Week in Preview: Top ladies in Dubai; Men in Rio, France and Florida

The tours have reached a mid-winter state of equilibrium, or stasis, depending on your point of view. For the second straight week, the women will gather in the Arabian Desert, while the men remain scattered between continents and surfaces in Europe, the U.S. and South America.

Let’s do it again, shall we? But hopefully with a little—OK, a lot—less rain in Dubai than there was in Doha last week.

*Dubai, UAE

$2,666,000; WTA Premier

DecoTurf II

Draw is here*

As far as players go, Dubai is Doha times two; the draw goes from a tightly packed 28 last week to a more expansive and forgiving 56 this week. As far as prize money, Dubai is Doha times three: Last week’s $776,000 haul is dwarfed by this week’s $2,666,000.

While the event has been supersized, the storylines remain the same. Top seed Angelique Kerber will try again to get her 2017 off the ground. She lost her opener to Daria Kasatkina in Doha; now she’ll face another potentially tricky first-round foe in countrywoman Mona Barthel. If Angie can survive that, and start to build a little confidence, her draw is manageable. The next three highest seeds in her half are Dominika Cibulkova, Elina Svitoliva and Elena Vesnina. That’s a lineup that a recent world No. 1 should be able to handle, no?

Maybe not—as we saw again last week, surprise is the norm in Doha and Dubai. That goes for the No. 2 seed, Karolina Pliskova, as well. The Czech avoided the upset bug in Doha, but what are the chances this hit-and-miss player can do it again? She could face Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova early, and CoCo Vandeweghe, who has troubled her in the past, is in her quarter. If Pliskova does go deep in Dubai, it will say a lot about her potential in 2017.

First-round matches to watch: Kasatkina vs. Caroline Wozniacki

Yulia Putintseva vs. CiCi Bellis

Vandeweghe vs. Alison Riske

Second-round match to watch: Kerber vs. Barthel

*Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

$1,439,995; 500 ranking points

Clay

Draw is here*

Rio, unlike the two other ATP events this week, offers $1.5 million in prize money and 500 ranking points to the winner, but that still wasn’t enough to field a top-flight draw. Without Rafael Nadal, the Golden Swing has lost a good deal of its luster this year.

Two Top 10 players have made the trip. Kei Nishikori, fresh off a runner-up finish in Buenos Aires, is the top seed. Dominic Thiem, every tournament director’s best friend, will make the long flight after losing in the quarterfinals in Rotterdam.

First-round match to watch: David Ferrer vs. surprise Buenos Aires winner Alexander Dolgopolov

Back again: 34-year-old, 505th-ranked Tommy Robredo, who will start against Fabio Fognini

*Marseille, France

$710,000; 250 ranking points

Indoor hard court

Draw is here*

French favorites Gael Monfils and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga are the top two seeds in Marseille, but perhaps of greater interest is the return of Nick Kyrgios for the first time since the Australian Open. Kyrgios rolled through this tournament without dropping a set last year. Will defending those points motivate him, or put more pressure on him? Will a potential third-round match with 19-year-old Alexander Zverev, who has nearly caught him in the rankings, motivate him, or put pressure on him? You never know with Nick.

First-round match to watch: 18-year-old wild card Stefanos Tsitsipas vs. 34-year-old Mikhail Youzhny

Possible third-round match to watch: Kyrgios vs. Zverev. The 21-year-old Aussie and the 19-year-old German have never played.

*Delray Beach, Fla.

$599,345; 250 ranking points

Hard court

Draw is here*

Delray loves Delpo, and he loves this small South Florida tournament right back. Last year—it feels much longer than that, doesn’t it?—Juan Martin del Potro made his return to the tour here. It went so well that he decided to do it again in 2017. After skipping his home-country event last week in Buenos Aires, the Tower of Tandil will open against the even taller Kevin Anderson in Delray.

Also here: Top seed Milos Raonic, Jack Sock, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Taylor Fritz and 38-year-old Tommy Haas