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McEnroe: Spirit key for Team World three-peat at Laver Cup

  • Posted: Sep 19, 2024

What role can personality and emotion play in forging success on the tennis court? Perhaps no one is better placed to comment on the topic than John McEnroe.

The American tennis icon is banking on team spirit to lay the foundation for Team World’s 2024 Laver Cup campaign this weekend in Berlin. Up against a Team Europe lineup featuring five of the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings, McEnroe nonetheless believes his Team World has what it takes to seal its third consecutive crown at the teams event.

“I believe that every Laver Cup we have played, nine of the Top 10 have been Europeans,” said McEnroe, when asked about his team’s off-court cohesion during a pre-event press conference. “So I think that team spirit that’s something that has helped carry us eventually to victory and kept us really close in others. It’s an excellent point.”

Not that McEnroe doesn’t have some top ATP Tour talent to send out on court at Uber Arena. His roster is led by World No. 7 Taylor Fritz, who will be competing for the first time since reaching his maiden Grand Slam final at the US Open earlier this month. Frances Tiafoe, Ben Shelton, Alejandro Tabilo, Francisco Cerundolo and Thanasi Kokkinakis complete the Team World lineup.

Fritz shied away from suggestions that he was going to be something of a ‘leader’ within his team in Berlin, but instead said each member of Team World is ready to take individual responsibility in their bid to retain the Laver Cup.

“In this competition, it’s just up to each of us to do our part to get the points,” said the American. “One person can’t win it. Everybody’s got a job to do. [After the US Open] I had a couple of days off to relax, to just enjoy some time off after a long two weeks. Then I started to get back into it a couple days before and I have had some good practices here, getting myself ready to go for this weekend.”

One man who is aiming to maintain his perfect Laver Cup record is Shelton, who made his debut in Team World’s comprehensive victory in Vancouver a year ago. The 21-year-old is used to operating in a team format, having played college tennis at the University of Florida in 2021 and 2022.

“It’s a lot of fun for me,” said Shelton, when asked about returning to a team format. “Pro tennis is a lot different from college tennis. Usually everything is on your own shoulders, so it’s nice to be able to rely on your teammates sometimes. Team World, we’ve a lot of guys that are reliable, especially Taylor Fritz. That guy is solid as a rock. Crazy. I think it’s a special event for me to be a part of.

“I’m just grateful that two years straight I got to come out here and compete, because I love the team atmosphere and I love cheering on my guys and competing when I’ve got guys cheering for me on the sidelines.”

Some South American flair will be injected into the 2024 version of Team World by Chilean Tabilo and Argentine Cerundolo.

It will be a Laver Cup debut for Tabilo, who rose to a career-high No. 19 in the PIF ATP Rankings in July after a series of high-quality showings across the first half of 2024. The 27-year-old was outside the Top 100 as recently as last November, but will now line up for Team World in ATP legend McEnroe’s final outing as captain.

“It’s pretty surreal. I mean, when a legend in the sport like [McEnroe] is giving us tips and everything, it’s nice,” said Tabilo. “Obviously I’m going to try and use that for the rest of my career. Just definitely going to help this week and hopefully for the whole year.”

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Alcaraz on ‘privilege’ of spending time with legends Borg, McEnroe, Laver in Berlin

  • Posted: Sep 19, 2024

Team Europe is not messing around when it comes to its latest bid for Laver Cup glory.

Five of the Top 10 players in the PIF ATP Rankings will this year don the blue colours under Bjorn Borg’s leadership at the teams event. Swedish legend Borg, who will captain Team Europe for the seventh and final time, was in a confident mood Thursday in Berlin, where his team aims to reclaim the Laver Cup trophy for the first time since 2021.

“The last two years I was very disappointed, but this year, look at this team,” said Borg at Europe’s pre-tournament press conference. “I don’t think we’re going to lose this year. This is going to be one of the good years.

“I’m happy to see these guys. Some of the guys have been playing in Laver Cup many times. We have a good atmosphere always, and to be here with all these guys, it’s going to be great. It’s going to be good tennis, as always, good matches. Team World, it’s a tough team, they play really good, they played really good in the US Open. But I think we have a good chance.”

For the first time, Borg will be able to call upon the abilities of Carlos Alcaraz at the Laver Cup. The Spaniard will make his event debut on Friday night in Berlin, where he teams with home favourite Alexander Zverev in the opening doubles clash of the weekend. Daniil Medvedev, Casper Ruud, Grigor Dimitrov and Stefanos Tsitsipas are also on Team Europe’s roster.

Having increased his tally of Grand Slam titles to four by triumphing at Roland Garros and Wimbledon this season, Alcaraz is fast establishing himself as a modern great of the game. The 21-year-old is nonetheless ready to absorb any knowledge he can while in the presence of tennis legends such as Borg, Team World captain John McEnroe, and Rod Laver himself.

“For me it’s a privilege to be surrounded by Bjorn, by McEnroe, Rod Laver, the legends from our sport who [reached] the top of the sport,” said Alcaraz. “So for me, to just try to learn from them so closely, and obviously here in the Laver Cup, I think it’s a really beautiful tournament that I’m going to try to enjoy as much as I can.

“With my partners, we used to fight against each other during the whole tournament. Now in this tournament we’re going to cheer on each other. It’s going to be a beautiful thing that I’m going to try to enjoy, but I’m going to try to learn from them as well as much as can.”

Alcaraz could turn to his opening doubles partner Zverev for any tips on how to handle the Laver Cup pressure. The German, who has won a Tour-leading 56 matches in 2024, is this year set to compete in his fifth edition of the event appearance, a Team Europe record.

“It is a very special tournament,” said Zverev. “It is very different to maybe the regular tournaments that we play, but I think we should enjoy each other. I think we should enjoy having the best on our team. Normally we see each other at later stages of tournaments, and we want to beat each other, we want to do everything I can to win, and now we are here as a team and we have one goal, and that’s to win the Laver Cup.

“It doesn’t matter who is on the court. I think we, as a team, we all have full trust in that person. I’m just happy to be part of it.”

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#NextGenATP Shang sinks Nishikori on home soil in Chengdu

  • Posted: Sep 19, 2024

#NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng delivered in front of a lively home crowd on Thursday at the Chengdu Open, where he moved past former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori 6-4, 6-4 in a high-quality first-round match.

Shang is one of the most exciting prospects on the ATP Tour and the 19-year-old showed why against the 34-year-old Nishikori. He hit cleanly off both wings and dug deep when serving for the match in the second set, fending off two break points before eventually advancing to level the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series at 1-1.

Shang was full of praise for Nishikori after his win.

“His returns are unbelievable, some of the best in the world,” Shang said. “His game is taking the ball early. He doesn’t give you much time and he can defend anything that is coming at him. All the players are tricky but it is tough to play him because he moves in the same way as I do. It was a very good match and he is a really good guy and we get along well off the court.”

Shang has now earned 20 tour-level wins in a season for the first time, highlighted by semi-final runs in Hong Kong and Atlanta. The lefty will hope to perform well on home soil during the Asian swing in an aim to further cement his chances of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, due to take place from 18-22 December. Shang is currently third in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah.

“The goal for Asia is to be healthy and happy,” Shang said. “I don’t get to play at home much. The fans don’t get to watch the Chinese players much, so it is to have fun.”

The World No. 67 has won his past seven first-round tour-level matches and will next meet Roman Safiullin or Fabio Fognini.

Nishikori was making his debut in Chengdu. The 12-time tour-level titlist struck the ball well against Shang but struggled physically at times, receiving treatment on his left leg and right elbow.

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Australian Alexsandar Vukic saved one match point to earn a hard-fought 3-6, 7-6(9), 6-4 win against former World No. 12 Borna Coric at the ATP 250.

Vukic, who leads Coric 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series, will aim to reach the quarter-finals at a tour-level hard-court event for the first time this season when he takes on Spaniard Pedro Martinez in the second round.

Chinese wild card Zhou Yi earned his first ATP Tour win after Chun-Hsin Tseng was forced to retire in the third set. Zhou led 2-6, 6-1, 3-1 when Tseng stopped. The No. 531 player in the PIF ATP Rankings meets Adrian Mannarino or French qualifier Terence Atmane in the second round.

In other action, qualifier Alibek Kachmazov advanced, defeating American Aleksandar Kovacevic 6-4, 7-6(7), while Yannick Hanfmann beat Japanese wild card Shintaro Mochizuki 6-4, 7-6(4). Christopher O’Connell eliminated Pavel Kotov 6-4, 7-5.

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Building Blockx: #NextGenATP Belgian's childhood spark fueled 'unbelievable passion'

  • Posted: Sep 19, 2024

‘Does this little guy also want to try a ball?’

That was the question that started it all for Alexander Blockx, who began playing tennis at age four. Blockx’s brother Maxime, three years his senior, was taking tennis lessons and while Alexander was watching courtside, coach Philippe Cassiers uttered the phrase that kickstarted the Belgian’s journey in the sport.

To this day, Blockx is coached by Cassiers, a 15-year partnership that has featured great success. Blockx became the junior No. 1 in singles and doubles in 2023, the same year he won the Australian Open boys’ singles event.

Competing mostly on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, the 19-year-old is living out his dream as a professional tennis player, a pinch-me moment for someone whose start in tennis was nearly accidental.

“It wasn’t planned for me, I was just going with to see [my brother] a bit,” Blockx recalled to ATPTour.com. “Eventually when we got there, the coach asked my parents, ‘Does this little guy also want to try a ball?’ I said, ‘Yes’, and I started playing and never stopped.”

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Cassiers, who runs a tennis academy outside of Antwerp, instantly noticed Blockx’s natural ability.

“There was a little boy sitting on the bench next to mommy and daddy — and that was Alexander,” Cassiers said. “I asked, ‘Do you want to try?’ He stood up and was like, ‘Let’s do it’. We threw him a couple balls and you could tell he was really motivated, ready to play right away. He wasn’t scared. He was ready to go for it and it was really fun. I talked to his parents, ‘Maybe we should try training for the little one as well’. We have been working ever since.”

Blockx is not the first professional athlete in his family. His father Oleg was a track athlete, excelling in hurdle races while Blockx’s mother Natalia was a professional swimmer.

The #NextGenATP teen has never played any sport besides tennis. As a child, he was too busy dominating tennis tournaments, even above his age group.

“You have big dreams, but when I realised I was good at the sport was when I was playing with guys older than me, two or three years older than me. Because against my age and a year older, I barely lost a game every time we played until the age of 14,” said Blockx, who is 24th in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah.

“First, I played the Belgian tournaments. I was winning almost everything and then my coach said, ‘Okay, now we are going to play a higher age group’. I started winning everything so we started playing international to see how that goes. In under 12s, I played 45 matches and won 42 I think. So then we were like, ‘Okay, there’s real potential’. At the age of 12, I realised I want to go all in and it might actually work out.”

Currently No. 264 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Blockx has gained more attention since the start of 2023, when he became Belgium’s third junior Slam champion and first at Melbourne Park. Jacques Brichant (1947) and Kimmer Coppejans (2012) triumphed at Roland Garros.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/09/18/22/19/blockx-australian-open-2023-junior-champion.jpg” style=”width:100%;” alt=”Alexander Blockx wins the 2023 Australian Open junior title.” />
Alexander Blockx wins the 2023 Australian Open junior title. Credit: Manan Vatsyayana/AFP via Getty Images
“It was amazing. Also because of the way I won it, 11/9 third-set tie-breaker [in the final],” Blockx said. “The whole week I played some good players: [Joao] Fonseca, against Learner [Tien] in the final.”

Blockx this year has made three semi-final appearances on the ATP Challenger Tour, with two of those runs coming prior to a two-month injury layoff in the middle of the season. Blockx was playing his second match in what was supposed to be a five-week Asian swing in April when he tore a ligament in his right ankle, sidelining him until mid-July.

Now back at full health, Blockx showed flashes of his best level last week when he made his Davis Cup debut, which he labelled as, “one of the best experiences of my life so far on a tennis court”. Blockx represented his home country against Italy and pushed former World No. 6 Matteo Berrettini to three sets.

One key element in Blockx’s breakthrough, according to Cassiers, has been his charge’s genuine love for the sport.

“He has a passion for tennis that is really unbelievable,” Cassiers said. “It’s becoming more of an obsession at the moment. He’s really, really into the game. I see many players during the last years, and I’ve never seen a player this passionate and obsessed with the game and [with] the will to improve.

“Off the court, he’s following websites, Challenger TV, YouTube and all these things. You can ask him very hard questions, ‘In 2020, who played the quarter-finals of Madrid?’ Or whatever, he is going to be able to give you an answer with the scores. Off the court, he’s still busy with tennis things.”

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‘Patriotic’ Tsitsipas to represent Team Greece at United Cup 2025

  • Posted: Sep 19, 2024

Greek duo Stefanos Tsitsipas and Maria Sakkari will team once again when the United Cup kicks off the 2025 season on 27 December.

Paris Olympics gold medallist Zheng Qinwen and World No. 9 in the PIF ATP Rankings Casper Ruud will also return to lead China and Norway, respectively. 

Tsitsipas and Sakkari have helped Team Greece to the knockout stages in the previous two editions of the tournament, without tasting ultimate success. 

Tsitsipas is hoping the strong team culture he and Sakkari have built so far at the United Cup will hold Team Greece in good stead for 2025. 

“The team we have built with Maria over the last few years is definitely one that gives us a lot of opportunities to go big and create a lot of damage on the field,” he said. “Getting the opportunity to have a lot of good individuals within one team gives us a lot of motivation and a lot of reasons to go out there and fight for our best.”

A sense of patriotism keeps bringing the World No. 12 Tsitsipas back to the United Cup.  

“Representing Team Greece in a team competition like that at the beginning of the year is something that allows me to be really patriotic and start the year very strong,” he said. “Knowing that we come from a country rich in history and good traditions and values when it comes to sports is an extra reason to go out there and represent tennis, try and do as good as we can to uplift tennis and bring its highest value in our country.”  

Tournament Director Stephen Farrow believes the combination of Tsitsipas and Sakkari perfectly encapsulates the atmosphere of the international mixed-teams event.  

“Tsitsipas and Sakkari qualified Greece at the first two editions of the United Cup. They are both fan favourites and are looking forward to starting their year with us in 2025,” he said.  

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“The Greek fans in both Perth and Sydney have supported the United Cup with great passion. They bring an unrivaled energy in support of their country’s biggest sporting stars, which is the essence of the United Cup.”

Meanwhile, World No. 7 Zheng led Team China to a United Cup quarter-final berth earlier this year and has ensured China’s qualification once again.  

“I’m delighted to be able to qualify China again for the United Cup,” said Zheng, the first Chinese player in history to win an Olympic tennis medal in singles. “The United Cup presents a unique opportunity to play for our country in a mixed team environment, similar to the Olympics, and we couldn’t be more excited to share this experience together.” 

Farrow is grateful a player of Zheng’s quality has recommitted to compete at the United Cup. 

“Zheng has had an incredible 2024. She reached the final of the Australian Open in January, won gold in Paris and has maintained her Top 10 ranking throughout the year,” said Farrow of the player who also recently reached the US Open quarter-finals. “She’s a great player and a big personality and it’s fantastic to welcome her back to the United Cup.” 

Ruud is also set to feature at the tournament as he headlines Norway’s third United Cup campaign. The 25-year-old went undefeated in his singles matches at the last United Cup and took the Norwegians to the quarter-finals.  

“Casper Ruud’s consistent results on the Tour has again allowed Norway to secure their position at the United Cup for another year. Ruud’s early commitment recognises the value in participating in global team competitions,” Farrow said.

The 2025 United Cup starts on 27 December and features 18 countries battling it out across both Sydney and Perth. The champions will be crowned in the final on 5 January.

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