Upon lifting his second ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Savannah one week ago, Bjorn Fratangelo echoed the sentiments of all players on the circuit: “Hopefully, I won’t be back here next year.”

No disrespect intended, just the reality of life on the circuit. Players battle against world-class competition with the hope of ascending the Emirates ATP Rankings and realising their dreams on the ATP World Tour. The piece of silverware in Fratangelo’s hands was the reward for not just one strong week, but rather months, if not years, of hard work.

The 22-year-old American had made 33 Challenger appearances before stepping into the spotlight for the first time at the tour-level last year, making his debut at the Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati. The moment of contesting a first ATP World Tour event is filled with elation; it’s the goal of every player who fights to make a living in professional tennis. But, for players who return to the Challenger level in the coming weeks, it can be fleeting, leaving another, even bigger, target to strive for.

“It’s a little different, I’m one of the hunted ones now in Challengers,” said Fratangelo, who claimed his first ATP World Tour match win last month in Indian Wells, also snatching a set off World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. “It’s the beauty of tennis. No week is going to be the same. It can be tough in terms of the atmosphere of the tournament and the hustle and bustle. You come back down to a smaller Challenger that’s more laid back with not as many people and you have to refocus.”

Frances Tiafoe, a member of the ATP’s Next Generation, made his ATP World Tour debut in Washington in 2014 – nearly one year prior to competing in his first ATP Challenger Tour main draw in Sarasota. The taste of tennis at the highest level gave the 18-year-old added incentive to fight even harder for another bite.

“I had a bunch of good weeks here last year so it makes me feel good,” said Tiafoe. “It’s another chance to build your ranking and another chance to keep improving.”

In the past year, Tiafoe has competed in a Challenger the week after contesting a tour-level event on four occasions. Just one month removed from attaining a career-high No. 167 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, after notching his first match win at the Masters 1000 level in Indian Wells, the #NextGen star reached his third Challenger final last week in Tallahassee. Not fazed by the constant state of transition, Tiafoe understands that it’s all part of the process.

“That result (in Indian Wells) meant a lot to me and then losing to (David) Goffin 7-6 in the third was big. I was playing great tennis there, but it’s a whole different game here. You have a great result like that and you become more of a target on the Challenger Tour. They are going to come after you and every match you have to play your hardest. There are no easy matches.”

While Fratangelo and Tiafoe had little trouble adapting, a monumental result on the ATP World Tour can often yield significant growing pains in the months to come, as expectations grow. In 2016, Gerald Melzer has exploded out of the gates on the Challenger circuit, setting the pace with a 24-5 mark and three titles. On the precipice of cracking the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, the Austrian has come a long way since surging onto the scene with a stunning run to the semi-finals at the ATP World Tour event in Munich exactly one year ago. He had won five matches in seven days as a qualifier, including an emotional three-set victory over countryman and current World No. 15 Dominic Thiem.

But with sudden success comes mounting pressure and Melzer admits he struggled thereafter, winning a combined eight matches from 10 Challenger events the rest of the season. It was all a learning experience.

“Munich was my biggest result ever, and after that I felt I could go for it as I didn’t have anything to defend for the rest of the summer,” said Melzer. “But the expectations were higher than they should have been. I felt more pressure to win more matches and get to the Top 100. I learned a lot from the last year and it’s helping me take the next step in my career.

“I wasn’t too confident at the beginning of the year, but then I started winning and round-by-round I was feeling better. I won almost all my three-set matches. Now I feel that if I hang in the match and do my best, I will always have a chance to win. All of a sudden I won three of my first six tournaments. I’m more than happy with that.”

Fratangelo looks at his breakthrough success on the ATP World Tour as a turning point in his career. The Pittsburgh native would go on to claim the USTA’s wild card into Roland Garros with a dominant run on the green clay in Sarasota and Savannah. He says the transition is different than anything he’d previously experienced, but stresses that it instilled a critical sense of clarity and confidence in his game.

“I learned a lot from those two weeks. Even just from the Djokovic match. How disciplined I was. It took a lot of mental effort to stay with him. If I was going to have any chance I had to be more disciplined in my shot selection. I couldn’t do the normal things I do and I now know that I can use that at this level.

“Can I play better? Of course. I’ve proven that. You take the opportunities as they present themselves, which I did. Wins are wins, no matter what level they are at.”

Roger Federer has withdrawn from the Mutua Madrid Open because of a back injury, the World No. 3 announced on Monday. The Swiss was scheduled to play on Wednesday in just his second tournament back since undergoing knee surgery in February.

“Sorry to the tournament for coming and leaving without playing,” Federer said. “I arrived and I was okay, and then I practised on Saturday and hurt my back a little bit in practice and then stopped early.”

The three-time Madrid champion said he was scheduled to practice for two hours but had to quit after one hour and 15 minutes. He skipped practice altogether on Sunday and Monday. “At this point I don’t want to take more chances as I know I’m not going to be fully ready for Wednesday,” he said.

Federer has struggled with injuries this season. He underwent arthroscopic surgery to repair a torn meniscus on 3 February and was scheduled to return at the Miami Open presented by Itau in March. But the all-time great had to withdraw from the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament because of a stomach virus. Instead, he returned to tour-level action last month at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters, making the quarter-finals.

Federer had hoped to continue his clay-court season at Madrid. He even rearranged his schedule to play at the season’s fourth Masters 1000 tournament. “I’m very disappointed, to say the least. I was hoping to play,” he said. “This is not really what I wanted to do, come here and do a press conference about pulling out.”

He took some solace in that his back was bothering him and not his left knee. The 24-time Masters 1000 champion has endured back pain in recent years. “This is normal back things I’ve had in the past, which I guess is good because I know how to handle it. I know how long it can take. Sometimes it can vary by a few days here or there,” he said.

Federer hopes to be ready for next week’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia, another Masters 1000 tournament on clay. “It’s been a tough year,” he said, “so I hope it gets better from here.”

There are 11 main draw singles matches and one doubles match on Monday’s schedule, with four Spaniards in action at La Caja Mágica, including No. 9 seed David Ferrer, one of five seeds in action along with No. 10 Richard Gasquet, No. 11 Milos Raonic, No. 12 David Goffin and No. 16 Gilles Simon.

Madrid native Feliciano Lopez opens the day’s action on Manolo Santana, in a rematch with Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer who ousted the left-hander in the second round a year ago. Lopez is the only player in the tournament’s 15-year history to participate in every singles draw (since 2002) and has an 18-14 career record in his hometown tournament, reaching the QFs four times (2003, ‘07-08 and ’14). After withdrawing from Houston and Barcelona with shoulder tenditinis, Mayer opened his European clay court campaign with a run to the Estoril quarters, where he lost to eventual champion Nicolas Almagro.

Two-time semi-finalist Ferrer, one of three Spaniards making his 14^th consecutive appearance here (along with Rafael Nadal and Fernando Verdasco), faces compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in the final match on Madrid’s main show court. This is the third year in succession that Garcia-Lopez has faced a fellow Spaniard in the first round in Madrid. Last year he lost in three sets to Verdasco – which, like this year’s match-up with Ferrer, was the only all-Spanish first-round showdown in the draw – while in 2014 he beat Pablo Andujar.

A quartet of Frenchmen are also in action on Monday, led by No. 10 seed Gasquet who faces qualifier and main-draw debutant Roberto Carballes Baena. All four of the Spaniard’s match wins in 2016 have come on clay, including last week’s first-round win at Istanbul (d. Ilhan) – his first ATP Tour-level match win since February’s run to the Sao Paulo quarters (l. to Carreno Busta). Gilles Simon, the No. 16 seed who reached the final here when the tournament was a hard-court event in 2008 (l. to Murray), takes on Marcos Baghdatis, back in Madrid for the first time since 2013 and looking for his 300^th ATP World Tour level match win (299-222 record). Qualifiers Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Lucas Pouille also make their Madrid main-draw debuts, with Herbert taking on Sam Querrey and Pouille up against No. 12 seed Goffin.

Back in the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings this week for the first time since October 2015, Raonic takes on Brazilian left-hander Thomaz Bellucci, who pushed him to two tie-break sets in their previous meeting in Shanghai last year. Raonic, the No. 11 seed, has a 22-20 career record against left-handers; this is his first match against a southpaw in 2016. Fellow Canadian Vasek Pospisil takes on 37-year-old qualifier Radek Stepanek to round out Monday’s action on Arantxa Sanchez.

Diego Schwartzman rallied from the brink of elimination in the final of the TEB BNP Paribas Istanbul Open to clinch his maiden ATP World Tour title with a 6-7(5), 7-6(4), 6-0 victory over top seed Grigor Dimitrov.

Schwartzman is the second first-time winner on the ATP World Tour this year, joining Nick Kyrgios (Marseille).

Kyrgios spoke to ATPWorldTour.com after his victory.

Was this something you dreamed about when growing up and as a junior?

Yes of course. Ever since I started playing I imagined winning a tournament and have a week like the one I just had. I’ve been working very hard and perhaps the first months of the season were not the best, but I kept working hard alongside my team and my family. At this point I did not expect such a good week and playing this well, but I knew I was going to compete well because last year I played very well and I liked the conditions here.

Last year you lost to Roger Federer in semi-finals and this year you won the tournament and made the doubles final. How special is Istanbul for you?

It is amazing and I will never forget this place. It was my second doubles final, my first title and my first singles final. Last year I was close to beating Federer in semi-finals, an idol for all the tennis players. So it will be very difficult to forget this city.

How did you prepare for the final?

As with the other matches. I had very difficult matches and last night I did not sleep well. I woke up a few times and was sweating a lot, like when you have fever. I was very nervous, but I knew that despite being tired I would compete well and that it would be a very close final.

Now that you won your first title, what is your main goal for the rest of the season?

Trying to win games like I did here, to be more consistent and win big matches in tournaments like this. I will work very hard to do it.

Which person has helped you the most during your career so far?

Everybody. My friends and my family, coaches I had since I was a child and the whole team that is behind me right now. Everyone did their part to get this victory.

In your game, what do you have to improve and what do you consider your strengths?

The strength is the intensity in my legs and the desire to compete in every game. I think this week I could bring the best out of these things. I started losing most of my matches but I could recover. That makes me very happy, but I have to keep improving in all the aspects of the game: my physical strength, my tennis and serve… [I need to] try to improve my percentages as well as I did in this tournament.

Which were your idols as a kid?

I always look to Guillermo Coria, David Nalbandian. Gaston Gaudio, Guillermo Canas, all of what we called ‘The Legion’. I saw all of them when I was growing up. We had three Top 10 players, so it was amazing to all the kids to look at them at that time. So I consider them my idols.

What do you like to do besides playing tennis?

I try to have a regular live. Hang out with my friends, go for a dinner, eating ‘asado’ [a traditional food in Argentina], going to football matches… I try to go anytime I can but it is not to often. Watching football is something that is fun for me, and I also enjoy talking to people about this sport.

It was exactly one year ago that Andy Murray took the European clay-court season by storm. The Scot notched his first title on the dirt in Munich and would dominate the Mutua Madrid Open field, capturing the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crown over home favourite Rafael Nadal.

Back in the Spanish capital, Murray is eyeing a successful title defence but the World No. 2 was quick to point out he’s taking nothing for granted.

“Any time you can win a big event it’s important, but I’m not really thinking about that just now,” said Murray to the assembled media in his pre-tournament press conference. “It’s quite different conditions here obviously playing at altitude. There are no easy matches. I’m here to try and hopefully play at a high level. If I do that, I give myself a chance to win. But obviously I like the conditions here. They are good for me. Hopefully I can play well.”

Murray was ruthless at the Caja Magica, not dropping a set against three fellow Top 10 opponents – Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals, Kei Nishikori in the semis and two-time defending champion Rafael Nadal in the final. Having lacked comfort on the clay in previous years, the 28 year old points to his success in Madrid as a significant moment in his development on the surface.

“I think expectations for me have changed obviously because of last year. Winning is important. I won on the clay last year which was good, but it was more the way I played. I played very well. Even in Monte-Carlo the match against Raonic and also for large parts the match against Rafa in Monte-Carlo was very good.

“That gives me belief, but also I then expect to play better than I maybe did in the past. I don’t see any reason why I can’t maintain that level and give myself a chance in the next few events.”

Murray will open against either qualifier Radek Stepanek or Vasek Pospisil. A potential third-round encounter against Gilles Simon looms, as does eighth seed Tomas Berdych or ninth seed David Ferrer in the quarters.

A rematch against Nadal could happen in the semis, with World No. 1 Novak Djokovic a potential final opponent. Murray assessed his recent practice sessions with both players.

“It went really well,” Murray said of his trip to Nadal’s hometown of Manacor last week. “I practised with Raonic for a couple days and practiced with Rafa for a couple days. The first day just was with my coach there… The best practice you can get was to go there and get to practice with two guys that are in the Top 10 and probably the best clay-court player of all-time. That was the best practice and preparation I could get, so that was why I decided to go there. It worked out well.”

“The reason to practice with him was not to scare him,” Murray added, referring to his hit with Djokovic on Saturday. “I think everyone prepares for tournaments to try to give themselves the best chance to play well when the tournament starts. Getting to practice with the best player in the world is great preparation for me. I’ve had some good practices against the best players. That’s very important. I don’t get that when I’m back home, so I need to make the most of it when I’m at these events.”

The Mutua Madrid Open got underway on Sunday.

How does it feel to win your first ATP Challenger Tour title?

It’s a good step. Two years ago, I won my first Futures and now I won my first Challenger. I’m still ranked around No. 200, so it’s a good step, but it doesn’t mean I’m done.

How do you set your goals? Do you compare yourself to guys who are in the Top 10 or do you think about where you want to see yourself in the long term?

I’m looking at the future, three or four years later and where I want to be. I know I’m not the best junior because there are a lot of players in the Top 100, but maybe my career will be longer than them or my game will come later. Maybe one day I’ll be Top 100. I’m not too worried. I just need to be patient and keep working very hard.

How much of your game plan in the final was to return aggressively?

The return is one of my favorite shots, so I’m always trying to be aggressive with it. I didn’t want to get into long rallies with him, so the return and being aggressive at the beginning of the point was important. I know that sometimes I can miss easy balls with the return, like I did in the first set tie-break, so I just need to be patient and wait for the right opportunities.

How do you feel your movement and fitness is now?

I think it’s much better now. At the Australian Open, I won my first match after four hours. And in the final here, I was feeling good at the end of the match and Frances wasn’t moving as well. I don’t know if I’m in better shape than him, but I’m in better shape now than I was.

There were five straight breaks early in the third set. What was going on?

I think it was tough to play and tough to serve because we were both hitting well. But whether you win your serve or lose your serve, you just have to focus on winning the match. It doesn’t matter you if you lose your serve once or three times.

Where does this put you in terms of Roland Garros?

Now I’m in qualifying, but I hope to get a wild card into the main draw. I’m going to play the ATP Challenger Tour event in Bordeaux next. I just need to keep everything that was good this week, keep working hard and play every match as best as I can.

How will you celebrate your win?

I will go and see a little bit of Tallahassee tonight. A good drink, a good dinner and then back home tomorrow.