Tennis News

Felix Training At Nadal's Academy In Spain

Felix Auger-Aliassime is escaping the cold Canadian weather to train in Spain at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar with his coach, Fredric Fontang. 

On Friday, Auger-Aliassime hit with Academy player Aaron Cohen under the watchful eye of Toni Nadal. Felix later had a chat with the academy’s namesake: Rafael Nadal.

^{Photo Credit: Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar}
The #NextGenATP Canadian finished at year-end No. 21 in the FedEx ATP Rankings for the second consecutive season. The 20-year-old earned a 23-19 record in 2020.

Auger-Aliassime reached three ATP Tour finals this season, all of which came on indoor hard courts. He has made six tour-level championship matches in his career.

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Rivalry Reflections: How Federer & Djokovic Make Each Other Better

Despite having faced off 50 times in one of the sport’s most prolific rivalries, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic continue to find new ways to push each other to a higher level, and delight tennis fans in the process. On a recent episode of ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot, Federer and Djokovic looked back on their rivalry, their most memorable clash and what makes their match-ups so special.

Having faced off so many times on the biggest stages over the past 14 years, it’s hard to find two players who know each other’s game inside and out like Djokovic and Federer. Their 50 matches make their ATP Head2Head rivalry the second-most prolific in the Open Era, only trailing Djokovic and Rafael Nadal’s 56 matches.

“I’ve played so many thrilling matches with him over the years,” Djokovic said. “Every time I step on court against him it’s thrilling, it’s very exciting because it kind of exceeds that match. It goes beyond the sport.”

Part of what makes a Djokovic-Federer clash so electrifying is that they’ve met at the semi-finals or final of Grand Slams, ATP Masters 1000 and the Nitto ATP Finals in 18 of their past 20 matches. With so much on the line each time they meet, every match forces the current and former World No. 1s to bring their best and push beyond their limits.

The two champions embody different playing styles, with Djokovic’s court coverage and clean hitting pitted against Federer’s attacking prowess. The contrast in styles plays out in their see-saw, marathon encounters, and proves to be equally electrifying across all surfaces.

“Novak, obviously he can play on all the surfaces extremely well,” Federer acknowledged. “He always brings a certain level of play, which is extremely high, so to beat him you have to be at your best.

“He’s a great mover, and I have great coordination, so we match up well against each other.”

Perhaps their most unforgettable clash in recent memory, Djokovic highlighted the Wimbledon 2019 final against Federer as not only one of the best matches in their rivalry, but one of the best of his storied career.

“It would probably be [in the] top two, top three matches I’ve ever played, this final against Roger,” Djokovic acknowledged at the time. “Probably the best, most exciting, and most demanding – both physically and mentally and in every aspect – matches that I ever played.”

The Serbian player had to save two match points on Centre Court to defend his title in an epic five-set battle, triumphing after a marathon 7-6(5), 1-6, 7-6(4), 4-6, 13-12(3) clash that lasted four hours and 54 minutes – the longest final in Wimbledon history.

“You do look back and you do appreciate the fight and the battle and the type of match,” Federer reflected after the final. “You can’t always be part of a match like this, so when they come around you have to appreciate them.”

Djokovic and Federer have met twice since that Wimbledon final, splitting their results with the Swiss claiming revenge at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals. The World No. 1 returned the favour in the 2020 Australian Open semi-finals to extend his FedEx ATP Head2Head lead to 27-23.

Neither 33-year-old Djokovic nor 39-year-old Federer show any signs of slowing down soon, with both players still ranked inside the Top 5 as their legendary rivalry continues to delight fans in its third decade.

“I think actually rivalries are super important in sports, I think it also makes the game more popular,” Federer said. “I think you always need somebody who you can have a good rivalry with. With me… and with Djokovic, thank god I had them… I think we get the best out of one another.”

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International Tennis Hall Of Fame Celebrates Black Tennis Pioneers

The International Tennis Hall of Fame has launched a new digital museum exhibit that offers a comprehensive look at the history of Black tennis in America.

Breaking The Barriers: The ATA and Black Tennis Pioneers features a multimedia timeline spanning more than 120 years of Black tennis history, as well as a concurrent timeline of African American history overall. The exhibit chronicles the struggles and evolution of Black tennis, and the lives and careers of Black tennis champions from the early 1900s through today.

Breaking The Barriers is largely focused on the history of Black tennis in America, and it is part of a multi-faceted initiative by the International Tennis Hall of Fame to educate fans and shine a spotlight on Black tennis history. Additional programs in development include a future exhibit looking at Black tennis history on a global scale, virtual programs with guest speakers in February 2021, and an Arthur Ashe virtual reality experience in the museum based on the 1968 US Open.

Through dynamic imagery and video interviews from the International Tennis Hall of Fame collection, Breaking The Barriers explores what was happening in Black tennis during five distinct time periods of African American history: Creative Survival (1874-1910); Entrée (1910-1938); Reform (1938-1955); Participation (1955-1965); and Liberation (1965-Present).

In addition to highlighting stories of celebrated African American Hall of Famers Arthur Ashe, Althea Gibson, and Dr. Robert Johnson, Breaking The Barriers also showcases some of the less widely known, but highly impactful, individuals and organizations who fought for opportunity and equality in tennis for Black people. 

This includes pioneers like Rev. W.W. Walker, who organized the first interstate Black tennis tournament in Philadelphia in 1898 and Mary Ann “Mother” Seames, who was offering tennis lessons to Black children as early as 1906. The exhibit also highlights early champions like Ora Washington, an eight-time American Tennis Association national champion in the 1920s who also had a successful basketball career, and Jimmie McDaniel, a four-time American Tennis Association national champion who famously battled Hall of Famer Don Budge in an historic interracial exhibition match in 1940.

Breaking the Barriers chronicles the evolution and impact of the American Tennis Association, which was founded in 1916 from a collaboration of Black tennis clubs, and remains active today as the longest continually operating African American sports organization in the nation.

Throughout the exhibit, visitors can watch video clips from trailblazers who were at the front lines of Black tennis evolution and detail the exclusion they faced, how they overcame, and what they hoped for the future of the sport. First-person narratives include Virginia Glass, the first female president of the ATA and the mother of two successful collegiate players; Art Carrington, an ATA competitor, tennis promoter, and historian; and Hall of Famer Althea Gibson, the first ever Black player to win a Major Championship.

The Breaking The Barriers timeline includes present-day stories as well, highlighting Serena and Venus Williams’ historic careers, from their first televised US Open prime-time battle against each other to their success and impact on and off the court, as well as stars like Madison Keys, Sloane Stephens, Coco Gauff, and Naomi Osaka.

The initial iteration of Breaking The Barriers: The ATA and Black Tennis Pioneers was developed by the International Tennis Hall of Fame in collaboration with historians Dale Caldwell and Art Carrington for a physical exhibit displayed at the 2007 US Open. To date the exhibit continues to be the most requested traveling exhibit in the International Tennis Hall of Fame collection.

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Medvedev’s Returning Is Literally Off The Charts!

Daniil Medvedev is off the charts completing the 2020 season, both figuratively and literally.

First, the figurative. He finished the season on a 10-match win streak in winning the Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals. Seven of the 10 victories were against Top 10 opponents, including defeating the World’s No.1, No. 2 and No. 3 players to win in London.

Now for the literal part.

Medvedev’s first-serve return contact point at the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals against Alexander Zverev averaged a staggering 5.51 metres behind the baseline. Hawk-Eye court position graphics only extend back to a five-metre mark, resulting in several of Medvedev’s hit points being recorded literally in a blank space… off the chart.

An Infosys ATP Insights deep dive into return position at the Nitto ATP Finals from 2018-2020 identifies an overall backwards trend in return position. It’s not backwards in performance, but backwards in a real-estate sense.

The picture below highlights Medvedev’s extreme return position against Zverev from their round-robin match last month in London.

2020 Nitto ATP Finals: Medvedev First-Serve Return Location vs Alexander Zverev

Learn More With Infosys Second Screen

This was the deepest a player has stood to return first serves in the past three years at the Nitto ATP Finals. Of the 44 Hawk-Eye recorded matches, which yields first-serve return position 88 times, Medvedev owns the five deepest locations, averaging between 4.51 metres and 5.51 metres behind the baseline.

The overall contact point average for first-serve returns during the past three years is 1.9 metres behind the baseline. No player has averaged making contact inside the baseline against first serves, but Roger Federer came the closest, averaging making contact just 22 centimetres behind the baseline against Kei Nishikori in 2018.

2018 Nitto ATP Finals: Federer First-Serve Return Location vs Nishikori

The difference between Medvedev’s average and Federer’s average is an astonishing five metres and 29 centimetres. To provide context, the distance from the service line to the baseline is almost identical, at five metres and 49 centimetres. That’s how far apart they really are.

The average contact point against both first serves and second serves has been drifting further back in London over the past three years.

First-Serve Return Contact Point Behind The Baseline
• 2018 = 1.41 metres
• 2019 = 1.73 metres
• 2020 = 2.55 metres

Second-Serve Return Contact Point Behind The Baseline
• 2018 = 0.23 metres
• 2019 = 1.25 metres
• 2020 = 1.43 metres

Tennis’ traditional mantra has always focussed on standing further back behind the baseline to return first serves and stepping up inside the baseline to attack slower second serves. That line of thinking is getting thrown out the window at The O2.

In 2018, exactly half of the time (15/30) a player averaged making contact with his second-serve return inside the baseline. The 2018 total of 15 dropped to only eight in 2019 and dropped even further to six this year.

What’s stunning is that players are now employing a strategy that is completely the opposite, which is to move back, not forward, to return the second serve. For example, when Medvedev played Nadal in the semi-finals of the 2020 event, both players averaged making contact with their second-serve return deeper compared to their first-serve return.

2020 Semi-Final: Medvedev vs. Nadal – Average Contact Point Behind The Baseline
Medvedev
• vs Nadal’s first serve = 3.15 metres
• vs. Nadal’s second serve = 3.85 metres

Nadal
• vs Medvedev’s first serve = 3.58 metres
• vs Medvedev’s second serve = 4.13 metres

Medvedev’s preference for standing way back against first serves also washes over to second serves, where his name sits beside four of the deepest seven second-serve return positions. What’s fascinating is that Dominic Thiem owns both ends of the second-serve return spectrum, averaging returning from 1.19 metres inside the baseline in 2018 against Federer and 5.33 metres behind the baseline in 2019 against Zverev.

Moving up to return serve is all about blocking and quickly rebounding to rush the Serve +1 groundstroke. Standing way back is all about hitting an atypical return. When standing deep in the court to return, Medvedev can take full-blooded cuts at the ball as it significantly slows down and drops into his hitting zone. It’s essentially just another groundstroke.

We may have to start redrawing our graphics as Medvedev continues to write his own history.

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Schwartzman's Stunner Against Nadal Among Best ATP Upsets Of 2020

This week we have looked at the best ATP Tour matches and comebacks of 2020. Now, we turn our attention to the biggest upsets of the season, looking at three of the five most notable stunners of the year.

The Best Grand Slam Upsets Of 2020

5) Tommy Paul def. Alexander Zverev, Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC, Acapulco, R2, 26 February 2020 (Match Stats)
Tommy Paul made a splash at the Australian Open, defeating 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov in a four-hour, 19-minute second-round thriller. But perhaps his biggest upset of the season came weeks later at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC.

The American entered his clash against second seed Alexander Zverev winless against Top 10 opposition. On the other hand, Zverev was in form, fresh off reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final at the Australian Open (l. to Thiem).

The German came out of the gates firing, threatening a break in the first game of the match. But Paul settled in and played tremendous all-court tennis to stymie Zverev. He cracked his heavy inside-out forehand at every opportunity, but also showed great racquet skills to carve acute angles with his backhand, while also rushing to net to win points with his touch.

Zverev raised his level in the second set and began to play more aggressively. That wasn’t surprising, as the German has the 23rd-best winning percentage (33.8%) in the Open Era after losing the first set.

But Paul weathered the storm to stun Zverev 6-3, 6-4 and reach his second ATP 500 quarter-final (2017 Citi Open).

”It meant a lot,” Paul said. “I was really excited to get out there and play. He put me under pressure in the first game and then from there, I played well for the rest of the match.”

Paul lost in a tough three-setter in the last eight against big-serving American John Isner, but he had proven his mettle against one of the world’s best. He carried the confidence from that match throughout the best season of his career, climbing to a career-high World No. 54.

4) Gianluca Mager def. Dominic Thiem, Rio Open presented by Claro, Rio de Janeiro, QF, 22 February 2020 (Match Stats)
Gianluca Mager entered qualifying at the Rio Open presented by Claro with two tour-level wins. He departed Brazil with by far the best result of his career, including an upset he’ll be able to hang his hat on forever.

The Italian showed great form by dropping only five games in his two qualifying matches and upsetting clay-court stalwart Casper Ruud in the first round of the main draw. After beating Joao Domingues in the second round, he faced the toughest test of his career against recent Australian Open finalist Dominic Thiem. “For me, it was a dream only to play with him,” Mager said.

The 26-year-old showed no fear, saving three early break points with aggressive play. Thiem is one of the biggest hitters on the ATP Tour, but the Italian showed early he had no intentions of allowing the Austrian to blow right through him. When Thiem threw a jab, he was going to throw one right back.

The problem is that Mager couldn’t close out the win on the first day of play. He had to sleep on a 7-6(4), 2-1 due to Friday night rain.

But instead of panicking, the World No. 128 maintained his high level on Saturday to finish off the stunner, earning a 7-6(4), 7-5 upset of Thiem to reach his first ATP Tour semi-final.

Thiem didn’t hand the Italian the match. Mager took it from the superstar, hitting two groundstroke winners and an ace in the final game to advance.

“It’s unbelievable,” Mager said. “Now that I beat him, for me, it is a dream. He is a great, unbelievable player… I am very emotional.”

3) Diego Schwartzman def. Rafael Nadal, Internazionali BNL d’Italia, Rome, QF, 19 September 2020 (Match Stats)
It was tennis’ version of David versus Goliath in the quarter-finals of this year’s Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

Rafael Nadal had won his first nine ATP Head2Head clashes against Diego Schwartzman with the loss of just two sets. The Argentine knew he’d need to deliver a Herculean effort to oust the nine-time champion. That’s exactly what Schwartzman did at the Foro Italico.

“For sure it’s my best match ever,” Schwartzman said. “I played a few times against the three big champions in tennis. I never beat them until today. I’m very happy.”

Like Goliath, Nadal is a giant on the court. That is especially the case on clay, where the Spaniard bullies opponents with his heavy topspin forehand

But David (in this case, Diego) stood up to the giant. Schwartzman held his ground on the baseline and traded blow-for-blow with the legendary lefty in heavy conditions. Instead of Nadal pushing the righty back, he was the one being moved off the baseline. The Ad-court to Ad-court rallies — pitting Nadal’s forehand against Schwartzman’s backhand — were reminiscent of some of Rafa’s clashes against Novak Djokovic.

Whenever Nadal tried to change things up and play cat-and-mouse points, Diego had an answer.

“It was crazy. Tennis is crazy. Our performance is always crazy. The past three weeks were really bad for me,” Schwartzman said on court after his victory. “Today I played my best tennis.

There were five consecutive service breaks in the second set, and Schwartzman was broken at love when serving for the match at 5-4, when Nadal buckled down and reduced his error count. But Diego persevered, hitting a passing shot out of Rafa’s reach to earn another chance at closing out the match. This time, he hit a forehand drop volley to finish the job, triumphing 6-2, 7-5.

“Yeah!” Schwartzman shouted.

David had slayed Goliath.

It was arguably the biggest win of Schwartzman’s career-best season. He’d reach his first Grand Slam semi-final at Roland Garros — where he lost against Nadal — to crack the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings and earn his maiden berth at the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

Read All Best Of 2020 Stories

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