Tennis News

Nadal: 'My Serve Was A Disaster'

Rafael Nadal was at a loss to explain his service woes on Friday at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, but the 11-time former champion says that he’ll quickly return to the practice court.

The Spanish superstar struck an uncharacteristic seven double faults – and was broken seven times – in his 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 loss to sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev.

“For some reason I had problems with my serve,” said Nadal, who won just 42 per cent of his second service points. “I don’t understand why, because I was not having problems in the practices at all. But today, was one of those days that my serve was a disaster.

“Serving like this, the serve creates an impact on the rest of the game. When you serve with no confidence, you are just focusing on trying to serve, not thinking about how you want to [hit] the ball. You just think about what you have to do with the serve to put the ball in.

“When you face great player like him and you don’t play well, you should lose. That’s easy to analyse.”

Nadal, who recovered from 2-4 down in the second set, praised Rublev, who is now an ATP Tour-best 23-4 on the 2021 season.

“He played well and he deserved [it] more than me,” said Nadal, who is now 73-6 at the Monte-Carlo Country Club. “I fought. That’s the positive thing, I was there. But you can’t expect [to] win against a player like him losing my serve… too many [times]… He played great. He played aggressive, as I knew [he would]. Well done to him. He’s a great guy. [I] wish him all the best.”

The 34-year-old will now travel back to Spain to compete at the upcoming Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, where he is also an 11-time titlist.

“The only thing that I can do is go to Barcelona and keep practising, keep practising, try to fix the things that didn’t work well. I think my backhand today was not [good] enough. Lots of mistakes. I was not able to open the court with my backhand then.”

When asked about how Casper Ruud will fare on Saturday against Rublev, Nadal admitted the Norwegian, who trains at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar, has a good chance.

“It’s a tough match for both of them,” said Nadal. “Casper is a great player. Especially on this surface, he’s one of the best players in the world. [It] will be a tough battle tomorrow.

“I don’t see a clear favourite. I think both of them can win. Casper is playing great… [It] will be nice that somebody from the academy [gets to] the final of Monte-Carlo and wins it.”

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Billie Jean King Cup: Heather Watson win gives Great Britain 2-0 lead over Mexico

Watch the best shots from Heather Watson’s 7-5 6-1 win over Giuliana Olmos in the Billie Jean King Cup.

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Ruud: 'It's The Toughest Challenge Of My Career'

Casper Ruud says that he will prepare for Saturday’s semi-final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters as if “it’s the toughest challenge of my career”.

Ruud, who has beaten three seeded players en route to his second ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, will face sixth-seeded Russian Andrey Rublev, who defeated 11-time former champion Rafael Nadal 6-2, 4-6, 6-2.

The Norwegian admitted, “I just have to prepare well, like it’s the toughest challenge of my career so far. I’m sure it will be. But I’ve gained good confidence from this week. I’ve beaten good players. I have to try to find a way to believe that I can win.”

The 22-year-old overcame defending champion Fabio Fognini 6-4, 6-3 on Friday, adding to wins over Dane Holger Vitus Nodskov Rune, seventh seed Diego Schwartzman and No. 12 seed Pablo Carreno Busta at the Monte-Carlo Country Club.

“Tomorrow there has to be one winner of the match, and hopefully it can be me,” said Ruud. “I will try to relax and get a lot of energy for tomorrow and think that it’s a little bit now or never.”

Ruud hopes to draw upon his experience of competing in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia semi-finals in October last year, when he fell to World No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals.

“In Rome, I faced the World No. 1 Djokovic. He is one of the toughest opponents you can have on the Tour. Tomorrow will be no different. [It’ll be] Rublev, who has won the most ATP Tour matches this year.”

Rublev, who leads Ruud 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series, has an ATP Tour-best 23-4 match record on the 2021 season, which includes capturing the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament title (d. Fucsovics) in March.

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Rublev Stuns Nadal In Monte-Carlo QFs

Andrey Rublev held his nerve to complete a stunning 6-2, 4-6, 6-2 upset over 11-time champion Rafael Nadal on Friday to reach the semi-finals at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters for the first time.

The sixth-seeded Russian entered the clash trailing Nadal 0-2 in their ATP Head2Head and facing down the Spaniard’s daunting 73-5 record at this event. But he came out swinging fearlessly against Nadal on Court Rainier III, the same court where the Spaniard has lifted a record 11 trophies in the Principality.

“[On one side], if we look [at] a player like Rafa, who is the best clay-court player in history, then of course it’s one of my best victories for sure,” Rublev said in his post-match press conference. “But if you look at [it] from [the] other side, how he feels, for sure he didn’t play his even ‘good’ level today. In his position it’s so tough when people expect [that] you’re the best player on clay and you have to win yes or yes every time. You cannot lose on clay because you’re the best. It’s so tough to play with this feeling.

“He’s doing this year by year. He’s winning all the tournaments or going deep every time on clay tournaments. This is amazing how he handles this. That’s why he’s one of the legends.”

Rublev pressed Nadal from the back of the court as he dictated the rallies with his forehand and was rewarded with seven breaks of serve across three sets. Nadal has never hit more than eight double faults in a single tour-level match in his career (2014 Indian Wells), but he struck five in the first set alone and seven in total against Rublev. The Spaniard looked out of sorts during the early exchanges and was uncharacteristically misfiring on the backhand wing – a side that Rublev honed in on to great success.

“All the situation was strange,” Rublev said of his dominant start. “I mean, [it] was not real that I was winning 6-2, 3-1, having breakpoints for [a] second break. It was not real. Probably inside I understood that something is going to change. It cannot be like this all the match. If it’s like this all the match, then I don’t know, probably Rafa had his worst day of his life.”

– Graphic courtesy Hawk-Eye Innovations/ATP Media
– Take a deep dive into this match with Match Insights powered by Infosys NIA

Once the third seed got going, it seemed like a classic Nadal comeback on clay was inevitable as he took the second set after a grueling 74-minute battle. With Nadal’s booming forehand finally connecting, the games became longer as the Spaniard tried to find inroads for a comeback. He finally broke through to level the score at 4-4, and reeled off the last four games of the set.

But Rublev responded emphatically in the decider, reestablishing his lead with an early break. He met Nadal blow for blow from the baseline, overpowering the Spaniard to open up a 5-1 lead. Rublev needed two hours and 32 minutes to close out the victory and seal a spot in his first Monte-Carlo semi-final. 

“I would say this week I am controlling my emotions [really well]. At the end that’s the key,” Rublev said. “If after the second set I would say something or if I would show emotions, for sure the third set will be over, [it] will be 6-2 for him. So I’m happy that I could handle it.”

The victory equals the biggest result of Rublev’s career. He now owns four wins against the World No. 3-ranked player, including a 6-3 6-4 rout of Roger Federer at 2019 ATP Masters 1000 Cincinnati. Like Nadal at Monte-Carlo, Federer owns the tournament record for most titles at Cincinnati with seven wins.

Into his second consecutive ATP Masters 1000 semi-final, sixth seed Rublev will face Casper Ruud for a shot at his maiden championship match at this level. His opponent also completed an upset of his own on Friday, toppling defending champion Fabio Fognini in straight sets, 6-4, 6-3, to advance. Rublev owns a 3-0 ATP Head2Head record against Ruud, including two victories on clay.

“[Casper] is playing really well. I have known him [for a] long time. He is an amazing player and every match against him was a dramatic match,” Rublev said. “We had really great rallies and a really great level of tennis. It is going to be super tough.

“He is in great shape now. He finished today much earlier [than me]. We will see what is going to happen tomorrow. I will try to recover as best as I can and to do my best tomorrow.”

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ATP Issues Updated Calendar Following Roland-Garros Rescheduling

The ATP has issued an update to the ATP Tour calendar with the addition of ATP 250 clay-court tournaments in Belgrade, Serbia and Parma, Italy, in the week prior to Roland-Garros.

The additions to the calendar follow the one-week postponement of the second Grand Slam of the season, with a number of tournament applications received in order to fill week 21 (24 May) of the schedule.

The additional Belgrade event will be held at the same location as next week’s Serbia Open, the Novak Tennis Centre, while the Emilia-Romagna Open will be held at the President Tennis Club of Montechiarugolo.

The MercedesCup, the ATP 250 in Stuttgart, plans to remain in its original week, commencing 7 June.

Meanwhile, the Libema Open, the ATP 250 grass-court tournament in ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Netherlands, will not take place in 2021.

All other events remain as originally scheduled on the 2021 ATP Tour calendar.

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Billie Jean King Cup: Katie Boulter gives Great Britain lead over Mexico

Katie Boulter puts Great Britain 1-0 ahead in their Billie Jean King Cup play-off against Mexico.

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Evans On Djokovic Win: 'I Felt Comfortable From The Outset'

Daniel Evans isn’t one to seek the spotlight, but that’s exactly where the British No. 1 put himself on Thursday by shocking World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to reach the quarter-finals of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

Evans wasn’t done there, as he partnered Neal Skupski past Australian Open champions Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek in doubles later in the afternoon. It’s safe to say it was a day to remember for the 30-year-old in the Principality.

“Obviously I’m happy. I’m still in the tournament. After the tournament, I’ll look back at what a good day it was,” Evans said. “It was obviously an amazing feeling to win and to come through.”

Djokovic was not the first superstar Evans has played lately. In Doha, he took on frequent practice partner Roger Federer and pushed the Swiss deep into a third set before losing. This time, Evans was able to find a way to claim the biggest win of his career and with it, a spot in his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

“I felt comfortable from the outset. In myself, I felt very good,” Evans said. “But more importantly, I didn’t feel he was being too aggressive, pushing me back too much. I was comfortable in the points. I hit my forehand well.”

Before this tournament, Evans, who has climbed as high as No. 26 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, had not won a tour-level match on clay since Barcelona in 2017. But he has been impressive in Monte-Carlo, defeating 2019 finalist Dusan Lajovic, Miami champion Hubert Hurkacz and 36-time Masters 1000 titlist Djokovic.

“Obviously it’s not my favourite surface,” Evans said. “But I think the conditions have actually suited me this week. It’s not been very warm. The ball stayed low. I’m moving way better on the clay. That’s definitely helped.”

Evans will try to avoid a letdown on Friday when he plays Belgian David Goffin in the quarter-finals. The Belgian, who upset Alexander Zverev in the third round, has a high level of respect for the Briton.

“He’s an amazing, talented player. I always thought that he could play on every surface. Maybe in his head he was not a clay-court player in the past, so he was not super confident on that surface,” Goffin said. “I think he’s one step stronger than before, especially the past few weeks, few months. He won his first ATP title. Now on the clay, he’s won a lot of matches.”

Evans won the pair’s only previous ATP Head2Head meeting 6-4, 6-4 at last year’s ATP Cup. Goffin is well aware the 30-year-old will be confident fresh off his best win to date.

“It’s going to be a tough match,” Goffin said. “Of course, it’s an amazing performance to beat Novak in a Masters 1000 here.”

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Djokovic Set For Homecoming In Belgrade; All You Need To Know

A lot has changed since the last time Novak Djokovic had a chance to play on home soil in Serbia.

The ATP Tour is set to return to Belgrade for the first time since 2012 at the Serbia Open, an ATP 250 clay-court event. Djokovic lifted two trophies during the event’s previous four-year run, triumphing in 2009 and 2011. Back then, the home favourite had yet to rise to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and had only recently added a second Grand Slam title to his name.

Now an 18-time Grand Slam champion, Djokovic will return to Belgrade as the all-time record-holder of most weeks at World No.1, entering his 317th week at the top of the game. The top seed will hit the court at his eponymous tennis centre looking to claim his 83th tour-level title.

Djokovic will be joined by two more Top 10 players with reigning US Open champion Dominic Thiem and Italian star Matteo Berrettini set to make their Belgrade debuts. Aslan Karatsev, the breakthrough star of the 2021 season, will also feature.

Note: The 2021 Serbia Open will be held behind closed doors due to COVID-19 precautions.

Established: 2009

Tournament Dates: 19 April – 25 April 2021

Tournament Director: Djordje Djokovic

Draw Ceremony: TBA

Are You In? Subscribe To Get Tournament Updates In Your Inbox

Schedule
* Qualifying: 18-19 April at 11am
* Main draw: Monday 19 – Sunday 25 April 
* Start times: Monday-Friday 11:00am and 7:00pm; Saturday 4:00pm, Sunday 5:00pm
* Doubles final: TBA
* Singles final: Sunday 25 April, TBA

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV
TV Schedule

Venue: Novak Tennis Centre
Surface: Clay 

Prize Money: €650,000 (Total Financial Commitment: €711,800)

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll
Most Titles, Singles: Novak Djokovic (2)
Oldest Champion: Andreas Seppi, 28, in 2012
Youngest Champion: Novak Djokovic, 21, in 2009
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 2 Novak Djokovic in 2011
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 46 Andreas Seppi in 2012
Most Match Wins: Novak Djokovic, Andreas Seppi (9)

Did You Know?
The world-class Novak Tennis Centre complex boasts 14 tennis courts, including 11 clay courts. It also features a ‘trophy room’ that holds on display dozens of trophies and mementos from the World No. 1’s legendary career.

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Friday Preview: Rublev To Battle Nadal in Monte-Carlo

Friday’s quarter-finals are set at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Rafael Nadal will be in fresh form against Andrey Rublev after needing just 55 minutes to get past Grigor Dimitrov. Rublev, on the other hand, took two hours and 44 minutes to take out Roberto Bautista Agut.

Nadal gave up just two games to the Bulgarian, who was off his A game and hindered by a rotten tooth.

“Grigor missed much more than usual for him,” Nadal said. “We had some amazing battles together. It’s true that today was not one of these ones. I feel a little bit sorry for him today, that he played I think a bad match. I did my thing. But that’s it.”

Rublev survived a battle with Bautista Agut that included six breaks of serve, and saw him fall behind 4-1 in the first two sets before pulling out a 7-6(2), 5-7, 6-3 win.

Nadal leads the ATP Head2Head Series against Rublev 2-0 with both wins coming on hard courts (2020 Nitto ATP Finals and 2017 US Open). The World No. 3 has yet to be challenged by the 23-year-old: Rublev has managed more than three games in a set just once

To have any chance at all at the upset, Rublev will have to pick and choose his big-hitting moments carefully (like he eventually did to get the win over Bautista Agut). He’ll have to be the aggressor from start to finish with little margin for error, and dictate rallies by pulling Nadal off the court towards his backhand by using his huge forehand. The key will be managing his unforced errors and emotions — it won’t help that he will be coming in more fatigued than the Spaniard. 

Daniel Evans will be looking to back up his upset of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic when he takes on David Goffin. Goffin pulled out his own upset over fifth seed Alexander Zverev, but the Briton stole most of the headlines after his backhand slice “dismantled” Djokovic.

“Obviously, I had a fair idea that he wouldn’t be that comfortable with it,” Evans said of his slice. “I thought he struggled to generate much pace off of my slice. I was using that more and more in the match because I didn’t feel he was hurting me off it. I actually thought I could get on offense from that.

“That’s how the match went, I think. If you look at it, I sliced well, ran around and hit good forehands, put him under quite a bit of pressure.”

Goffin and Evans have never played each other before but the match-up should be a great one given Evans’ unpredictable variety and Goffin’s court coverage.

“If you see Dan, he’s an amazing, talented player,” Goffin said. “I always thought that he could play on every surface. Maybe in his head he was not a clay-court player in the past, so he was not super confident on that surface. But now it looks like he’s more professional, more stable in his game.”

Stefanos Tsitsipas did well to ease past five-time ATP Tour clay-court champion Cristian Garin 6-3, 6-4 and will take a lot of confidence into his clash with Alejandro Davidovich Fokina. It will also be their first meeting. Davidovich Fokina, a 21-year-old who topped Lucas Pouille in the third round, is playing in just his sixth Masters 1000 event and first quarter-final. 

After a 6-4, 7-6(1) over Filip Krajinovic, Fabio Fognini will take on Casper Ruud in their quarter-final matchup. This week saw Fognini win his first Masters 1000-level match since Shanghai in 2019, the same year that the Italian won Monte-Carlo for his biggest ATP Tour title.  

Ruud was all but out against Pablo Carreno Busta in the last match to finish on Thursday, but he battled back from a 5-2 deficit in the third set to score the upset, 7-6(4), 5-7, 7-5. 

Watch Live | View TV Schedule 

SCHEDULE – FRIDAY, APRIL 16, 2021

COURT RAINIER III start 11:00 am
[4] S. Tsitsipas (GRE) vs A. Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
D. Evans (GBR) vs [11] D. Goffin (BEL)

Not Before 2:00 pm
C. Ruud (NOR) vs [15] F. Fognini (ITA)
[6] A. Rublev (RUS) vs [3] R. Nadal (ESP)

COURT DES PRINCES start 11:00 am
C. Garin (CHI) / G. Pella (ARG) vs [4] M. Granollers (ESP) / H. Zeballos (ARG)
[7] P. Herbert (FRA) / N. Mahut (FRA) vs [2] N. Mektic (CRO) / M. Pavic (CRO)
After Suitable Rest – D. Evans (GBR) / N. Skupski (GBR) vs R. Klaasen (RSA) / B. McLachlan (JPN)
After Suitable Rest – [1] J. Cabal (COL) / R. Farah (COL) vs F. Fognini (ITA) / D. Schwartzman (ARG)

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Double Duty: Evans, Skupski Maintain Momentum In Monte-Carlo

Hours after handing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic his first defeat of 2021, Daniel Evans was right back on court at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters ready to wreak more havoc on the doubles draw. Evans partnered with countryman Neal Skupski to topple third seeds Ivan Dodig and Filip Polasek 3-6, 7-6(5), 13-11 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals. 

Facing Dodig and Polasek for the second time in as many weeks, the Brits had to dig deep to save three match points in a nail-biting match tie-break. Evans erased two of those with inch-perfect lobs as the pair turned around the decider and sealed the victory in an hour and 53 minutes.

“Obviously clay [is] not my favorite surface. But I think the conditions have actually suited me this week,” Evans said in a post-match press conference. “It’s not been very warm. The ball stayed low. I’m moving way better on the clay. That’s definitely helped.”

The win sent Evans and Skupski into their second consecutive ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, where they will face Raven Klaasen and Ben McLachlan. It also continues the momentum built up from a strong run to the final at the Miami Open presented by Itau, the pair’s first tournament as a team. Skupski had previously partnered with older brother Ken Skupski to victory at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel, their first title together since 2019. They had to part ways temporarily after Ken was diagnosed with a blood clot in his right leg ahead of their trip to Miami.

Joining them in the quarter-finals, top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah stormed past Felix Auger-Aliassime and Hubert Hurkacz with a 6-0, 6-2 victory. The Colombians allowed their opponents to hold serve exactly once during the match – at the start of the second set. But the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships winners reeled off another six games in a row to advance.

Cabal and Farah will take on Fabio Fognini and Diego Schwartzman next. The defending champion in singles, Fognini partnered with Schwartzman in doubles for the first time in three years as they took down sixth seeds Wesley Koolhof and Lukasz Kubot 1-6, 6-4, 10-7. The pair previously linked up at the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open, where they bowed out to Cabal and Farah.

Also in action, second seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic booked a quarter-final clash with seventh seeds Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut. The Croatians needed an hour and 13 minutes to take down alternates Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar 6-4, 1-6, 10-3 to advance.

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