Behind The Scenes At Rotterdam 2017
Behind The Scenes At Rotterdam 2017
Feb212017
Roger Federer has signed a three-year deal to play at his hometown event in Basel until the age of 38.
The 35-year-old, who missed the second half of last season with a knee injury, has committed to Swiss Indoors until 2019.
Federer, who returned to action in January, won his first Grand Slam title since 2012 and his 18th in total with victory in the Australian Open.
“Playing in Basle is always a highlight of the year,” he said.
He has won Swiss Indoors seven times since making his debut in the tournament in 1998.
He is scheduled to return to action next week at the Dubai Duty Free Championships.
“If I am spared again by the injuries, I am convinced that I am still capable of beating the best players in the world in the big tournaments,” he said in January.
Tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Federer’s first appearance in his home tournament was in 1998, where as a 17-year-old he was beaten in straight sets by Andre Agassi.
There is, of course, no guarantee Federer will be on the Order of Play in 2019, but this is another reminder of his long-term thinking.
He missed the last six months of 2016, not just to allow his knee to recover, but also with preservation of his body in mind. At one stage, the conversation revolved around whether Federer would make it to the Rio Olympics. It is time to start the debate about Tokyo.
To hear Tommy Haas say it, the actual tennis – the winning of matches, the hoisting of trophies – is secondary during his latest and final comeback, which continues this week at the Delray Beach Open.
The 38 year old, who’s coming back after his ninth surgery last April, remains more focused on saying farewell to the places he loves the most and having his oldest daughter watch it all.
“I want to finish on my own terms. That’s really what it’s all about,” Haas told ATP World Tour Uncovered. “I’d like to go back to some of these events that I’ve had a great time playing at and just say goodbye in my own way and see if I can still play some good tennis and mainly also have my oldest daughter Valentina still somewhere on the sidelines cheering me on.”
Before January, when Haas had to retire during his first-round match at the Australian Open, it had been months since 6-year-old Valentina and Haas’ fans had been able to root for him on the court. The German had been out of action since October 2015, when he fell to Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in the first round at the Erste Bank Open 500.
Last April, Haas underwent surgery to repair a torn ligament and a ligament-like structure on his right foot, the latest part of his body to go under the knife. Haas had previously endured surgeries on his shoulders, rotator cuffs, elbows, hips and ankles.
Read More: Haas, 38, Planning Another Comeback After Ninth Surgery
But the former World No. 2 has learned to see the positive side of things, and he’s appreciating this extra time during the final stage of his 21-year career.
“I just think that sometimes there’s always a lot of reasons for everything. If I didn’t have maybe the last shoulder surgery again or the foot surgery, maybe Valentina wouldn’t have gotten to see her Dad play,” said Haas, who plans to bring her to events in a few months.
Coming back at least the 11th time from surgeries has been hard on the 6’2” right-hander. After his foot surgery in April, he couldn’t do much of anything for about four months.
“You lose pretty much all your muscles in your body, and it takes a lot of time to try to get back in some kind of shape,” Haas said.
Before Monday night, when he and Canadian Vasek Pospisil won their first-round doubles match at the Delray Beach Tennis Center, Haas hadn’t won a tour-level contest since 2015 Wimbledon. (Haas makes his Delray Beach singles debut on Tuesday against Memphis Open finalist Nikoloz Basilashvili).
The veteran has also struggled to balance his different roles. In addition to his comeback, he’s working a more than full-time job as the BNP Paribas Open tournament director in Indian Wells. He also has two young daughters at home whom he hates to leave, although Valentina is starting to understand what Daddy has been doing all these years.
“Every time I’m away she always asks me if I’m winning a trophy. Usually the answer is I’m just trying to win a match here,” said Haas, who’s won 15 ATP World Tour titles, including the 2011 Delray Beach Open. “Like I said, it’s going to be great to have her somewhere in the stands, sometime in the next few weeks or months, watching me play and cheering me on – the memories I want to make.”
She will have thousands of people like her in the stands, smiling and cheering for Haas one last time.
Belgian qualifier Arthur De Greef claimed his “biggest win” on Monday at the Rio Open presented by Claro. The 24-year-old prevailed against defending champion and No. 3 seed Pablo Cuevas 6-3, 3-6, 7-5, claiming the only break of the 65-minute third set in a memorable final game.
“It was unbelievable,” said De Greef following his third tour-level match win. “I played from the start till the end a very good match. It was unbelievable with the crowd who was going crazy. We did a few unbelievable points. I enjoyed a lot.”
De Greef, who reached a career-high No. 129 Emirates ATP Rankings in January, goes on to play Argentine Nicolas Kicker, a 7-5, 6-0 winner over fellow qualifier Marco Cecchinato. Cuevas had upset Rafael Nadal last year en route to the ATP World Tour 500 clay-court title.
Watch Full Match Replays
Norway’s Casper Ruud made good use of his wild card, beating Brazilian Rogerio Dutra Silva 6-3, 6-4 for his first ATP World Tour match win. The #NextGenATP player, currently ranked No. 208 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, did not face a break point in the 85-minute match to advance to the second round, where he will face Roberto Carballes Baena. The Spanish qualifier needed just over an hour to oust No. 8 seed Joao Sousa 6-3, 6-1.
Dusan Lajovic defeated Argentine Facundo Bagnis, claiming a 6-4, 6-4 victory in 88 minutes. The Serbian will face either second seed Dominic Thiem or countryman Janko Tipsarevic in the second round. Meanwhile, Diego Schwartzman topped fellow Argentine Renzo Olivo 6-2, 3-6, 6-4 in his opening match. He awaits the winner of the match between seventh seed Paolo Lorenzi and Federico Delbonis.
The tournament’s top seed, Kei Nishikori, who finished as runner-up to Alexandr Dolgopolov in the Argentina Open final on Sunday, will play his opening match against home hope Thomaz Bellucci on Tuesday.
In a battle of the 19-year-olds, American #NextGenATP member Taylor Fritz saved the lone break point he faced in a 6-4, 6-4 win against Japan’s Akira Santillan at the Delray Beach Open Monday night. Fritz claimed his second tour-level win of the year and next meets the winner of countryman Donald Young and second seed Ivo Karlovic.
On playing Santillan, Fritz said, “We go way back, we’re both born in ’97. So we played juniors together. We’ve played together, practised together. We’re good friends… I definitely went in knowing I’m more experienced, just I’ve played more on tour. I was thinking about that before the match, maybe that could make a difference but I was just focused on playing tennis and I thought I played a really solid match.”
American Sam Querrey began his title defence, holding a 6-2, 2-1 lead when Israeli Dudi Sela retired from their first-round match with a back injury.
The No. 4 seed, making his fifth straight appearance at the tournament, improved his match record in Delray Beach to 14-7. Querrey, currently No. 35 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, will face the winner of Jared Donaldson and Mikhail Kukushkin.
Yen-Hsun Lu, 2015 Delray Beach Open quarter-finalist, fought back from a set and 0-3 down to prevail 4-6, 7-5, 6-4 over American Bjorn Fratangelo.
“It was a tough feeling in this moment. I just tried other things. I changed the game plan, trying to come into the net more and put the pressure on him,” said Lu. “In this moment, I had nothing to lose. I just tried to play a different way and see how he reacts. It worked pretty well after that.”
World No. 63 Lu will face 22-year-old Kyle Edmund for the first time. The eighth-seeded Brit, making his debut at Delray Beach, struck five aces and conceded just one break point to post a commanding 6-3, 6-0 victory against France’s Adrian Mannarino.
Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka ended qualifier Kimmer Coppejan’s run with a 6-3, 6-3 win to set-up a match with fifth seed Steve Johnson or wild card Stefan Kozlov.
Tommy Haas, making his comeback following surgery last April, teamed up with Canadian Vasek Pospisil for a 6-4, 6-3 win over Steve Darcis and Adrian Mannarino on the doubles court.
“Happy to be back out there on the court,” said the 38-year-old Haas. “Obviously that’s the most important thing. I feel sort of fit. A lot of work still to do to play some of my tennis that I would like to play again. But to get out here and play doubles with such a nice guy that Vasek is and a good doubles player as well, it worked out great. And also giving me a chance to play a match before my singles I think is also important, because that’s really what I need.”
Revisit the week that was on the ATP Challenger Tour as we applaud the achievements of those on the rise and look ahead to who’s in action in the week to come
A LOOK BACK
Tempe Challenger (Tempe, Arizona): American Tennys Sandgren picked up his first ATP Challenger Tour title in more than three years by defeating Serbian Nikola Milojevic 4-6, 6-0, 6-3. A rain-filled weekend pushed the semi-finals to Sunday and the final to Monday. Sandgren’s last Challenger win came in November 2013 in Champaign, Illinois.
Milojevic still seeks his first Challenger title, dropping to 0-2 in Challenger finals after finishing runner-up last month in Noumea (l. Mannarino).
Challenger La Manche Cherbourg (Cherbourg, France): Frenchman Mathias Bourgue delighted the local crowd by taking the title with a 6-3, 7-6(3) win over Maximilian Marterer of Germany. Bourgue earned his second ATP Challenger Tour crown, with the previous one also coming in France when he prevailed in Blois in June 2015. He improves to 11-3 in Challengers in 2017.
Marterer was seeking his third ATP Challenger Tour title, having won back-to-back events last September in Morocco.
WHAT THE PLAYERS SAID
Sandgren: “It’s been a beautiful place to play and I’ve really enjoyed it. Thankfully the tournament was gracious enough to extend to a Monday family. I think I’ve played some really good tennis this week and the competition was really strong, so I got a little lucky today and just hung in there.”
A LOOK AHEAD
There are three tournaments on the calendar this week, with the $75,000 event in Bergamo, Italy, taking top billing as it returns for the 12th consecutive year. Local favourite Andreas Seppi is the top seed and Lukas Lacko of Slovakia is the second seed. Other notable names in the draw are seventh seed #NextGenATP star Quentin Halys of France, eighth seed Marterer looking for another big run and former Top 15 player Jerzy Janowicz of Poland.
The long-standing $50,000 event in Kyoto, Japan, celebrates its 21st year. Local favourite Yuichi Sugita is the top seed and Grega Zemlja of Slovenia is the second seed. Ze Zhang of China looks to build on his win earlier this month in San Francisco as the fourth seed.
The $50,000 Challenger in Morelos, Mexico, is back for the fourth straight year. Jordan Thompson of Australia is the top seed and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia is the second seed. #NextGenATP star Alexander Bublik of Russia is the third seed and Novikov aims to build on his Tempe form as the fourth seed.
View Draws & Watch Free Live Streams
ATP CHALLENGER TOUR ON TWITTER: The ATP Challenger Tour has launched a dedicated Twitter account for the latest news and information about players and events. Follow @ATPChallengerTour at twitter.com/ATPChallengerTour.
1. Akira Santillan is going for his first tour-level win on Monday evening at the Delray Beach Open.
The 19-year-old right-hander has played in two other ATP World Tour main draws – 2016 Shenzhen Open and the 2016 Generali Open in Kitzbuhel. Santillan received wild cards into both main draws and lost his openers. This is the first time he’s qualified for an ATP World Tour main draw.
“Qualifying is a better feeling because you’ve earned yourself into the main draw… Wild card, you’ve earned it into the main draw because somebody is trusting you, somebody is giving you the chance to play in the main draw because they believe in you,” Santillan told ATPWorldTour.com. “Two different feelings but for me qualifying obviously feels better.”
2. He has mixed heritage.
His father, Dean Santillan, is from South Africa. His mother, Harumi, is Japanese. But the family moved to Gold Coast, Australia, for tennis when Akira Santillan was about 7 years old. He lived in Australia until he was about 18. He currently plays under the Japanese flag.
“I would say I’m from Australia but I would say that I’m half Japanese,” Akira Santillan said.
3. Tennis runs in the family.
His father played tennis and coached him from the age of 5 to 14. Tennis was everywhere in their house, including posters of Andy Roddick, Xavier Malisse, Andre Agassi and Roger Federer. “All the old guys,” said the 19 year old. “It’s not surprising why I got into tennis.”
4. He’s a six-time titlist.
Santillan has won six ITF Futures titles. The 2015 season was his first full year of playing professional tennis, and he transitioned to the ATP Challenger Tour last July. He’s still searching for his first ATP Challenger Tour Title.
5. Don’t ask him about his weakness.
“My serve is one of my strengths, and my forehand and my speed. I get to a lot of balls. Sometimes I catch them off guard… Weakness? I don’t know. I don’t really have a weakness. I’d prefer not to say,” he said and then laughed.
6. Santillan knows his first-round opponent well.
It will be a battle of #NextGenATP stars when Santillan meets fellow #NextGenATP star Taylor Fritz on Monday during the final match on Stadium Court. The two have known each other since juniors. They’ve never played as professionals, but Santillan recalls playing him once years ago.
“I played him once in Belgium I think. He killed me. He plays good. Big serve. Big forehand. Goes for shots. It will be interesting,” Santillan said. “I feel confident. Obviously it’s his home. It’s in America and the crowd will be behind him but we’ll see what happens.”
Read More: Raonic Aims For Unpredictability In Delray Beach
Laura Robson has turned to Maria Sharapova’s former hitting partner Didi Kindlmann as she looks for a coach to guide the next stage of her career.
The former British number one, 23, is working with the German on a trial basis before her next tournament in Yokohama in two weeks’ time.
Kindlmann spent three years with Sharapova before her positive test for meldonium at the 2016 Australian Open.
He has since coached world number 22 Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova.
Kindlmann, 34, is now a free agent and well known to IMG, who manage both Sharapova and Robson.
Robson had been working with former players Lucie Ahl and Colin Beecher – employed by Junior Tennis Coaching – since June 2016. The decision to end the partnership appears to have been a mutual one.
Robson won the girls’ title at Wimbledon at the age of 14, and reached the fourth round of both Wimbledon and the US Open before she turned 20.
She has been as high as 27 in the world rankings but currently sits at 209, having effectively lost two years to a wrist injury which required surgery.
Robson won her first tournament for eight years in Pennsylvania last August and then qualified for the main draw of the US Open.
However, she lost seven matches in a row between September and January and a sustained run of success will be required before she is able to compete regularly on the WTA Tour again.