Coral previews Mercedes Cup and Aegon Open grass tennis tournaments

With the clay court season now over, following Stan Wawrinka and Serena Williams’ success at the French Open, tennis’ top players now turn to grass in preparation for Wimbledon.

Top male stars such as Rafael Nadal, Marin Cilic and Gael Monfils will take part in the Mercedes Cup in Stuttgart, at a competition that was held on clay for the previous 98 years until 2015.

Meanwhile, high-profile Women players such as Agnieszka Radwanska will take to the Nottingham courts for the Aegon Open – the first WTA event to be held here since 1973.

Men’s event: Mercedes Open
In Germany, Nadal in particular will be looking to push on from disappointment at Roland Garros, as he crashed out in the quarters to eventual runner-up Novak Djokovic, which was only his second ever defeat at the tournament.

The Spaniard is a two-time winner of the Stuttgart Open, although when it was on his favoured clay surface, and will face a potentially tricky tie in the second round. He will meet either 2014 runner-up Lukas Rosol or Marcos Baghdatis, where he will begin his campaign due to earning a bye.

Czech Davis Cup winner Rosol (11/10 for victory) has shocked Nadal before on grass, in the second round at Wimbledon in 2012, and he is up against former top 10 player Baghdatis (odds-on 4/6 favourite) first up.

Another Spaniard to be given a bye is veteran Feliciano Lopez, 33, who is in the form of his life and at his highest ever world ranking of 13. The third seed will face one of Sergiy Stakhovsky (8/11) or Sam Groth (evens).