Cedrik-Marcel Stebe had his doubts if he would ever play professional tennis again. Every player has a breaking point and the 26 year old was closing in on discovering his, as he sat at home recovering from a multitude of injuries… for nearly three years.

“I was struggling with myself. I was thinking ‘What did I do to deserve this?’ I didn’t do anything wrong. Was there something wrong with my body? It was as much of a mental struggle as it was a physical one.”

Hip impingement surgery. Lower back ailment. Pubic bone inflammation. Pelvic surgery to insert netting. Stress fracture of the pubic bone.

The list is nearly as painful to read as it was for Stebe to endure. But when the body fails, perseverance prevails. As the German returns to the US Open for the first time since 2013, roaming the grounds of the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, memories have been flooding back. But as the former World No. 71 has learned throughout his comeback, these moments of nostalgia are exactly what fuel him to rediscover his top level and return to the Top 100.

“I’m playing different now than I was when I was 71 in the world (in 2012),” Stebe told ATPWorldTour.com. “Your game is always developing in every direction. I’m trying to play a little more aggressive now than I used to. There are many young players that try to hit it hard and have a good serve. You need to adjust it as well.”

To say that Stebe has been on a tear since returning to full-time competition on the ATP Challenger Tour and ATP World Tour in March 2016, would be an understatement. This time last year, the 26 year old was attempting to qualify for a Challenger in Alphen, The Netherlands. Now, up nearly 500 spots in the Emirates ATP Rankings, the World No. 106 is back in New York seeking a successful US Open qualifying campaign to push him inside the Top 100 and beyond.

Stebe has significant momentum at his back as he enters the final Grand Slam of the year, after cruising to the title at the Odlum Brown VanOpen – a $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event – on Sunday. A 6-0, 6-1 rout of 74th-ranked Jordan Thompson in the final capped a dominant week on the hard courts of Hollyburn Country Club.

“I wasn’t missing any balls and made just a few unforced errors. Mentally I was feeling really good and I was just playing really well. I was right on point. Maybe he wasn’t feeling 100 per cent, maybe 95, but that is usually not good enough against me.”

Stebe looks back on the entire five-year experience as a wake-up call. Nothing is guaranteed in life, especially as a professional tennis player. At age 21, the German was playing the best tennis of his young career before undergoing surgery for a hip impingement in 2013. He explains that walking on crutches afterwards led to lower back problems as he shifted weight to one side of his body.

Seeking a swift recovery from the setback, he started practising again, but the pain returned. This time, it was above his pelvis. An MRI revealed inflammation, which persisted for 10 months. Surgeons needed to insert netting to stabilize the gut and prevent it from creating tension against the muscles and pubic bone. Hoping the worst was behind him, Stebe suffered another blow to his comeback soon after returning to the court. A second MRI showed a stress fracture on the other side of the pelvis.

“I was struggling with myself. You may have a surgery or an injury, but then you recover from it and start playing again. For me, I was almost tournament ready and then I got knocked out again. I visited many doctors and it’s just been a mental struggle for me. I wasn’t always positive.”

.@cedrikstebe lifts his second #ATPChallenger trophy of the year after streaking to the @vanopentennis title on Sunday. pic.twitter.com/SlXzwuqdaP

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) August 21, 2017

Stebe says the turning point in his comeback was a run to the quarter-finals at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open in May. A lucky loser, it was his first appearance in the last eight of an ATP World Tour event in five years. He would also score his first Top 50 win since the 2012 US Open, upsetting countryman Jan-Lennard Struff.

Stebe’s success in Geneva was the catalyst for his surge up the Emirates ATP Rankings, subsequently claiming the title at the Challenger in Poprad Tatry, Slovakia and finishing runner-up on home soil in Marburg two week later. He would reach the second round at the ATP World Tour 500 event in Hamburg as a qualifier, before notching a second Challenger title of the season in Vancouver.

“It means a lot to me. I didn’t know if I was ever going to come back after such a long time away,” Stebe added. “Nothing is certain at this stage. I was just really thrilled that I am playing this well. It feels great to be there again and it also feels unreal. I didn’t expect to be playing this well, to be honest. I don’t know how I’m doing it, but I am. It’s really a weird feeling, but I’m happy about it.

“I knew I could play some good tennis if I’m healthy. If I could make it again, I could be in the Top 100. I used to be there and I know how to get there. That kept me going. My girlfriend and my family were always there for me. I needed some time off during the period. There was a while that I didn’t follow tennis at all. Otherwise I would have gone crazy for sure.”

Sitting at No. 471 in the Emirates ATP Rankings to open 2017, Stebe has had to constantly reassess his goals as the season has progressed. An initial target of Top 200 by the end of the year has transformed to a goal of finishing in the Top 100 and solidifying his place in the main draw of the Australian Open. But, despite his resurgent run, he stresses that it is important to put everything in perspective and avoid unnecessary pressure.

“Everything else is pretty much a bonus. After winning in Poprad I thought the Top 100 could be a goal if I’m playing like this. I don’t want to put any pressure on myself. If I’m No. 103 by the end of the year, I don’t care. To be this high after starting the season near the Top 500, it’s great. I just want to play good matches and everything else will come by itself. If you perform well, the rest will come.”

Seeded ninth, Stebe opens his US Open qualifying campaign against Bosnia’s Aldin Setkic on Wednesday. The match is fourth on Court 7.

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Winston-Salem Open – Winston-Salem, U.S.A.

Julien Benneteau was on hand at the draw ceremony in McCreary Tower on Friday, while home hope Steve Johnson and #NextGenATP pair Hyeon Chung and Andrey Rublev helped to inspire the next generation of fans the following day at kids clinics.

Borna Coric posted on Instagram after meeting young fans at an ACEing Autism clinic on Sunday, where he joined the children in a series of activities on the court. More On ACEing Autism

Elsewhere, Dominic Inglot, Scott Lipsky, Fabrice Martin, Max Mirnyi, Leander Paes, Alexander Peya, Purav Raja and Andre Sa leant their support to a Doubles Pro-Am, while Gilles Simon, Fernando Verdasco, Pablo Carreno Busta and Johnson met fans at a series of autograph sessions.

On the most demanding of surfaces, Roger Federer has been pre-eminent this year. The World No. 3 leads the year-to-date Win-Loss Index with the best winning percentage on cement with a 23-2 (.920) record ahead of the US Open, the final Grand Slam championship of the year. His two losses have come at the hands of Russian Evgeny Donskoy at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships in February and #NextGenATP German Alexander Zverev at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal earlier this month.

The Swiss, just like second-placed Grigor Dimitrov – with an ATP World Tour-best 24-6 mark (.800) on hard courts – has won three titles on the surface this year. While 63 of Federer’s 93 career crowns have come on hard courts, Dimitrov has captured five of his seven trophies on cement. The Bulgarian is 34-14 overall (.708) in 2017.

Federer’s form suggests that he enters the US Open, the final Grand Slam championship of the year, as the favourite to add to his 2004-2008 crowns. He has a 35-3 match record this season (.921), including five titles (two majors) from six finals.

Visit FedEx ATP Performance Zone

Andy Murray is 12-3 (.800) on hard courts, matching the 2017 mark of the sidelined Novak Djokovic. Nick Kyrgios, who finished runner-up to Dimitrov in the recent Western & Southern Open final in Cincinnati, is 26-12 on the season (.684) – predominantly made up of a 23-7 record (.767) on hard courts.

Milos Raonic, who reached the US Open fourth round in 2012-14, is 13-4 (.765) on hard courts in 2017, while World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, the ATP World Tour match wins leader this year with a 49-9 mark (.845), is 22-7 (.759) on cement. The 2010 and 2013 US Open champion has won 16 of his 73 career trophies on hard courts.

The 20-year-old Zverev will be looking to improve upon his second-round exit in New York City last year, boosted by his solid form in 2017 that has reaped five titles and a 46-14 match record. He is 21-7 (.750) on hard courts this year, with four of his six career titles won on the surface.

Here’s a detailed look at the Top 10 hard-court match wins’ leaders in 2017 (as of 23 August):

Two-time champion John Isner claimed his 350^th match win at his hometown tournament in Winston-Salem Tuesday night, clinching back-to-back breaks against World No. 70 Russian Andrey Kuznetsov to close out the match 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-3.

Isner had dropped serve just three times all summer (Newport, Atlanta, Montreal, Cincinnati) but was broken twice in the opening set and three times overall. But in an encouraging sign, he converted all three break point chances he accrued. The 6’ 11” American came into the tournament having held 146 of his past 149 service games. He was not broken in five matches en route to the semi-finals of the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati last week.

“After the end of the second set I had to change my clothes; I was sweating profusely out there,” Isner said of the draining win. “I wasn’t feeling great to be totally honest. But at 3-all [in the third] I found a burst of energy. I got up 0-30 in that game and the next thing I knew I was off; it was crazy. I think I rattled off 12 of the last 13 points [and 16 of 17], something like that. I got a second wind. All of a sudden it came to me. It’s just one of those things.”

Isner improved to 9-0 in tie-breaks in Winston-Salem. The No. 3 seed has not lost a match on the courts of Winston-Salem since he made his debut in 2011. He is 13-0 at this event. His only early exit came in 2014, when he was forced to withdraw at the quarter-final stage.

Top seed Roberto Bautista Agut exchanged eight service breaks with Dusan Lajovic before advancing 6-4, 6-3 to the third round, where he will meet veteran Cypriot Marcos Baghdatis.

“It was a tough first match here in Winston-Salem, adjusting to the heat, the fast conditions,” said the Spaniard, last year’s runner-up. “I hope to play even better tomorrow. It’s going to be a tough week and a tough match tomorrow against Baghdatis.”

Three #NextGenATP players advanced Tuesday: 14th seed Borna Coric, of Croatia, American wild card Taylor Fritz and 13th-seeded Korean Hyeon Chung. Fritz enjoyed a decisive 6-3, 6-2 win over in-form 10th-seeded Japanese Yuichi Sugita 6-3, 6-2.

But Coric and Chung both had to rally from a set down. Coric, currently fourth in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan, defeated American Donald Young 4-6, 6-4, 6-2. Chung, eighth in the Race but 102 points behind seventh-placed Daniil Medvedev, defeated another Milan rival from Russia, Andrey Rublev (sixth in the Race), 5-7, 6-1, 6-1.

Five #NextGenATP stars moved into the second round on a oppressively hot and humid Day One of US Open qualifying.

Conditioning and stamina were put to the test as Akira Santillan battled back for a 3-6, 6-3, 6-4 win over Sebastian Ofner. The Aussie fought through heat exhaustion and cramps for a two-hour and two-minute victory, converting three of 13 break chances. Santillan called for the trainer at 4-all in the third set and proceeded to claim the decisive break immediately out of the medical timeout. He fell to his knees after serving out the match a game later.

In other action, 11th seed Casper Ruud breezed past Dmitry Popko 6-4, 6-0 in 64 minutes, while Canadians Denis Shapovalov and Felix Auger-Aliassime kicked off the day with straight-set wins themselves. Reilly Opelka was the lone #NextGenATP American to claim victory on home soil, edging countryman Alexander Sarkissian 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(2).

“It doesn’t feel as quick as it was, when you’re out there in the heat,” Ruud told ATPWorldTour.com. “They have this new shot clock out there which counts the seconds between serves, which is a bit stressful as well. I’m happy to be able to deliver a good match. I was tight in the beginning but played well and was able to win the second set pretty quickly.

“It’s a great event. They have the biggest stadium in the world here. It’s a great atmosphere and I’m looking forward to the next match.”

Competing on adjacent courts, 17-year-old Auger-Aliassime prevailed 6-3, 6-3 over Hiroki Moriya, while 18-year-old Shapovalov downed Denis Kudla 6-3, 6-4, just minutes later. Shapovalov enters in strong form following a semi-final run at the Coupe Rogers two weeks ago. A Next Gen ATP Finals contender (No. 5 in the Emirates ATP Race To Milan), he is bidding to qualify for his first US Open main draw.

Unreal support today at @usopen. Thanks so much to everyone who came to watch❤ #DontStopFighting

— Denis Shapovalov (@denis_shapo) August 22, 2017

Meanwhile, the upset of the day was served by American JC Aragone, who stunned fifth seed Marco Cecchinato 4-6, 6-2, 6-4 in two hours and one minute. The University of Virginia standout scored the biggest win of his young career over the World No. 101 in just his first tour-level qualifying match.

“I kept telling myself to go out there and have fun,” Aragone said. “Just rip the ball and there’s no pressure. That last game I was trying to hit everything as hard as I could. Luckily it went in.

“This is just amazing especially since I came here on Saturday and I wasn’t even in the draw. I got a last-minute wild card. I wasn’t in the tournament and then I’m the last guy in. I got the opportunity to play and I made the most of it.”

Other Americans advancing to the second round include Sekou Bangoura, Bradley Klahn, Dennis Novikov, Mackenzie McDonald and Christian Harrison.

Top seed Leonardo Mayer and fourth seed Sergiy Stakhovsky – two of three Top 100 players in the qualifying draw (also Shapovalov) – advanced as well. Mayer, who is coming off his second ATP World Tour title in Hamburg, defeated Maxime Janvier 6-4, 6-4. Stakhovsky is also on a roll after clinching the ATP Challenger Tour crown in Portoroz, Slovenia, and the Ukrainian blasted past Alexey Vatutin 6-2, 6-1 in just 65 minutes. He fired seven aces and saved all five break points faced.

The plaudits have rung out for Rafael Nadal since his return to the top of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday. It is a feat few would have thought possible when seeing Nadal desolate at withdrawing during his Roland Garros campaign last year and ultimately dropping to No. 9 in the standings.

It was from ninth spot that the Spaniard began 2017 and the tenacity, desire and fighting spirit that has been synonymous with Nadal throughout his career has carried him back to the top. Now Nadal is looking to crown his memorable 2017 by finishing as the year-end No. 1, an achievement that would arguably be of even greater significance in the record books.

It is set to be a fight to the finish with his long-time rival, Roger Federer, with the possibility that the battle for No. 1 could be settled at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals in London, where Andy Murray defeated Novak Djokovic in a winner-take-all championship match last year.

Since the Emirates ATP Rankings began in 1973, only four players (Ivan Lendl, Federer, Nadal and Djokovic) have reclaimed the year-end No. 1 spot after losing it. In a showing of unparalleled perseverance, only Nadal has achieved this on more than one occasion, returning to the top of the year-end rankings in 2010 and 2013. Now, he’s looking to do it for a third time in 2017.

Players To Have Regained Year-End No. 1

To pull off this unprecedented feat on the ATP World Tour, Nadal will have to face down Federer. Going into the US Open, where 2000 points are awarded to the winner, Nadal has a 500-point lead on the Swiss, who won the Australian Open and Wimbledon this year. The Spaniard is only defending 280 points for the remainder of the season, but Federer, who curtailed his 2016 campaign in July, is defending nothing. 

The year-end No. 1 ranking is decided by the results over the course of the season. Nadal has finished the season at No. 1 three times (2008, 2010, 2013), placing him seventh on the all-time list on the ATP World Tour. If he were to achieve it for the fourth time, he would be in joint-fourth position with John McEnroe, Lendl and Djokovic.

Most Year-End No. 1 Finishes

Players will usually say that staying at the top is more difficult than getting there in the first place. Nadal has proven time and time again that he can return to the top of the game. Together with Pete Sampras and Federer, he currently holds one of the most notable statistics in the game: the biggest gap between his first year-end No. 1 finish (2008) and his most recent (2013) – six years. Now Nadal will look to finish as year-end No. 1 10 years after first doing so.

With one Grand Slam, two ATP World Tour Masters 1000s and the Nitto ATP Finals (1500 points for the winner) still to come, it is set up to be compelling viewing for a photo-finish for two of tennis’ greatest rivals as Nadal and Federer both chase down the year-end top spot.