The abiding memory is of a charismatic pair, at opposite ends of their career spectrum, coming together for an instant classic. Rafael Nadal, already a winner of eight trophies in 2005, full of power and creativity, and Andre Agassi, the three-time former champion, who stood firm on the baseline to strike half volleys and execute his own offensive assault. Nadal first hard-court triumph, 6-3, 4-6, 6-2, in the Montreal final, reaffirmed a changing of the guard and set the tone for future success on Canadian soil.

In slower conditions in Toronto, three years on, Nadal extended his winning streak to 29 matches, by overwhelming Nicolas Kiefer 6-3, 6-2 in the 2008 final to become the third youngest player — behind Bjorn Borg and Jimmy Connors — to accumulate 30 tour-level titles. A second trophy in Montreal came in 2013, when he beat Milos Raonic, the first Canadian finalist since 1959, following on from a pulsating 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) semi-final victory over Novak Djokovic — Nadal’s first hard-court triumph over the Serbian in three years.

And over the past couple of years, Nadal has further extended his dominance with consecutive crowns to move to within one Canadian trophy of Ivan Lendl, a winner of six titles (1980-81, 1983, 1987-89) from nine finals.

The Spanish superstar wrestled his way past Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic in 2018, before straight sets wins over Karen Khachanov and Stefanos Tsitsipas. Twelve months later, and now aged 33, Nadal was forced to recover from a set down against Fabio Fognini in the quarter-finals, before producing a dominant final performance to defeat Daniil Medvedev 6-3, 6-0, helping him to a record 35th ATP Masters 1000 trophy. It was also the first time that Nadal had retained a non clay-court title.

“With the knowledge of tennis I have today and the chance to have the legs I had in 2005, I’d probably be a very, very good player,” said Nadal, in Montreal, last year. “I lost things along the road, so I just tried to add other things to keep being competitive during all these years. One of the most important things for me personally and one of the things that I’m most satisfied with is that I have always been able to find a solution to stay competitive at the highest level after a lot of problems, a lot of issues. My personality hasn’t changed that much. But, of course, I’m almost 15 years older.”

With a 38-8 record, including a perfect 5-0 mark in finals, across 13 appearances — eight visits to Montreal and five visits in Toronto — Nadal is clearly at home on Canadian soil.

Novak Djokovic will be doing double duty at the Western & Southern Open. Djokovic and partner Filip Krajinovic are among the initial entries into the ATP Masters 1000 event’s doubles draw, as announced by the tournament Tuesday.  

The Serbians have competed together four times, tallying a 3-4 record. At last year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters, they upset 2019 Roland Garros champions Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies.

Defending champions Ivan Dodig/Filip Polasek will try to retain their title, with 2019 year-end No. 1 team Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah and Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo, who have competed in the Nitto ATP Finals together three times, also chasing the trophy.

Other notable teams set to play at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, where the tournament is being held due to COVID-19, are reigning Australian Open champions Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury, Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev and Rohan Bopanna/Denis Shapovalov. Nicolas Mahut and Jan-Lennard Struff, who have been across the net from each other in two ATP Tour doubles finals, will team up for the first time.

Six teams will join the field through on-site entries, while the tournament will award three wild cards to complete the 32-team draw. 

As players return to the court for the restart of the ATP Challenger Tour, one thing is certain: there will be no shortage of star power on display.

Stan Wawrinka will kick off his return to action at the upcoming Prague Challengers, the Czech Tennis Association announced. The World No. 17 is poised to resume his 2020 campaign next week, competing in back-to-back Challenger 125 events in the Czech capital.

“It’s a privilege to be back on court doing what we love,” Wawrinka said. “I’m looking forward to returning to beautiful Prague after many years.”

Set to commence on 17 August, the ATP Challenger Tour tournaments in Prague and Todi, Italy mark the resumption of men’s professional tennis after a five-month stoppage due to the COVID-19 pandemic. After such a lengthy hiatus, Wawrinka knows that rediscovering his match rhythm is the first priority.

The Swiss recently joined Dani Vallverdu for two practice weeks in Monaco and is currently training in Switzerland with coach Magnus Norman. With such a strong field accompanying him in Prague, including 21 players in the Top 150 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, the Challenger event provides an ideal opening test.

“I’ve been working hard and practising well during the last few weeks. Now I can’t wait to be back in competition and to play matches again.”

The former World No. 3 posted an 8-3 record in January and February, prior to the tour’s suspension. A semi-finalist to open the year in Doha, he also reached the quarters at both the Australian Open and the ATP 500 event in Acapulco.

Recent Top 40 Players To Enter A Challenger

This will be Wawrinka’s first Challenger event in more than a decade, since he lifted the trophy on home soil in Lugano, Switzerland in 2010. He owns six titles on the circuit in total.

“It’s a real honour to see a triple Grand Slam winner Stan Wawrinka play at our tournament,” said Prague tournament director and club manager Vladislav Savrda. “In the very long history of the oldest club in Czech Republic, we’ve had many top players come here in the past. It’s always an honour. I am confident that the first ATP Challenger after six months will run very smoothly.”

Wawrinka will compete alongside #NextGenATP star Emil Ruusuvuori, former World No. 16 Philipp Kohlschreiber, top Czech Jiri Vesely and 2020 Challenger wins leader Arthur Rinderknech at the I. Cesky Lawn Tennis Klub. One of the oldest venues on the ATP Challenger Tour (founded in 1893), the 127-year-old facility is located on Stvanice Island in Prague’s city centre. It will host the 23rd edition of the I.CLTK Prague Open by Moneta.

During the third set of the 2007 Coupe Rogers final between Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, a fan in the Montreal crowd shouted that it was “Roger’s Cup”, urging the Swiss star on.

“Nothing against the sponsor,” Djokovic said. “But obviously I’m going to have to arrange somebody to call [it the] Novak’s Cup for next year.”

That’s because the Serbian beat Federer 7-6(2), 2-6, 7-6(2) to complete a memorable run in Canada, lifting his second ATP Masters 1000 trophy.

“I can’t describe the feeling I have right now. It’s like a dream come true, especially against Federer in the finals, to win those tie-breaks was just incredible,” Djokovic said. “I managed to win these tie-breaks against a player who probably has the best score in tie-breaks, who is the strongest player mentally in the world right now.”

Djokovic was just one week removed from a surprising second-round defeat on Umag’s clay against good friend and World No. 176 Viktor Troicki. But the World No. 4 found his form, beating World No. 3 Andy Roddick and World No. 2 Rafael Nadal in the quarter-finals and semi-finals, respectively, without losing a set.

With his upset of Federer, Djokovic became the first player to beat the world’s top three players in the same tournament since Boris Becker defeated No. 3 Michael Stich, No. 1 Pete Sampras and No. 2 Goran Ivanisevic at the 1994 Stockholm Open.

The 20-year-old saved six set points in the first set against the Swiss, showing no fear despite losing their first four ATP Head2Head meetings. Defending champion Federer battled back to force a decider, though, making the Serbian work hard for the victory.

Djokovic took the fight to the top seed in the third set, breaking in the first game with aggressive play, especially on the forehand side. While Federer used his greater experience to hang in the match and get back on serve, the Serbian was determined to seize his opportunity. Djokovic completed his victory with a volley lob, which Federer couldn’t track down in time, ending the championship match after two hours and 12 minutes.

“This first set was really crucial I can say,” said Djokovic. “The first set was really important. I saved a couple of set points and I had 40/0 at 5-5 on my serve but I lost it and then after that I really fought for every point and I managed to win that first set.

“To win two tie-breaks against the World No. 1, probably the strongest player mentally on the Tour, it’s another achievement. It’s another success so I’m really, really happy.”

At the time, Federer was already well-established as the No. 1 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Djokovic, however, had only won his first ATP Tour title 13 months earlier.

“It’s still a long way to the first place of the world for me,” Djokovic said. “I can’t exactly say that I’m thinking about becoming No. 1 next year, in two years. That’s my lifetime goal, to be the No. 1 player of the world. But I have a lot of time.”

Djokovic has accomplished that goal, spending 282 weeks atop the FedEx ATP Rankings. Only Federer (310) and Pete Sampras (286) have held the top spot longer. The Serbian has also come a long way since that first victory against Federer, currently leading their ATP Head2Head series 27-23.

Three Top 10 stars — defending champion Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Matteo Berrettini — headline a stellar entry list for the 2020 Generali Open, which is scheduled to take place in Kitzbühel between 8-13 September.

Thiem, who ended the home crowd’s 26-year wait for a first Austrian champion since 1993 winner Thomas Muster in 2019, is among 10 players in the Top 20 of the FedEx ATP Rankings on the entry list.

Fabio Fognini, Roberto Bautista Agut, Diego Schwartzman, Andrey Rublev, Denis Shapovalov, Cristian Garin and Felix Auger-Aliassime are also set to play at the ATP 250 level tournament, to be held during the second week of the US Open (31 August-13 September). The entry cut-off for Kitzbühel is at No. 31 (Kei Nishikori).

To be eligible to compete in the 28-player Kitzbühel singles main draw, Top 10 players (as of 3 August 2020) must have competed and lost at the US Open — singles or doubles — by the start of the qualifying competition or by 7 September, whichever is earlier. All other players who are still playing at the Grand Slam championship will be withdrawn at this deadline. The doubles field will include 16 teams.

The ATP Tour is set to resume on 20 August with the Western & Southern Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event which, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, has moved from Cincinnati to the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

Kitzbühel Main Draw Singles Entry List
No. 3 Dominic Thiem (AUT)
No. 7 Alexander Zverev (GER)
No. 8 Matteo Berrettini (ITA)
No. 11 Fabio Fognini (ITA)
No. 12 Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP)
No. 13 Diego Schwartzman (ARG)
No. 14 Andrey Rublev (RUS)
No. 16 Denis Shapovalov (CAN)
No. 18 Cristian Garin (CHI)
No. 20 Felix Auger-Aliassime (CAN)
No. 23 Dusan Lajovic (SRB)
No. 24 Taylor Fritz (USA)
No. 25 Pablo Carreno Busta (ESP)
No. 26 Alex de Minaur (AUS)
No. 27 Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO)
No. 29 Hubert Hurkacz (POL)
No. 31 Kei Nishikori (JPN)

Leander Paes has enjoyed success on the ATP Tour for more than two decades. According to some of the world’s best doubles players, one of the major reasons why is his world-class feel.

“He has the best touch I’ve ever seen in my life,” said World No. 8 Filip Polasek.

Feel is a major weapon on the doubles court. The players who excel in that area of the game are able to escape bad positions mid-point and turn the rally in their favour. For years, players have put Paes in tough spots at net. Where many players would struggle to put a volley back into play, the Indian legend has managed to hit incredible reflex volleys and surprise opponents with stunning drop volleys.

Which other doubles players have sensational feel? In this edition of ATPTour.com’s ‘Ultimate Doubles Player’ series, doubles stars share their opinion and explain their choice.

Leander Paes
“He’s been a benchmark in doubles for a long time… When he was in his prime, he was an amazing athlete. His hands and reactions were cat-like. It didn’t really matter if you nailed the ball at him, he would still just do what he wanted up there.” – Robert Lindstedt

“He has very good touch and feel. You can see how many volleys he hits short, cross, short. It doesn’t matter when he’s at the net. He has such feel in the hands. That’s why he was of course one of the best doubles players.” – Marcelo Melo

“It’s amazing what these guys can do with their hands. You have a feeling you may have an advantage in a situation, but all of a sudden they come up with a shot you’re not really expecting and they produce it very well. They are always making points with it and doing it again and again. Sometimes it gets hard to accept how they make some great volleys and put you in tough positions.” – Filip Polasek

Purav Raja
“He’s a great player at the net. You can hit it as hard as you want at him and he’s somehow able to take all the pace off of it and deaden the ball. He can hit drop shots on balls that nobody else can, especially [using] angles from the net. He’s just a tough guy when he gets up close.” – Rajeev Ram

“Purav Raja’s got unbelievable hands. When he’s at the net you hit a hard shot at him and he just hits a drop shot on everything. He’s the only player who does that.” – Joe Salisbury

Marcelo Melo
“When it comes to being able to reflex the tennis ball and have good feel for where the ball is going to be at any given time, someone who we always have to plan for is Marcelo Melo… He’s also got very fast hands, so you have to be sure that when you’re finishing through him, you’re quite accurate with your finish. If you combine his reach with his speed, it’s frustrating how often the ball comes back when he’s up there at net. He’s found a way to win points that the rest of us don’t win as often.” – Raven Klaasen

Juan Sebastian Cabal
“He’s very good with his hands around the net. He can flick lobs from the back. He can hit little dinks, little touches around you, and he has extremely quick hands. He’s very good on all surfaces. You would think he’s good on clay courts, hard courts. He won Wimbledon last year with Robert Farah, showing he’s an all-court player. His feel to me is off the charts.” – Neal Skupski

Jean-Julien Rojer
“He’s a very crafty player. Someone who doesn’t use power necessarily because he’s got the ability to create angles that many others don’t have and he uses the full range of the court. I think he’s another player who’s very good under pressure, someone who’s been at the top of the game for a long time. He’s someone who when you play against him, you try to avoid getting into those small battles around the net, because he does have that ability to make you go the wrong way and he can put the ball over you, around you, and if he wants to, through you.” – Ken Skupski

Rajeev Ram
“He’s got good feel, very soft hands. He spends a lot of time with the ball and is always very composed when hitting his shots.” – Jamie Murray

Nicolas Mahut
“He has the best feel around the net, especially on his backhand volley. It’s very touchy and whenever he needs to play short balls, he’s very good at it.” – Jurgen Melzer

Paul Annacone has experienced nearly everything in his coaching career, during which he has worked with former World No. 1s Pete Sampras and Roger Federer. But this is the first time he has had to help guide a player through a pandemic. 

“I’ll be shocked if anyone comes out of the gates playing spectacular tennis,” Annacone, who coaches American Taylor Fritz, told ATPTour.com. “It’s going to take everybody a little while to get going. It’s a new world, it’s going to be a new playing environment, there are a lot of changes.”

Tennis is set to return at the Western & Southern Open, which is being held at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualifying begins on 20 August.

“It’s about managing the changes, going out there and just trying to play tennis the way you need to play it and trusting your game,” Annacone said. “But it’s a new environment and it’s going to be bumpy for everybody.”

Despite only being 22, Fritz has shown an ability to think on the fly during matches, coaching himself through tight moments. That the American already had an open dialogue with Annacone and co-coach David Nainkin about his game has only helped them during this time off.

“He hasn’t made many changes. We’re trying to focus more on the physical, off-court stuff. We’ve been able to get a lot of good work done on his game and it’s been a continuation of the foundation that we’ve laid,” Annacone said. “There hasn’t been anything startling that’s happened. He collaborates and talks a lot about it himself as we go through it. That’s good, because he participates and adds value. He’s the one out there playing, so he’s got to talk about it.”

Annacone believes that the five months off have been very different for many of the players, who have had to adjust accordingly based on their age and experience.

“For a young player, I think it’s important because I think they can do some of this work. They can do the strength and conditioning, they can try to change a few things,” Annacone said. “For the older players it’s different because they’ve got a lot more miles on them. They can rest, recover, [get] prepared to play and let their body get back to normal. For different people it means different things, and you just have to figure out how to manage that.

“It’s an extended off-season, really. It’s probably twice as long as an off-season. Nobody’s ever gone through this and so it’s really important to go through it with an open mind, because we haven’t lived it before.”

As tough as it has been for the world to deal with COVID-19, players have had an opportunity, as local rules have allowed, to work on their game on and off the court.

“You have to get some positives out of it, so that’s really the thing,” Annacone said. “You find something positive to take out of a pretty horrible situation and that’s what we’re trying to do.”

Has ‘The Big Three’ already morphed back into ‘The Big Four’ and we have not yet recognised it?

Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer headline the Big Three in tennis. Andy Murray was also a part of this elite group in his prime before injuries interrupted his career. But is there is a fourth player that statistically already measures up?

Yes, Dominic Thiem.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Thiem’s body of work since the start of the 2019 season identifies the Austrian is already standing shoulder-to-shoulder with Djokovic, Nadal and Federer. And, in some metrics, is already leading the quartet.

Since the beginning of 2019, Thiem has more ATP Head2Head wins in this grouping of four players than any other.

2019-2020 ATP Head2Head
1. Thiem = 7 wins / 3 losses
2. Djokovic = 6 wins / 4 losses
3. Nadal = 3 wins / 5 losses
4. Federer = 2 wins / 6 losses

2019-2020 Thiem vs. Big Three
Thiem vs. Federer = 3 wins / 0 losses
Thiem vs. Nadal = 2 wins / 1 loss
Thiem vs. Djokovic = 2 wins / 2 losses
Total = 7 wins / 3 losses

With two ATP Tour Masters 1000 series events looming (Cincinnati and Rome) as well as the US Open and Roland Garros, Thiem has all the tools to take titles in any of those events. To better understand Thiem’s strengths, you need to look no further than three recent victories over Djokovic, Federer and Nadal.

2019 Nitto ATP Finals, Round Robin: Thiem d. Djokovic 67(5) 63 76(5)
Thiem throttled Djokovic with a forehand barrage from start to finish. Thiem average hitting forehands at a break-neck 83mph, which was much faster than Djokovic’s average of 73mph. In the third set, Thiem upped the ante to 85mph while Djokovic dropped down slightly to average 72mph on his forehand wing.

Thiem hit Djokovic off the court. That looks good on the resume of anyone wanting to expand the Big Three to the Big Four. Thiem said post-match that it was maybe the best match he has ever played.

Thiem not only crushed forehands, but he did so from a vastly superior court position. Thiem hit 30 per cent of his forehands from inside the baseline, while Djokovic managed just 16 per cent. Thiem is widely renowned for playing deep in the court on clay, but he perfectly adjusted his court position to the indoor hard court at the O2 arena. Thiem only hit 22 per cent of forehands from further than two metres behind the baseline, while Djokovic was double that at 44 per cent. The following two Hawk-Eye pictures clearly illustrate Thiem’s superior court position when hitting forehands.

2019 Madrid, Quarter-final: Thiem d. Federer 36 76(11) 64
Thiem saved two match points at 7/8 and 9/10 in the second set tie-break and broke Federer twice in the third set, while also being broken once.

In the opening set, Thiem’s second serve return speed was 70 mph. That jumped to 75 mph in the second set and a scorching 82 mph in the third set. Federer, by comparison, only averaged 69 mph returning second serves in the third set. Federer didn’t lose a second serve point in the first set, but only won 30 per cent in the third set.

Thiem took a while to wind up, but ended up blowing right by Federer at the finish line by really attacking the second serve.

2020 Australian Open, Quarter-final: Thiem d. Nadal 76(3) 76(4) 46 76(6)
Thiem went toe-to-toe with Nadal from the back of the court and beat him at his own game.

Baseline Points Won
Thiem = 50% (85/170)
Nadal = 43% (73/169)

The average rally length was 4.2 shots, and there were 36 lactic-acid-inducing rallies of nine shots or longer. Thiem remarkably won double the amount of points as Nadal in this metric, winning 24 to 12.

Thiem was also far superior at net, winning 76 per cent (25/33) to Nadal’s 62 per cent (21/34).

Thiem is beating the Big Three at their own game. He is currently No. 3 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. He has the power, consistency, and mental fortitude to take the final two steps when tennis finally resumes.

– Hawk-Eye graphics courtesy ATP Media