Monfils, who’s currently sitting at sixth place in the ATP rankings, is on a nice roll in the past year (9-3 record), and that should be good enough to consider him as one of the better dark horse picks for the tournament.
In last year’s Australian Open, he was able to advance to the quarterfinals and gave Milos Raonic a competitive match before bowing out. He then followed it up by capturing the Washington Open months later, beating the likes of Ivo Karlovic and Alexander Zverev, who are both ranked inside the Top 25. Another highlight of his 2016 campaign is the US Open, where he blazed through the rounds and reached the semis for the first time.
If you can look past all the controversies, you’ll easily consider Kyrgios as a strong sleeper pick. He’s still number 14 overall, and like Monfils, he too had very respectable 2016. Along with capturing three titles, including the recently-concluded Japan Open last October, he also had wins over six top 10-ranked players. Among them are Monfils, Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka, and Tomas Berdych.
Additionally, considering that as an Aussie, he’ll be playing in front of a home crowd, he may be extra motivated.
The fourth-ranked tennis player today has no shortage of hardwood collection, so much so that he has more Grand Slam trophies than a handful of the current top-ranked players, including Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal. He also had a great run in 2016, as he was able to win four of the five tournament final appearances he reached, one of which was the US Open.
Further, his other previous years – 2015 and 2014 – was highlighted by him capturing the French Open and Australian Open, respectively.
So, why is he considered a sleeper? Easy: most tournaments are usually about Djokovic and Andy Murray (as it should). The two are higher-ranked and more popular than Wawrinka.
If you want a really comfortable sleeper pick, this is your guy.
