After his title run on event debut in 2022, Sebastian Baez retains only positive memories of the Millennium Estoril Open. Yet the Argentine knows he needs to stay focused if he wants to maintain his unbeaten record for another year at the clay-court ATP 250.

That was evident on Monday, when the defending champion had to dig deep for a 7-5, 7-6(3) victory against Radu Albot to advance to the second round in Portugal. Baez dropped serve four times in his two-hour, 13-minute win but engineered five breaks of his own to prevail in the pair’s maiden ATP Head2Head meeting.

“Always the first match [back on clay] is tough,” said Baez, who reached the third round on the hard courts of Indian Wells in his most recent ATP Tour event. “It was close. I know him, he is an experienced player… To take the win [I had to be] strong in difficult moments, because there is pressure for me [as the defending champion] of course.”

Baez trailed 2-5 in the second set but raised his game to force a tie-break which he proceeded to dominate. Having defeated home favourite and former champion Joao Sousa, Marin Cilic, and Frances Tiafoe en route to his first ATP Tour title in Estoril last year, the World No. 32 feels comfortable in his surroundings in southern Portugal, even if this year’s event is being held three weeks earlier in the season.

“I know it is a different time, because this year it is the first tournament on clay in the season,” said Baez. “It is a time difference, it is colder than last year. A different situation, but happy to be back.”

The 22-year-old’s second-round opponent will be his countryman Pedro Cachin, who defeated Chun-Hsin Tseng 6-4, 6-4.

There was an opening-day upset in Estoril as Marco Cecchinato took out the seventh-seeded Diego Schwartzman 6-3, 7-6(8) for his first Top 50 victory of 2023. The Italian crucially saved nine of 12 break points he faced against the No. 36-ranked Schwartzman to improve to 4-0 in tour-level opening rounds for the year.

Cecchinato’s two-hour, four-minute win set an all-Italian second-round clash against Fabio Fognini. The nine-time tour-level titlist Fognini enjoyed a comfortable debut in Estoril, where he raced past qualifier Alessandro Giannessi 6-2, 6-1.

A thrilling conclusion to the 2023 ‘Sunshine Double’ saw Daniil Medvedev triumph at the Miami Open presented by Itau to claim his fifth ATP Masters 1000 crown.

The win ensures the 27-year-old continues his recent steady upward trend in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, which are now topped by Novak Djokovic. Despite not competing in Miami, the Serbian replaces Carlos Alcaraz as World No. 1, after the Spaniard fell short of defending his crown at Hard Rock Stadium.

ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings as of 3 April 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

No. 4 Daniil Medvedev, +1
Having dropped to No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the end of January, Medvedev has since racked up a 24-1 record across five hard-court events to re-establish himself in the Top 5. The 27-year-old dropped just one set en route to his maiden Miami Open presented by Itau crown, where he defeated Jannik Sinner in the championship match. The victory has lifted Medvedev one spot to No. 4. Read Miami Final Report & Watch Highlights.

No. 1 Novak Djokovic, +1
Despite not competing in Miami, Djokovic has risen to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for a record-extending 381st week. Defending champion Alcaraz’s defeat to Sinner in a dramatic three-set semi-final at the ATP Masters 1000 event meant the Spaniard dropped 640 points, enough for seven-time year-end No. 1 Djokovic to return to top spot.

No. 9 Jannik Sinner, +2
A stirring run to his second championship match appearance in Miami has propelled Sinner back into the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time since last September. The Italian defeated Grigor Dimitrov, Andrey Rublev, Emil Ruusuvuori and Alcaraz en route to the final, where Medvedev’s rock-solid baseline game ultimately proved too strong.

No. 11 Karen Khachanov, +5
A first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final appearance since 2019 has lifted Khachanov to the brink of a Top 10 return. The 26-year-old, who reached his career-high of No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in 2019, notched his first Top 10 win in 24 attempts against Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the final four in Miami.

No. 37 Emil Ruusuvuori, +17 (Career High)
Emil Ruusuvuori reeled off a series of confident wins at Hard Rock Stadium to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final. The Finn dispatched Nuno Borges, Roberto Bautista Agut and Taro Daniel in straight sets before battling past Botic van de Zandschulp in a tense three-setter. Despite defeat to Sinner in the last eight, the 24-year-old Ruusuvuori springs 17 places to a career-high No. 37.

Other Notable Top 100 Movers
No. 18 Tommy Paul, +1 (Joint Career High)
No. 41 Jiri Lehecka, +3
No. 47 Lorenzo Sonego, +12
No. 49 Adrian Mannarino, +13
No. 51 Alex Molcan, +5
No. 68 Dusan Lajovic, +8
No. 74 Cristian Garin, +8
No. 85 Christopher Eubanks, +34 (Career High)
No. 86 Max Purcell, +13 (Career High)
No. 91 Luca Van Assche, +17 (Career High)

Trivia question: who is the youngest player in the Top 100 of the current Pepperstone ATP Rankings?

If you guessed Frenchman Luca Van Assche, you’d be correct. The 18-year-old, who is one of four ATP Challenger Tour champions this week, triumphed at the Sanremo Tennis Cup to capture his third Challenger title.

After dropping the opening set in his first-round match against Ryan Peniston, the Frenchman didn’t look back. Van Assche didn’t drop a set the rest of the week and downed Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas 6-1, 6-3 in the final to lift his second Challenger trophy of the season (Pau).

“I’m very happy, it’s been a crazy four weeks for me,” Van Assche said. “Tough first match, but I managed to find solutions and my level was very high the rest of the week.”

Fans enjoy championship Sunday at the 2023 Sanremo Tennis Cup. Credit: Marco Di Lorenzo

Van Assche’s streak of 10 Challenger-level match wins helped propel him into the Top 100 for the first time.

“When you start playing tennis everybody is talking about Top 100,” Van Assche said. “I’m very proud, excited. It was emotional when I won my semi-final [against Vit Kopriva] because I knew if I was in the final, I would be Top 100 today.

“Normally I’m focussed on the tournament, not monitoring the rankings. But my friends were talking about it with me and so of course I looked and every match I was like 103 or 101.

“Two years ago, I was like 1000-something so I don’t think I would’ve expected to be Top 100 now. Last year, I was like 400. I was not expecting this maybe a year or two ago. It was very fast. Of course I was dreaming about it. I’m very proud and I just want to be even better now.”

World No. 91 Van Assche now sets his sights on earning his maiden tour-level victory. The #NextGenATP star will have a chance to earn that milestone win at this week’s Millennium Estoril Open, where he meets home favourite Pedro Sousa in the opening round.

The Brussels-born player, who won the 2021 Roland Garros boys’ singles title, is managing his tennis career while also studying mathematics online at Paris Dauphine University.

In other Challenger Tour action, Finland’s Otto Virtanen also claimed his second title of the season. The 21-year-old rallied from a set down to beat Max Purcell 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-2 in the final of the Play In Challenger, which is held in Lille, France.

Virtanen, who won last month’s Lugano Challenger, fended off eight of 10 break points faced against the Aussie. The Finn held his nerve to rise to a career-high 109 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Otto Virtanen wins the Challenger 100 event in Lille. Credit: Laurent Sanson

Purcell, who’s tallied a season-leading 25 Challenger-match wins, boasts an early lead for most Challenger titles this year after the Australian won three consecutive crowns in February.

German Dominik Koepfer advanced through qualifying en route to a title run at the Mexico City Open. The 28-year-old won seven matches in as many days, including defeating Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante in the championship match 2-6, 6-4, 6-2.

The lefty Koepfer is a three-time Challenger titlist and following his triumph on the Mexican clay courts, he’s earned trophies on all three surfaces.

Let the fiesta begin 🎊🏆#ATPChallenger | @DominikKoepfer pic.twitter.com/ffGe3mJll5

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 2, 2023

In Girona, Spain, Ivan Gakhov earned his maiden Challenger title at the Eurofirms Girona – Costa Brava. In the final, the 26-year-old was locked at a set a piece, 5-7, 6-4, against Gastao Elias when the Portuguese had to retire with a left thigh injury.

A two-time Challenger semi-finalist in 2022 (Murcia, Amersfoort), Gakhov was competing in his first Challenger final. Following his title run, Gakhov climbs to a career-high 186.

Welcome to the winner’s circle 👋🏆@Samurai_GI is the champion in Girona, besting Gastao Elias 5-7, 6-4 (ret.) to claim his first #ATPChallenger title! pic.twitter.com/0BRd0gx9uJ

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) April 2, 2023

ATP and LONGi Green Energy Technology Co., Ltd. (LONGi) have today announced a strategic global partnership, making LONGi the ATP Tour’s Official Solar Energy and Hydrogen Partner.

Founded in 2000, LONGi is committed to becoming the world’s leading solar energy technology company, as well as an advocate, practitioner, and leader in the sustainable development of the global clean energy industry through technical innovation. The partnership will help accelerate ATP’s sustainability drive under ATP Serves, in line with its commitment to UN Sports for Climate Action, and was brokered with the support of Juss Sports.

In parallel, LONGi will partner with ATP events during the 2023-2024 season, covering Asia, Europe and the Americas. This includes the ABN AMRO Open, Movistar Chile Open, Miami Open presented by Itau, Mutua Madrid Open, Terra Wortmann Open (Halle), Laver Cup, Kinoshita Group Japan Open Tennis Championships, Rolex Shanghai Masters and Nitto ATP Finals,

During a signing ceremony in Shanghai today, LONGi announced the launch of its global energy creation initiative, ‘Plan-GET’, standing for Green, Energy and Tours. This initiative advocates a new concept of sustainability for green sports and explores new ways for the sustainable development of zero-carbon sports and events. Plan-GET aspires to have an impact on the world and create a stronger voice in pursuit of a green and low-carbon future.

Massimo Calvelli, ATP CEO, said: “We’re proud to welcome LONGi as our Solar Energy and Hydrogen Partner. Climate Change is having an impact on our sport – from hotter temperatures to extreme weather. Addressing this is our most important challenge. LONGi shares our commitment to sustainable development and our collaboration will support transition to a Net Zero future, under ATP Serves.”

Dennis She, Vice President of LONGi, stated: ‘We are thrilled to be collaborating with the ATP Tour as Official Solar Energy and Hydrogen Partner, with the support of Juss Sports. Photovoltaics, nature’s gift to mankind, is set to play a pivotal part in the future energy landscape and era. We are excited to jointly bring about healthy, shared, and sustainable low carbon events through the platform so that everyone may enjoy green sports under the sun.”

A host of world-class players begins each tournament on the ATP Tour, but there can be only one champion.

Across the first three months of 2023, 14 different players lifted a tour-level singles trophy, with some paying multiple visits to the winners’ circle. Daniil Medvedev led the way with four titles won, while Novak Djokovic and Carlos Alcaraz are already two-time titlists for the season.

After three months of emotional, historic, and groundbreaking triumphs, ATPTour.com reflects on some of the champions from the first quarter of 2023 and the early qualification contenders for the 2023 Nitto ATP Finals in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Daniil Medvedev: Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai, Miami
Medvedev racked up a remarkable 24-1 record across five hard-court tournaments in February, March and April as he bounced back from a disappointing Australian swing in style. The 27-year-old defeated Felix Auger-Aliassime, Grigor Dimitrov and Sinner en route to an indoor ATP 500 triumph at Rotterdam’s ABN AMRO Open before heading to the Middle East, where he became the champion at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha (d. Murray) and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Rublev).

The 27-year-old carried that stellar form into the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, but fell just short of making it four consecutive titles with defeat in the championship match to Alcaraz. Not to be deterred in his bid for a first ATP Masters 1000 title since 2021, the former World No. 1 dropped just one set on the way to victory at the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Sinner).

A first-time winner in all of Rotterdam, Doha, Dubai and Miami, Medvedev has now won 19 tour-level titles without triumphing twice at the same event. His early-season form, defined by relentless baseline hitting and the ability to raise his game at big moments, has propelled Medvedev to first place in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He sits 600 points clear of second-placed Djokovic.

Most Tour-Level Wins In 2023

Novak Djokovic: Adelaide, Australian Open
Djokovic enjoyed a typically successful Australian swing to start his 2023 season, although the Serbian was forced to save championship point before defeating Sebastian Korda to triumph at the Adelaide International 1, his 92nd tour-level trophy.

There were no such scares for Djokovic at the Australian Open. Despite entering the tournament carrying a hamstring issue, the 35-year-old charged to a record-extending 10th title at the opening Grand Slam of the year, dropping just one set across the fortnight in Melbourne. With his final win against Stefanos Tsitsipas, Djokovic equalled Rafael Nadal’s record of 22 major crowns.

Djokovic’s historic victory also sealed his return to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time in nearly seven months. He was still there on February 27, his 378th week on top of tennis’ mountain, meaning the Serbian overtook Stefanie Graf’s record for most weeks by a men’s or women’s tennis player as World No. 1.

Carlos Alcaraz: Buenos Aires, Indian Wells
Injury delayed the start of Alcaraz’s 2023 season until February, but the 19-year-old wasted no time reasserting his status as one of the dominant forces on Tour. He lifted his seventh tour-level title in his first event of the year, the Argentina Open, defeating Cameron Norrie in straight sets to become the first teenage champion at the clay-court event in Buenos Aires.

After Norrie gained his revenge against the Spaniard a week later in the Rio de Janeiro final, Alcaraz handled the transition to hard courts seamlessly at the BNP Paribas Open. He did not drop a set en route to his maiden Indian Wells crown, his third at ATP Masters 1000 level, as he downed Auger-Aliassime and Sinner before storming past Medvedev in the final.

That run was enough to secure Alcaraz’s return to World No. 1 after six weeks away. Although semi-final defeat to Sinner in Miami meant he dropped below Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings again after the Sunshine Swing, the Spaniard’s 18-2 start to the season has propelled him to third in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin.

Jannik Sinner: Montpellier
One of the most consistent performers on Tour across the opening months of the year, Sinner’s brand of high-powered baseline hitting has captivated crowds across three continents. The 21-year-old has won at least two matches at every tournament where he has stepped on court, and he charged to his seventh tour-level title in February at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier without dropping a set (d. Cressy).

The tale of Sinner’s 2023 ‘Sunshine Double’ campaign was dominated by back-to-back semi-final clashes against Alcaraz as the two young stars renewed their budding rivalry in style. Alcaraz prevailed in Indian Wells before Sinner took down the Spaniard in a three-set thriller in Miami.

Although defeat to Medvedev in the championship match at Hard Rock Stadium denied Sinner the chance to become an ATP Masters 1000 champion for the first time, the Italian moves on to the European clay with a 21-5 match record and renewed confidence that he can mix it with the best on Tour.

Taylor Fritz: Delray Beach
Fritz delivered a series of dominant displays at the Delray Beach Open to earn his fifth ATP Tour trophy, and his fourth in the space of 12 months. The then-World No. 7 dropped just one set all week, in the championship match against Miomir Kecmanovic, as he became the first Top 10 champion in the 31-year history of the hard-court ATP 250 event.

Cameron Norrie: Rio de Janeiro
The second-seeded Norrie produced one of the comebacks of the season so far to claim his maiden ATP 500 crown. Alcaraz led the Briton 7-5, 3-0 0/30 in the Rio de Janeiro championship match, but Norrie rallied as his opponent began to struggle physically and went on to claim his fifth ATP Tour title.

Other Q1 Champions…
The ATP Tour witnessed a groundbreaking moment in February when Wu Yibing triumphed at the Dallas Open to become the first Chinese ATP Tour champion in history. Alex de Minaur also enjoyed a breakthrough in March at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco, where the Australian lifted his maiden ATP 500 title, while 36-year-old Richard Gasquet notched his first tour-level title for more than four years by lifting the trophy at January’s ASB Classic in Auckland.

View Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin

The first quarter of 2023 saw a dazzling start to the ATP Challenger Tour season. Tennis fanatics witnessed the premiere of the Challenger 175 category and saw memorable moments such as Max Purcell’s Indian hat-trick, Nuno Borges’ biggest career title, and the surge of several young stars.

Purcell, who’s tallied a season-leading 25 Challenger-match wins, boasts an early lead for most Challenger titles this year after the Australian won three consecutive crowns in India.

The Sydney native left for the Indian Challenger swing with two things in mind: winning matches and spending less time on his cell phone.

“I made the choice to stop with distractions off court,” Purcell told ATPTour.com. “Especially through India, I wanted to be off my phone as much as I could. I wanted to make sure I was getting as much quiet time as I could and just make sure going into my matches that I didn’t bring anything else on the court.

“No extra emotions or anything like that. I just wanted to be as calm as I could and focus on my mission. That seemed to work out really well.”

The-then 24-year-old went on a 15-match winning streak, triumphing at the Chennai, Bengaluru, and Pune Challengers. Purcell became the only Australian to earn three consecutive Challenger titles (since 1978).

Purcell, who partnered countryman Matthew Ebden to win the 2022 Wimbledon doubles title, continued his strong start to the year at last week’s Lille Challenger, where he was a finalist (l. Virtanen).

The newly-innovated Challenger 175 event at the Phoenix Country Club hosted eight Top-60 players, including Matteo Berrettini, Diego Schwartzman, and Richard Gasquet. But it was the Portuguese Borges who captured the Arizona Tennis Classic trophy off the back of his Monterrey Challenger crown to keep alive his perfect 10-0 Challenger-level season record (Read More).

“I don’t know if I’ll be able to sleep tonight,” Borges said after winning in Phoenix. “Honestly I don’t even know what to say, I was in qualies when I first signed up, but got in last minute to the main draw. Really low expectations with having a tough first round [against Schwartzman] right away. Kept fighting every match one at a time.

“Somehow I found myself in the final and I finally did it. I feel like I’m still absorbing it but it’s unbelievable. These last few weeks have been amazing. First Challenger 175 event, it’s a very special place. It motivates me a lot for everything else.”

Nuno Borges celebrates his title at the Arizona Tennis Classic with a pool plunge. Credit: Mary Grace Grabill

One of the stories of the Phoenix Challenger was the surge of Alexander Shevchenko. The 22-year-old, who won the Tenerife-1 Challenger in January, advanced through qualifying before ousting Gael Monfils, Marc-Andrea Huesler, top seeded Berrettini, and Quentin Halys. In the championship match, Shevchenko let slip a one set lead to Borges.

Despite the final loss, Shevchenko’s run in Phoenix lifted him to just one spot shy of cracking the Top 100.

French teen Luca Van Assche etched his name into the history books when he ousted countryman Ugo Humbert in the Pau Challenger final. The 18-year-old held his nerve as he saved two championship points to win the longest Challenger final in history at three hours, 56 minutes (Read More).

Van Assche, who is studying mathematics online at Paris Dauphine University, built on his momentum and was crowned champion at last week’s Sanremo Challenger to rise to a career-high No. 91 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Luca Van Assche celebrates a thrilling final victory at the 2023 Pau Challenger. Credit: Alexis Atteret

Van Assche is the fourth Frenchman to win multiple Challenger titles before turning 19, joining Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils, and Fabrice Santoro, who all surpassed the Top 20. Monfils and Gasquet, who are still active on Tour, have been as high as No. 6 and 7, respectively.

Abdullah Shelbayh, 19, made tennis history in February. In just his third Challenger appearance, Shelbayh became the first Jordanian and the youngest Arab to reach a Challenger final at the Manama Challenger (l. Kokkinakis). He then travelled to the ATP 250 event in Doha, where where he became the first Jordanian to play a Tour-level match, but fell short to Soonwoo Kwon (Read More).

Perhaps a contender for story of the season came in the first week, when Belgian Joris De Loore celebrated his maiden Challenger title on the clay of Oeiras, Portugal. While that week may have been smooth sailing for De Loore, who dropped just one set all tournament, the 29-year-old’s injury-plagued career has been far from easy. De Loore underwent seven surgeries on six different body parts, forcing him to stop playing tennis for two years (2019-2020). But the Bruges-native rebuilt his body–and career– to become the oldest (29 years, 8 months) first-time winner on the Challenger Tour since 2015 (Read More).

Juan Manuel Cerundolo, Aleksandar Kovacevic, and Otto Virtanen added their names to the list of multiple Challenger tilists this season, joining Purcell, Borges, and Van Assche.

Daniil Medvedev earned his fifth ATP Masters 1000 trophy when he defeated Jannik Sinner on Sunday for the Miami Open presented by Itau title. It was the best moment yet of a torrid stretch for the 27-year-old, who also claimed crowns in Rotterdam, Doha and Dubai and reached the final at Indian Wells.

Less than two months ago, Medvedev was No. 12 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, his lowest point since July 2019. Now he is back to World No. 4 with an opportunity to surge higher during the clay-court season.

After Medvedev’s Miami triumph, ATPTour.com caught up with his coach, Gilles Cervara, who revealed when everything turned around, why opponents struggle so much against the former World No. 1 and more.

Last year was tough for Daniil. The start of this year was tough. When did everything click and turn around?
For me, it turned around just before Rotterdam. I remember as a coach the three days in Rotterdam before the first round on court were very, very tough. I felt after the Australian Open, during two weeks of practising, but then a few days before the first round in Rotterdam, I felt Daniil quite nervous, quite not confident.

But I felt also he could play good tennis. My job at that time was to find the way to talk to him in a good way to find the good button inside himself to make him practise well and to win the sets during practices. That’s what happened.

Even if he was not ready to realise that he was playing good at that time, I felt that I touched something. Then the first round against [Alejandro] Davidovich [Fokina] was key, to win this one even [though he was] in trouble. And then day after day was getting better and better and then the win against Felix [Auger-Aliassime] made also another important step to get on fire.

What was the piece of advice you gave him?
It was not special advice… I know Daniil, I know how it works with him. I try to adapt with the situation and what he says is very important. Let’s say I talked about this book, it’s like water. I try to be like water, to use the good wave, let’s [put it] like this.

And because he’s a smart guy and he’s an amazing player, when you touch the good thing, he’s able to transform sh** to gold, let’s say it like this.

What is it that people don’t understand about Daniil and his game?
Tough to say. Tough to say because I’m not in front of him to say it. But sometimes his shots have power, sometimes not. Sometimes you expect something but he goes the other way. Sometimes you expect a deep ball and it comes short with no consistency.

Then one thing [that is] important is he is like a wall. Every ball is coming back and he’s not missing. He’s serving, he’s running. He’s able to almost find a solution for any problem.

He’s an amazing fighter. He really wants to win all the time, so he doesn’t give anything to the opponent and he pushes the opponents at a level that sometimes — I’m not talking about the top players because they’re used to it — but for the other players, they’re not used to playing every point like this. The combo of this makes him so tough to play.

After the Carlos Alcaraz match at Indian Wells where he lost in the final, it would have been easy for him to maybe be down. But he came back and played a great tournament even though historically this swing was never great for him results-wise. How important was it for Daniil to bounce back like that?
Him and I and all the team, our job, I know myself and I know Daniil, we want to win. It’s like [in] our skin to play to win. That’s all it’s about in fact. So you try every day when you are on court to do the best you can do. When you play you want to win.

For example, a small joke when I play snooker with Daniil, I’m ready to get crazy to win against him and he is the same. So there is a lot of tension between us, you can feel it, because he wants to beat me and I want to beat him.

Nobody on the planet loves backhand-to-backhand rallies more than Daniil Medvedev.

Medvedev defeated Jannik Sinner 7-5, 6-3 in the Miami Open presented by Itau final on Sunday on the back of dominating backhand exchanges through the Ad court.

The secret sauce of Medvedev’s flat, “knuckle-ball” backhands is that they are almost impossible to do anything with. They come at you flat and low, skidding through the court. They are not fast enough that you can use the raw power back against him or slow enough to step in and dominate. They live in a maddening “middle world” that bamboozle opponents into self-destruction.

Backhand Groundstroke Performance

Medvedev

• Total = 97

• Errors = 5

• Winners = 3

• Opponent Forehand Errors From A Backhand = 6

• Opponent Backhand Errors From A Backhand = 12

• Opponent Backhand Volley Error From A Backhand = 1

Sinner

• Total = 92

• Errors = 19

• Winners = 0

• Opponent Forehand Errors From A Backhand = 3

• Opponent Backhand Errors From A Backhand = 1

Medvedev’s unorthodox backhand only yielded five errors from 92 shots, or one error every 18 backhands. Sinner’s more aesthetically pleasing backhand committed 19 errors from 92 backhands, which was good for one error every five backhands. It was a miss-match that provided Medvedev with a “go-to” winning pattern of play from start to finish.

Medvedev’s backhand was able to extract 12 backhand errors from Sinner, while the Italian was only able to extract a solitary backhand error from Medvedev from his own backhand. Overall, Medvedev hit 97 forehands and 97 backhands for the match and had little desire to hit run-around forehands in the Ad court. Medvedev only hit 10 run-around forehands in the Ad court, while Sinner hit 41.

Medvedev knew his backhand was the wrecking ball.

What’s fascinating about Medvedev’s backhand is that he voluntarily hits it from extremely deep in the court. Medvedev made contact with his backhand 46 per cent of the time from further back than two metres behind the baseline. Sinner made contact just 16 per cent of the time with his backhand from the deep section of the court.

What’s also interesting to note is that Medvedev’s backhand strategy enabled him to hit more backhands inside the baseline than Sinner. Medvedev hit 20 per cent inside the baseline, while Sinner was just at 11 per cent.

He stands deep where he can’t be hurt and quickly moves forward to hurt you when the opportunity arises.

Sinner’s backhand started the match well, making only two errors from the first 22 backhands struck. It was a vastly different story at the start of the second set, where Sinner committed five backhand errors from the first twelve backhands hit. Four of those errors were committed from not being able to handle a Medvedev cross court backhand.

Medvedev’s backhand got off to a flyer, making the first 30 backhands in a row, including one winner, and forcing seven opponent errors. Medvedev’s backhand was the rock he relied on in the second set, making only two errors from 31 backhands while extracting eight errors from Sinner.

Medvedev’s backhand remains an enigma for opponents. Medvedev won a healthy 61 per cent (45/74) of his baseline points for the match. Sinner only managed to win less than half of that, at 30 per cent (19/64).

Medvedev’s bewitching backhand strikes again.