Tennis News

The Last Time… With Alex De Minaur

“The Last Time” that rising Australian player Alex de Minaur hit the indoor hard-courts in Europe, he sped through the draw to his seventh career ATP final at the European Open. “The Last Time” he tried to string a tennis racquet? That was much longer ago, and was a much less a successful attempt. 

The 21-year-old Aussie claimed three titles last year to hit a career-high ranking of World No.18, and he’s eyeing a fourth trophy at the Rolex Paris Masters. 

Currently in the second round in Paris, De Minaur caught up with ATPTour.com after his opening victory to reveal the last time he… 

Missed a flight?
I can confirm that I’ve never missed a flight. So I’m pretty good with that. I’m going to have to throw Marc Polmans under the bus there. He forgets things… I think he’s the one.

Lost something important?
I lost the keys to my house. And that was… that was on a night that I came back home probably a bit too late. I may or may not have had to sleep outside. 

Paid money to rent a court?
That’s… that’s a long time. I honestly cannot remember. I reckon I probably never have had to, because I’ve always been training, you know?

Being famous helped me?
Maybe on the flight back from Australia. I got an extra bag at check in. You know, she felt bad for me for having to withdraw from my home Slam and everything so she gave me, like, a pity extra bag.

Strung a racquet?
I’ve only strung my racquets twice. And it took, my first time two hours and the second time an hour and a half. And I skipped a couple of strings, so I can confirm that I’ve never done it again. 

Cooked for myself or others?
Quarantine, actually. I live by myself so I took it upon myself to try it out and see how it went. And, yeah, it wasn’t horrible! My go-to dish? I would probably go either chili con carne or just some chicken fajitas. 

Met a childhood idol?
I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of childhood idols and people I’ve looked up to, especially in the tennis world as Australia has such a rich history. I’ve been lucky enough to get my Davis Cup jacket from Rod Laver, I’ve been fortunate enough to have dinner with Muscles [Ken Rosewall], I’ve had Tony Roche as a Davis Cup coach. I’ve been very fortunate.

Shared a hotel room with another player?
I reckon it’s probably juniors. Juniors, I would say. Blake Ellis is the last person I probably shared a room with. 

Asked someone famous for a selfie?
Probably Hugh Jackman, about maybe a year ago. We were lucky enough to get invited to see The Greatest Showman here in Paris, and we managed to see him backstage and get a nice selfie with him.

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Carreno Busta Continues Bid For London Spot In Paris

Pablo Carreno Busta kept his hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals alive on Tuesday, as fellow London contender David Goffin’s bid was ended in the Rolex Paris Masters second round.

The Spaniard, who must win the tournament to extend his London qualification bid, won 87 per cent of first-serve points (26/30) to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 7-6(3), 6-2. Qualifier Norbert Gombos brought Goffin’s London qualification attempt to an end with a 6-4, 7-6(6) triumph.

Carreno Busta improved to 19-11 this season with his fourth win in six ATP Head2Head matches against Struff. The World No. 15 has shown impressive form since the resumption of the ATP Tour in August, with a semi-final run at the US Open and a quarter-final finish at Roland Garros.

”My confidence was very high today,” said Carreno Busta. “I was serving really good, but I think the key was the first and the second balls after [the] return and after [the] serve. I think that I played very aggressive on these balls and I made a lot of winners from everywhere. I’m happy for the victory, because Jan-Lennard on this surface is a really tough guy.”

Carreno Busta will meet Gombos for a place in the quarter-finals. The World No. 105 defeated Carreno Busta in the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head contest at the Open Sud de France in February.

Gombos saved three set points in the second-set tie-break to earn the biggest win of his career against Goffin after one hour and 36 minutes. The Slovakian, who is through to the third round at a an ATP Masters 1000 event for the first time, saved four break points at 2-2 in the first set and began to dictate with aggressive groundstrokes.

The 39-minute opener, which ended with three straight service breaks, finished when Goffin hit a forehand long.The Belgian regrouped and came within one point of a 5-2 advantage in the second set, but Gombos rallied to win 10 of the next 13 points to put pressure back on the shoulders of the World No. 14. Goffin held firm and in the tie-break held three set points at 6/3, but three consecutive groundstroke errors put Gombos in the ascendancy.

The 30-year-old wrapped up his seventh tour-level win of the year when Goffin over-hit a forehand — his 46th unforced error. Goffin, who is currently No. 14 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, drops to a 12-11 match record in 2020.

Miomir Kecmanovic ended John Millman’s winning streak with a 6-4, 6-2 win on Court 1. The Serbian broke the Nur-Sultan champion’s serve on four occasions to book a second-round clash against fourth seed Alexander Zverev.

Vienna runner-up Lorenzo Sonego added to his recent run of form with a 6-1, 6-4 victory against Alexander Bublik. The Italian will face 16th seed Alex de Minaur in the second round.

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Raonic Solid On Serve In Paris

Milos Raonic produced a clinical serving performance on Tuesday to book his place in the Rolex Paris Masters second round.

The 2014 runner-up dropped just six points on serve (37/43) to move past Aljaz Bedene 6-3, 6-2 in 63 minutes. Raonic, who owns a 12-5 record at the ATP Masters 1000, broke serve on three occasions to extend his unbeaten ATP Head2Head record against Bedene to 5-0.

This is the second time in three weeks that Raonic has defeated Bedene in a first-round match. At last month’s European Open in Antwerp, Raonic overcame the Slovenian 6-3, 7-6(4) en route to the quarter-finals.

Raonic will face home favourite Pierre-Hugues Herbert for a spot in the third round. The Frenchman recovered from a set down to beat Tennys Sandgren 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(4).

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Wawrinka Hits 35 Winners To Reach Paris Second Round

Stan Wawrinka raised his game at the right times on Tuesday to book his place in the Rolex Paris Masters second round. The Swiss No. 12 seed recorded his 13th match win of the year with a 6-3, 7-6(3) victory over Briton Daniel Evans in one hour and 33 minutes.

“I’m really happy with my level today, I was serving and moving well,” said 2015 semi-finalist Wawrinka, who awaits France’s Gilles Simon, the 2012 semi-finalist, or Tommy Paul of the United States.

Evans was left to rue missing out on two break points at 1-1 in the first set, with Wawrinka serving at 15/40. Having held serve, Wawrinka put his foot down and broke for a 3-1 advantage with a backhand volley winner. In a competitive second set, Wawrinka won four straight points from 2/2 in the tie-break and closed out with an unreturned serve.

Wawrinka, who struck 35 winners, is now 5-0 lifetime against Evans in their ATP Head2Head series. They met last month in the St. Petersburg Open first round, with Wawrinka saving three match points in a 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-5 win.

Later in the day, France’s Richard Gasquet broke a four-match losing streak to overcome Taylor Fritz of the United States 6-0, 3-6, 6-3 in one hour and 36 minutes for his 15th victory of the reduced 2020 season. Gasquet will next play sixth-seeded Argentine and Nitto ATP Finals contender Diego Schwartzman.

“I am home and I like to play here in Bercy, even if there is no crowd,” said Gasquet, in a post-match interview. “I am very happy with the way I played. It is very difficult to play without the support of a crowd.”

Gasquet completed the 25-minute opener with an ace, before Fritz worked his way back into the match, breaking for a 5-3 advantage in the second set when Gasquet made a forehand error. Fritz, who completed the second set with an ace, could not convert three break points early in the decider and paid the prize at 1-2, when he was broken to love.

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Paris Masters: Dan Evans beaten by Stan Wawrinka in first round

British number one Dan Evans falls to a straight-set defeat by Stan Wawrinka in the first round of the Paris Masters.

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When Points Go Long, It’s Advantage Nadal & Federer

A rally begins, and it gets longer, and longer, and longer.

What you are seeing is not so much dominance building by one player over the other, but rather the exact opposite – a leveling out of each player’s fortunes as the length of the rally rises.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of extended rallies of 9+ shots from the year-end Top 10 in the 2019 season uncovers that this elite group combined to win just 52.5 per cent of total points in this specific rally length. The data set is from ATP Masters 1000 events in 2019 on Hawk-Eye courts.

The Top 10 leader was Rafael Nadal, who won a commanding 58 per cent of extended rallies in the 9+ rally length. The Spaniard was the only Top 10 player to cross the 55 per cent threshold.

What’s interesting is that Roger Federer, typically known for wanting to finish points quickly, came in second place, winning 54.5 per cent of points in extended rallies of nine shots or more. Few would have guessed that the Swiss placed higher up this list than his arch-rival, Novak Djokovic, who came in sixth place, winning 53.7 per cent (538/1002) of extended rallies.

The three players who all won in the 54 per cent range were Roberto Bautista Agut (54.4%), Gael Monfils (54.1%) and Matteo Berrettini (54.0%).

Daniil Medvedev had a breakthrough season in 2019, winning ATP Masters 1000 events in Cincinnati and Shanghai, but still only managed to win just 52.7 per cent of rallies of 9 shots or more. The three players in the data set who were below the Top 10 average were Dominic Thiem (51.5%), Alexander Zverev (49.7%) and Stefanos Tsitsipas (45.6%).

Reaching the elite status of being a Top 10 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings is based on developing a variety of strengths in your game. Creating a slight edge in longer rallies is just one of them.

2019 Top 10: Points Won In 9+ Rallies At ATP Masters 1000 On Hawk-Eye Courts

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Carreno Busta Halts #NextGenATP Gaston's Dreams Of Another Big Paris Run

#NextGenATP Frenchman Hugo Gaston captured the world’s attention at Roland Garros, where he used his creativity to surge to the fourth round and pushed third seed Dominic Thiem to five sets. On Monday, Pablo Carreno Busta stopped Gaston before the lefty could gain momentum for another dream run in Paris.

The ninth seed defeated the home favourite 6-3, 6-2 in 69 minutes to reach the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters.

“I think I played good. I’m happy with the performance,” Carreno Busta said. “At the beginning of the match he started very aggressively and probably surprised me a little bit.
But after the first two games I think that I dominated the game again and I served good, I returned good. I played aggressively, so I was happy with the victory and with my game.”

Carreno Busta immediately lost his serve as Gaston showed some of the touch that helped him so often on the terre battue. The 20-year-old wild card showed his confidence with an early serve and volley, crisply carving a volley out of the recent US Open semi-finalist’s reach. 

But the drop shot that served Gaston so well at Roland Garros wasn’t as successful against the ninth seed. Once Carreno Busta got back on serve, his game proved too solid for the Frenchman. The World No. 15 earned 13 break points, converting four of those chances in his victory. He will next play big-hitting German Jan-Lennard Struff, who eliminated Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili 6-4, 6-2.

“Of course today I’m sad. Playing against Pablo, he’s a very good player,” Gaston said. “It was a tough match for me, and congrats to him.
But of course to come back to Paris for me, it’s good. It’s nice.”

In the last match of the day, 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Alejandro Davidovich Fokina upset 11th seed Karen Khachanov 6-3, 2-6, 6-2 in one hour and 48 minutes.

“I’m playing very well [from] the baseline. I think I’m very solid there,” Davidovich Fokina said. “When I move fast, I think I am [playing] my game very good.”

Khachanov has great memories at Paris-Bercy, where he won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in 2018. But the Spaniard frustrated him throughout the match with his all-court game, preventing the Russian from comfortably dictating play.

Davidovich Fokina, who saved five of the seven break points he faced, will play French wild card Benjamin Bonzi, who defeated Argentine lucky loser Federico Coria 6-2, 6-1.

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