Who wouldn’t want to play a tournament that makes you feel like you’re on a vacation?

Former World No. 2 Magnus Norman, who won the Nordea Open in Båstad twice, believes that the atmosphere of the event is what helped it win ATP 250 Tournament of the Year for 11 consecutive years from 2002-12.

“I think it’s a combination of the great vibes [and the fact that] players are staying very close to the venue, so there are no transportation issues. You bring your racquets and one minute later you’re on centre court from your room,” Norman told ATPTour.com. “Everything is located very close to the tennis and then if you want to go to the restaurant, you’re [already] almost in the restaurant. Everything happens in the same place, the beach is right there. Everyone in Båstad does a good job. All the players feel very welcome and at home.”

Seven Swedes have won the clay-court event, which was first held in 1948, in the Open Era: Bjorn Borg, Mats Wilander, Henrik Sundstrom, Joakim Nystrom, Magnus Gustafsson, Norman and Robin Soderling. That rich history for home favourites makes the tournament even more special for Swedes competing.

“We came as juniors playing in Båstad for so many years growing up. I think I was nine years old when I first came to Båstad and I came and watched the big tournament. It’s always been very special for the Swedish players to play in Båstad,” Norman said. “Obviously when you come back as a pro, playing in your home country… it feels almost like you’re playing a tournament, but at the same time you’re almost on vacation.”

Norman won his first of 12 ATP Tour titles at 1997 Båstad. Just weeks before, he’d made his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros and defeated Goran Ivanisevic at Wimbledon.

“At 21 years of age, there were a lot of expectations on my shoulders,” Norman said. “A lot of people in Sweden wanted to see me play, so obviously I was super happy to be able to handle that pressure, playing very well at home and winning my first title in front of my parents and friends from my hometown. It was very special.”

Norman competed in Båstad nine times, tallying a 21-7 record. He played the event often because of its slot shortly after Wimbledon and because he enjoyed competing at home. In 2000, he captured his second Båstad title. He was the No. 2 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings at the time.

“It’s always nice to win at home. It’s a nice memory when you go there sometimes… when you see your name on the board as one of the Swedish winners,” Norman said. “As a tennis player you want to play well all the weeks and I always wanted to play well in Sweden… I always wanted to play at home even if I was No. 2 in the world, so I hope people in Sweden will remember that.”

The Hall of Fame Open has long been one of John Isner’s most successful events. Nobody has won the tournament more, as the American has triumphed on the historic Newport grass four times. The ATP 250 has been a family affair for Isner, too.

Last year, Isner had a new guest by his side in Newport: his daughter, Hunter Grace, who was born in September 2018. Throughout the week, the first thing he did after the match was go see his daughter.
It made for a special moment when Isner defeated Alexander Bublik 7-6(2), 6-3 for the title. Joining him on court for the trophy ceremony were Hunter Grace and Isner’s wife, Madison McKinley Isner.

“That was cool. That was actually something I wasn’t even thinking about at all during the course of the match. Thankfully I wasn’t getting ahead of myself, but then when it came time to do the ceremony, I looked at where my wife was sitting. She wasn’t there,” Isner said. “She had gone and got Hunter Grace and brought her over to the side of the court. She was smart enough to go get her and knew that would be a good moment to capture. So that was the highlight of the week, no doubt.”

The big-serving righty first triumphed in Newport in 2011, sprinting to the title without dropping a set. He defeated Olivier Rochus 6-3, 7-6(6) for the trophy. But perhaps what sticks out about the event is that Isner was forced to miss his brother Nathan’s wedding to finish the job.

“It definitely turned out to be a great decision,” Isner said at the time.

The top seed planned to rush to the wedding if he lost by the semi-finals. He was disappointed to miss the special moment, but thrilled to win his second ATP Tour title.

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a better week serving,” Isner said. “I’m fortunate to have that weapon and I was in a groove for five matches. It carried me to the championship here.”

Isner, who also emerged victorious in Newport in 2012, served even better at the tournament in 2017. He became the second player to win an ATP Tour title without facing a break point since records started being kept in 1991. Tommy Haas accomplished the feat at 2007 Memphis, and Alex de Minaur did it last year in Atlanta. Isner beat Matthew Ebden 6-3, 7-6(4) in that year’s championship match.

“It’s hard to win a tournament. It’s no small feat to come out here and be the last man standing,” Isner said. “I’m very happy about that.”

Isner, who has only won the Atlanta title more often (five times), has long been comfortable in Rhode Island, where he holds a 23-5 record. He enjoys the intimate setting and the local scene, which includes restaurants on the water.

“My very first ATP Tour event was here in 2007 and I didn’t enjoy the courts that much back then because I didn’t know how to play on them,” Isner said. “To say that I’ve won this event four times isn’t something I thought would be possible.”

Tony Downer, a retired venture capitalist who lives in Connecticut, has been playing tennis his whole life. He played with his father, and now he enjoys hitting with his children. But he hasn’t checked one thing off his “bucket list”: a trip to the Australian Open.

Downer is set for a dream experience next January after winning a fundraising auction benefitting coaches affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. He will enjoy a two-hour lesson with Aussie coach Darren Cahill at Melbourne Park during the 2021 Australian Open.

“By any and all measures Darren Cahill appears to be an extraordinarily stand-up, bright, committed, accomplished guy and you say, ‘Okay, this might be the right moment, the right way to go take in the Australian Open,’” Downer said. “The financial support or earning power of everyone involved, including the coaches, has been cut off completely. You can understand why those individuals who play such a critical role in the health and wellbeing of the professional sport could be in need of support and you put all that together and we threw a number at the auction and lo and behold it prevailed.”

Bid On The Current Auctions & Prize Draws

Downer has gained an appreciation for the job coaches do, which made him more than happy to support the cause with his bid. All of the auction’s proceeds are allocated by the ATP Coaches Committee to support the members of the ATP Coach Programme in need. Part of the proceeds will be donated to a global COVID-19 relief fund.

“I have enormous respect for the coaches,” Downer said. “Their economics are such that if the player isn’t competing and the player isn’t earning, they’re left without earnings.”

Downer is not unfamiliar with the tennis world. For 31 years, he worked in venture capital and growth equity, making investments in technology companies. But since 2016, he has been the oldest ball person at the US Open. Downer also is a ball person at the New York Open.

“You’re immersed in the tennis community, you get the view behind the curtains. You get to interact with the people involved in the community and get an enhanced appreciation of what the life is like,” Downer said. “You get a very close-up view of what the players are experiencing both on and off the court… That is more fun than you could imagine.”

Downer hopes to spend a portion of his time with Cahill on court, and another portion chatting over a cup of coffee. He has long been impressed by how Cahill has helped many different players achieve success. The Aussie has mentored players including Andre Agassi, Lleyton Hewitt, Andy Murray, Fernando Verdasco, Ana Ivanovic, Daniela Hantuchova and currently Simona Halep.

“It really is extraordinary that he’s been able to work effectively with such a broad range of players. That’s not an inevitable or natural result that one would project,” Downer said. “Somebody who is effective hypothetically with an Andre Agassi is not necessarily going to be able to work and get inside the head of Simona Halep.”

Downer will also receive two premium tickets for the men’s and women’s singles finals at the 2021 Australian Open, a behind-the-scenes tour, access to premium hospitality and plenty more. This was only one of several dream experiences up for grabs in the first round of auctions, highlighted by a lesson with Ivan Lendl at the 2021 US Open, which went for $19,000.

The first round of auctions and prize draws raised more than $90,000 for coaches affected by the pandemic. The current round, which is highlighted by a chance to hit with Andy Murray at 2021 Wimbledon, remains open until 27 July.

With 32 tour-level singles titles including the 2003 US Open, enabling him to finish that season as year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Andy Roddick was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2017. But for all of his accomplishments, the American acknowledged his most memorable match is a loss.

In a Facebook Live on Wednesday with the Hall of Fame, Roddick discussed a wide range of topics including his classic 2009 Wimbledon final with Roger Federer. He still gets asked about his five-set defeat more than a decade later and felt that the match, which gave Federer his 15th Grand Slam title and broke the all-time record held by Pete Sampras for most major singles championships, transcended tennis.

“The Royal Box, in terms of the calibre of former players who were there to witness that for Roger… I said that I felt like the guy who was trying to shoot Bambi that day,” Roddick joked. “You walk out and see Sampras is there, and you know he’s there because he and Roger both have 14 Grand Slam titles. You certainly feel the weight of the moment.

“If you’re lucky as a tennis player, you have that moment where you go into any Starbucks and people want to know more about it. That’s my Starbucks match. [Winning] the US Open is not [and] finishing No. 1 [in the FedEx ATP Rankings] is not.”

Roddick ended his pro career at the 2012 US Open on his 30th birthday. It seems like an early age to retire as the Big Three have all won Grand Slams well into their 30s. However, Roddick cited Federer and Nadal’s smart scheduling, which could have extended his career, as a trait he lacked.

“If I got hurt and they said you’re out for six weeks, I’d always try to get back after three or four weeks,” Roddick said. “If you look at the precedent that Roger and Rafa have set, where they’re only going to play when they’re ready and completely healthy, trying to peak at certain times… They put on their blinders and decide what’s best for them.

“I think I was probably a little bit too insecure in my own ability to sit on the sidelines and try to time it well. I think I would have been able to play a bit longer if I paced myself with training and been a bit smarter about scheduling.”

But one skill he possessed, which many of his peers lacked, is a booming serve that won him plenty of free points. Roddick’s serve wasn’t a weapon for much of his junior career and it only morphed into the classic motion fans became familiar with due to blind luck. 

“I was practising in high school with Mardy Fish and he was drumming me. I was getting kind of heated, so I did this little half-motion and the serve went in. Then the next one went in pretty hard and that was it,” Roddick said. “It wasn’t intentional or like we were trying to get super creative or innovative. I was upset and it was a bit of a tantrum.”

His service motion played a key role in racking up the 612 tour-level wins that helped spark his Hall of Fame induction. Although he was disappointed that this year’s ceremony honouring 2001 Wimbledon Goran Ivanisevic and WTA star Conchita Martinez was moved to next year due to the COVID-19 pandemic, he’s excited for them to experience the same joy that he did during his induction weekend.

“When you retire, everyone in your tennis orbit goes into their next thing, whether it’s family or some of them coming back to the Tour,” Roddick said. “Having an excuse to get everyone back together, having beers and playing ping-pong the night before with everyone who helped you along the way, is probably one of my favourite memories.”

Rafael Nadal won his first five clay-court battles against Roger Federer, with four of them coming in a championship match. That didn’t discourage the Swiss, though, and he’d get his revenge in a big way in the 2007 Hamburg final.

Nadal entered that championship match against Federer carrying an 81-match clay-court winning streak, the longest single-surface run in the Open Era. The Spaniard hadn’t lost on clay since April 2005 in Valencia against Igor Andreev.

“Winning 81 matches is an amazing streak,” Federer said after the final.

The Swiss had lost in straight sets the previous week in Rome against World No. 53 Filippo Volandri. But he found his best tennis to bring Nadal’s legendary run to an end, winning 2-6, 6-2, 6-0 to capture his record fourth Hamburg title.

“It’s great to play here again and win again,” Federer said. “I’ve fallen in love with this tournament.”

In the semi-finals, Nadal had survived a scare against former World No. 1 Lleyton Hewitt 7-5 in the third set. The lefty appeared to put that behind him, looking sharp early against Federer. He was always a step ahead in the rallies, attacking relentlessly when given the opportunity and holding steady on defence until Federer beat himself with errors.

But Federer cleaned up his game in the next two sets and Nadal found few answers for the Swiss’ aggressive play.

“If I had to lose to anyone, Roger is the man,” Nadal said.

The final set marked the third time Nadal lost a tour-level set on clay 0-6. It has not happened in the 13 years since.

Nadal didn’t get down on himself, defeating Federer in that year’s Roland Garros final. When he returned to Hamburg the following year, he had a chance to avenge his defeat in the final.

The lefty was tired after a three-hour, three-minute marathon against Novak Djokovic in the semi-finals and Federer started their Hamburg rematch quickly with two breaks in his first three return games for a 5-1 lead. Nadal never stopped fighting though, winning six consecutive games to sneak out the first set and eventually claim his first Hamburg title 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-3 across two hours and 52 minutes.

Rafael Nadal” />

“[It] was an important win for me,” Nadal said. “I was focused all the time. Roger had some important mistakes in the first set that helped me a lot. I started the match playing bad. It was tough for me. After yesterday [against Djokovic] it was tough in the beginning.

“But it’s not only the body. Mentally it is tough, too, because it was a lot of tensions yesterday, a lot of pressure. Today it was tough when I was coming on court. But later everything changed. For sure it’s important to beat the [World] No. 1.”

Federer was on a 41-match winning streak in Germany, which included a perfect 9-0 in finals.

“All in all it was alright. It wasn’t my best performance,” Federer said. “If you get broken so many times, there is always something you are a little bit unhappy about.”

Nadal carried that momentum against Federer by beating the Swiss again at Roland Garros and then defeating him for his first Wimbledon title in what is considered by many the greatest match in history.

Just five months after making his return from a career-saving second right hip surgery, Andy Murray finished his final ATP Tour event of 2019 in tears of joy at the European Open in Antwerp.

After making a series of doubles appearances to prepare for his singles comeback, the Brit arrived in the Belgian port city at No. 243 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Fresh from a positive run of results during the Asian swing, Murray dropped just one set to reach his first singles semi-final of the year at the ATP 250.

From there, the Dunblane native showcased his signature grit. Murray rallied from a set down in back-to-back matches against Ugo Humbert and Stan Wawrinka to capture his 46th tour-level singles crown. The victory completed a rollercoaster year for Murray, who nine months earlier had suggested the 2019 Australian Open might be the final tournament of his career in an emotional press conference.

“It means a lot. The past few years have been extremely difficult. Both me and Stan have had a lot of injury problems in the past couple of years. Amazing to be back playing against him in a final like that. I think it was a great match,” said Murray. “I didn’t expect to be in this position at all, so I’m very happy.”

Andy Murray holds the Antwerp 2019 trophy” />

Murray’s road to Antwerp success began in doubles at his most successful singles event: the Fever-Tree Championships in London. Competing in front of a partisan home crowd, the five-time singles champion at The Queen’s Club joined forces with Feliciano Lopez to gain match practice and a greater understanding of how his hip would react to the pressures of competing on the ATP Tour. The Brit immediately found success alongside the Spaniard, beating top seeds Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in his comeback match.

“I expected to enjoy the match because I told myself I was going to regardless of what happened,” said Murray. “To feel as well as I did there — not perfect in terms of everything like my movement, but pain-free…I enjoyed it. I feel like I’m going to continue to progress.”

Throughout the week, Murray and Lopez continued to produce their best tennis to advance through the draw. The British-Spanish duo beat defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers in the semi-finals, before a victory against Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the final.

“I felt relaxed at the beginning of the week, but felt more nervous as it went on. I think my competitive instincts started kicking in,” said Murray.

Feliciano Lopez and Andy Murray hold the Queen’s Club 2019 doubles trophy” />

After a series of doubles appearances, Murray returned to the singles court during the North American hard-court season. The 32-year-old’s competitive instincts were clear to see, but he struggled to find his best level with losses in his opening matches in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem. Ahead of the upcoming Asian swing, Murray made the decision to compete at the Rafa Nadal Open By Sotheby’s, an ATP Challenger Tour event, to work on his game and gain confidence.

Following two victories in Mallorca, Murray began to rediscover his form during a three-week run in China. The three-time Grand Slam champion claimed four wins from seven matches, including a straight-sets victory against US Open semi-finalist Matteo Berrettini in Beijing.

The experience Murray gained in China — where his only losses came against Dominic Thiem, Fabio Fognini and Alex de Minaur — prepared him for his title run in Antwerp. At the ATP 250, the Brit’s perseverance was finally rewarded. Two-and-a-half years after lifting the 2017 Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships trophy as World No. 1, Murray was back in the winners’ circle.