in 2010 and I would expect Monfils to get the better of him this time around.
The huge serving John Isner is also in the bottom half of the draw, and although his potential quarter final opponents include Richard Gasquet and Kevin Anderson, I think his power on the grass courts will see him through to the semi finals and a hard hitting match up with Monfils. If this does happen, I can see the serving ability of Isner taking him through to the final and a possible clash with Djokovic.
The final player to receive a bye through the first round is the American, Steve Johnson. A former champion here, he looks very likely to be playing against fellow American Sam Querry (also a former winner here) in the quarter final. The big serving Querry leads their head to head three nil, however they haven't met on grass previously and their last match up was in 2015. I think Johnson has improved significantly since then, and would expect him to defeat Querry before going on to play Djokovic in the semi final, where I would give him a fighting chance.
An in form Novak Djokovic would take this competition in his stride and run out a comfortable winner. He hasn't look his old self of late though, and it would not be a surprise to see him defeated again this week. I like the look of both Steve Johnson and John Isner, which is a potential final match, and will have an interest in both at nice prices.
Aegon International selections
John Isner - 1 point win @ 10/1
Steve Johnson - 1 point win @ 14/1