2024 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart WTA PREVIEW: SWIATEK, SABALENKA, RYBAKINA, RADUCANU and GAUFF lead clay court staple

The 2024 Porsche Tennis Grand Prix Stuttgart is a staple of the WTA Clay Court Calendar and with the WTA not having a Monte-Carlo Masters, it is for some their first time on court this clay court season. The draw has been finalised and our preview runs through the leading talking points in a stacked draw in Stuttgart.

Leading the field are a number of top names with Anna Kalinskaya for instance having to play qualifying despite being in the higher echelons of the rankings such is the talent on show. Led by Iga Swiatek who has won it in the past two years, she has defeated Aryna Sabalenka on both occasions.

Iga Swiatek has gained a lot from this tournament over the years. She has become an ambassador for the brand alongside Angelique Kerber and Emma Raducanu and has also taken away two cars from the tournament. But it could yet be a trio of Porsche cars going back to her home. She will aim for three in a row on the indoor courts of Stuttgart.

With Madrid and Rome to come after, it usually acts as the perfect start to the most dominant facet of Swiatek's year. She has defeated Aryna Sabalenka in both years that she has won the title. Sabalenka has also lost in the final to Ashleigh Barty and as a result has a bit of a bad streak despite reaching the final. Thus was the case last year as she mimicked smashing the car window in on Swiatek's Porsche. But will it be continued dominance or Sabalenka's year finally?

Swiatek will open up against Tatjana Maria or Elise Mertens. Then a nemesis could await in Jelena Ostapenko or Linda Noskova. Either that or it will be Emma Raducanu or Angelique Kerber. So either way, it has not been the best draw for Swiatek compared to others. For Raducanu, she comes off the back of a confidence boosting week with the Great Britain squad anchoring them to victory against France. Last year saw her lose to Ostapenko en route to being injured in the weeks that followed. But given her status with Porsche, she was always going to play. The same can be said for Kerber in a nightmare as such for the car brand with two of their main charges facing off early.

For instance Coco Gauff won't play anyone of note until the third round likely and the earliest seed she will face is Qinwen Zheng. She will take on a qualifier in the second round and then the winner of the section involving Zheng, Sorana Cirstea, Marta Kostyuk and Laura Siegemund. But she likely has the best draw out of the top names.

Elena Rybakina for instance will have to open against Veronika Kudermetova or Barbora Krejcikova. Ons Jabeur albeit out of form, Ekaterina Alexandrova, Jasmine Paolini or a Qualifier are potential third round opponents. Rybakina lost in the final of Miami to Danielle Collins, but with some rest in between which she hasn't had outside of being ill, she will look to hit the ground running.

Same can be said for Aryna Sabalenka who has had to contend with the passing of her ex-boyfriend, Konstantin Koltsov. He reportedly committed suicide at the Miami Open and she still played on. Ironically it was against her best friend Paula Badosa who she will likely face again in Stuttgart in the second round. The Belarusian hasn't played since Miami, but attended a VFB Stuttgart game with Ons Jabeur and looked all smiles. So amid turmoil as of late, she will look to recapture form on a surface she has had success on. She could face Marketa Vondrousova, Donna Vekic or Liudmila Samsonova/Anastasia Potapova in the third round so some tricky combinations there.