Week in preview: Hubert Hurkacz, Taylor Fritz, & Venus Williams return to action at Citi Open, Maria Sakkari & Paula Badosa headline the Silicon Valley Classic & more

Catch all the action from the hardcourts in North America

The tennis season will now shift to the hardcourts of the Citi Open in Washington DC and the Silicon Valley Classic in San Jose, California. Andrey Rublev, Taylor Fritz, Venus Williams, Emma Raducanu and Elena Rybakina will all begin their preparations for the hardcourt Major this week.

All eyes will be on Venus Williams as she returns to the singles tour at the Citi Open after 11 months. She played her last competitive match at the 2021 Chicago Women's Open where she succumbed to Taiwanese tennis player Su Wei Hsieh in the first round.

The BEST Monday lineup in tournament history: a showcase of Slam champs!🏆

Playing Singles
🇷🇴 @Simona_Halep
🇬🇧 @andy_murray
🇺🇸 @Venuseswilliams

Playing Doubles
🇺🇸 @JackSock92 + 🇦🇺 @NickKyrgios
🇬🇧 @EmmaRaducanu
🇺🇸 @SloaneStephens

Don't miss out!🎟👉seatgeek.com/citi-open-tenn… https://t.co/7gj1DPZTlN

Atlanta Open Champion Alex De Minaur, Andrey Rublev, and Hubert Hurkacz will headline the men's draw, while Jessica Pegula and Emma Raducanu will lead the ladies' draw at the Citi Open.

Elena Rybakina and Coco Gauff will make their presence felt at the Silicon Valley Classic, which is part of the Premier Tournaments of the 2022 WTA tour. This will be the 50th edition of the WTA 500 event.

Citi Open - ATP 500, WTA 250

Washington DC will welcome a sold-out crowd on Monday at the Citi Open. A host of talented stars, including Nick Kyrgios, Taylor Fritz, Grigor Dimitrov and Dennis Shapovalov, will be participating in the ATP 500 hardcourt event.

Andrey Rublev and Hubert Hurkacz will be the top two seeds in the tournament, while Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe, Maxime Cressy, Tommy Paul, Jenson Brooksby, and Marcos Giron are among American players in the mix.

Croatia Open Champion Jannik Sinner won the event in 2021 but will take an extended break before he begins his summer hardcourt campaign. The Italian beat newly crowned World No. 4 Carlos Alcaraz in a thrilling three set final in Umag.

Working for the weekend 🎾

#CitiOpen https://t.co/Y3UKLGJk6H

The women's event has finally gotten the green signal after COVID-19 restricitons halted their preparations in 2020 and 2021. Victoria Azarenka, Sloane Stephens, Ajla Tomljanovic and Daria Gavrilova will all take part in Washington DC.

Former World No. 1 Simona Halep and Jessica Pegula will play their first-round matches on Monday, while seven-time Grand Slam winner Venus Williams and 2021 US Open Champion Emma Raducanu will kick start their campaign at the Citi Open on Tuesday.

Grab a spot & see the stars up close 📸

@WTA stars hitting the practice courts today: @EmmaRaducanu, @SloaneStephens, @Simona_Halep, @vika7, @JLPegula and more 😍

Don't miss it. Full schedule: bit.ly/3PLMPAo

#CitiOpen https://t.co/MMfEfKxBPQ

Silicon Valley Classic Open - WTA 500

The top-ranked players on the women's tour will also compete at the Silicon Valley Classic on Monday. Maria Sakkari and Paula Badosa will be the top two seeds, followed by World No. 5 Ons Jabeur and Belarusian No. 1 Aryna Sabalenka.

Four-time Grand Slam winner Naomi Osaka will be making her return to the tour after missing out most of the grasscourt season and will square off against Qinwen Zheng in the first round.

Four-time Grand Slam champion 🏆
Former world No.1 🌎
All-around @WTA icon 😎

Welcome to San Jose, @naomiosaka

#MubadalaSVC https://t.co/F5TYId2jv4

Bianca Andreescu, Karolina Pliskova and Coco Gauff will all be poised to play their first competitive match of the hardcourt season swing.

Zhang Shuai and Veronika Kudermetova will be the top seeds in the doubles draw and will square off against Nicole Melichar-Martinez and Ellen Perez in the first round.