Karen Khachanov’s backswing on his forehand looks like a serpent coiling to strike. It’s big and menacing and his extreme wrist bend provides opponents with no clue where this venomous shot is going to bite them.

Khachanov stunned Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the Rolex Paris Masters Sunday, with the Russian’s forehand running rampant all over the court.

Djokovic at times looked exhausted from his three hour, three minute semi-final encounter with Roger Federer, and a week-long battle with the flu, but Khachanov still had to reach out and claim the biggest title of his career, with his unorthodox forehand being the driving force.

Khachanov Forehand Winners = 12

The most efficient strategy Khachanov employed to set up a forehand winner was to hit it as his first shot after a serve. He hit six Serve +1 forehand winners, with half rocketing past Djokovic’s forehand wing and the other three directed to the backhand. The Russian also chipped in with a forehand return winner.

The other five forehand winners displayed the versatility of the 6’6″ Russian’s game. One was a standard groundstroke from the baseline, one was at the front of the court, another was an approach, and the other two were scintillating, on-the-run passing shots that brought the Parisian crowd to their feet and Djokovic to his knees. 

Of the 13 forehand groundstroke errors Djokovic committed in the match, six came from a Khachanov forehand groundstroke, and one from a forehand return.

The backswing on Khachanov’s forehand is extremely difficult to decipher any clues from as to what destination it will ultimately rocket towards, and his patterns of play are equally confounding.

Khachanov hit 41 per cent of his forehands to the outer third of the Ad court (to Djokovic’s backhand), and 42 per cent to the outer third of the Deuce court, stretching Djokovic wide off the court to hit his own forehand. Only 17 per cent of Khachanov’s forehands landed in the middle of the court. When Khachanov created time to wind up and crush a big forehand, it was simply unreadable for Djokovic to predict where it was going.

Khachanov was also far more likely to step forward to the ball on his forehand side to attack than off his backhand wing. The Russian made contact with 25 per cent of his forehands inside the baseline, but only managed to do that 11 per cent of the time on his backhand side. 

Khachanov hit some blistering forehands in the match, but surprisingly he averaged hitting his forehand slower than Djokovic overall. The Russian would quite often add heavy spin with his extreme western grip to create a short angle and run Djokovic or hit it higher over the net with more shape to get the ball up out of the Serb’s strike zone.

Average Rally Speed
Forehands

• Khachanov = 113kph
• Djokovic = 120kph

   

  Backhands

• Khachanov = 108kph
• Djokovic = 111kph

  Both players ended up hitting slightly more backhands than forehands for the match, but Khachanov was able to do more damage with his when he did get to hit it.

   

  Total Groundstrokes

• Khachanov = 105 forehands / 121 backhands
• Djokovic = 109 forehands / 111 backhands

Djokovic took control of the match early in the first set, leading 3-1, 30-0 on serve, but inexplicably lost 10 straight points to lose all his early momentum. Khachanov’s forehand had a lot to do with that purple patch, striking four forehand winners in the span of six points, with an additional two Djokovic groundstroke errors coming after a Khachanov forehand.

Khachanov’s funky forehand technique may very well come with a “do not try this at home” label, but it was his weapon of choice that helped capture the biggest title of his career in Paris. He makes it work, and then some.

– Hawkeye data used in this story is courtesy ATP Media.

– Craig O’Shannessy is a member of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team.

Frances Tiafoe is a bit too busy to be launching any political campaigns. But when the 20-year-old, who’s making his Next Gen ATP Finals debut this week, finds the time and energy to devote to politics, one of the people who knows him best thinks Tiafoe might be a natural for the field.

Nearly three years ago, when trainer Paul Kinney started working with Tiafoe, the teen-aged American was playing ATP Challenger Tour events. Tiafoe’s outgoing and laid-back personality endeared him to nearly everyone – players, officials and organisers – at every tournament.

Kinney remembers Tiafoe’s morning routine as follows: First, he’d set his bags of gear down at a table to eat breakfast, but then he’d see someone he knew and stroll over to them to talk, then there was someone else and someone else and someone else and someone else. Twenty minutes later, Tiafoe was left scanning the room, trying to remember where he rested his racquets.

Kinney called him “The Mayor.” “You’re meeting with all of your constituents,” Kinney joked.

Read More: 2017 NextGenATP Class Continues To Soar

Tiafoe is still as outgoing and energetic as ever, but this year the affable right-hander has found a way to balance the jokes with the work and have his best year yet.

Before 2018, he was 9-29 in tour-level matches. Too often, he’d get close to the end line but fall short. He was 4-13 in deciding sets.

But Tiafoe enters the Next Gen ATP Finals, which starts Tuesday, with a 26-23 record this year, including 11-8 in deciding sets.

“I had a ton of tight matches with a lot of guys, but I always took the short end of the stick. Now I’m beating these guys,” said Tiafoe, who used to play defensively during big moments late in matches. “Now I’m feeling really comfortable when it gets tight. I actually embrace it, I want it… Now I just take it. If I’m going to lose that way, that’s fine.”

Watch: Tiafoe Qualifies For Milan

The on-court change stems from an overall new mindset that Tiafoe has carried with him this year. His coaches and Kinney all say that the right-hander is taking more ownership of his career and applying what he’s learned from his first two years on tour.

His coaches see it in the way he pays more attention to details in planning meetings, such as when they discuss upcoming goals or practice agendas.

“He’s asking more questions about his tennis, he’s trying to prepare a little bit better than he used to,” coach Robby Ginepri told ATPWorldTour.com. “Before, he would just show up and just thought he had to hit a yellow tennis ball and whatever happened, happened.”

Tiafoe said: “I think I’m just holding myself way more accountable, just really believing.”

The accountability extends to his work with Kinney as well. Besides his daily town hall meetings as “The Mayor”, Kinney remembers Tiafoe as a teenager with few, if any, routines.

Even the way Tiafoe dressed himself in the morning changed from day to day. “Shoes, shorts, shirt. Sometimes it was shirt, shoes, shorts… Everything was just kind of, ‘I’m going to throw on whatever I’m thinking’,” Kinney told ATPWorldTour.com. “The one routine that he had that was consistent wasn’t his alone: When you wake up in the morning the first thing you do is roll over and grab your phone.”

Read More: For Tsitsipas, One Year Has Made All The Difference

That routine is why, in the beginning of their partnership, Kinney had to take Tiafoe’s phone away from him for an hour so they could get their work done. “Those people writing you, they aren’t going anywhere. Those text messages aren’t going to get deleted,” Kinney would say.

But slowly, Tiafoe has matured, and Kinney has helped him establish routines that have led to another injury-free year, despite the fact that Tiafoe more than doubled the amount of tour-level matches he played, from 2017 to 2018 (24 to 49).

“The best part is his trainer Paul Kinney has kept him healthy all year, and he’s been able to play a long, full season,” Ginepri said.

Tiafoe thought his long 2017 campaign would also finish in Milan. Zack Evenden, Tiafoe’s assistant coach and hitting partner, said the group thought it was a given Tiafoe would be among the world’s best 21-and-under players at the Fiera Milano during the inaugural event.

But Tiafoe finished 110 points behind final qualifier Daniil Medvedev of Russia. So this year, Tiafoe and his coaches wanted to leave no doubt.

Read & Watch: 5 Things To Know About Tiafoe

“We didn’t want to cut it close; we didn’t even want to think about it,” Evenden told ATPWorldTour.com. “We knew we were going to be in Milan by the end of the season.”

Ginepri views the event as another folder in Tiafoe’s growing portfolio of experiences, a binder that may one day include a trip to the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, where the top eight players in the world compete for the season’s final title.

“[In Milan,] you get a chance to see what it’s like to play late in the season, like at the Nitto ATP Finals, where ultimately these guys want to play in their career,” Ginepri said.

The coach, however, isn’t expecting Tiafoe to take advantage of one of the tournament’s key innovations – the availability of mid-match coaching at the end of each set.

The maturing Tiafoe, Ginepri said, can usually problem solve well on his own, as he’s shown throughout the best year of his career.

“He might not even utilise me to be honest,” Ginepri said. “He feels his way around the court pretty well.”

Alex de Minaur has been undoubtedly one of the breakout players of the ATP World Tour these past 11 months. The 19-year-old #NextGenATP Aussie has enjoyed a season that could well be defined as a whirlwind. He started the year being World No. 208 and has improved his position a total of 18 times (!) to reach his best ATP Ranking yet, at No. 31.

His season has not gone unnoticed by anyone, and the Sydney native has been nominated for two awards at the ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon: ‘Newcomer Of The Year’ and ‘Most Improved Player Of The Year’, both categories chosen by his peers. To close a simply brilliant season, De Minaur will try to put the icing on the cake with the Next Gen ATP Finals crown.

Read More: De Minaur Among 2018 Newcomer Of The Year Nominees | Learn More About The Nominees For Most Improved Player Of The Year

ATPWorldTour.com unravels a dream year that began in the best possible way: with a sweet Aussie summer.

There is nothing that can match the feeling of playing at home, more so if your country has a devotion for tennis. De Minaur took that home-court advantage and made a statement run: he reached semi-finals at the Brisbane International, beating former World No. 3 Milos Raonic. One week later, De Minaur reached his first ATP World Tour final at the Sydney International, where he dazzled and was a few points away of the title (l. to Medvedev).

The local effect also served him well in his permanent residence, Alicante (Spain). At the beginning of April, De Minaur (whose mother is Spanish and his dad is Uruguayan) stood in the final of the Ferrero Challenger Open and was stopped by Pablo Andujar. The ATP Challenger Tour served as a springboard for the European summer on grass, where De Minaur reached the final in the Surbiton Trophy and most importantly of all, where he won his first ATP Challenger title at the Nature Valley Open.

In Wimbledon, sacred territory for his mentor Lleyton Hewitt, De Minaur proved that the sky is the limit and reached the third round, where he collided with World No. 1 Rafael Nadal. The first half of the season exemplified De Minaur’s frame of mind: every match is taken point by point. And each tournament is of the utmost importance, regardless of the category.

Uncovered: De Minaur, Hewitt

Far from remaining satisfied with what had been achieved so far, De Minaur traveled from Europe to the U.S. looking for more success. And he did not disappoint: At the Citi Open in Washington, D.C., he reached his first ATP World Tour 500 final, where World No. 3 Alexander Zverev won his second consecutive Citi Open title.

At the US Open, where De Minaur reached the third round, ATPWorldTour.com spoke to the man who accompanies the Aussie around the world: His full-time coach Adolfo Gutiérrez.

“Today, being 19 years old, he remains the same as before, nothing has changed,” said the Spanish coach. “Winning matches, having fame, people knowing him… But everything is still the same. He is very humble.”

What the coach appreciates the most about De Minaur’s personality is his courage: “He is fearless.”

Gutiérrez finds in Hewitt the perfect complement for De Minaur. “I am very grateful to him because he helps us a lot by training with him, by preparing the matches… with everything. The experience of Lleyton is very good for us,“ said Gutiérrez.

“Mentally, Lleyton makes him believe that he can, when he goes out on the court to play against a higher-ranked opponent, [Lleyton] convinces him that he can win and that suits him. If someone like Lleyton tells you something like this… He really convinces him. And if he says it, there must be a reason to believe it.”

De Minaur arrives in Milan with a positive record of 24-21 and the desire to put a finishing touch to a dream season.