Murray to join Wawrinka, Shapovalov and others in Montpellier after Australian Open
What's the story?
With the new season almost upon us, announcements are streaming in regarding which players will feature in the first few events of the season. Though most peoples eyes are firmly fixed on the Australian Open in January, the pros are in the midst of carefully scheduling their tennis calendar.
In the first week of February, it has been recently declared that former Grand Slam champions Stan Wawrinka and Andy Andy Murray will feature in the Montpellier Open, in what promises to be an exciting event.
In case you didn't know...
Known as the 'Open Sud de France', the tournament in Montpellier is an ATP 250 event and is played on an indoor hard court. It is an age-old event that has seen several legends feature in it over the years.
The heart of the matter
Several tennis stars both young and old have also signed up to play the event, with Richard Gasquet, Denis Shapovalov, Jannik Sinner and Benoit Paire all set to feature in the hardcourt event alongside the aforesaid Wawrinka and Murray.
French players have had considerable success at their home event in recent years. Since 2010 only two non-French players have won the event, with Tomas Berdych winning in 2012 and Alexander Zverev winning in 2017.
On the topic of Zverev, despite having won the tournament in 2017, the German decided against defending his title in 2018; he didn't feature in the 2019 edition of the tournament either. As of right now, the German is not set to play, but depending on how deep he goes in the Australian Open, the NextGen star may well decide to return once again.
What's next?
Irrespective of whether Zverev plays or not, the tournament will still be an exciting one. Fan favorite players like Wawrinka, Murray and Shapovalov are already entered in the event, and they are sure to bring plenty of quality to the proceedings.