Jan-Lennard Struff is closing in on new territory at the ATP Masters 1000 level. At the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, the 28-year-old German is one win away from making his first Masters 1000 quarter-final.

Struff beat Alexander Zverev on Monday to reach his fifth Round of 16 at the prestigious level. Struff will next meet Canadian and 2016 finalist Milos Raonic, who came back from 1-4 down in the third set to beat American Marcos Giron.

Here are five things to know about Struff, who loves football and going to the cinema – he names his favourite movie below – and was practically born into the sport of tennis.

1. He had never beaten Alexander Zverev before this week.
Dating back to their 2015 matchup on the ATP Challenger Tour, Zverev was 5-0, including four tour-level matchups. against his older countryman. But Struff beat Zverev 6-3, 6-1 to reach the Indian Wells Round of 16 for the first time.

It was his second Top 5 win. He beat then-No. 3 Stan Wawrinka at the 2016 Rolex Paris Masters.

“I was really happy that I won that match. The score, 6-3, 6-1, feels good for me,” Struff told ATPTour.com. “He’s such a good player, and I’m very happy that I could beat him.”

2. He’s a doubles champion
Struff doesn’t play doubles to get used to the courts. He doesn’t join regular teammate Ben McLachlan of Japan for more match repetitions. No, his motivations for doubling his court time at tournaments are far simpler than that: “I like doubles. I like the game. I like to play,” Struff said.

He and McLachlan last year made the quarter-finals at the Mutua Madrid Open and Wimbledon and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and the Miami Open presented by Itau.

They won their first tour-level title together at the ATP 500 in Tokyo, and followed it with another title to start 2019 at the ASB Classic in Auckland and another final at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

“Last year was an amazing year for me in doubles, for Ben as well, his first year on Tour,” Struff said. “It feels really good, building up some self confidence around that, and helps a lot for singles, for sure. I definitely want to play a lot of doubles. It’s a bit exhausting some times, but it makes it a lot of fun.”

3. He loves tennis, but…
Both of Struff’s parents are tennis coaches at Tennis Park in his hometown of Warstein, Germany. “I always loved the game and still love it. Tennis is my life,” he said.

But if he’s not on Tour or at the club’s four outdoor clay courts or five indoor rubber courts, he’s supporting his one and only football team, Borussia Dortmund. “Just one team and just full for the team, everything,” Struff said. “I live 10 minutes away from the stadium, and my father has season tickets.

“I always went when I was small, not that often anymore, maybe two, three times.”

4. “Pursuit of Happyness” is one of his favourite movies.
Struff has seen the 2006 movie starring American actor Will Smith 10 or 15 times. He watched it again on his 16-hour flight from Dubai to Los Angeles before the BNP Paribas Open. “I love the story,” Struff said.

5. He beat Raonic for the first time last month.
The German was 0-1 against the former World No. 3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series before Dubai. But Struff saved six of seven break points to win their first-rounder on 25 February in Dubai.

Pablo Cuevas stared down match point against top seed Marin Cilic of Croatia at the Hungarian Open, but the Uruguayan dug deep and prevailed to reach the quarter-finals 5-7, 7-6(6), 7-6(3).

“To beat a player like Cilic is very important for me, so I’m very happy for this,” said Cuevas. “It was a very tough match, but I have confidence and fought for every ball today.”

Cuevas served to stay in the match at 4-5 and 5-6 in the second set. He then faced a match point at 5/6 in the tie-break, but Cilic pushed a forehand wide and Cuevas evened the score two points later. The Croatian saved a pair of match points in each of his service games at 4-5 and 5-6, but Cuevas hit a passing shot winner on his sixth match point to advance after three hours and 13 minutes.

The World No. 73 in the ATP Rankings reached at least the quarter-finals at three other ATP Tour clay-court events this year (Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro) and won last week’s clay-court ATP Challenger Tour event in Tunis without dropping a set. Cuevas will next play Matteo Berrettini of Italy, who saved two set points in beating Aljaz Bedene of Slovenia 7-6(8), 6-2.

Meanwhile, Cilic’s struggles continue this season. The World No. 11 in the ATP Rankings has won only one of his past seven matches.

Second seed Borna Coric survived a tricky encounter with Dutchman Robin Haase to advance 6-3, 4-6, 6-4. The Croatian has reached at least the quarter-finals in four of his past five tournaments. He’ll play Filip Krajinovic for a place in the last four after the Serbian qualifier defeated eighth seed Radu Albot of Moldova 7-5, 6-4.

“I started very well in the match, but was not putting so much pressure on him in the second set and he started to play better,” said Coric. “I just stayed calm and started to play better at the end of the match.”

Fourth seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Germany recovered from a shocking second set in which he only won eight points to defeat Peter Gojowczyk of Germany 6-3, 0-6, 6-3. He’ll play fifth seed Laslo Djere of Serbia, who sprinted past Italian teenager Jannik Sinner 6-3, 6-1. Sinner, 17, won his first ATP Tour main draw match on Wednesday.

Begemann/Gulbis Oust Top Seeds

All four doubles quarter-finals took place on Thursday. Andre Begemann of Germany and Ernests Gulbis of Latvia defeated top seeds Rohan Bopanna of India and Dominic Inglot of Great Britain 6-3, 6-4. They’ll play third seeds Ken Skupski and Neal Skupski of Great Britain, who moved past Marcelo Demoliner of Brazil and Divij Sharan of India 7-6(6), 5-7, 10-7.

Marcus Daniell of New Zealand and Wesley Koolhof of the Netherlands upset fourth seeds Robin Haase of the Netherlands and Frederik Nielsen of Denmark 6-4, 7-6(5). Next up for them is the German pair of Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies, who beat British duo Luke Bambridge and Jonny O’Mara 3-6, 6-4, 10-6.

This wasn’t supposed to be part of Nick Kyrgios’ endurance training.

The Aussie offered help on Thursday to a woman whose car died on the side of the road in his hometown of Canberra. Simon Anderson, whose girlfriend was involved, chronicled the story on Twitter and it quickly went viral.

“She and a mate passed a woman whose car had died. The woman asked them to help her push it home, which they did. A car pulled up next to them and asked if they needed a hand, which after a few beers, they did,” he wrote. “Guy hops out the car to help and it’s Nick Kyrgios. So my girlfriend, her mate and Nick Kyrgios push this woman’s car home.

“Despite being on the way home from training and then helping push a car down a Canberra street, he takes a pic with them and then gets back in the car and goes home. Nick Kyrgios: good guy.”

Despite being on the way home from training and then helping push a car down a Canberra street, he takes a pic with them then gets back in his car and goes home. @NickKyrgios: good guy pic.twitter.com/drT1qGA5U5

— Simon Anderson (@simonjourno) April 25, 2019

Kyrgios was modest about his efforts as the thread picked up steam. He tweeted that “this sort of stuff shouldn’t be noticed, it’s an everyday thing, anytime.”

This sort of stuff shouldn’t be noticed, it’s an everyday thing, anytime ??❤️ https://t.co/xam9HhCBYS

— Nicholas Kyrgios (@NickKyrgios) April 25, 2019

The reigning Acapulco champion will kick off his clay season next month at the Mutua Madrid Open.

True of false: More than 20 per cent of the 2018 year-end Top 50 of the ATP Rankings failed to win more points than they lost?

It seems like an absurd question, as these players have all obtained a coveted end-of-season ATP Ranking from their dominant performances throughout the year, but the answer may surprise you…

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of the year-end Top 50 from last season does indeed identify that 22 per cent (11 players) of the Top 50 lost more points than they won during the season.

Rafael Nadal, who finished the year No. 2, won the highest percentage of points played in 2018 at 55.4 per cent. Novak Djokovic finished the season No. 1, and was second best in percentage of points won in 2018, at 54.54 per cent. Roger Federer was ranked third, and was also third best in percentage of points won, at 54.36.

Those three players were a cut above the Tour with percentage of points won, with no other player winning greater than 53 per cent of their points for the season.

Leading 3 Players: Percentage Of Points Won in 2018
Rafael Nadal = 55.40% (4281/7728).
Novak Djokovic = 54.54% (5796/10628)
Roger Federer = 54.36% (5097/9377)

The highest ranked player who lost more points than he won for the season was No. 20 Marco Cecchinato, who won 49.4 per cent (3785/7662) of points played. Nikoloz Basilashvili, who was ranked one spot behind Cecchinato at No. 21, also lost more points than he won for the season, at 48.96 per cent (4245/8670).

When you break the Top 50 down into five even groups of 10, you uncover that players ranked between 41-50 collectively lost more points than they won.

Top 50: 2018 Season Broken Down Into Five Groups

The Top 50 as a whole win just one more point out of every 100 that they play, averaging 51.11 per cent won. The two closest groups were 21-30 and 31-40, which averaged just 0.54 percentage points difference over the course of the season.

What does a player ranked 31-40 need to do to jump into the Top 10? On average, win right around two more points out of every 100 they play for the season, moving from the 50 per cent range up into the 52 per cent range.

This analysis also has implications for the mental and emotional aspects of our sport. To be at the elite level of tennis means taking a 50-50 battle and improving it by just a couple of points out of every hundred.

For example, Kevin Anderson finished No. 6 last year, winning just 51.79 per cent (6151/11877) of points for the season. That means he lost 48.21 per cent of all points he played, yet still earned $4,917,350, went 47-19 and won two titles.

You better get used to losing a lot of points and not get too upset about it. Losing these small battles is an integral part of the winning in the big picture.

Rafael Nadal might still be a match or two away from his top level on clay, but the 11-time Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell champion still has what it takes to continue his mastery against friend and countryman David Ferrer.

The top-seeded Nadal ended Ferrer’s time in Barcelona 6-3, 6-3 on Thursday to reach the quarter-finals of the ATP 500 event for the 13^th time. Nadal admitted he didn’t compete well during his opening three-set win against Argentine Leonardo Mayer that saw his 30-set Barcelona win streak end.

But Nadal upped his level during his 32^nd – and perhaps final – FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup against the 37-year-old Ferrer. The World No. 2 pushed Ferrer feet behind the baseline before delivering drop shots that even Ferrer couldn’t track down.

“Big difference. It was a tough match in all ways yesterday. Today was a different energy, a different motivation. In general terms, for me, I needed to play with a different attitude to make a step forward, and that’s what I did today,” Nadal said.

The Spaniard broke in the sixth game when Ferrer missed an aggressive backhand wide, and, after a brief rain delay, clinched the set on his racquet. Nadal started quickly in the second, breaking in Ferrer’s opening two service games.

Nadal, a 57-time clay-court champion, now leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 26-6, including 20-2 on clay and 6-0 in Barcelona. Ferrer will play his final tournament in two weeks at the Mutua Madrid Open. The former World No. 3 was moved to tears while receiving a standing ovation and, as has become customary during his farewell tour, leaving his bandana on the T in the service box.

“He deserves much more. It has been an emotional day. Happy of course for the victory but very sad to say goodbye to one good friend and one friend [with whom] we shared all of these things… during our careers. It was a tough moment, but I really hope that he’s very happy with this decision, and he’s able to do whatever he wants,” Nadal said.

Nadal will next face German Jan-Lennard Struff, who bludgeoned 31 winners, including 18 from his forehand, to knock out defending finalist (l. to Nadal) and World No. 8 Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. Struff beat No. 3 Alexander Zverev to make the fourth round of the BNP Paribas Open and made the semi-finals of the ASB Classic in Auckland. He and Nadal have never played.

Did You Know?
Nadal improved to 60-3 in Barcelona. He has now won 60 or more matches at four tournaments, including Roland Garros, 86-2; Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, 71-5; and the Australian Open, 61-13.

Dominic Thiem was impressive in a 7-5, 6-1 victory over Spaniard Jaume Munar in cold and overcast conditions on Thursday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.

Third seed and 2017 finalist Thiem, who lifted his first ATP Masters 1000 crown at the BNP Paribas Open (d. Federer), is through to the Barcelona quarter-finals for the third consecutive year. He will next face France’s Benoit Paire, the recent Grand Prix Hassan II champion (d. Andujar) or Argentina’s Guido Pella, the Brasil Open titlist (d. Garin) in February.

After an exchange of service breaks mid set, Thiem capitalised on his third break point with consecutive errors from Munar to take a 6-5 lead and then closed out the 52-minute opener when his Spanish opponent mis-timed a drop shot.

Light rain, causing slippery conditions, briefly stopped play shortly after Thiem had broken Munar for a 2-1 advantage in the second set. Munar won just three points in the next four games as Thiem completed his 11th match win of the year in 90 minutes.

Two-time former champion Kei Nishikori knocked out #NextGenATP Canadian No. 16 seed Felix Auger-Aliassime 6-1, 6-3 in 84 minutes. The fourth-seeded Japanese star will next play Chile’s Cristian Garin, winner of the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship title earlier this month, or lucky loser Roberto Carballes Baena of Spain.

Seventh seed Daniil Medvedev recorded an ATP Tour-best 23rd match win in 2019 after a 6-3, 6-2 win over American Mackenzie McDonald in 80 minutes. He awaits the winner of No. 13 seed Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria or Chilean lucky loser Nicolas Jarry, winner over World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Tuesday.

The announcement that Turin, Italy, will host the ATP Finals from 2021-2025 has been met with excitement from the biggest names in tennis. Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic, Kevin Anderson, Borna Coric and Fabio Fognini all expressed their support for the year-end championships moving to Pala Altipour Stadium, Italy’s biggest sporting arena.

“Exciting new chapter for the ATP Tour,” wrote Federer on Facebook. Djokovic, World No. 1 and President of the ATP Player Council, said in a statement that the ATP Finals is “a tournament that has historically moved around and so I’m very excited to see it move to Turin from 2021. It’s still a few years away but I know that the players will be very excited to compete there, and I also hope to be part of what will be a very special event.”

Fognini, Italy’s top-ranked player, said the country will take advantage of the chance to host another major sporting event and rally behind the ATP Finals.

“This moment for Italian tennis is quite good. We have the most important tournament of the year here in Italy,” said Fognini. “I played at the ATP Finals for doubles [in 2015] and everyone is happy to be there and enjoy it. I’m happy that our country gets a chance to improve what is already the best tournament of the year.”

Anderson, who reached the semi-finals in his ATP Finals debut last year, tweeted that “last year was one of the best moments of my career so far. Congrats to Turin and hopefully I get to play there some (or all) of those years.”

The #ATPFinals last year was one of the best moments of my career so far. Congrats to Turin and hopefully I get to play there some (or all ?) of those years. https://t.co/r6WQPWH0L3

— Kevin Anderson (@KAndersonATP) April 24, 2019

World No. 15 Borna Coric tweeted “Hope to see you Turin.” The Croatian is No. 16 in the ATP Race to London.

Hope to see you Turin ?????#ATPFinals @ATP_Tour https://t.co/XsiD0dqewy

— borna coric (@borna_coric) April 24, 2019

Turin was selected in an extensive international bid process that began last August and included more than 40 cities worldwide.

Time was winding down before the start of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. At 1 p.m., Rafael Nadal stepped on to Court 9 of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona to work on some last-minute adjustments with coaches Carlos Moya and Francis Roig. After an hour of training, the Spaniard headed back to the locker room to decompress before beginning his quest for a 12th crown in Barcelona.

On Wednesday, Nadal outlasted Argentina’s Leonardo Mayer 6-7(7), 6-4, 6-2 advance to the third round, where he’ll face fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.

Twelve titles is an unprecedented benchmark, but for the 32-year-old from Manacor, it’s business as usual. His numbers at other clay court events are equally impressive: Nadal is an 11-time champion at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and emerged victorious eight times at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. In the 455 matches he’s contested on clay, Nadal has emerged victorious 92 per cent of the time. In all, Nadal has hoisted 57 trophies from tournaments competed on clay. Those credentials have solidified Nadal’s place as the undisputed King of Clay.

So what is it about Nadal that makes him such an unstoppable force on his favorite surface?

Dominic Thiem has an idea. As one of only two players to defeat him once in each of the last two seasons (QF in Rome 2017 and QF in Madrid 2018), the Austrian understands it takes special circumstances and the right conditions to unravel Nadal. Since 2017, they have faced each other seven times in European clay-court events, with Nadal holding a 5-2 edge.

“I think that Barcelona, Monte Carlo and Roland Garros are the tournaments where it is more complicated to beat him,” said Thiem. “He’s at home and in his zone when the courts are slow and it makes landing a winner that much more difficult.

“He’s also a master when it comes to conserving energy. He launches powerful shots, but he knows how to generate just the right amount of power at exactly the right time. Combine that with his mobility on the surface and you’ve got the perfect formula for success on clay.”

Even a surprising 4-6, 2-6 loss last week to eventual champion Fabio Fognini at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters does little to convince Nadal’s peers that he’s anything but invincible. World No. 3 Alexander Zverev is winless against Nadal in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series (0-5), with three of his losses coming on clay.

“He’s a colossus; the best clay-court player in the world,” said Zverev. “You know it’s never going to be an easy day if you have to play with Nadal on clay.”

In addition, the conditions to fight for the Conde de Godó Trophy add an extra element that Sascha does not overlook: Nadal plays at home.

“Facing against him in Spain does not make the challenge easier. We played once in Spain, in Davis Cup [in 2018], and it was a very difficult game,” said Zverev. “I have the feeling that he enjoys it. He knows he’s the best and somehow connects with the stands.”

A similar reaction generates Stefanos Tsitsipas’ association to Nadal’s name and the red clay. The Greek already knows what it is to cross Nadal on this surface, having done so last year in the Barcelona final.

”He has a gift … in my opinion, he’s very fast,” says the No. 8 in the world. “He covers the track very well so you always have the feeling that, no matter what stroke you use, you’re always behind the ball. He always plays with a lot of depth and has a lot of topspin effect in his shots. On clay, that’s not easy to handle.”

Denis Shapovalov is another player who has experienced just how powerful Nadal is on this surface. He played the Spaniard last year in the third round of Rome and only managed to win five games.

“You realise why he’s so good,” said Shapovalov. “He knows the tactics perfectly. Even if you know what you are going to do, it is very difficult to react or try to stop it. He is so aggressive on this surface and his tactics are so well built.

“He reads your punches and is a complete player in clay, but he’s hard to beat on any surface. He is a great champion and his style of play is very hard. He is a fighter. Even if you go up 40/0 against him, you know you can’t lose concentration. He’s never going to give you a free point and it puts enormous pressure on the opponent. It’s something that I’ve always admired about him and I’m trying to incorporate that into my game.”

Another #NextGenATP player, Frances Tiafoe, joked that all clay-court tournaments should carry the Spaniard’s name. Pista Rafa Nadal in Barcelona is apparently not enough.

“I don’t think anyone will ever manage to emulate what he has achieved,” said the American. “He’s won Monte Carlo eleven times! You can’t match that. I am happy to see a player who has done that in our sport. Rafa is one of the best players of all time.”