This week, the Challenger circuit rolls on with a pair of events in Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan and Potchefstroom, South Africa.

The indoor hard courts of the Nur-Sultan Challenger I welcomes players and fans for a second edition. The Kazakh capital, previously named Astana, hosts the tournament at the National Tennis Center, with 13 players inside the Top 200 of the FedEx ATP Rankings.

View Draws: Nur-Sultan | Potchefstroom

#NextGenATP star Jurij Rodionov headlines the field, having taken the ATP Challenger Tour by storm in February with a 15-2 record and titles in Dallas and Morelos. One month ago, Mohamed Safwat claimed Egypt’s first title since 1996 and now the 29-year-old is the top seed at a Challenger for the first time. Defending champion Illya Marchenko returns as the 15th seed.

Also in action in Nur-Sultan – a Challenger 80 event – is second seed and 2019 runner-up Yannick Maden, former World No. 33 Robin Haase and recent Cleveland champion Mikael Torpegaard. Talented youngsters Tallon Griekspoor, Elias Ymer and Roman Safiullin are also in the field. Safiullin is coming off his first Challenger title last month in Cherbourg, France.

Meanwhile, Challenger tennis returns to South Africa for the first time since 2013, when the Soweto Open ended a four-year run on the circuit. This week, the PotchOpen in Potchefstroom, South Africa, marks the debut of the ‘Challenger 50’ series.

Located less than two hours west of Johannesburg (the country’s largest city), Potchefstroom is a well-known university town in the North West Province. The city is perhaps best known as the province’s ‘Home of Sport’, with headquarters of 17 major sports in the region. In fact, the Spanish national football team chose Potchefstroom as their base camp during their run to the 2010 World Cup title.

Cricket and rugby are the country’s most popular sports, but this week tennis takes centre stage. Benjamin Bonzi is the top seed at the PotchOpen, with former World No. 64 Dustin Brown seeded fourth. Teenagers Lorenzo Musetti and Jack Draper are also competing. Musetti won the 2019 Australian Open boys’ title, while fellow 18-year-old Draper finished runner-up at the 2018 Wimbledon junior event.

The newly-formed ‘Challenger 50’ category features a series of events in strategic weeks on the calendar. Tournaments may only apply for a Challenger 50 through the end of March and in the qualifying weeks and first weeks of the Grand Slams. Prize money is USD $35,000, with draw sizes of 32 singles, 24 qualifying and 16 doubles. The tournaments are only available to players ranked outside the Top 150.

One wild card may be awarded to a national player ranked between 50-100 and one may be awarded to a player ranked 100-150. As usual, hospitality is provided for all main draw players on the ATP Challenger Tour, with a five-night minimum for singles main draw competitors.

Following Potchefstroom, the Challenger 50 series moves to Olimpia, Brazil next week, with Todi, Italy and Orlando, Florida, USA on the calendar in late May. Troyes, France is also on the schedule during the week of 29 June.

Dominik Koepfer departed Louis Armstrong Stadium last September with his head held high. The German enjoyed a dream run through qualifying and then to the fourth round of the US Open, where only red-hot Daniil Medvedev was able to stop him, and it took the Russian until a fourth-set tie-break to do so.

When the players shook hands at net, Medvedev had high praise for the 25-year-old lefty.

“Amazing. Amazing play. Amazing play.”

When Koepfer walked off the court that evening, the fans showed how much they appreciated the battle the World No. 118 put Medvedev through.

“I thought I did a good job. I was happy with the level and obviously walking out of the stadium, people cheering, it was a great experience” Koepfer told ATPTour.com. “I’ll never forget [it].”

Not bad for someone who wasn’t fully dedicated to tennis until he was 15. During his early teens, Koepfer had a decision to make: continue playing tennis once or twice per week, or focus on skiing or golf instead. World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and #NextGenATP Italian sensation Jannik Sinner grew up skiing, too.

“Where I’m from [in Furtwangen, Germany], there’s a lot of snow, probably like five months per year. There’s always indoor tennis or skiing, so I was skiing a lot in the winter and then obviously playing tennis as well. When I turned 16, I made the final of the Under 16s German Championships. I [then] decided to play a little more tennis and put more effort into it. I went to college after that.”

That performance was only one of the reasons Koepfer chose tennis. He enjoyed the camaraderie that came with competing as part of a club team. Skiing left him alone on a mountain. That wasn’t all, though.

“I think tennis was definitely the least dangerous sport to play. Skiing is pretty dangerous, especially if you do it competitively,” Koepfer said. “There are a lot of injuries, a lot of knee injuries and with tennis I always enjoyed playing.”

Despite focussing on tennis, Koepfer did not garner much attention. His ITF junior ranking wasn’t high enough for colleges to recruit him. He earned one offer from a Division I university — which he would attend — in the United States: Tulane University. Koepfer got a couple of lower-level Division II offers, but nothing more.

“The choice was made pretty easily because I didn’t really have one,” Koepfer said.

Koepfer’s first trip to campus, located in Louisiana, was his first journey to the United States. He was 18.

“[The] first few months I didn’t think I was going to stay,” Koepfer said. “It was tough.

“My English wasn’t very good, different culture, different people, the team atmosphere, I was playing a lot of tennis. It was very tiring with school at the same time and managing your time, and then obviously having a social life in college as well. So, it was kind of a struggle at the beginning. Then I started to really enjoy it and I think it helped me get better as a player, especially, and as a person, as well.”

By his junior year, Koepfer started believing in himself. He bacame the first player in school history to earn the No. 1 college singles player. Koepfer won the 2015 ITA National Indoor Intercollegiate Championship, ironically held on the grounds of the US Open, where he’d make his magical run less than four years later.

“I always had the dream of playing professionally, but never really had the level of playing professionally,” Koepfer said. “College definitely set me up for being able to go on the pro tour and compete on this level.”

Step by step, Koepfer navigated his way through the various professional levels. There were times he struggled to get through qualifying at Futures events, but last season he started to believe he could succeed on the ATP Challenger Tour. He lifted his first trophy at that level at Ilkley to earn a Wimbledon wild card.

It’s been a whirlwind ever since, with Koepfer ascending as high as World No. 83, and he is still improving. In the juniors, Koepfer was “very emotional” on court, and negative emotions would sometimes affect his game. The Florida resident has been working with a mental coach for more than a year, and he has reaped the rewards.

“I do a lot of daily routines: waking up, meditating, writing down things before matches, after matches. I write down a lot of things and then I obviously talk to him once or twice a week on the phone for an hour or two and then texting back and forth, just putting the daily effort into it,” Koepfer said. He believes his greatest strength is his fighting spirit, and it’s been about harnessing that.

“Sometimes when I freak out, when my emotions are getting in my way, it’s not the case. But I think I’m a very good fighter and I want to give my opponent the hardest time out there.”

Koepfer dreamed as a kid of becoming one of the 100 best players in the world. Not only has he accomplished that, but begun to set his sights even higher.

“Definitely Top 50,” Koepfer said. “Definitely competing at the highest level, competing at Grand Slams and playing the best players in the world.”

Serving on clay, grass and hard. How much do the different surfaces really effect overall serve performance?

An Infosys Insights deep dive into 1.4 million points played on all three surfaces from the beginning of the 2015 season up to this current week uncovers a clear, linear relationship that shows grass helps the server the most, while clay is the toughest surface for the serve to shine. These metrics correspond to popular opinion, but they go a step further in providing real numbers to substantiate our guess work.

First Serve vs Second Win Percentage
The percentage point difference was much more pronounced behind players’ first serves over second serves. The inherent power of the first serve is helped by grass much more than clay, with a 5.2 percentage point gap between grass and clay with first serve win percentages and only a slight 1.7 percentage point difference behind second serves.

First Serve Win Percentage Leader By Surface
– Grass = Ivo Karlovic (84.0%)
– Hard = Ivo Karlovic (83.4%)
– Clay = Ivo Karlovic (81.3%)

The 41-year-old Ivo Karlovic is the career leader (1991 to the current week) of first serve points won at 82.8 per cent (31,514/38,081), and the 6’11” Croatian shows no signs of slowing down as he dominates this first serve data set from 2015 on all three surfaces.

Second Serve Win Percentage Leader By Surface
– Grass = Roger Federer (60.2%)
– Hard = Roger Federer (58.1%)
– Clay = Rafael Nadal (58.7%)

What’s interesting from the second serve data is that Rafael Nadal impressively has a higher second serve win percentage on clay than Roger Federer does on hard. As you will see from the table below in all 10 serve metrics, clay is without exception the toughest surface to serve on.

Average Win Percentages

The research is conclusive. When serving, grass is without doubt the most user-friendly surface, followed in strict order by hard and then clay. The largest disparity in the data set between grass and clay came at the start of the game when the server fell to 0/15. When serving on grass, the server still held serve 69.3 per cent of the time, but only 60.9 per cent on clay — a significant difference of 8.4 percentage points.

Knowing the key differences, or lack thereof, in this specific area of the sport makes for more informed players, coaches and fans, and helps us better understand what we are watching when sitting court-side in Miami, Madrid or London.

One year ago, Miomir Kecmanovic entered the BNP Paribas Open as the No. 130 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings and he owned only one tour-level win. He lost in the final round of qualifying, but after getting into the draw as a lucky loser, then 19, Kecmanovic advanced to his first ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final, and he hasn’t looked back since.

Fifty-two weeks on, Kecmanovic is at a career-high World No. 47, and the Serbian is working hard to climb even higher.

“The goal for this year would be Top 30. If I can finish the year there that would be awesome for me and I’ll take it step by step,” Kecmanovic said. “I don’t want to set crazy goals and then be disappointed at the end of the year. I think it’s better to go step by step and then if you achieve it, that’s perfect.”

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier’s eyes and ears are open. In the off-season prior to 2019, he enjoyed learning from training with Dominic Thiem in Tenerife. This past off-season, he spent time with the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer in Dubai. One thing stuck out to him: how the best players take the ball early and use that to pressure their opponents.

“It’s definitely footwork. I think that’s the biggest thing in tennis. Everybody knows how to hit it in, make shots. But if you’re not set, you’re not going to make it. I think footwork is the big thing, and also mentally, to see the ball quicker and just go for it,” Kecmanovic said. “You’re not waiting for it to come in. I guess [it is about] just being aggressive towards it.”

Kecmanovic’s coach, Miro Hrvatin, says the pair is making improving that aspect of the Serbian’s tennis a top priority.

“I think that’s the crucial thing because everybody knows how to play forehands and backhands, but once you take time away from them, things start to be different,” Hrvatin said. “We are lucky this pre-season and last pre-season we had really good pre-season camps and good players, some of the best players in the world were there. Practising with them, they are showing you the path where you want to go, what you have to do, and what you have to work on.”

There is not one specific thing that will help Kecmanovic improve in this area, according to Hrvatin. He believes it is a puzzle that, if pieced together just right, could lead to major gains.

“I think it’s a combination, plus I think it’s the player who needs to be mentally aggressive. It’s something that I think is not only one thing. Footwork is very important, but then the timing is different if you are coming closer to the ball. All together, I think it takes time to fit into place,” Hrvatin said. “But that’s the thing that they’re all doing. You don’t have time while playing with the best players in the world. If you give them a short ball, you are dead. You lost the point, that’s it. Very simple.”

Last season was a year of firsts for Kecmanovic, including his first ATP Tour win to first tour-level final (in Antalya). Following that by training with some of the best players in the world to gain these insights was priceless.

“I think that’s the biggest thing you can get. Last year in Tenerife with Gunter Bresnik and with Dominic Thiem and all the guys over there like David Goffin and Jan-Lennard Struff, it was perfect. And this year was even more perfect,” Hrvatin said. “You had Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Karen Khachanov, so it’s something that you cannot buy. You cannot find it anywhere else except playing with those guys. So for me and for him I think it’s one of the best things he can get.”

Kecmanovic earned a lot of confidence in 2019. Carrying that into training with all-time greats allowed him a chance to truly see how much he had improved.

“I guess you get a different feeling when you start playing with those guys. You start to see what’s their level and what do you have to do to get there,” Kecmanovic said. “I definitely felt a little bit better. After the year I had, I felt like I can play with these guys. Definitely showed me what I have to do to get to that level eventually.”

Kecmanovic has long been a hard worker, but one year on from his breakthrough at Indian Wells, he thinks he has taken strides, and not just physically.

“I guess maybe mentally, believing more because in Indian Wells everything was new for me. I was the new guy, I didn’t know anything. I’d never played on that big of a stage and now everything that happens, I think it’s just a different mindset,” Kecmanovic said. “Going into matches you believe more, you think that you can win, and you try to beat everybody. You always try to beat everybody, but now you kind of believe and you have that mindset, you know that you’re going in as maybe sometimes the favourite.

“I think for the most part of the year, I keep a straight line and it’s going and it’s working really well for me and I was able to play at the same level throughout the whole year, without any injuries. So hopefully I can keep it up.”

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi on the 2020 BNP Paribas Open not being held:

“While we regret that the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells will not take place, the ATP Tour calendar beyond Indian Wells remains as status quo. We continue to monitor the situation daily, working closely with our player and tournament members with the understanding that direction must be taken from local public health authorities. We are committed to exploring all options for the operation of upcoming tournaments as the health and safety of our players and all other stakeholders remain our top priority. Any further updates will be communicated on ATP platforms.”

Kyle Edmund showed devastating form in February’s New York Open, only losing one set en route to his second ATP Tour title. For the Brit, it was a sign of the level that less than two years ago propelled him into the Top 15 of the FedEx ATP Rankings.

“I believe with how I can play and the players I can beat, I can get high up in the rankings again. But you have to do that. It isn’t just that I say this and it’s going to happen,” the 25-year-old Edmund told ATPTour.com the week of his New York victory. “That’s up to me to go and do that now. I’ve done it before in terms of having a good run at the biggest tournaments. Won an [ATP] Tour event, been in the Top 15 of the world. So I can do it, I’ve got to go and do it almost again now and learn from what happened last time.”

Edmund earned a major breakthrough at the 2018 Australian Open, reaching his first Grand Slam semi-final. Later that year he reached his first ATP Tour final in Marrakech, and then lifted his maiden tour-level trophy at Antwerp. After defeating Gael Monfils in a final-set tie-break to lift the trophy, Edmund began shedding tears. It was a big moment for the Brit, who’d finish the season at a career-high World No. 14, flying high.

But 2019 did not go according to plan. Edmund struggled with a knee injury and only reached one ATP Tour semi-final, falling as low as World No. 75 last October.

“I know that when you lose or have a bad run or something, it comes across as if people can make it out as a bigger deal than it is. One thing I’ve learned is if you have a really good result, you can be in the clouds for a day or something. But after a week, no one really cares about it, everyone moves on,” Edmund said. “It’s talked about for a couple of days, you’re picked up, you’re all over the news. But after a week or two, life’s moved on. No one really cares about that.

“That’s the same with negative results and it’s the end of the world for a day and people are like, ‘What’s going on with him?’ But after a week no one really cares. Everything just moved on. I’ve learned that it’s important not to get too into a head when things are going well. It’s important that you don’t think low of yourself when things are going badly.”

With Edmund’s success came expectations. After triumphing at Antwerp in October 2018, Edmund told ATPTour.com his sights were set on the Top 10. Former World No. 1 Andy Murray was also struggling with injury, and Edmund was the British No. 1.

“People have expectations of you like I have expectations of the football team I support [Liverpool] because it’s like an opinion you create. I want them to do well or they should come into a certain position. People always form an opinion or a view of you,” Edmund said. “But generally for me, my expectation will always be more serious and probably outweigh someone else’s because it’s me.

“I, at the end of the day, care about my career probably more than them, so it’s one of them where you sort of get used to it a little bit, you learn as you get older what it’s about and that’s it. Nobody’s going to have more expectations of you doing well and wanting to succeed than yourself.”

Edmund is simply worrying about putting his best foot forward each day and doing everything in his power to produce the best tennis that he can. That is what will take him back to his best.

“Just getting on with it, really. Trying to get the best results I can. I’m at a stage now where if I get a good result I could gather some momentum. The past year or so I just haven’t had a big-ish result compared to 2018. That’s where I’m at, just trying to do my best,” Edmund said. “You can’t really wait. You have to go and do it and earn it. It’s not really one result in like a fluke. It doesn’t just happen.

“[It is about doing] all the little stuff that goes on with that, like getting better physically on the court, whatever it is, looking after yourself, and just doing everything you can to maximise that possibility. For sure when you get on a bit of a run you get some more confidence and wins come a bit easier. It’s just trying to do my best to get there.”

It didn’t take long after this interview for Edmund to make headway, triumphing in New York to return to the Top 50. Then the Brit reached the Acapulco quarter-finals. With renewed confidence, Edmund will be a dangerous opponent, especially thanks to his massive forehand.

The 25-year-old did not model the shot off of anyone else’s, but he looked up to former World No. 1 Marat Safin growing up, and he learned from watching Fernando Gonzalez, who had one of the biggest forehands in history.

“The way I hit my forehand, I’ve always sort of hit it that way and gained a confidence out of it and a belief and used it as my strength and my weapon. For sure coaching and teaching helps it, it’s not like I didn’t have any coach teach me, but you figure out things as well. You see things from yourself and how you can use it,” Edmund said. “When people say what makes your forehand so good, it’s hard to really talk about or say. It’s just how I’ve grown up with it and developed it. It’s all you know, really. It’s just how you hit the ball.”

Edmund says that even if his forehand is his best shot, he is always trying to improve it to make it an even more impressive weapon.

“You need to continue to try to make it better. Other than that, you sometimes tinker a little bit tactically on different surfaces or against different opponents. In general sometimes you can use a certain shot a bit more because as you’ve grown up you’ve seen that it’s more effective and stuff,” Edmund said. “It’s just the constant learning from it. At the same time you don’t want to tinker with something too much if it’s good. You can sometimes disrupt it a little bit. But you shouldn’t get comfortable with it, with just being happy where it is. You should always try to look to improve it.”

Edmund’s constant hunger for improving is what will help him continue his climb back to the top.

Steve Johnson is right back where he wants to be. It had been nearly 10 months since the American stood as high as No. 63 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, but Johnson will ascend to that position after claiming the ATP Challenger Tour title in Indian Wells.

After an up-and-down 2019 campaign, the 30-year-old has turned the page in the new decade. No player owns a higher Challenger win percentage in 2020 than Johnson, who sits at 15-2 (.882) behind a pair of titles in Bendigo and Indian Wells. Both crowns came with the loss of just one set.

“I’m really excited to win my first title in Southern California,” said Johnson. “I’ve lived here my whole life and Indian Wells is my favourite place to play tennis. For me to put a bunch of wins together is phenomenal.”

Also a semi-finalist in Newport Beach and quarter-finalist at the ATP Tour event in Delray Beach, Johnson is firmly inside the Top 100 once again. His victory over Jack Sock in Sunday’s final at the Oracle Challenger Series – Indian Wells, came in just one hour and 29 minutes.

Johnson defeated his close friend 6-4, 6-4, saving all seven break points faced. In fact, he found his serve broken just once in his last four matches of the tournament. For the California native, it is the perfect prelude to the BNP Paribas Open, an ATP Masters 1000 event.

“Not too many secrets out there when Jack and I play, so I just had to take care of the big points and work to convert some of the break points,” Johnson added. “When I saw serving down break point, I thought I played them strong. That was the key component to my tennis all week and I thought I served really well. I’m very happy with my performance and will have this confidence going into the big one next week.”

Photo: Oracle Challenger Series/Jared Wickerham

Johnson was on the front foot from the first ball, breaking early for a 3-2 lead. A Sock volley popped up for his countryman, who crushed a forehand winner. He would capture the opener after 48 minutes and seized the initiative with an immediate break in the second set.

An hour later, Johnson was standing with the trophy. It was his seventh title in total at the Challenger level, having also won an additional four crowns on the ATP Tour. The Los Angeles native had previously never won a title in his backyard of Southern California.

Johnson improves to 6-5 against Sock in their longtime rivalry. Together, they won the bronze medal in men’s doubles at the 2016 Rio Olympics. But when facing off, Johnson has taken three of four encounters on the ATP Challenger Tour, while Sock is 4-3 at the Tour-level.

Both players will next feature at the BNP Paribas Open, with Johnson earning direct entry and Sock receiving a main draw wild card.

The Riverside County Public Health Department has declared a public health emergency for the Coachella Valley after a confirmed case of coronavirus (COVID-19) locally. As a result, the 2020 BNP Paribas Open will not take place at this time due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus and the safety of the participants and attendees at the event. This is following the guidance of medical professionals, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), and State of California.

“There is too great a risk, at this time, to the public health of the Riverside County area in holding a large gathering of this size,” said Dr. David Agus, Professor of Medicine and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Southern California. “It is not in the public interest of fans, players and neighboring areas for this tournament to proceed. We all have to join together to protect the community from the coronavirus outbreak.”

“We appreciate the proactive stance tournament organizers are taking to ensure public health and safety,” said Martin Massiello, Executive Vice President & Chief Operating Officer, Eisenhower Health.

“We are very disappointed that the tournament will not take place, but the health and safety of the local community, fans, players, volunteers, sponsors, employees, vendors, and everyone involved with the event is of paramount importance,” said Tournament Director Tommy Haas. “We are prepared to hold the tournament on another date and will explore options.”

Any patron who has purchased tickets directly from the tournament may request a refund for the 2020 tournament, or a credit for the 2021 tournament. Patrons can visit www.bnpparibasopen.com/coronavirus to request a refund or credit.

The doubles draw at the BNP Paribas Open has historically been filled with the world’s best doubles teams and intriguing pairings featuring all-star singles players, and this year will be no exception.

The top three seeds in singles this year will all hit the doubles court in California. Novak Djokovic/Viktor Troicki reunite for the first time since clinching the inaugural ATP Cup in January for Team Serbia, while two-time champions Rafael Nadal/Marc Lopez (2010, 2012) look for a hat trick in the desert. Dominic Thiem/Grigor Dimitrov will make their debut outing as a team.

Other notable singles players teaming up include Stan Wawrinka/Alexander Zverev and Felix Auger-Aliassime/Fabio Fognini. Karen Khachanov/Andrey Rublev look for their first ATP Masters 1000 title after runner-up showings at the 2018 Miami Open presented by Itau and 2019 Rolex Paris Masters. Diego Schwartzman/David Goffin also add to the stacked field.

Juan Sebastian Cabal/Robert Farah hold the top seeds this year and last year’s finalists Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo are the second seeds. Kubot/Melo saved two championship points to defeat Cabal/Farah for the title last week in Acapulco.

Two-time champions Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan (2013, 2014) look for a storybook ending to their time in Indian Wells as they continue their final season on tour. Jack Sock/Vasek Pospisil, who prevailed at this event in 2015, round out the entry list as they team up for the first time in four years.