Tennis News

Medvedev, Serena Enjoy Monaco Grand Prix

Tennis players are used to speed, from blasted winners to rapid movement around the court. But on Sunday, some stars were treated to a different type of speed at Formula One’s Monaco Grand Prix, which was won by Max Verstappen.

One of the ATP Tour players in attendance was World No. 2 Daniil Medvedev, who is a Monaco resident.

“One of my dreams came true today,” Medvedev wrote on Instagram. “Had an amazing chance to watch F1 in Monaco.”

 

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WTA Tour legend Serena Williams not only watched the race, but also played a special role at the grand prix. The American waved the chequered flag to signify the end of the race.

A sporting great waved the chequered flag in Sunday’s race ?

Top job, @serenawilliams ??? #MonacoGP ?? #F1 pic.twitter.com/LFbvJES6gK

— Formula 1 (@F1) May 23, 2021

Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev enjoyed themselves, and Mischa poked some fun at his younger brother, who had a conversation with three-time Formula One World Champion Sir Jackie Stewart.

“I always told Sash he needs a driving coach…” Mischa joked on Instagram.

 

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Felix Auger-Aliassime watched the action with his girlfriend.

 

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Brazilian doubles star Marcelo Melo, the countryman of racing legend Ayrton Senna, got his first taste of Formula One action.

“Amazing weekend here in Monte Carlo,” Melo wrote on Instagram. “It was the first time for me watching one Grand Prix live.”

 

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Scouting Report: Djokovic Leads Belgrade Field, Sonego Seeks Parma Glory

There will be two ATP 250 events this week, with Novak Djokovic leading the way at the Belgrade Open in Serbia, and Lorenzo Sonego topping the field in his home country of Italy at the Emilia-Romagna Open.

ATPTour.com looks at 10 things you should watch at those clay-court tournaments this week.

Draws: Belgrade | Parma

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN BELGRADE
1) Djokovic At Home: One month ago, Djokovic fell two wins short of lifting a trophy at home in the Serbia Open, losing against Aslan Karatsev in the semi-finals. The World No. 1 will try to once again triumph at the Novak Tennis Center this week, with Egor Gerasimov or Mats Moraing looming in the second round. The top seed has triumphed twice in Belgrade before — in a different tournament — in 2009 and 2011. A victory this week would give Djokovic two titles in 2021 after he won the Australian Open.

2) Lajovic & Kecmanovic Pursuing Home Glory: In addition to Djokovic, fellow Serbians Dusan Lajovic and Miomir Kecmanovic are also seeded at their home ATP 250. Lajovic lost a three-setter against in-form Argentine Federico Delbonis last month at the Novak Tennis Center. However, he has enjoyed clay-court success before, making the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final on the surface in 2019. Kecmanovic had a better run in Belgrade last month, making the quarter-finals, in which he fell against Djokovic in straight sets. The 21-year-old’s lone ATP Tour title came in Kitzbuhel last year on clay.

3) Monfils On The Move: Gael Monfils won his first match since last February in Dubai last week in Lyon, and the Frenchman will try to gain momentum in Belgrae. The second seed will play countryman Arthur Rinderknech or Spanish qualifier Roberto Carballes Baena in the second round. Monfils will try to take confidence from training with Roger Federer over the weekend in Geneva.

4) Will A Frenchman Steal The Show? Monfils isn’t the only notable Frenchman in the Belgrade draw. Fourth seed Adrian Mannarino could play former Top 10 star Lucas Pouille in an all-French clash in the second round and Jeremy Chardy has won his opener against two-time Australian Open quarter-finalist Tennys Sandgren.

5) Sabanov Twins Hungry For More: Ivan Sabanov and twin brother Matej Sabanov already made their mark in Belgrade a month ago by winning their first ATP Tour title. They are wild cards this week, but they will try to claim another crown. The brothers are off to a good start, having defeated Buenos Aires champions Tomislav Brkic and Nikola Cacic in the first round. Rohan Bopanna and Franko Skugor are the top seeds in the doubles draw.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN PARMA
1) Sonego Shining: Sonego is the top seed in Parma, and he arrives playing some of the best tennis of his career. The Italian not only won his first ATP Tour title on home soil earlier this year in Cagliari, but he followed that by making his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final in Rome. Sonego beat Dominic Thiem and Andrey Rublev to reach the last four at the Foro Italico, and the 26-year-old took a set off World No. 1 Djokovic before bowing out. The home favourite will open his run against Italian veteran Andreas Seppi or #NextGenATP American Sebastian Korda.

2) Musetti Magic: Lorenzo Musetti has been a standout #NextGenATP star in 2021, but one thing he has not yet earned is an ATP Tour title. The 19-year-old will try to make that happen this week in Parma, where he will face countryman Gianluca Mager in the first round. Musetti made his second tour-level semi-final of the year last week in Lyon, where he pushed Stefanos Tsitsipas to a deciding set. In his other semi-final this season, Musetti also played Tsitsipas. On that occasion, in Acapulco, the teen managed just four games, so his effort in Lyon showed the Italian’s continued progress.

3) Ramos-Vinolas On Clay: Albert Ramos-Vinolas has proven a consistent performer on clay this season, claiming his third ATP Tour title in Estoril. The Spanish lefty also made the championship match in Cordoba, where he lost against Argentine lefty Juan Manuel Cerundolo. Ramos-Vinolas, who is seeded third this week, will attempt to lift multiple tour-level trophies in a season for the first time. The 33-year-old begins his run in Parma against Finland’s Emil Ruusuvuori or Slovakian lucky loser Norbert Gombos.

4) Korda Time: Korda broke through last year at Roland Garros by storming to the Round of 16. Will the American have another successful run on clay this week in Italy, where he could play top seed Sonego in the second round? Korda snapped a four-match losing streak last week in Lyon with a victory against Pierre-Hugues Herbert. Earlier in the year, the 20-year-old made his first Masters 1000 quarter-final in Miami.

5) Belgians Chasing Glory: Belgian doubles stars Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen are the top seeds. The countrymen have lifted five ATP Tour doubles trophies as a team since the start of 2019, with their most recent triumph coming this season in Singapore. Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan are the second seeds.

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Djokovic's Goal In Belgrade: Reach 'Perfectly Tuned'

Novak Djokovic is one week away from beginning his chase for a second Roland Garros title. But first, the World No. 1 is focussing on improving as much as possible this week at the Belgrade Open in Serbia.

“I’ve been setting up everything to peak in Paris and here it’s about matchplay and it’s about working on certain specific details in my game that hopefully I’ll be able to tweak them and to make them perfectly tuned in Paris,” Djokovic said. “That’s definitely where I want to shine and it’s a Grand Slam. It’s a two-week long event, it’s clay, it’s very demanding in every aspect. But I’m happy with the way I’ve been feeling on the court and playing, so hopefully I can go all the way there.”

This is the first time that Djokovic will play a tournament the week before the clay-court major. The Serbian is adjusting his routines accordingly.

“I’m doing more specific fitness that is related to more matchplay. It’s not any more long hours lifting weights and stuff like this. We have obviously a programme that we are respecting and accomplishing on the court with tennis training and also fitness training,” Djokovic said. “Obviously now it’s more of a fine-tuning, more [focussing on the] details, [doing] more of certain exercises that activate certain muscles and movements that are necessary for me to have that feeling of being dynamic and being fast and being strong on the court.”

Djokovic competed at the Novak Tennis Center just one month ago in the Serbia Open, in which he lost in the semi-finals against Aslan Karatsev. Another Belgrade ATP 250 was added for this year when Roland Garros was moved back one week.

“It is always very special to play in Serbia. It’s quite unusual to have two tournaments so close to each other. I played the Serbia Open a month ago here and now we have another tournament and this tournament came up as a surprise to all of us,” Djokovic said. “I think the success of a nation in tennis depends a lot on the amount of tournaments that are played in that country.”

The home favourite loves playing in Serbia, where he lifted ATP Tour trophies in 2009 and 2011. Since he is able to stay at home, the top seed is also enjoying time with his family.

“I’m really glad that I am also able to play at home twice and spend more time with the family,” Djokovic said.

The last time fans saw Djokovic in action, he pushed Rafael Nadal in a tough three-setter in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia final. The Serbian will play Egor Gerasimov or Mats Moraing in his opener in Belgrade.

“I was pleased with the way I played in Rome, also in the final after five hours spent on the court on Saturday. I came out and played almost three hours with Rafa on Sunday and I felt I could go on physically for a few more hours,” Djokovic said. “That was something that really satisfied me, knowing that I’m fit and ready to battle in best of five, which is coming up in Paris, where I really want to try to play my best tennis.”

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Paul, Cobolli Get Wins In Parma

On Sunday at the Emila-Romagna Open Tommy Paul took out Italian Stefano Travaglia 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round.

Paul has proven to be a big threat on clay, pushing Dominic Thiem to four sets at Roland Garros in 2019 and challenging Casper Ruud in five sets in 2020. He awaits the winner of Steve Johnson and Jiri Vesely.

In the only other main-draw match, Italian wild card Flavio Cobolli won a dramatic marathon over Marcos Giron 3-6, 7-6(6), 7-6(4) in two hours and 34 minutes.

Cobolli, a 19-year-old ranked No. 446, was making his ATP Tour debut, having only played in the qualifying events of Rome in 2020 and 2021. He will take on fourth seed Jan-Lennard Struff in the second round.

The qualifying event concluded with wild card Raul Brancaccio, Pedro Martinez, Mikael Ymer and Daniel Altmaier securing places in the main draw.

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Chardy, Krstin Move On In Belgrade

Main draw action kicked off at the Belgrade Open on Sunday with three winners moving into the second round.

Jeremy Chardy beat American Tennys Sandgren 6-4, 6-2. Chardy is looking to gain some clay-court momentum after starting the season with two semi-final runs and reaching the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 in Dubai.

Serbian Pedja Krstin made good use of his wild card by defeating Soonwon Kwon 6-2, 3-6, 6-1. The win marks the 26-year-old’s first tour-level victory in four main-draw appearances.

His compatriot, 17-year-old Marko Topo, started strong in his ATP Tour debut, but Federico Coria ultimately triumphed 4-6, 6-2, 6-0.

The qualifying draw was completed with Roberto Carballes Baena, Alex Molcan, Andrej Martin and Christopher O’Connell advancing to the main draw.

ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, MAY 24, 2021

CENTER COURT start 12:00 noon

[Q] A. Molcan (SVK) vs [WC] H. Medjedovic (SRB)

P. Cuevas (URU) vs [7] M. Kecmanovic (SRB)

Not Before 4:00 pm

R. Berankis (LTU) vs [5] D. Lajovic (SRB)

L. Pouille (FRA) vs F. Verdasco (ESP)

R. Albot (MDA) vs T. Monteiro (BRA)

COURT 1 start 12:00 noon

[LL] M. Moraing (GER) vs E. Gerasimov (BLR)

[8] F. Delbonis (ARG) vs [LL] L. Klein (SVK)

[Q] C. O’Connell (AUS) vs [Q] A. Martin (SVK)

[SE] A. Rinderknech (FRA) vs [Q] R. Carballes Baena (ESP)

COURT 2 start 12:00 noon

A. Goransson (SWE) / R. Matos (BRA) vs D. Sharan (IND) / J. Smith (AUS)

J. Erlich (ISR) / A. Vasilevski (BLR) vs A. Molteni (ARG) / F. Nielsen (DEN)

Not Before 6:00 pm

[3] A. Behar (URU) / G. Escobar (ECU) vs [PR] S. Arends (NED) / L. Martinez (VEN)

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Tsitsipas Reveals ‘What I’m Fighting For’

Stefanos Tsitsipas leaves Lyon with his seventh ATP Tour title and a huge dose of confidence. The Word No. 5 beat Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 in Sunday’s final, breaking the Brit three times and needing just 69 minutes to seal the deal.

“It’s a great result,” Tsitsipas said in press. “I love it here. It was a good week for me, played good tennis, played at the top of my game in some of the matches. For sure I can move to the French Open with a little bit more confidence and get to play more matches.”

The Greek has won two titles in 2021 and leads the ATP Tour with most wins at 33. He has also increased his first-place lead in the FedEx ATP Tour Race To Turin to 440 points. He has 3,360 points while Novak Djokovic is in second place with 2,920.

“That’s what I’m fighting for; that’s where most of my attention is right now,” Tsitsipas said. “It’s a priority and I’m trying to gain as many points in the Race To Turin this year. It’s going well so far. I’ve been playing good tennis. I’ve been consistent and that has helped me be where I am right now.

“I have a goal of achieving 7,000 or 8,000 points this year. I think it’s a good goal and with this consistency, I see no reason not to get there.”

Norrie was playing in his third ATP Tour final and second of 2021. He struggled to challenge the Greek after having a great week with straight-set wins over Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov.

“I think I also have a little more experience in the finals so that helped for sure,” Tsitsipas, who is 5-0 in ATP 250 finals, said. “And I made my shots and played unpredictable in moments where he was expecting something else.”

He’ll next head to Paris to prepare for Roland Garros, where he’ll be the fifth seed. 

“I’ve been feeling my game well; I’ve been using my patterns really well,” Tsitsipas said. “I’ve been pressing a lot with my serve. Just consistent on court, consistent with my power and the way that I attack and way I [take] risks. I think it would be considered my best [preparation] so far pre-Grand Slam and now all the attention is on next week. I love playing in Paris. I find it mesmerising.”

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Lyon Open: Stefanos Tsitsipas beats Cameron Norrie in final

Britain’s Cameron Norrie again falls short of a maiden ATP title, losing in the Lyon Open final to Stefanos Tsitsipas.

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Nys/Puetz Win Lyon Crown Over Herbert/Mahut

Hugo Nys and Tim Puetz won the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon over top seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut, 6-4, 5-7, 10-8 on Sunday. Nys and Puetz capatalised on their first match point in the Match Tie-break, extending their winning streak to eight.

“I’m happy because it’s our second title in a row,” Nys said. “It is always nice to play in France in front of this crowd. It is the end of a very, very good week against the best team of the past decade so of course very, very happy.”

It is Nys and Puetz’s second ATP Tour title of the year after winning Estoril in April. They also earned an ATP Challenger Tour crown together in Biella. The fourth seeds had teamed up briefly in 2012 and 2018, but this is their first consistent playing stretch.

“We had a really good week,” Puetz said. “We beat good teams, we played good tennis the whole week. It came down to a couple points here and there. It could have gone either way and we were lucky to come out on top.”

The Lyon title is Nys’ third tour-level title and Puetz’s fourth, and it’s the first time they have won more than one ATP Tour trophy with the same partner. 

Herbert and Mahut, who have won all four Grand Slams together, were seeking their 18th title. Though very successful over the years, the French tandem were playing in their first final of the year and first final together since the Nitto ATP Finals in 2018.

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Tsitsipas Beats Norrie For Lyon Crown

Second seed Stefanos Tsitsipas produced an impressive performance on Sunday to defeat Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3 in the final of the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes Lyon and win his second ATP Tour title of the year.

The 22-year-old, who won his first ATP Masters 1000 event at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April, has now claimed a Tour-leading 33 wins this year, four ahead of Andrey Rublev (29). Tsitsipas has now won seven ATP Tour titles in his career with his victory over Norrie. He extended his lead in the FedEx ATP Race To Turin while also cementing his position as one of the favourites for Roland Garros.

“I felt in good shape from the beginning of the tournament. I am proud of today’s match, I knew it would be a difficult one against Cameron who has been showing great tennis this week,” Tsitsipas said on court. “He has been winning against good players and showing what the left hand can do on clay. It was not an easy match today, I had to handle the nerves and I am proud of my performance and the way I stayed focussed towards my goal.”

With the 250 FedEx ATP Ranking points Tsitsipas earned this week, he increased his first-place lead in the Race to 440 points. The Greek now has 3,360 points, extending his advantage over second-placed Novak Djokovic (2,920).

In a lively start, both players fended off break points in their opening service games as Tsitsipas looked to move up the court and dictate the play with his heavy forehand while Norrie aimed to hug the baseline and target the Greek’s backhand. In a high-quality first set, Tsitsipas made the breakthrough in the eighth game to move 5-3 ahead with Norrie missing an overhead long. Having made 69 per cent of his first serves in the opening set, Tsitsipas was able to close it out with one of the seven aces he hit in the match.

Tsitsipas continued to apply pressure on Norrie at the start of the second set, moving well and hitting with great depth. Although Norrie managed to temporarily fend off the danger and hold onto his serve, Tsitsipas started to force errors out of the World No. 49 and broke to lead 4-3. The Greek broke Norrie’s serve a final time to seal the win after an hour and nine minutes with his focus now turning to Roland Garros.

“It is about getting there as early possible, starting to practise and getting in shape for the big Parisian Grand Slam, which I adore and love and hopefully something good can come from it,” Tsitsipas said.

The Greek has now won all five of his ATP 250 finals in which he has played in and is yet to drop a set (10-0) in those matches.

This was Norrie’s third ATP Tour final after falling just short in a final-set tie-break earlier this month in the Estoril championship match against Albert Ramos-Vinolas. Straight-sets victories over Dominic Thiem and Karen Khachanov earlier this week in Lyon moved him to 23 tour-level victories on 2021. He earned 150 FedEx ATP Ranking points for his efforts.  

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Andy Murray: Scot 'needs chance to compete' says brother Jamie

Andy Murray “just needs the chance to compete” says brother Jamie as the Scot continues to struggle with injury.

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