Week 33 Preview: Cincinnati

The ATP Tour arrives in Cincinnati this week as the top players in the world prepare for the Western & Southern Open, the seventh ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.

Top seed Daniil Medvedev seeks a repeat of his 2019 title run at the Lindner Family Tennis Center. If he wins two matches in Ohio, the World No. 1 will hold on to the top spot in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings through at least the end of the US Open.

Challenging Medvedev for the position is Rafael Nadal, who returns to action for the first time since Wimbledon. If Nadal clinches his 37th Masters 1000 title in Cincinnati and Medvedev does not reach the quarter-finals, the 36-year-old will return to World No. 1 on 22 August.

Nadal's countryman, Carlos Alcaraz, makes his second appearance on the Cincinnati hard courts. The third seed is chasing his third Masters 1000 crown of the year after emerging victorious in Miami and Madrid.