Welcome to the 2019 ATP Awards, where we recognise outstanding players and tournaments. Vote for your favourite players now and come back on Monday, 21 October, to view the nominees for the player-voted categories.

Voting for the ATPTour.com Fans’ Favourite Awards closes at 11:59pm GMT on Friday, 1 November. 

** If you have already cast your vote, you have the option to change your selection through the dropdown menu during the voting period, but your last submission will be the only one recorded. If you have already voted for a player and then try to vote for the same player again, the Vote button will not work.

Note: Fans’ Favourite candidates are the Top 100 players in the ATP Rankings and Top 25 teams in the ATP Doubles Race To London as of 9 September 2019. The Top 100 includes players with protected ATP Rankings who have played at least one tour-level match in 2019. Candidates with protected rankings are noted in the list with (PR). 

Roger Federer’s eighth appearance at the Rolex Shanghai Masters just began on Tuesday in China, but already, Federer’s father is pleading with him to come back in 2020.

Robert Federer, who’s making his first trip to China with his 38-year-old son, is having that much fun in the city of more than 24 million people.

“He told me, ‘Can you please play next year so I can come back again?’ Because he’s having such a great time,” Roger Federer said.

So far, Federer is having a similar great time at the season’s penultimate ATP Masters 1000 event. The World No. 3 arrived early in Shanghai to participate in sponsor activities. On the court, he started with a 6-2, 7-6(5) victory on Tuesday against Albert Ramos-Vinolas to avenge his 2015 Shanghai defeat against the Spaniard.

“ I enjoy it a lot,” Federer said earlier in the week about Shanghai. “It’s so very different to where I come from. I have lived in many different places in Switzerland and then travelled extensively. But this is pretty special, the way this city and this country is set up and everything.

“The size, when it comes to anything, is just off the charts. The fans get together, really make a conscious effort and want to show me how excited and happy they are… Means a lot to me. Don’t get that kind of fan grouping like this together anywhere else in the world.”

Leading the fan base in Shanghai have been Federer’s parents. His mom, Lynette, is making her third trip to the city after coming in 2002 and 2005.

“They’re having a good time. They are sightseeing. So this was the first time my dad has seen the centre court and the site. Very impressed, very excited,” Federer said.

“And I’m happy that they’re here. They are also going to travel with me to Tokyo next Monday. They have never been to Japan, my parents. That should also be an exciting trip. And they have just came from Singapore where my sister was, so they are on an Asia tour. They are having a good time.”

As for his father’s request, Federer said he will try to please his dad. “’All right. I will try my best to be back here again next year,’” Federer told him.

Russian Daniil Medvedev improved to 25-3 in his past 28 matches on Tuesday at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, breezing past Briton qualifier Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-1.

“It was a great match. As I say, it’s never easy to play a qualifier. [It] was my first match here in Shanghai after few weeks without a tournament finally, so I was a little bit even stressed about my level, but finally I managed to show a really good level, get out from there in less than one hour. Really happy and looking forward,” Medvedev said.

He sprinted to a 4-1 lead in the opening set and never let up, breaking Norrie three times in the second set to cruise in only 55 minutes. The Russian, who leads all players with 55 wins and eight finals in 2019, is trying to reach his sixth consecutive final. He last played at the St. Petersburg Open, where Medvedev won his first title on home soil.

Most Wins In 2019

“I don’t feel invincible, because I still lost some matches. If I would have won, let’s say, five tournaments in USA that I played, then I would tell you, ‘Yeah, maybe I am,’” Medvedev said. “I’m trying my best to keep the form I have. It’s really not easy, because as soon as you relax a little bit, the results will start to fall. That’s why I’m trying not to relax. I’m practising as hard as I can and playing my best in the tournaments also.”

By reaching five consecutive finals (Washington, Montreal, Cincinnati, US Open, St. Petersburg), Medvedev joined the last four players to finish No. 1 in the ATP Rankings going back to 2004, who all have reached five or more consecutive finals in their careers.

Rare Company: Active Players Who Have Reached Five Or More Consecutive Finals

The US Open finalist will next meet Canadian qualifier Vasek Pospisil, who has been on a serving tear in China. The 29-year-old Canadian has dropped only three first-serve points in his first two matches.

Pospisil won 100 per cent of those points (33/33) in his first-round upset of 14^th seed Diego Schwartzman of Argentina, and the Canadian dropped only three (31/34, 91%) in the second round against Portugal’s Joao Sousa to advance 6-3, 7-5.

Pospisil underwent back surgery on 18 January and missed the first six months of the season. He had only one tour-level win – a first-round upset of No. 9 Karen Khachanov at the US Open – before this week.

Fabio Fognini knuckled down on Tuesday and kept alive his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals with a hard-fought victory over former World No. 1 Andy Murray, a three-time former champion at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Murray twice served for the match at 5-4 and 6-5 in the deciding set, but Fognini dug deep to record a 7-6(4), 2-6, 7-6(2) victory over three hours and nine minutes for a place in the third round.

Fognini, who is currently 13th in the 2019 ATP Race To London, remains 110 points behind Alexander Zverev, who sits in the eighth and final qualification spot for the season finale, to be held at The O2 in London from 10-17 November. Fognini will next play seventh-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov or Taylor Fritz of the United States in the third round on Thursday.

Murray, who was riding a six-match winning streak at the Qi Zhong Stadium, dating back to his 2016 title run (d. Bautista Agut), was attempting to record the biggest win of his comeback from right hip surgery in January. At World No. 289, the Briton was also bidding to become the lowest-ranked player to reach the round of 16 at an ATP Masters 1000 tournament since No. 467-ranked American Taylor Dent in March 2009 at the Miami Open presented by Itau.

“There is a lot of things that I need to get better at, and I can do much better,” said Murray. “I will go away and I’ll work on those things and be in a better position next time I play against him.

“I served for the match twice and lost after three hours, so, I want to say that’s the first time ever in my career that that’s happened,” said Murray. “I don’t know. But I think it’s the first time I served for a match twice and not won. So I’m disappointed about that.

Although Murray’s serve was broken in the third game of the first set, the 32-year-old Briton worked his way back to a 4-2 advantage before 10th seed Fognini staged a comeback.

Fognini saved two break points in a 22-point opening game to the second set, but Murray grew in confidence and from 1-2 down he won the next five games.

Fognini momentarily wobbled at 3-3 in the decider, when, having led on serve at 40/0, Murray won four straight points for a break-point opportunity – only to see Fognini strike a forehand winner.

Murray first served for the match at 5-4 in the deciding set after Fognini was deemed not to have picked up a drop shot, but the Italian immediately bounced back after a Murray forehand error.

Then, in a tense finale, Murray set himself on a path to a seventh straight victory in Shanghai with a forehand crosscourt winner to break for a 6-5 advantage. The Scot served for a second time to close out his sixth victory over an injury-protracted season, which saw him miss five months, but Fognini’s groundstroke consistency and net play helped him to the tie-break.

Murray underwent his second right hip surgery on 28 January. Last week, he advanced at the China Open to his first ATP Tour quarter-final for 12 months (2018 Shenzhen).

Felix Auger-Aliassime is coming to the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan. The 19-year-old prodigy is set to make his debut at the 21-and-under event, to be held 5-9 November in Milan.

Auger-Aliassime, a three-time ATP Tour finalist this season, punched his ticket after both American Frances Tiafoe and Miomir Kecmanovic of Serbia fell in their openers at the Rolex Shanghai Masters.

“I’ve heard great things in the past about this competition and what it brings new to tennis, so I’m looking forward to playing good tennis there and to have many of you guys come. So see you in Milan,” Auger-Aliassime said in a message to fans.

Here are five things to know about the #NextGenATP star.

1. He’s the youngest three-time finalist since Rafael Nadal.
Back in February, Auger-Aliassime had yet to crack the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings. Heading into the Rio Open presented by Claro, he was No. 104.

In Rio, however, he quickly changed that, reaching his first semi-final and final and becoming the youngest ATP 500 finalist (l. to Djere) in series history (since 2009).

Auger-Aliassime, who reached a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 19 in August, has reached three ATP Tour finals this season. On clay in Lyon, he fell to home favourite Benoit Paire, and on grass in Stuttgart, he lost to Italy’s Matteo Berrettini. Auger-Aliassime is the youngest three-time ATP Tour finalist since Nadal, ages 17-18 (2004 Auckland, 2004 Sopot, 2005 Costa do Sauipe).

“I think I surprised myself every match this week being able to reach another final and my first one on grass, so it’s been amazing,” Auger-Aliassime said after Stuttgart.

He was competing in his first grass-court tournament as a professional.

2. He shares a birthday with Roger Federer.
Auger-Aliassime turned 19 on 8 August, the same day Federer celebrated his 38^th birthday. But while Federer was prepping for the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, Auger-Aliassime was celebrating with 11,000 of his closest friends in his hometown of Montreal.

Auger-Aliassime took the opening set against World No. 8 Karen Khachanov in their third-round contest, which enlivened the packed IGA Stadium.

“I never heard a stadium yell like this, sound like this, an atmosphere like this. It was incredible. At the changeover at 6-all, I could see the people there. I was raising my fist, and I felt energy coming up my legs. It was the first time I ever felt that. It was incredible,” he said.

Khachanov came back to make the quarter-finals, but Auger-Aliassime left his home Masters 1000 event encouraged.

“I have to stay proud of what I’ve done. For sure I’m frustrated because it was a big occasion. There was a lot of expectations, pressure, you name it. I think I handled that well,” he said. “But to be playing good and to lead in a match, to have a chance to win… It’s tough to see it slip away, but there’s a reason for that. It just means that I still have things to improve to win these types of matches and to deal better with these types of moments.”

3. He’s the youngest player inside the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings.
Auger-Aliassime is the only teenager inside the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings. Alex de Minaur, 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up, and Auger-Aliassime’s countryman Denis Shapovalov, both 20, are the second and third youngest, respectively.

Italy’s Jannik Sinner, 18, is close to cracking the Top 100 at No. 127.

4. His rapid improvement should be ‘scary for a lot of people’.
Auger-Aliassime has been tapped by some, including former World No. 1 Andy Roddick, as the best of the #NextGenATP. Earlier this year, the American explained to ATPTour.com what he specifically likes about the Canadian’s game.

“Something I look for is easy power. I think most guys on Tour, if they set up and want to hit a ball hard, they can. The really, really great ones — you think of Roger, I think of a guy like Tomas Berdych — it doesn’t look like he’s swinging out of his shoes, but the ball kind of launches off of his racquet. And maybe you can’t see the ball on TV, but you can feel it playing against him,” Roddick said. “Felix seems to have that easy power. When he’s going after a ball, it doesn’t look out of sorts. It looks like the technique is pretty much the same.”

More On Felix:
Roddick Explains Why Felix Is ‘Next Best Prospect’
Where Were Federer, Nadal, Djokovic & Murray At Nadal’s Age?
Felix Taking Flight: The Rapid Ascent Of Auger-Aliassime
Felix On Nadal Compliment: ‘It’s Just Amazing’

Roddick, a five-time ATP Masters 1000 champion, also said that Auger-Aliassime’s rapid improvement is perhaps the most encouraging attribute about the teenager.

“Things that will improve when you’re young, when you’re 18, movement always gets better, power always becomes more. That’s just going to happen, and he already does both of those things pretty well,” Roddick said.

“Even looking at his serve from last summer, I’ll get the statistics wrong, but I want to say it looked like a 115, 120 serve and now all of a sudden you look at him this summer and it’s looking like 125, 130, starting to look like a weapon, and that should be scary for a lot of people.”

5. He’s been on tennis fans’ radar for years.
Auger-Aliassime has been making headlines since he was 14, when he became the first player born in the 2000s to earn a position in the ATP Rankings.

In 2017, Auger-Aliassime, then 17 years, 1 month and 5 days old, became the fourth-youngest player to crack the Top 200 of the ATP Rankings. Only Richard Gasquet, Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt had accomplished the feat earlier.

Roger Federer avenged a rare early-round blemish on his Rolex Shanghai Masters resume on Tuesday, breezing past Spain’s Albert Ramos-Vinolas 6-2, 7-6(5) at the ATP Masters 1000 event in China.

Federer broke twice in the opener and sailed through his service games throughout the 86-minute encounter, never facing a break point and being pushed to Deuce only once, in the fourth game of the second set. But Federer quickly restored order with a stab backhand volley on full stretch and holding when Ramos-Vinolas netted a backhand.

The Swiss raced forward often, winning 81 per cent (17/21) of his net points and taking advantage of the quick conditions in Shanghai. Ramos-Vinolas recovered well in the second set, forcing a tie-break, but Federer came back from 1/4 down in the tie-break to advance.

“[I] had a really good first set. I focused and had good energy, because when you travel around the globe, you’re missing a bit of energy. Those first few games or matches can be sometimes a bit tricky. So I thought that went very well for me,” Federer said.

“Serve was solid. I was hitting my spots and really was never in trouble there. But of course all of a sudden, being in a breaker, calls out for different play sometimes and different momentum. He had his chances, but it was a nice comeback for me, and overall, I was very happy.”

The Spaniard upset Federer during the 2015 Shanghai second round, snapping an 0-15 record against Top 10 players to stun the defending champion in three sets. The upset dominated Federer’s thoughts before their rematch.

“I was thinking about it. Watched highlights. Remember how it felt. I had my chances. I won many more points that time than I lost, so I should have actually won that match,” he said. “But he did very well there and things turn very quickly here in Shanghai. Of course that got my attention. I know I also played him another time where I beat him very easily in Wimbledon, but [it] doesn’t matter what happened there. Shanghai, in that match, to play him again in the same circumstances, basically I knew [he] could be dangerous, and that’s why I’m very pleased how I was able to control the match out there today.”

Read Report: Ramos-Vinolas Upsets Federer In 2015 Shanghai

Federer will next meet Belgian David Goffin or Kazakhstan’s Mikhail Kukushkin for a place in the quarter-finals. The 13th-seeded Goffin beat France’s Richard Gasquet 6-2, 6-3, and Kukushkin knocked out #NextGenATP Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic on Monday.

Goffin upset Federer in similarly quick conditions during the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals semi-finals, although Federer leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 9-1. The 38-year-old is going for his third Shanghai title (2014, 2017) and 29^th Masters 1000 crown. He has already guaranteed his place at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, to be held 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

Watch: Tales Of The Tour: Most Titles In Tennis

Novak Djokovic joined fellow Serbian Filip Krajinovic on Tuesday in beating fifth seeds Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, this year’s Roland Garros champion, 6-3, 3-6, 10-3 in 67 minutes at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. They will next play Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski, who were 6-3, 6-4 victors over Chinese wild cards Xin Gao and Zhe Li.

Elsewhere, fourth seeds Raven Klaasen and Michael Venus, who are one spot behind fourth-placed Germans Krawietz and Mies in the 2019 ATP Doubles Race To London, knocked out Wesley Koolhof and Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 7-6(8) in 87 minutes.

Klaasen and Venus, who are bidding to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the second consecutive year, recovered from 1-3 down in the second set and saved five set points from 2/6 and at 6/7 in the tie-break.

Meanwhile, Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov beat Russians Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev 6-1, 6-4 in 57 minutes. Hubert Kurkacz and Benoit Paire beat Frenchmen Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin 6-4, 7-6(4) in 70 minutes for a place in the second round.

Australian Open 2020 will stretch right into the city of Melbourne as the tournament premieres the biggest Grand Slam footprint in world tennis.

Starting at Federation Square, in the heart of the city, and flowing through Birrarung Marr and Melbourne Park onto Richmond Station, the initiative is the result of nearly a decade of planning.

Australian Open Tournament Director Craig Tiley reflected on his long-term goal of expanding the footprint of the event at the official launch of the AO today.

“The Australian Open really takes over the city, and Melbourne embraces the event with more enthusiasm and excitement than any of the other Grand Slams,” said Tiley. “The players love the AO’s proximity to the city, and we always strive to maximise that and ensure the site is as accessible as possible to both the city and Richmond.

“Starting the AO experience at Federation Square has always made a lot of sense to us, and has been part of our long-term strategy for many years. We have been getting closer and closer every year. We are so excited to have Fed Square officially on board as part of the Australian Open for 2020, and to be a key focus of the biggest AO ever.

“This is the best sport and entertainment precinct in the world – bar none – and we want to represent it appropriately. We first moved into Birrarung Marr in 2016, before the opening of Tanderrum Bridge effectively turned the Melbourne Park precinct towards the city in 2017. Now, with the addition of Fed Square, we are bringing this vision to life.”

The huge footprint and sheer size of the precinct – the biggest in Grand Slam tennis – will further cement the Australian Open’s reputation as one of the most fan-friendly sports and entertainment events in the world.

Fed Square will be a major focus point during the tournament, with a free live site celebrating the best of tennis – with all the action live on the big screen, along with Melbourne’s best food and entertainment.

It’s not just the footprint that’s bigger and better than ever, with the AO now consolidating its position as a three-week event.

In a Grand Slam first, electronic line calling will feature on all courts during Qualifying, which runs from Tuesday 14 to Friday 17 January, with free entry for fans.

More entertainment, the AO Fan Shop, play areas for the kids and tennis activations continue right through to the AO City Entrance at Birrarung Marr.

Deakin Edge will host year two of the AO Kids Club childcare program, running daily from 10am to 9pm throughout the tournament. New for 2020 is a ‘Date Night’ service from 6pm to 9pm, allowing busy parents to experience the Australian Open after dark.

The AO Ballpark, presented by Emirates, doubles in size in 2020, and takes over both the Upper and Lower Terrace at Birrarung Marr, with activities on offer for kids of all ages, including ANZ Tennis Hot Shots courts, zip lines, kart racing, super soakers, live entertainment and family friendly food offerings.

The AO Live Stage is also back, with the return of the sensational giant shade structure and super-sized water misters, more seating and delicious new food offerings.

Fifteen days of music at the AO Live Stage will kick off with a new Girls Day Out concert on Sunday 19 January, with the all-female line-up to be announced soon. British rocker Billy Idol will perform on Wednesday 29 January with the rest of the line-up to be revealed in November.

The Practice Village, a new world-class fan experience, will bring tennis enthusiasts even closer to the big name stars as they prepare for their matches. The practice schedule will be easily accessible via onsite LED display screens and the new and improved AO app which will help fans plan their day.

The new Practice Village will be established at the National Tennis Centre end of the site and will include new viewing platforms, more seating and shade, along with a variety of family-friendly food options.

The Richmond entrance, easily accessible from Richmond Station, will be the major gateway to the Practice Village and eastern end of the precinct.