Borna Coric first stepped into the spotlight as a teenager. When he was 17, the Croatian defeated Rafael Nadal. Just months later, as an 18-year-old, he upset Andy Murray.

A former junior World No. 1, Coric was clearly one of the tennis’ greatest young talents. With that came expectations according to former World No. 4 Brad Gilbert.

“Six or seven years ago, even before Alexander Zverev, everyone was thinking this guy was going to make a move and be a Top 5 player,” Gilbert said of Coric. “For whatever reason he had some results, but he didn’t go on the trajectory continuing upwards. Some of these other young guys have jumped him.”

It’s not that Coric hasn’t enjoyed success. By all measures, the Croatian has done well, especially for his age. He has climbed as high as No. 12 in the FedEx ATP Rankings (5 November 2018), won two ATP Tour titles and reached an ATP Masters 1000 final at the 2018 Rolex Shanghai Masters. The list of top opponents he has defeated is lengthy: Nadal, Murray, Roger Federer, Juan Martin del Potro and Dominic Thiem among others.

Coric is still only 23. He has learned that expectations are not something he needs to worry about.

“I learned [during] that time I cannot focus on the other people’s opinion, that I don’t gain anything from that. I need to be focussed on myself, on the things which I need to do, on the things that I also need to improve,” Coric said. “I think every player has that, especially the ones who are a little bit younger, who had pretty much all the attention on them since a very young age. I think it’s also very important for them to learn that they need to focus on themselves.” 

Coric defeated Jordan Thompson on Sunday at the US Open to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final in his 22nd major appearance. It’s a rewarding feat for a player who struggled in 2019 with hamstring, abdominal and back injuries.

“It does feel great, to be honest. It’s a very big relief for me. I wanted this for a very long time,” Coric said. “I’m just very happy that now after this break, which came very good to me, because I was able to resolve some of my body issues, stuff like that, then I’m playing good. I’m pretty healthy now.”

Coric was very close to being eliminated in the third round. Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Stefanos Tsitsipas was near the finish line against the 27th seed, leading 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4, 5-1. But in the match of the tournament, Coric found another gear to save six match points and rally past the Greek star in a fifth-set tie-break.

“You feel like the next day you’re on house money. When I called his next match, everything was about how he recovered… He just took care of business physically and the most important thing is to get over the euphoria and the feeling like you won the tournament,” Gilbert said. “I think he did everything that he could and now you set your sights on the next day’s practice and recovery.”

Coric, who in addition to his Tsitsipas victory needed four hours and 19 minutes to oust Juan Ignacio Londero in the second round, is doing exactly that.

“My mentality was [that] as soon as I finished that match, I needed to focus on my next match, because that’s tennis. That’s tennis tournaments at the end of the day. It’s not like boxing. Once you win, you can go and you can celebrate [in boxing],” Coric said. “My mentality was I need to recover as quick as I can. I played two very, very long matches. I was just trying to focus on my next match.”

Coric will next face a familiar foe in 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev. Coric not only beat the German en route to the 2013 US Open boys’ singles title and he also leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-1.

“He’s playing I think some of the best tennis of his life,” Coric said. “It’s going to be [a] very interesting match.”

Croatian Mate Pavic, who is into the doubles semi-finals alongside Bruno Soares, believes Coric’s big run resonates in their country.

“It’s a big thing. We are a small country with quite a few good players. Marin [Cilic] won the title here in 2014. Borna has played some great matches. He came back from an unbelievable situation against Tsitsipas, from match points, serving for the match and all that stuff. I believe he’s very confident now,” Pavic said. “It’s going to be an open match [against Zverev]. He’s going to have chances and I believe he could go far this year.”

Coric has already gathered momentum by making it this far. That could play into his hands in the last eight.

“I’m the kind of player that needs wins. I need to play matches so that I can feel confident,” Coric said. “Honestly, it’s hugely important for me. It’s the best thing I could do.”

On Friday evening, Coric could have been booking a flight out of New York. Instead, the 23-year-old remains very much alive. He has a chance Tuesday to reach his first major semi-final.

“Sometimes in life and in tennis you can turn things on a dime and you don’t worry about what’s happened the past few years,” Gilbert said. “You live in the moment and this is the best result of his career. Who knows? It could get a lot better.”

In a US Open with filled with epic matches and intriguing storylines, Daniil Medvedev is taking a drama-free path through the draw.

The third seed continued his stellar form on Monday by ending the run of Frances Tiafoe with a convincing 6-4, 6-1, 6-0 win. Medvedev grabbed the last eight games and took 17 of the last 20 points. He improved to 3-0 in their ATP Head2Head series.

”I was lucky enough to get the early break, relax a little bit and then I started playing amazing tennis after that,” Medvedev said on court after the match. “I’m playing better with every match and I hope this can continue. I’m pleased with the fact that I’ve won all of these sets and didn’t have to stay long on the court. That’s always good when you’re playing a Grand Slam.”

Medvedev is the only male quarter-finalist this year to reach the last eight without dropping a set. He’s only been broken three times in 51 service games this fortnight (94% held) and has been equally dominant when returning, converting 23 of 46 break points (50%). He improved to 12-3 in New York and has won 10 of his past 11 matches at this event.

Awaiting him in the quarter-finals is No. 10 seed and fellow Russian Andrey Rublev, who upset sixth seed Matteo Berrettini earlier in the day. Medvedev leads their ATP Head2Head series 2-0 after winning both of their matches last year in Cincinnati and St. Petersburg.

”He’s playing amazing this year and it’s really cool that we managed to be in the quarter-finals together. Of course, it would be better if we were playing a final,” Medvedev said. “On the court, there are no friends and he knows that also. We’re going to have a good match.”

The third seed grabbed a quick break at 1-1 in the opening set and never lost the lead from that moment, earning an insurance break at 4-2 with a running down-the-line forehand. Medvedev continued to keep his shots within inches of the baseline and denied Tiafoe a chance to dictate their baseline rallies. His lone blip came when he was broken serving for the set at 5-2, but he made good on his second chance for the early lead.

Tiafoe attempted to throw Medvedev off with a variety of spins and slices early in the second set. The American charged forward when that tactic didn’t work, but struggled with his feel at the net. When Medvedev raced to a 4-0 lead with a delicate drop shot winner, Tiafoe smiled wryly at coach Wayne Ferreira and appeared to have accepted his fate.

The Russian scored his seventh break against Tiafoe to wrap up the match. Medvedev finished the night with 25 winners to 18 unforced errors.

Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares have faced a difficult road to the US Open semi-finals. That has made their success in Flushing Meadows even more rewarding.

The Croatian-Brazilian team defeated Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski, last week’s Western & Southern Open finalists, 6-2, 7-6(4) on Monday in the quarter-finals. It is the first time they have reached a Grand Slam semi-final as a team.

In the first round, Pavic and Soares rallied from a break down in the third set against 2019 US Open finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos. In the second round, Jack Sock and Jackson Withrow served for the match against them. But the 2019 Rolex Shanghai Masters champions have persevered.

“We came back from all of those tough situations. Tough match on paper today. They didn’t play a great first set, but then they started playing much better in the second,” Pavic said. “We won three tough matches. We’re playing well. We’re playing better and better each match, so we’re happy from everything.”

The Croatian believes that overcoming those deficits only helped them raise their level. Pavic and Soares went unbroken in their one-hour, 26-minute quarter-final victory.

“It helps a lot, especially when you get back from those situations when people are serving for the match and stuff like that,” Pavic said. “You build confidence after those wins. With a break for six months, nobody played for six months… we didn’t play a lot of matches, so it’s good that we’re here.”

Ask any player about how they made it onto the ATP Tour and they’ll name at least one person who played a key role in achieving their dreams.

Denis Shapovalov is quick to credit the members of his team, both lifelong and recent, who helped guide him to his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open. But their work hasn’t only been about forehands and backhands.

At the recommendation of one of his coaches, former World No. 8 Mikhail Youzhny, Shapovalov began working with a sports psychologist this year. He credited their off-court work with playing a pivotal part in his on-court success.

“He’s helped me tremendously. I’ve been working with him the past five, six months. Mischa recommended to bring him onboard. I’m really glad that they’re part of my team,” Shapovalov said. “He’s been helping me with not just tennis stuff, but life stuff, too. Definitely helped me so much in these matches… I was definitely doing the exercises we work on to calm down, regroup [after the first set]. Surely enough, it helped me once again today.”

The first Canadian male in a singles draw to make the #USOpen quarter-finals in the Open Era. pic.twitter.com/5YtXk1VDnB

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 7, 2020

Youzhny has been the man behind Shapovalov’s on-court growth over the past 12 months. Shapovalov was prone to follow flashy winners with wild unforced errors when he first came on tour, but Youzhny has helped him become more stable from the baseline and added more variety to his game. He rushed the net an average of 37 times in his first four matches this fortnight and is more willing to mix in slices or drop shots when appropriate.

“I feel like Mischa has helped me a lot with that, just not going out there and trying to blast balls left and right, but actually playing smarter and playing more crafty,” Shapovalov said. “He’s such a crafty player. I’m thankful he’s been able to teach me some of that, help me implement that in my game.”

His mother, Tessa, is his other coach and an unwavering supporter throughout his life. Shapovalov also gained inspiration to change his on-court behaviour from his girlfriend, professional tennis player Mirjam Bjorklund.

“As soon as we started dating, it’s kind of a reason for someone to want to man up. I feel like she’s definitely inspired me to become a better person, a better tennis player,” Shapovalov said. “But I didn’t mean to take anything away from my parents or my team. I feel like everybody’s inspiring me. They’re staying up at night watching my matches. Everybody is supporting me. Throughout the start of my life, my parents have always been there for me. I think it’s everybody.”

Shapovalov is part of a Canadian trio making history in New York. He joined Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil in marking the first time that three Canadian men reached the second week of a major championship. The 20-year-old is now the first man from his country to reach the US Open quarter-finals in the Open Era.

His dream for this fortnight is a championship showdown with Auger-Aliassime. After defeating him via retirement in their first-round match at the 2018 US Open, Shapovalov embraced his close friend and told him, “We’ll be back and we’ll be playing the finals.” That bold statement is now becoming more realistic.

“If I didn’t think it could happen, I wouldn’t say it. It’s definitely [possible] that it could happen this year,” Shapovalov said. “It’s still very far away. There’s so many great players in the draw for both of us. It’s going to be extremely difficult to get that far.

“But I’m sure at some point in our careers, we’re hopefully going to be playing finals against each other. That would just be amazing. To grow up with a really close friend, a guy that you’ve been battling against for years from juniors, to go through Futures, Challengers, everything together, all the way to Grand Slam finals… It would be a movie.”

If Denis Shapovalov wanted to reach his first Grand Slam quarter-final at the US Open, he needed to move forward in every sense.

The No. 12 seed left the memories of his only previous ATP Head2Head match with seventh seed David Goffin, a straight-sets defeat last October in Tokyo, in the rearview mirror as he rushed to the net 47 times. Shapovalov was rewarded for his high-octane strategy with a 6-7(0), 6-3, 6-4, 6-3 victory over Goffin and became the first Canadian man to reach the US Open quarter-finals in the Open Era.

The #NextGenATP Canadian has already established himself as someone who thrives on facing top players in big stadiums. Shapovalov opened the year with a pair of wins against players inside the Top 10 of the FedEx ATP Rankings, taking out Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alexander Zverev at the ATP Cup, and completed a hat trick for this season against No. 10 Goffin.

Shapovalov is part of a Canadian trio making history this fortnight in New York. He joined Felix Auger-Aliassime and Vasek Pospisil in marking the first time that three Canadian men reached the second week of a major championship.

Awaiting the 20-year-old in the last eight is No. 20 seed Pablo Carreno Busta, who advanced when top seed Novak Djokovic was defaulted in their match earlier in the day. Carreno Busta leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-1, triumphing in their first meeting at the 2017 US Open and winning their two most recent clashes last year in Chengdu and Vienna.

Goffin went toe-to-toe with Shapovalov in the opening set, matching his power from the baseline and pouncing on any short balls he received. Neither player dropped serve, but Shapovalov grew frustrated at not converting the four break points he held across four of the Belgian’s service games. He bravely saved a set point on his serve at 5-6, but surprisingly imploded in the tie-break and handed Goffin the early lead with a stream of errors.

Although Shapovalov charged the net numerous times in the opening set, he used the strategy even more frequently in the second set, moving forward behind aggressive groundstrokes in a bid to shorten points. The added pressure contributed to Goffin hitting a double at 2-1 and giving Shapovalov the first break of the night. The slight advantage was all the Canadian needed and he continued to hold serve comfortably to level the mach.

He continued to pour it on with an immediate break in the third set as Goffin appeared to grow weary from their grueling baseline exchanges. Although the Belgian continued to battle, he received few opportunities to get involved in his opponent’s serve games. Shapovalov dropped just five points on serve in the third set to take a commanding advantage.

Shapovalov raced to the finish line with a five-game run in the fourth set. Although he showed nerves while serving for the match at 5-2 and was broken, he quickly regrouped and fittingly hit a backhand volley winner in the next game to advance in three hours and 29 minutes. He finished the night with 51 winners.

Frances Tiafoe’s smile is contagious. His friendliness lights up every room he steps in. On the court, the American’s athleticism and shotmaking abilities are undeniable.

But when the 22-year-old walks into Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday evening for his fourth-round US Open match against third seed Daniil Medvedev, another one of his assets will perhaps be more important: his confidence.

“When I’m playing the way I’m playing right now, I feel like I have a chance against anybody in the world,” Tiafoe said. “I felt that way for years. I’m starting to finally put it together again.”

Last January, Tiafoe broke through to reach the Australian Open quarter-finals. That helped him climb to a career-high World No. 29. Now No. 82, the American still has the same self-belief.

“For me it’s an absolute key for any player,” said Tiafoe’s coach, former World No. 6 Wayne Ferreira. “Confidence takes [players] so much further than if they didn’t have it. We’ve seen it with so many different players. The fact that he is very, very confident is great.”

Ferreira began working with Tiafoe just before the COVID-19 pandemic took hold in the United States. The South African knew his charge was a confident person, but sensed he was “a little bit down” about recent results.

“Since I’ve been with him now the confidence is good, he’s starting to play well and it’s certainly going to help him. Going into a match against Medvedev, even though he’s lost to him before, he still thinks he has a chance to win,” Ferreira said. “Honestly, you don’t really have a chance to win unless you believe that you can. I think it’s going to help him a lot. Hopefully it will be good enough to make him win. We’ll have to wait and see.”

Another attribute Tiafoe will bring to the court is a high tennis IQ. Sometimes that gets lost in Tiafoe’s flashiness and general energy on the court. But according to Martin Blackman, the USTA’s General Manager, Player Development, Tiafoe has had that from a young age.

Blackman remembers when he was the director of tennis at Junior Tennis Champions Center in Maryland from 2004 through 2008. There was always a little boy with a smile on his face watching from just off the court as some of the oldest high-level juniors trained. The boy’s father, who immigrated from Sierra Leone, was a janitor at the facility. He would spend his free time hitting against a wall or seeking anyone who was willing to knock around a few balls.

That boy was Tiafoe.

“He almost always had a smile on his face and loved talking to people, but he also was very attentive in watching all the coaching that was going on at the JTCC. You can tell that he was really taking it in,” Blackman said. “The programme started at eight in the morning and it went until eight in the evening. In the afternoon after Frances had done his homework, if he wasn’t actively playing tennis, he liked to watch the coaching.”

Tiafoe was eight when the JTCC invited him into its Junior Champions Programme for which the minimum age was typically 10. He was always eager to learn and remains that way today.

“I have had discussions with him about lots of different things and so far he’s been open-minded to it,” Ferreira said. “I have no stories or issues of anything that I’ve told him that he’s said no to.”

Tiafoe might not like everything he has to do to improve his game, but he does it anyway. Ferreira believes a key area for the American is focus. He has made Tiafoe go for 30-minute runs on a treadmill with no focus or anybody around him to force him to concentrate.

“I’m a very loosey-goosey guy. He’s kind of getting me to dial it all in. [We’re] working and talking for hours on end trying to get me in uncomfortable positions and focus, things that I don’t want to do and focus. Do it to a high level,” Tiafoe said. “Running on a treadmill for 30 minutes with no music was horrible, looking at a wall, absolutely horrible. Hitting up the middle and cross-courts, 30 balls in a row, only counting my 30. If I miss, start again. Things that are so simple, but you miss a couple balls, you get [upset]… you don’t want to do it, but you’ve got to get it done.”

That has paid dividends during his career-best US Open run. Tiafoe has faced tough veterans in his first three matches: Andreas Seppi, John Millman and Marton Fucsovics. Against all of those players, he needed to maintain his focus. The 2018 Delray Beach champion’s best performance came in the third round against Fucsovics, who defeated him in their previous two ATP Head2Head meetings. Tiafoe won 6-2, 6-3, 6-2.

“Anybody who was able to watch the match against Fucsovics or Seppi, you really see the tactical execution where Frances used all of his tools. He used his slice, did a great job of varying his pace, height and spin to keep those guys uncomfortable,” Blackman said. “I think that’s something that will be on display tomorrow when he plays Medvedev. You’re going to see that tactical awareness and the tennis IQ.”

Tiafoe said that Medvedev is, “playing the best tennis of his life.” The Russian beat his younger opponent in four sets at this year’s Australian Open, so Tiafoe understands first-hand that reaching a second Grand Slam quarter-final won’t be easy. But those who know him believe he will not be defeated before the last ball is hit.

“He’s so driven and he’s got so much self-belief that when he goes on the court tomorrow he’s not going to be nervous, he’s not going to be intimidated,” Blackman said. “He’s going to embrace it.”