From July 14 to July 20 the tennis circuit lands in Bogotá in the Centro de Alto Rendimiento, next to Simon Bolivar Park. The ATP World Tour tournament on hard court was reinstated in 2013 after being dropped from the tour in 2002.
Last year’s edition was won by Ivo Karlovic and the Croatian hard hitter is back this year to defend his title. Other names to look out for are world number 14 and first seeded Richard Gasquet, Canadian Vasek Pospisil, coming fresh off winning the Wimbledon doubles crown, and Australian Bernhard Tomic.
At still only 21 years old, the Australian talent has seen his career reach an impasse as he tumbled outside the top 100. Only two years ago, he demonstrated his latent skills, claiming a remarkable win over world number one Djokovic as well as reaching his career high ranking of number 27. But injuries and disciplinary issues have caused his ranking to drop significantly. Just back from an injury, he might spice up his stats here.
Colombian number two Alejandro Falla comes here to top his previous appearance after reaching the final last year. The player from Cali reached another final in the grass tournament in Halle last month, but ended up being beaten by top star Roger Federer.
The country’s number one, Giraldo, will not appear as he prefers to continue playing tournaments on gravel, his best surface. But with another Colombian, Alejandro Gonzalez also in the top 100, the Colombians can’t be ruled out for a home victory.