It’s going to be an interesting week of tennis at the Credit One Bank invitational. Being held in Charleston, South Carolina, we’ll be able to see lots of stars strut their stuff during the next seven days, June 23-28.

There will be prize money as well as proceeds going to frontline health workers, and the Tennis Channel has committed over 40 hours of coverage. This is the first event that feels like tennis is actually back. Sure, the Adria Tour is also putting on an excellent show, but for those of us state side, this is what we’ve been waiting for, and allows us tennis fans to ease into the both the ATP and WTA tours getting started in August.

The format of the tournament is much like the Laver Cup with 16 participants being split into teams. The following are some of the players I think will be fun to watch and you can bank on getting you some points in the team format.

Sofia Kenin, ranked #4:

Whatever team she’s in, she’ll give it a boost, especially given she picked up the last Grand Slam before the pandemic. Kenin has been on the rise for a couple of years now, and the Australian Open was her coming out party. She’s young, hungry, and plays every point as if it was the only point in the match.

Madison Keys, ranked #13:

Madison Keys is a world beater. She’s got an effortless power game that can take the racket out of anyone’s hands. Her consistency hasn’t been great through the years, however, before the pandemic she was starting to be a bit more consistent. She won both Cincinnati and Charleston in 2019, and there were high hopes for her in 2020. She’s got game, and along with Kenin has the most talent and big match experience.

Alison Riske, ranked #19:

Alison is the quintessential player that leverages her experience to win matches. As she has become a veteran, the results have started to come. Reaching the Wimbledon Quarterfinals in 2019 is case and point. I don’t see her losing sight of this maturity and experience as we get back to tennis.

Danielle Collins, ranked #51:

Always at the top of my list for dark horses, I like her chances as a favorite now. When Collins is hitting the ball well, there are very few WTA pros that can handle the onslaught, and she can blow you off the court if you don’t come ready to play from the first point. After a long layoff, she will come out swinging.

Dark horses

Genie Bouchard, ranking #332:

I’m one of the many fans that would love to see Genie Bouchard get back to the top of tennis where she belongs. We all know she has been working during the offseason, and hopefully this layoff has given her time to reflect and she can show us the game that took her to the top of tennis a few years ago.

Victoria Azarenka, ranking #58:

The results haven’t been what Azarenka had expected during her comeback after childbirth. That being said, she’s shown some glimpses of her old self in the last couple of years. She’s still a two-time Grand Slam champion, so never count her out.

Like always, don’t forget to jump on to the TennisPAL app to stay up to date on tennis news, find groups of friends to play with, and get a virtual coach to help with your tennis game!