First contested in July 1969, the Citi Open is one of 13 prestigious ATP 500 events on the calendar. The 2020 edition of the tournament was due to take place this month, before its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to know about the event.

An Elite Honour Roll
Held at the Rock Creek Park Tennis Center, the Citi Open has welcomed some of the greatest names in tennis history over the past 50 years. In fact, 46 of the previous 51 editions of the singles event have been won by players who have reached the Top 10 in the FedEx ATP Rankings during their careers.

Six former World No. 1s — Jimmy Connors, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt and Andy Roddick — have triumphed at the tournament. Agassi owns a record five titles in Washington, D.C., while Connors and Roddick each claimed three trophies.

In doubles, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have won a record four team titles (2005-07, 2015). The American twins share the record for most trophies at the event with countryman Marty Riessen. The American won back-to-back doubles crowns with Tom Okker (1971-72) and also lifted the title alongside Tom Gorman (1974) and Sherwood Stewart (1979).

Andy Roddick captured his third Citi Open title in 2007.” />

Agassi Sets The Mark
From 1990 to 2000, Agassi won five titles from six final appearances in Washington, D.C. The Las Vegas native captured his first trophy in the American capital in his second tournament appearance, winning each of the 10 sets he contested to claim the 1990 crown. Agassi repeated that feat the following year, beating Petr Korda in the championship match.

In a classic 1995 final, Agassi outlasted Edberg 6-4, 2-6, 7-5 to claim his third trophy at the event. Across his five title runs at the ATP 500, the second set of that final against Edberg was the only set he lost. Agassi added his fourth and fifth Washington, D.C. titles in 1998 and 1999, beating Scott Draper and Yevgeny Kafelnikov in the championship matches.

Agassi fell short of winning his sixth tournament trophy in 2000. Once again, the 1999 year-end World No. 1 advanced to the final without dropping a set, but Alex Corretja claimed the title with a 6-2, 6-3 victory. Agassi finished his career with a record 44 match wins in the United States’ capital.

Delpo’s Unbeaten Run
After losing his tournament debut in 2007, Juan Martin del Potro claimed 14 straight victories across his next three appearances at the ATP 500 to enter the history books. The Argentine captured his maiden Washington crown in 2008, beating Viktor Troicki in the championship match, and doubled his trophy tally the next year.

Del Potro survived two final-set tie-breaks against former World No. 1s en route to the 2009 title. The Tower of Tandil rallied from a set down to overcome Hewitt in the Round of 16 and outlasted Roddick in the final to lift his second straight trophy at the event.

With a three-set triumph against John Isner in the 2013 championship match, Del Potro joined fellow three-time winners Guillermo Vilas, Connors and Roddick in an exclusive club. Only five-time champion Agassi has won more trophies in Washington, D.C.

“It’s amazing. I’m so happy to win here once again,” said Del Potro. “Always when you win a tournament, it’s special, it’s big.”

Bryan Brothers Equal Riessen’s Record
Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan are the only doubles team to win three consecutive trophies in Washington, D.C. The pair achieved the feat between 2005 and 2007, dropping just three sets across 12 victories to complete their first three title runs in the District of Columbia.

The Bryan Brothers had to wait another eight years before they returned to the championship match. The American twins, aiming to equal Riessen’s tournament record haul of four doubles trophies, beat Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo in straight sets to claim their record-equalling fourth crown in 2015.

Zverev Goes Back-To-Back
Alexander Zverev has reached the quarter-finals or better in each of his four appearances at the Citi Open. After compiling a 6-2 record across his opening two visits, the German claimed 10 straight wins to become only the fourth player in tournament history to win consecutive singles trophies at the event.

Zverev claimed his maiden ATP 500 crown in Washington, D.C. in 2017 with consecutive wins against Daniil Medvedev, Kei Nishikori and Kevin Anderson. One year later, the 6’6” right-hander returned to the final with wins against Nishikori and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Zverev confirmed his place alongside fellow back-to-back tournament winners Agassi, Michael Chang and Del Potro with a 6-2, 6-4 victory against Alex de Minaur in the championship match.

I wanted to crawl out of my own skin.

In 2011, I was in the best physical shape of my life. I was one of the five best players in the world and I had won four titles by the end of July. But from one day to another, I couldn’t take a step. I couldn’t breathe.

I was competing in Båstad, in front of my home fans, and I wasn’t feeling well the entire week. I was so wired up. I had a tonne of energy, but not positive energy. I couldn’t find a way to calm myself down, and I only managed to sleep a couple of hours every night.

None of this impacted my tennis. I won the title that week, without losing a set. In my last two matches, I lost a combined five games against Top 10 players Tomas Berdych and David Ferrer to lift the trophy. On the court, I was as good as ever. Off court, I couldn’t have been worse.

After the trophy ceremony ended and I finished my media obligations, I drove my car back to Stockholm. I was thinking about how I had a few weeks before my next tournament, so I could finally relax. But the more I relaxed, the worse I felt.

My body was in some sort of survival mode and when I relaxed, all my mental problems surfaced. It felt like it happened from one day to another. But my body had given me many warnings, physical as well as mental symptoms, telling me I had been pushing my body too hard for too long.

The problems started with my immune system. I often got sick, catching a lot of colds, sore throats and fevers. I would get really dizzy and had trouble sleeping. But I was one of the people who thought I’d never crash.

When I heard about them, I said, ‘Yeah, but that just happens to weak people.’ I was the perfect person to have a burnout because I was not listening to my body at all. I was pushing to – and past – my limits, which is how I’ve been doing things my whole life since I was a kid. I love to train hard. My only answer to setbacks was pushing harder. Striving for perfection meant putting results ahead of my own wellbeing.

Little did I know I would never play a tournament again.

* * * * *

Many of you know I contracted mononucleosis, which ended my career. But I think it’s even more important to speak about the severe mental illness I battled during and after that period.

A year before that week in Båstad, if someone spoke to me about mental health, being stressed or having anxiety, I would just look at them and be like, ‘Come on, what are you talking about?’ I had absolutely no clue.

Athletes speak about injuries all the time, but we never discuss mental illness. There are a few former players who told me they experienced mental illness and some of them had to retire because of it. They never told anyone. It’s so much easier to say, ‘My shoulder is not good, my knee is injured and that’s why I retired.’ I think it’s just a shame. I don’t think we can make it easier for people around the world dealing with this awful issue if we don’t start viewing mental illness as seriously as we should.

As a player I never had any anxiety. Of course, I was nervous like everyone else before matches, but I never had a panic attack. In one of the biggest matches of my career, I even felt great.

At 2009 Roland Garros, I became the first player to beat Rafael Nadal at that Grand Slam championship. I went into the match with absolutely nothing to lose and everything to win. I didn’t know how to play with topspin anyway, so I just played even flatter. I didn’t care if I missed. I knew I wouldn’t win if I didn’t take my chances and that day it worked out really well. I was playing so freely. That was an amazing feeling.

That’s the complete opposite to how I felt when I was Top 5 in the world. Basically every match I played I was the favourite, which made it that much tougher. I was playing way too much at the end of my career not to lose instead of playing to win.

A lot of the stress on my body and my mind added up and I really started feeling it after that Båstad tournament. It felt like things changed overnight. From one day to the next, I was a completely different person. I began to suffer from severe anxiety and panic attacks. I had never experienced anything like that ever before. I didn’t have any idea what was happening to me.

The first few years, I was really worried that I would never feel well or have a normal life again. At first, I thought I was going crazy. I didn’t have any tools. I didn’t know what was going on and I think that made it even worse. There was one idea that triggered my anxiety the most: What would happen if I have to live in this hell my entire life?

Robin Soderling” />
^{Robin Soderling and his wife, Jenni Soderling. Photo Credit: Robin Soderling}
Psychologists have great degrees and they have studied everything, but at the same time you could sense if they haven’t been through mental illness themselves. At the beginning, I didn’t want to go to one because I thought, ‘What could she have done about it?’ But the first time I met her we were speaking and I already felt a little bit better. During my worst times I spoke to my wife a lot, too.

A very good friend of mine went through the same thing I did. He wasn’t an athlete, but he was burnt out and battled mental illness for more than five years before he finally felt well again. He helped me so much, because every time I spoke to him, I felt he understood what I was saying. The feelings I had were things he had experienced. It’s hard to describe how badly I felt, but it’s something he intrinsically understood.

Thankfully after a few really, really tough years, I started feeling better. Now, I consider that a closed chapter in my life. It’s not something I like talking about. For years, I wasn’t ready to share my story. I was able to accomplish a lot during my career and I didn’t want to reminisce on those awful years I had. Why now?

The thought of helping one player or one person is enough for me. When I started dealing with this issue, there was no example for me to look towards. Nobody out there publicly made it seem like it was okay to deal with mental illness. As a kid, nobody spoke about it.

 

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For those dealing with mental illness, don’t be afraid to admit something is wrong. I would suggest finding someone who you could speak to, preferably someone who has gone through this. That is what helped me and I don’t know where I’d be without it.

Every time I wake up in the morning my first thought is, ‘How do I feel?’ I take five or 10 minutes to do some meditation just to go through the body. It’s so easy to ignore those small symptoms or those small signals that your body is sending out. You can do it for one year or five years, or even 10 years, but sooner or later you will crash. Even if you think you’re feeling better, don’t try to convince yourself everything is okay if it’s not.

Take some rest and don’t be afraid of doing things outside of tennis or your chosen profession. If I could do my career all over again, I would have probably found an interest, started studying something. Even when I was 21 or 22, I should have been planning for my future after my career. It’s so much easier if you have something to fall back on.

To become a professional athlete, you have to work extremely hard and a big part of your life has to be about tennis. But the problem becomes when it is your whole life. There’s a really thin line. Basically everything I cared about was tennis. Choosing to have an apple, I was wondering whether it was good for my tennis. Should I go to the cinema? Maybe not. I need to sleep nine hours, not eight.

It’s not just about performing today or tomorrow, it’s about having a long career and feeling well, too. This isn’t just about your next tournament or assignment, it’s about your quality of life.

There’s no shame in speaking about mental illness. It’s a very common problem in today’s society, no matter if you’re playing sports or working in another field. It’s something that needs to be spoken about a lot more. Doing so doesn’t make you look weak. In reality, it makes you stronger.

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Felix Auger-Aliassime is only 19, but he is mature beyond his years. The #NextGenATP Canadian lives his life by three guiding principles: respect, humility and hard work.

“People will get to know me over the years and will probably know that I want to leave a good example for the generation after. I want to inspire kids to get interested in the sport, but further than that just being a good citizen,” Auger-Aliassime told ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot. “If you have that in you, if you put that in place every day, probably good things will happen.”

The teen has thought this way from a young age, when he’d spend his days around the local tennis club where his father coached. Auger-Aliassime doesn’t remember a time when he wasn’t on a tennis court.

“Since I’m seven, eight years old, I knew I wanted to be a professional player,” Auger-Aliassime said. “Now, I’m just living my dream.”

Nobody’s journey to reach the ATP Tour is easy. There are always setbacks and moments when you face players who are simply too good at that moment. But Auger-Aliassime has always kept pushing forward.

“I never thought of doing anything else, which is kind of weird to say to other teenagers that I see who are finding themselves not really knowing what they want to do,” Auger-Aliassime said. “There was no guarantee that I would make it, obviously, but at the same time I never doubted myself that that is what I wanted to do. Since the day I decided I wanted to [play tennis] as a career I never looked back.”

The teen earned his first FedEx ATP Rankings points at 14 by qualifying for an ATP Challenger Tour event in Drummondville. In his next professional event just a few months later in Granby, he qualified and won two matches in the main draw. Immediately, all eyes were on the Canadian.

“I was pretty lucky to get results when I was still young… It’s not the same for every player, but I think for me the expectations were high from myself and from the people around me since I’m very young,” Auger-Aliassime said. “The tough part for me was to be high in the rankings at 16, 17 and then you’re losing sometimes in Challengers and in tournaments that I’d won before and not being able to do things other people my age were doing.”

Auger-Aliassime didn’t get discouraged, though. He remained focused, leading to a rapid climb up the FedEx ATP Rankings. Felix began 2019 outside of the world’s Top 100 and he was into the Top 20 by August. Auger-Aliassime has already reached five ATP Tour finals and he made the semi-finals of last year’s Miami Open presented by Itau, an ATP Masters 1000 event.

Even as Auger-Aliassime transitioned to full-time competition on the ATP Tour, he showed plenty of grit to battle against experienced veterans. If Felix had a tough day on court, he went straight back to work. After losing to John Isner in last year’s Miami semi-finals, he immediately walked onto a practice court.

“I’m the type of player that just leaves his soul on the court. I try to engage myself fully in what I’m doing every time I step on court,” Auger-Aliassime said. “As my parents used to say, anything that you’re doing is worth doing 100 per cent and if you’re not doing it fully, you might as well not do it.”