WHILE the 2025 Davis Cup takes the majority of focus throughout this week, there is an ATP Tour event taking place in France, with the Open Occitanie in Montpellier. An ATP Tour 250 event, the action kicks off on Wednesday to allow sufficient rest for those having competed at the Australian Open over the past fortnight.

Top seed Andrey Rublev will be fresh as a daisy, having suffered defeat at the hands of Brazilian young gun Joao Fonseca at the Grand Slam, and bowed out in three sets as top seed back in Hong Kong against Hungarian Fabian Marozsan. That means the Russian will be hungry to get a win – any win – given his last victory came at the Moselle Open last November.

However a return to the same nation as Moselle might spark the turnaround in form Rublev needs, with the world number nine clearly the best player in the draw. His biggest threat is second seed Felix Auger-Aliassime as the only other Top 30 player (23rd in the world), opting for individual competition over donning the Maple Leaf for Canada.

Italian Flavio Cobolli played some great tennis at the United Cup, and Kazakhstan’s Alexander Bublik is unpredictable at best, and being on hard court should bring out some of his most dangerous traits. Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor and Belgian David Goffin round out the top six, with Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech one of eight local hopes automatically qualifying for the main draw.

Unfortunately he takes on compatriot Harold Mayot in the first round, while veterans Adrian Mannarino and Richard Gasquet will also go head-to-head. The top four seeds have byes in the opening round, with French duo Gregoire Barrere and Quentin Halys, and Swiss Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka handed wildcards for the event.

PREDICTION

If the best form of Rublev comes to play, he should win the tournament without a doubt. It is just a case of which Rublev will take to the court. His form to start the year has been poor to say the least, so he will need to significantly turn it around to grab the title, with some talented local players as well as more than capable seeds ready to upstage him.