Daniil Medvedev remembers how close he was to letting slip his first ATP Tour title at the 2018 Sydney International. The Russian led home favourite Alex de Minaur 4-0 in the deciding set and served for the trophy at 5-4, watching both leads disappear before ultimately triumphing 1-6, 6-4, 7-5.

“Probably two years [before that] I would have just said, ‘I don’t want this anymore’, and I would lose 7-5,” Medvedev said on ATP Uncovered presented by Peugeot. “But I managed to win it, my first title.”

Ever since, Medvedev has been a man on a mission, rapidly climbing the FedEx ATP Rankings. The Russian learned the importance of mental resilience, proving to be one of the most difficult players to beat on the ATP Tour the past two seasons. Since the start of 2018, he has 110 tour-level wins.

“Every one-on-one sport is all about mentality. Every tournament that you play, to win it you need to win five matches against five real guys. All of them want to win this tournament. You need to be stronger than them,” Medvedev said. “You need to break each of these guys mentally every match and that’s really tough, especially in [the] semi-finals and finals where you play top players and they try to break you and they are better at it. It’s only you against your opponent.”

Medvedev arrived in Sydney two years ago as World No. 84 and he had never ascended higher than World No. 48.

“I managed to win my first title and I think it gave me a big push in the year,” Medvedev said. “The push was not straight away, but I think this meant a lot for the season.”

The Moscow-born Medvedev won three titles in 2018, including an ATP 500 breakthrough at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships, where he only lost five service points in the final against Japanese superstar Kei Nishikori.

Last season proved even better. Medvedev, who won a Tour-leading 59 matches, at one point reached the final in six consecutive tournaments he played, claiming his first two ATP Masters 1000 titles in Cincinnati and Shanghai. Last September, he reached a career-high World No. 4 after making his first Grand Slam final at the US Open.

“The past two-and-a-half years I tried to be really professional in everything I do. I dedicated my life to tennis, the small details,” Medvedev said. “I want to be better, I want to play better. I want to win more matches than I win even now. That’s my goal and that’s what I’m working for.”

Medvedev doesn’t have one particular shot that blows people away. He could have a great serving match and trouble opponents with his flat two-handed backhand. But like he saw first-hand playing De Minaur in the 2018 Sydney final, a competitive spirit could be just as useful as a forehand or backhand. The whole ATP Tour knows to beat Medvedev, you need to earn it. He doesn’t believe his dream 2019 run was lucky.

“Winning so many matches is not just luck. If I would have won one tournament in Cincinnati and then lost everything in the first round, then we can say, ‘Okay maybe I was just lucky [to be in] good shape in Cincinnati,’” Medvedev said. “I am happy to maintain my level and hopefully I can do it for many more months and years.”

Novak Djokovic made his ATP Tour debut at the 2004 Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag less than two months after turning 17. Filippo Volandri ousted the Serbian 7-6(5), 6-1, but the teen certainly left an impression.

“Outside the court I was talking with some colleagues and I said, ‘This guy is really good!’” Volandri recalled. “All the players said, ‘Come on, you could have won 6-1 6-1.’ But I was right!”

Volandri, who later that week beat three-time defending champion Carlos Moya in straight sets, remembers leading Djokovic 5-1 in the opening set. He had never seen the teen play before, but things were going smoothly.

“I was winning easily. I was already a good player and he had a reaction that surprised me,” Volandri said. “Even though he was fighting with [his breathing] and he wasn’t breathing well, he had a reaction that you have inside or you don’t. You can work on it, but most players are born with something inside where they never surrender and they always try to make a reaction [when they are down]. That kind of reaction, 1-5 down, was really impressive.”

Djokovic forced a tie-break in the first set, but Volandri held off the Serbian’s surge. The Italian then used his experience on a hot day to maintain his momentum in the second set. Nevertheless, he saw a lot of potential in Djokovic, who broke serve four times in the 90-minute match.

“Already, physically and in terms of flexibility, he was at a different level. He was so powerful. He was jumping [everywhere] on the court and he put so much spin on the ball without having so much weight [on his body],” Volandri said. “That’s the difference between champions and normal players. They don’t need too much weight to put so much spin on the ball, speed as well.”

Volandri grew up playing in the juniors with Roger Federer, so he was no stranger to competing against elite young talent.

“When someone has something different, it’s tough to explain,” Volandri said. “You see how they are on court, his attitude, his mental power. Djokovic managed the bad moments as a pro when he was really, really young.

“He was playing maybe too far behind [the baseline], but that’s quite normal. When you don’t have so much weight, when you’re young, it’s tough to stay on the baseline. That’s improved so much. He made a lot of technical changes, especially on his serve, during his career. But I think what made the difference is how close he can play to the baseline. Now he plays so, so close.”

Their first-round Umag clash was the pair’s only ATP Head2Head meeting. Since then, Djokovic has won 79 tour-level titles, 17 Grand Slam championships and finished year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings five times.

“Of course it’s strange. Obviously I couldn’t say from that match he’s going to be No. 1 in the world and he’s going to be No. 1 for so many weeks. Even growing up with Federer… you could see he had something different between him and the others. But you couldn’t say, ‘Okay, this guy is going to be No. 1,’” Volandri said. “[Novak has] one of the best backhands ever, one of the best returns ever. In the most important moments, he’s a champion.”

Good things come to those who wait. Eight years after reaching No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Juan Martin del Potro finally reached a new career-high of World No. 3 on 13 August 2018. The Argentine showed fitting form in that year’s Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos, his last event before reaching that milestone.

The Argentine arrived in Los Cabos as the top seed and looked to complete the “Mexican Double” after prevailing that February in Acapulco (d. Anderson). But regardless of his performance, Del Potro reaching the Top 3 that week hinged on the Citi Open results of Alexander Zverev. Zverev, the defending champion in Washington, D.C., needed to reach the final in order to remain at No. 3.

After receiving a first-round bye, Del Potro moved past American qualifier Marcos Giron before facing another player outside the Top 300 in Egor Gerasimov. The 29-year-old Del Potro shook off the rust from his opener and won all 19 of his first-serve points to dismantle the Belarusian 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes.

Third seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina provided a much sterner test in the semi-finals. Their clash looked primed to go the distance after Dzumhur reached set point at 6/5 in the second-set tie-break, but Del Potro fought back to level the score and closed out the match with a forehand winner to advance 6-3, 7-6(6).

“It was a good fight from him. We played good tennis, especially in the second set,” Del Potro said. “I made some mistakes in the end of the set, but then I played a smart game in the tie-break. I took my chances to win and I’m glad to reach another final this season.”

Standing between Del Potro and his third tour-level title of the year was second-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini. The Argentine was the on-paper favourite, having won their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting three years earlier in Sydney.

It appeared that Del Potro would cruise past Fognini after charging to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but the Italian settled in and began gambling on Del Potro’s second serve, winning 71 per cent of those points (15/21). Del Potro’s game slowly unraveled, including on his usually reliable forehand wing, enabling Fognini to win 12 of the last 15 games in his 6-4, 6-2 victory.

“It was a good week for me. Unfortunately, I couldn’t play my best tennis in the final,” Del Potro said. “But Fabio deserved to win. He played a very smart game. He took all the chances to win and I think he’s a good winner of the tournament.”

Eight days later, Del Potro moved to World No. 3 after Zverev, defending champion at the Rogers Cup, was unable to defend the majority of his points in Toronto and fell in the quarter-finals. The moment completed a remarkable climb back up the FedEx ATP Rankings for the Argentine, who sat at No. 141 just two years earlier.

Roger Federer’s 10 titles in Basel make it clear that he thrives at home, but that wasn’t always the case. When he arrived at the 2004 Swiss Open Gstaad, Federer had yet to stand in the winner’s circle in Switzerland.

The World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings had lost all three finals he contested at home, including a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Jiri Novak the previous year in Gstaad. Although Gstaad held special memories for the 23-year-old as it was the site of his ATP Tour debut in 1998, he historically struggled there and lost in the opening round in each of his first four appearances.

Despite his heartbreak at this event, Federer arrived with confidence. He had successfully defended his Wimbledon crown the week before (d. Roddick) and also prevailed in Halle (d. Fish) to build up a 12-match winning streak.

But after receiving an opening-round bye, it appeared that Federer’s woes in Gstaad would continue against big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who racked up 15 aces on the slow clay court. Federer came within mere points of defeat, but dug deep to prevail 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4).

Rain the previous day meant the top seed returned hours later for a quarter-final clash with Radek Stepanek. The unseeded Czech took advantage of a fatiguing Federer to grab the second set and an upset looked increasingly likely. With the home crowd urging him on, Federer stayed with Stepanek and broke late in the third set to advance 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Swiss spent nearly four hours on court to complete his two victories and advance to the semi-finals.

There would be no rest for the top seed as he contested his third match in 24 hours against Italian qualifier Potito Starace. Federer prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the landmark of 50 match wins that season, notching the milestone quicker than any man since Ivan Lendl in 1989. Although he admitted to feeling fatigued, he said that his five-set loss in the 2003 final “nearly killed me” and vowed to find energy for a championship clash with Russian Igor Andreev.

“I feel very tired right now, but I hope to recuperate enough this afternoon to play tomorrow,” Federer said. “I am tired, but I feel alright. I am a bit stiff, but that is to be expected. I think I have one more match in me, so I will have to get myself together and do my best.”

Federer came out swinging against Andreev, cracking 16 winners to eight unforced errors in storming to a two-sets lead. Nerves began to creep in for the Swiss as the title came within sight, but he eventually raised his arms in triumph after a backhand slice error from Andreev wrapped up a 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win.

The victory marked the first time in Federer’s career that he won three titles in a row. It also clinched his seventh title of the season, matching the number of trophies he lifted in 2003.

”I’ve attempted to win a title in Switzerland three times and now I’ve done it here in Gstaad. It means a lot to me,” Federer said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a boy.”

Federer wouldn’t return to Gstaad until 2013, when he was honoured in a special on-court ceremony and presented with a cow.

Dominic Thiem arrived at the 2015 Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag with one ATP Tour title. The Austrian, who was 21 at the time, was on a three-match losing streak. But across two weeks in two cities with an eight-hour drive in between, Thiem went on a memorable run that he won’t soon forget.

It started in Umag, where Thiem upset top seed Gael Monfils in the semi-finals. In the championship match, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic was watching the action from the stands. Djokovic hadn’t competed in the event, but he was able to watch one of the ATP Tour’s rising stars in Thiem, against whom he had only played once. 

Thiem showed his abilities on the Croatian clay, beating Joao Sousa 6-4, 6-1 in 61 minutes for his second tour-level trophy.

“I am really happy about this week. I was able to improve my game in the semi-final and final. I didn’t make many mistakes today,” Thiem said. “It is really special to win here after playing juniors matches in this stadium.”

The Austrian didn’t have much time to celebrate his accomplishment. The next day, he had to make an eight-hour drive to Gstaad for the Swiss Open Gstaad.

“I will have a nice dinner with my friends tonight to celebrate,” Thiem said. “It won’t be a big party for me as I have to drive eight hours to go to Gstaad tomorrow.”

Dominic Thiem” />

Like he did in Umag, Thiem had a bye in Gstaad. That was all the time he needed to recover, winning two three-setters en route to the title in Switzerland. The Austrian eliminated the top two seeds — second seed Feliciano Lopez in the semi-finals and first seed David Goffin in the final — to lift another trophy.

Goffin entered the championship match with a 3-1 ATP Head2Head lead against Thiem, with the Austrian’s win coming in a first-set retirement. But the third seed again played his best to beat the Belgian 7-5, 6-2.

“I returned and served well, which is very important against such a great return player,” Thiem said. “Each title is very special. I’m extremely happy that my family was here this week. It’s such a great event here and a beautiful place.”

Another reason the two-week run is memorable is it’s the only time Thiem has won titles in back-to-back weeks. Thiem used that stretch to crack the Top 25 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time and he has remained in the elite group ever since. He is currently at a career-high World No. 3.

With a losing record on clay (6-7) in 2006, Stan Wawrinka arrived at the Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag seeking more match play on the surface. He left with his first ATP Tour title after weathering a challenging draw that included three teenagers who would become future stars: Marin Cilic, Juan Martin del Potro and Novak Djokovic.

The unseeded Swiss, No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, started his week with a first-round 7-6(3), 6-3 upset of sixth-seeded Spaniard Alberto Martin to set up a clash with local wild card Cilic. The 17-year-old Croatian was coming off his first ATP Tour semi-final earlier that month in Gstaad. Although the centre court crowd was firmly in favour of Cilic, Wawrinka overcame them and a mid-match surge from his opponent to win their first ATP Head2Head meeting 6-4, 2-6, 6-4.

Next up for Wawrinka was another talented 17-year-old in Del Potro, who recorded his maiden tour-level quarter-final the previous week in Stuttgart. Despite the Argentine landing 85 per cent of his first serves, Wawrinka racked up seven break points and converted four to advance 6-1, 2-6. 6-4. The victory clinched his third tour-level semi-final of the season.

Wawrinka then sought revenge against Filippo Volandri after the Italian dismissed him three years earlier in Umag. Although Volandri won more points on the day (87 to 82), the Swiss prevailed in the rallies that mattered most. The 21-year-old stepped up in the final minutes of the match and defeated Volandri 7-5, 2-6, 6-4 for his first tour-level final of the year.

Standing in the way of his first ATP Tour title was Djokovic, who scored a dominant straight-sets win in the other semi-final against former World No. 1 and 1998 Roland Garros champion Carlos Moya. The final had plenty of hype since the 19-year-old Djokovic won his first tour-level crown a week earlier in Amersfoort (d. Massu) and held a nine-match winning streak.

Unfortunately, the championship clash didn’t fully materialise. Djokovic experienced severe respiratory problems throughout the first set and a physician held his chest at one point to help him breathe properly. Trailing 1/3 in the opening-set tie-break, Djokovic lay down on court as his father, Srdjan, ran out to check his pulse alongside a doctor. The Serbian was helped to his seat and retired minutes later.

The match was their first ATP Head2Head meeting in a rivalry that has spanned 14 years. Djokovic has won five of their six clay-court battles since Umag, but Wawrinka made his lone victory count by defeating the Serbian in the 2015 Roland Garros final. The Swiss has since gone to capture 16 tour-level titles including three Grand Slams (2014 Australian Open, 2015 Roland Garros, 2016 US Open).

Wawrinka also hasn’t beaten Del Potro on clay (1-3) since their Umag showdown, but he has maintained his flawless record against Cilic (6-0) on the surface.

Fabio Fognini won his third ATP Tour title of the 2018 season at the Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex. Perhaps keeping his good-luck charm for the week in Los Cabos was the key.

On Monday that week, the Italian No. 1 posted a photo on Instagram of his new hairdo. The ATP Tour’s Instagram challenged him to maintain the interesting style throughout the week if its own post got at least 20,000 likes, which it did. The Italian agreed, and he didn’t lose with it.

It may have started out as a result of losing a bet, but now that @fabiofogna is into the @AbiertoLosCabos SF, we’re starting to think this new hairstyle is a good luck charm ?#LiveItLoveIt pic.twitter.com/AxABV7B7BO

— ATP World Tour (@ATPWorldTour) August 4, 2018

“I lost a bet with the ATP and it’s brought me luck,” Fognini said after the semi-finals. “Of course, tomorrow I’m going to play [with my hair] like that!”

After losing his first set of the tournament against Quentin Halys, Fognini overcame the Frenchman and stormed past Yoshihito Nishioka and Cameron Norrie to reach the championship match.

The Italian played perhaps his best tennis of the week in the final, defeating Juan Martin del Potro, 6-4, 6-2 to lift the trophy.

“It’s amazing… He’s one of the best players,” Fognini said. “I am really happy about my performance.”

The tournament’s final was the last day on which Fognini’s maintained his lucky hairdo. Given his streak of success you might ask a simple question: why?

“I have too much pain in my hair!”

The ATP and organisers of the Citi Open, the ATP 500 event in Washington, D.C., have announced the cancellation of the 2020 Citi Open.

The tournament, which was scheduled to begin on 13 August, marked the planned resumption of the ATP Tour following the suspension of professional tennis in March. However, with continued uncertainties affecting the ability to meet key event planning deadlines, the decision has been made to cancel the event. The ATP continues to work closely with the USTA on the Western & Southern Open and the US Open, which are scheduled to take place back-to-back in New York, beginning on 20 August. 

“It’s disappointing that due to these unprecedented times, the Citi Open will not be able to go ahead this year,” said Andrea Gaudenzi, ATP Chairman. “I know how hard Mark Ein and his team have worked to adapt to new and continually changing conditions and would like to recognize their outstanding commitment to staging the event. Unfortunately for the moment there are still large factors at play which are outside of our control. We look forward to the Citi Open returning as one of our signature American events in 2021.”

“After months of tireless work by our team and close collaboration with our many stakeholders, we are heartbroken to announce that we must unfortunately postpone the 52nd Citi Open until the summer of 2021,” said Mark Ein, Chairman, Citi Open. “With only 23 days left until the start of the tournament, there are too many unresolved external issues, including various international travel restrictions as well as troubling health and safety trends, that have forced us to make this decision now in fairness to our players, suppliers and partners, so that they can have certainty around their planning.”

The ATP continues to work on the revised 2020 calendar with a further update expected in the next fortnight on a provisional schedule of events including the final section of the season through to the Nitto ATP Finals in November.

One of the most important shots in tennis is the serve. It starts the point, and it is the only shot a player fully controls. In doubles, a good server can win free points and set up his partner for an easy putaway.

If a player is struggling on serve, he allows the returning team to play more aggressively and gain confidence, changing the tone of the match.

According to some of the best doubles players in the world, being a “great doubles server” does not boil down to one skill. A great server could overwhelm opponents with power, or he could keep returners off balance with an assortment of spins and locations.

In the first installation of ATPTour.com’s ‘Ultimate Doubles Player’ series, some of the world’s doubles stars selected the man whom they believe is the best doubles server.

Players’ Choice, Best Serve: Horia Tecau
“I think there are two ways of serving in doubles: First there’s the bulldozer style, and I’d categorise Horia Tecau with that. When he gets his rhythm going, he really can just get through you with his serve and it’s really difficult to deal with. It’s actually quite nice to be his net player because you don’t end up having to do much work. Regardless of conditions, whether the ball is playing heavy or it’s at night or whether it’s a clay court, his sheer ability to generate force [is amazing].” – Raven Klaasen

“Playing with Horia was very easy. I take it he’s called ‘Sniper’ for that reason, because he’s always hitting his target. He does serve very, very well. When it comes to serving, Horia is just solid. [His serve is] always within a small margin of speed. He rarely drops below, he just serves at a high speed all the time, and it doesn’t matter if it’s windy or anything. He always seems to time the ball well and that’s an unbelievable skill to have, no matter what weather you have or anything, just to always deliver the same quality shot. When it’s windy, I need a map and compass to find my toss.” – Robert Lindstedt

“He has a very, very good serve. He’s always solid. It doesn’t matter if he stops for three, six months or he’s playing every day, it’s the same. His serve is unbelievable. He can serve wherever he wants, the way he wants. He’s always dangerous when he serves and it’s very tough to break him.” – Marcelo Melo

Bob Bryan
“Definitely throughout his career it’s been one of the most respected serves. When he’s on a roll, it’s just impossible to do anything with it. You don’t know where he’s serving, he’s got a great pace, great swing and even if you do manage to get it back, you’ve got Mike cleaning up at the net.” – Joe Salisbury 

“Over the course of the past 20 years, Bob’s serve has always been the one that most people have said is the best serve in the game. It’s his power, his ability to put the ball where he wants in big moments. He’s got a pretty decent partner to finish things at the net. For those guys to win so much, they’ve both been very reliable at everything they’ve done over the years. But Bob being the lefty, and the actual pace of his serve, it’s very difficult to get the ball away from both guys, especially Mike when he’s taking the middle at the net.” – Ken Skupski

Bob Bryan” />

Henri Kontinen
“He has a very good serve, especially on the deuce side. Probably one of the best wide swingers on the deuce side. Gets it very short, and his shoulder turn when he goes back, he gets so much rotation and that’s where all his power comes from. He changes the spin up a lot of the time. You think he’s going to hit a big pop, but then he takes a lot off it and puts a lot of spin on it. I find Henri very tough to read, and also, he doesn’t hold back on his serve. Even if it’s a big point, he may even go big on his second serve. You can’t really get on his serve consistently and that’s why he holds pretty easily.” – Neal Skupski

“When he was at his best, he could go 200 kilometres per hours on both serves and returning bombs, so he doesn’t give you rhythm. He makes you doubt all the time, because you don’t have rhythm, and he was on fire all the time making shots and had the talent to make really crazy shots.” – Bruno Soares 

Ben McLachlan
“There’s a different style of serving, too. I think one of the younger guys, Ben McLachlan, has a fantastic service action. He’s a very explosive guy. He’s able to make the ball jump, he’s able to make the ball slide. He’s able to go with pure pace, too, and when he tosses it up you know he’s coming with a variety of stuff to you. He keeps you off balance with his ability to shape the ball and move the ball, but he still has plenty of power to get it through you.” – Raven Klaasen

“He’s got a super-live arm, can create power with really no effort, can hit all the spots on both sides of the court and from ‘I’, from regular. He’s got a great kick serve, a great second serve. I just feel like when he steps up to the line, you know you’re getting a big serve. He’s at the top of the list.” – Rajeev Ram

Ben McLachlan” />

Jack Sock
“He has a lot of movement on his first serve. It’s not only the pace. He can serve hard, but he can move it around really well. It’s also because of what comes after the serve. He’s very tough to play.” – Jurgen Melzer

Nicolas Mahut
“His serve is maybe not the biggest, but he always finds a great spot. He’s really tough to return against, and he’s always giving you difficulty. He’s really preparing the situation for winning the point. Maybe not with just the serve, but with the serve and one more ball.” – Filip Polasek