Kristijan Schneider, the former coach of Borna Coric, recently passed away aged 41 after battling abdominal cancer.

A group of coaches gathered to write a letter to ‘Kiki’ to commemorate his life and impact on the world of tennis.

* * * * *

Dear Kiki,

How painful it was for us (your family, your friends and the world of tennis) to learn that you left us despite all the hard efforts and all the difficult times you endured to overcome your illness…

We have tried to give you all our love and energy to make your fight more bearable…

and you deserved another end…

We hope that where you are now you can have some peace and comfort…

One of your wishes was to be able to feel that the world of tennis would not forget you, so we will try to honor your memory and count you among us every day of our daily coaching on the circuit that you loved so much…

We will miss you,

Rest in Peace, Kristijan…

All of us coaches are involved in one way or another to help you during your tough moments.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Gilles Cervara (@gillescervara)

This feature first appeared in the ATP Tour Insider, a magazine-style monthly newsletter providing an inside look and best content from the past month. 📧 Subscribe now for early access and exclusives from the ATP Tour.   

Denis Shapovalov, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina were just some of the players spotted on Court 1 at the 2019 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell to watch Carlos Alcaraz play his first qualifying match at an ATP Tour event. At the time, David Ferrer already knew the 15-year-old boy, even before he had started working under his friend Juan Carlos Ferrero.

The meeting between Ferrer and Alcaraz came at the Javea Tennis Club, when the Murcia native was 14. Albert Molina, the young talent’s agent and friend of the former World No. 3 arranged the encounter.

—”Hey, Ferru, tomorrow a kid’s coming from Murcia.”

—”Ah, great.”

—”He’s 14.”

—”14?”

—”Yup, let me know what you think.”

Not only did they enjoy some rallies on the hard court of the Alicante club, they also played a tie-break. “If he didn’t beat me, he was very close,” remembered Ferrer in a conversation for the ATP Tour Insider newsletter. “It was surprising to see his ball speed, but above all that I couldn’t hurt him with my flat ball. He used his hands very well and I could see that he was very fast. For that age he had very good footwork and it was very difficult to hit a winner against him.”

This was Alcaraz’s introduction to a player who had spent practically the entirety of the previous decade in the Top 10. On top of his innate ability with a racquet in his hand, Ferrer also sensed a special talent in a boy who was shy as well as daring. He was a fearless player, but also very respectful.

“I’m not saying it to look clever, but right then I saw something special in him, something different to any other player,” said the 27-time tour-level winner. “I’ve trained with a lot of young boys. But when a 14-year-old copes with your tempo like that and you can see his desire to beat you in a tie-break – while always being respectful – it’s because he has something special.”

In a way, Rafael Nadal’s name inevitably comes up in the conversation, although Ferrer is reluctant to draw parallels. “I see similar things in terms of the premature capacity to learn and the ambition,” he said of two players who managed to win ATP Masters 1000s at 18.

“That maturity in someone so young is not normal,” he continued. “Nor is the way he handles pressure, playing in big stadiums, playing a Masters 1000 and not shying away from it. Normally there would be some stage fright, but neither he nor Rafa has had that. They’re different.”

After heaping praise on the recent Miami champion, Ferrer was keen to make a clarification. “But I don’t like comparing them, because what Rafa has done is huge. He’s a legend of tennis, the best player in history,” Ferrer said. “Comparing them would be a big burden for Carlos. He will be a player who has a chance to be the No. 1 in the world. He will have a lot of chances to win Grand Slams, but he has his whole career ahead of him.”

What we do know is that there is new hope on the horizon for Spanish tennis. After the retirement of players like Ferrer, there was a need for players to break through and aspire for the ATP Tour elite and the biggest titles.

“He’s not replacing me, because Carlos Alcaraz will be better than David Ferrer,” the current director of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell was quick to point out. This year Ferrer welcomed his young countryman to his tournament as the fifth seed and World No. 11. Alcaraz won the title.

“Nobody can overshadow Rafa because of everything he has been and continues to be, because he’s the No. 1 in the Race [ATP Race to Turin]. The good thing is that we can enjoy both of them. It’s not that one is arriving when the other is leaving, one is the No. 1 and the other is the No. 2 in the Race.”

Spanish tennis has opened the door to another great champion of the future, who already has an astonishing present.

Expectations are soaring for Carlos Alcaraz on the ATP Tour. The Spanish #NextGenATP player is counting down the hours to his participation in the Mutua Madrid Open, where he will enjoy the unanimous support of the fans. It will be the first time the Murcia native competes in his country as a member of the world’s Top 10 and all eyes will be on him.

Before taking to the clay of the Caja Mágica, Alcaraz made an appearance on El Hormiguero, one of the most popular television programmes in Spain, for some fun and to help his legions of fans get to know him better. It is a level of fame Juan Carlos Ferrero’s pupil will have to grow accustomed to as his career progresses.

“I handle it quite well. I tell everyone I don’t consider myself to be famous. When I get recognised, I take it in stride,” Alcaraz said on El Hormiguero. The World No. 9 is a player who goes about his business quietly, but is already starting to draw huge crowds every time he appears at the Caja Mágica.

The Spaniard is enjoying a spectacular year. Having become the youngest champion of an ATP 500 tournament (Rio de Janeiro) and of the ATP Masters 1000 in Miami, last week he confirmed his arrival by lifting the title in Barcelona. These achievements have helped him into third place in the ATP Race To Turin and made him one of the sport’s most recognisable young faces. It is a dizzying reality that his team members are handling with kid gloves.

“The team is there to tell me about the bad things and although it frustrates me, it’s better for me,” said Alcaraz, who has been under the watchful eye of former world No. 1 Ferrero since he was 15. “At first it was tough. I was very difficult. Juan Carlos had a tough time, because I was really disorganised. And I still am, just a bit less! I didn’t control my emotions well and I didn’t have my head straight.”

His professional success has done nothing to change the fact that he is just an 18-year-old who has a special talent for his sport. Alcaraz is a man who lives and breathes tennis, but continues to be a boy in his family home.

“Of course, my parents look after the money. To buy myself golf clubs, which I love, I don’t ask them for permission, but I do for a good car. I’m still fighting against it. My father is tougher and my mother less so, so for going out and things like that I tell my mother,” Alcaraz said. “I don’t have to be back at a certain time exactly, but they always say ‘Don’t be back late’. As hard as I try not to make any noise when I get home, I always wake them up and they catch me.”

With a 23-3 record this year, most of Alcaraz’s peers are unable to keep pace with him.

“A lot of the time I say ‘Charlie’ — because I call myself Charlie — ‘Produce some magic and try and finish in style. Produce some magic and try and finish in style!’.”

So far, there is no doubt that Alcaraz is doing just that.

The Mutua Madrid Open draw is intriguing to say the least, full of many interesting first-round clashes, with the fifth meeting between Andy Murray and Dominic Thiem leading the way. There are also plenty of potentially gripping second-round showdowns, including the possibility of an 18th ATP Head2Head clash between Novak Djokovic and Gael Monfils.

ATPTour.com looks at five matches to watch at the Caja Magica.

Andy Murray vs. Dominic Thiem
It is not often two ATP Masters 1000 titlists meet in the first round at this level, but that is what the fans will get when Murray and Thiem clash for the fifth time.

The stars have split their previous four meetings, with their most recent match coming in Beijing in 2017. Their only clay-court battle came in a three-setter won by Thiem in Barcelona in 2017. Both men are comfortable in Madrid, with Murray a two-time champion and Thiem having advanced to at least the semi-finals in his past four appearances.

But both players are also on the comeback trail. Murray is still working his way back to his best form following 2019 hip surgery, while Thiem returned one month ago from a wrist injury that forced him to miss eight months. This tantalising encounter provides an opportunity for one of them to earn a confidence-boosting win.

(11) Taylor Fritz vs. Jenson Brooksby
Jenson Brooksby is one of the fastest-rising prospects on the ATP Tour, but no American is in better form than Taylor Fritz. The 24-year-old claimed his first Masters 1000 title a month ago in Indian Wells at the BNP Paribas Open and is making a push to crack the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings.

Fritz is far from a hard-court specialist, though. The big-serving, forehand-crunching right-hander from California has made back-to-back quarter-finals on clay in Houston and Monte Carlo. In Monaco, only eventual finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina was able to stop him in three sets.

Brooksby won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head clash at last year’s US Open. That encounter was a gruelling four-setter that lasted four hours and six minutes. Will the 21-year-old be able to use his defensive baseline skills to neutralise the ever-improving Fritz’s offence?

(10) Jannik Sinner vs. Tommy Paul
The first battle between 10th seed Jannik Sinner and American Tommy Paul could turn into an interesting tactical match.

Sinner has been playing well, advancing to consecutive Masters 1000 quarter-finals in Miami and Monte Carlo, while Paul is a former Roland Garros boys’ singles champion.

The American, currently one spot off his career-high at World No. 34, is one of the quickest players on Tour. Last year, he pushed Rublev in a tight three-setter at the Caja Magica. If he is able to use his speed, withstand Sinner’s aggression and run around to hit powerful forehands of his own, it could turn into a thriller.

Potential Second-Round Matches

(1) Novak Djokovic vs. Gael Monfils
While nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row, Djokovic has claimed all 17 of his matches against Monfils. If the Frenchman eliminates Spanish wild card Carlos Gimeno Valero, he will get an 18th chance at defeating Djokovic. This might be his best opportunity yet.

Djokovic has not had an easy start to his clay-court season. The Serbian lost his opener in Monte Carlo against Davidovich Fokina and then needed three sets in every match he played on home soil in Belgrade to make the final, in which he lost to Rublev. Monfils will certainly make him work hard in Madrid.

Although Djokovic has won all 17 of their meetings, only one of them came on clay, and that was 16 years ago at Roland Garros. That could add an interesting wrinkle to their potential match.

(3) Rafael Nadal vs. Miomir Kecmanovic
Nadal suffered a stress fracture in one of his ribs at Indian Wells, so his opening match in Madrid will be his first action of the clay-court season. If Miomir Kecmanovic advances past Kazakhstani Alexander Bublik, he could present a tough challenge for the Spaniard.

Kecmanovic has enjoyed the best season of his career, entering the week at 19th in the ATP Race To Turin. The Serbian, who is into the semi-finals in Munich, has shown great consistency this year to tally a 22-8 record. A quarter-finalist in Indian Wells and Miami, he will be confident if he steps on court against Nadal, who won their only previous match 6-2, 7-5 in Acapulco two years ago.

But even if this is the third seed’s first clay-court match of the year, he has plenty of experience on which to rely. The five-time Madrid titlist has earned 54 wins at the event and will chase his 37th Masters 1000 crown.

Denis Shapovalov’ innovative one-handed ‘Jump Backhand’ is one of the most spectacular sights on Tour.

Tennis fans now have the chance to learn the secrets of Shapo’s high-voltage one-handed backhand as part of the Canadian’s TopCourt tutorials. The lefty shares how he channels his natural aggression into controlled power on court. He also discusses how his upbringing, and particularly his mother and coach, Tessa Shapovalova, have influenced his game.

Technique: Shapovalov possesses some of the fiercest groundstrokes around, with the ability to strike winners off both wings from anywhere on court. The Canadian discusses the fundamental technique that drives his attacking ground game before offering a step-by-step walkthrough for fans seeking to emulate his trademark innovation, the one-handed ‘Jump Backhand.’

Drills: No practice session is complete without drills, and in his TopCourt class Shapovalov identifies two that have helped take him to the top. He may be better known for powering through his groundstrokes from the baseline, but Shapovalov’s ‘Slice or Bust’ drill teaches a unique way to maximise the potential of a slice by approaching the net and hitting passing shots.

Follow Shapovalov’s Tutorials at TopCourt.com.

Five-time Mutua Madrid Open champion Rafael Nadal will have to overcome a series of difficult tests if he wants to add to his trophy haul on home soil following the release of the draw Friday.

The World No. 4 is seeded to meet #NextGenATP Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz in a popcorn quarter-final at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Madrid, with top seed Novak Djokovic also in Nadal’s half of the draw.

The 35-year-old, who is competing for the first time since he reached the final in Indian Wells, will open against in-form Serb Miomir Kecmanovic or Alexander Bublik, with countryman Pablo Carreno Busta a potential third-round opponent.

View Draw

Alcaraz has enjoyed a standout start to the season and arrives in Madrid high in confidence having captured his third tour-level title of the season in Barcelona. The World No. 9 will play Italian Fabio Fognini or Nikoloz Basilashvili in his first match and may face ninth seed Cameron Norrie in the third round.

If Alcaraz and Nadal both advance to the last eight, they will set a third meeting, with the lefty leading the teenager 2-0 in their ATP Head2Head series. Nadal holds a 20-1 record on the season with Alcaraz 23-3. The 35-year-old is No. 1 in the ATP Race To Turin, while Alcaraz is sat third.

In the top quarter, World No. 1 Djokovic will start the quest for his maiden title of the season against Frenchman Gael Monfils or Spanish wild card Carlos Gimeno Valero. The three-time Madrid champ could play either 46-time tour-level titlist Andy Murray or former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem in the third round, with the pair meeting in a blockbuster first-round clash.

Thiem will be competing in just his third ATP Tour tournament since last June, after being sidelined by injury for the second half of the 2021 campaign. Meanwhile, Murray will be playing on clay for the first time this year after accepting a wild card into the event. Denis Shapovalov or a qualifier will face Murray or Thiem in the second round.

FOLLOW THIS WEEK’S ACTION

📺 TV Schedule
🎾 Watch Live On Tennis TV
📱 Follow Live Scores On ATP Tour App
📧 Sign Up For Newsletters

In the bottom half, fresh off defeating Novak Djokovic in the Serbia Open final, sixth seed Andrey Rublev will begin against Italian Lorenzo Sonego or #NextGenATP Briton Jack Draper.

Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters victor Stefanos Tsitsipas is a potential quarter-final opponent for Rublev, but the Greek may have to first negotiate a challenging third-round test against 13th seed Diego Schwartzman. The Argentine, who starts against a qualifier, lost to Tsitsipas in an epic Monte Carlo quarter-final match in April. Tsitsipas will face Karen Khachanov or French wild card Lucas Pouille in the second round.

Second seed Alexander Zverev is the reigning Madrid champion and will start his title defence against Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas or former World No. 3 Marin Cilic. Eighth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime is the German’s seeded quarter-final opponent. The Canadian opens against American Frances Tiafoe or World No. 30 Cristian Garin.

#NextGenATP Italian Jannik Sinner faces American Tommy Paul in the first round, while 15th seed Reilly Opelka takes on Sebastian Korda in an-all American battle.

Frances Tiafoe staged a dramatic final-set comeback to stun in-form Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina to reach the semi-finals of the Millennium Estoril Open Friday.

The fifth-seeded American completed unfinished business from the second set, when he rallied from 2-5 to 5-all, only to see the recent Monte-Carlo finalist clinch the set. In the decider, the World No. 29 also found himself in a hole at 2-5 but after once again fighting back to 5-all, he this time pushed on to claim victory 7-6(5). 5-7, 7-5 in two hours, 59 minutes after taking the final five games of the match.

“Be stronger than your biggest excuse,” Tiafoe wrote on the TV camera after the comeback.

A two-time Estoril semi-finalist, Davidovich Fokina converted just four of 17 break point chances during the match, while Tiafoe went four of eight. The 24-year-old Tiafoe made his only clay-court final in 2018 in Estoril (l. to Sousa).

In Saturday’s semi-final Tiafoe will play fellow American Sebastian Korda, who enjoyed a crushing 6-2, 6-2 win over Canadian top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime, who has won just four of his past 10 matches.

Korda, who avenged a 2021 Acapulco loss to the current World No. 10, was dominant on return, winning a commanding 50 per cent of first-serve returns and 55 per cent of second-serve returns. World No. 37 Korda improved to 13-7 on the year and 3-5 lifetime against Top 10 opponents. On Saturday he will look for his first win in three meetings with Tiafoe.

Defending champion Albert Ramos-Vinolas is two wins from retaining his crown after winning the battle of the Spanish left-handers against Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-2 to reach the last four at the clay-court ATP 250. Ramos-Vinolas now leads the pair’s ATP Head2Head series 6-5 and has won eight consecutive sets in their rivalry.

“I think it’s always difficult to play against a player that you know a lot. We’ve played a lot of times and it was a difficult match,” Ramos-Vinolas said in his on-court interview. “I think I played very serious from the beginning until the end and I’m really happy because I beat a really good opponent.”

The 34-year-old has won eight straight matches in Estoril, with two of those victories coming against Verdasco. Ramos-Vinolas needed three sets to triumph in his first two matches this week, but the result was never in doubt against his countryman.

One year after defeating Verdaco 6-3, 6-3 at the Portuguese event, the four-time ATP Tour titlist saved the only break point he faced and won 53 per cent of his first-serve return points to control the match. Ramos-Vinolas will next play 2021 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals competitor Sebastian Baez.

Argentine Baez is eyeing his second final of the season after rallying to defeat Richard Gasquet 3-6, 6-1, 6-4 in one hour, 55 minutes, with the French veteran paying the price for putting just 46 per cent of first serves into play.

Baez, who converted five of the six break points he earned, reached the Santiago final in February and is now 13-11 on the season.

“All the matches this week have been difficult and today was no different,” Baez said. “I expect another great battle tomorrow.”