| ATP Finals | |
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| Venue: The 02 Arena, London Dates: 12-19 November | |
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Belgian seventh seed David Goffin upset world number one Rafael Nadal on day two at the ATP Finals in London.
Goffin, who made his debut in 2016 as an injury replacement, won 7-6 (7-5) 6-7 (4-7) 6-4 in his first match as an official qualifier at the tour finale.
Nadal said before the tournament his knee was “not perfect” but he fought hard against an impressive Goffin.
Grigor Dimitrov earlier beat Dominic Thiem 6-3 5-7 7-5 in the opening round-robin match in the Pete Sampras Group.
The Bulgarian sixth seed admitted he had felt “pretty nervous” after seeing off Austrian fourth seed Thiem in three dramatic sets on his ATP Finals debut.
Roger Federer and Alexander Zverev won the opening matches in the Boris Becker Group on Sunday.
The pair will meet in Tuesday’s second singles match at 20:00 GMT, after Marin Cilic plays Jack Sock at 14:00.
Nadal, 31, had been determined to try and compete in London despite a knee injury that saw him pull out of the Paris Masters, but the Spaniard was clearly struggling in the closing stages against Goffin.
The Belgian made most of the running, with his effortless backhand down the line the decisive shot, but double faults at key times betrayed the nerves he felt trying to claim a first win over the 16-time Grand Slam champion.
Nadal was not at his best but his competitive spirit almost carried him through as he converted all four break points that came his way, while saving eight of 13 on his own serve.
After twice seeing leads disappear in the first set, Goffin edged the tie-break and appeared to be heading for victory with a break for 5-3 in the second.
However, a sixth double fault of the day saw him hand back the advantage, and Nadal then played his best tennis of the night to roar back from 0-40 in the next game and race through a second tie-break.
With two hours on the clock, a gripping final set loomed, but Nadal was visibly wincing early in the decider and Goffin moved into a 4-1 lead.
Still Nadal refused to submit, clawing his way back to 4-3 down as coaches Carlos Moya and Toni Nadal watched with concern from the sidelines, but at the second time of asking – and on his fifth match point – Goffin finally sealed victory with an ace.
“It was a tough fight until the end. Rafa is one of the strongest players mentally on the tour,” said Goffin.
“I am so happy to finally find the key to win this match. It is so special to do it here.
“I don’t know how I picked myself up after losing the four match points. I had no regrets and I just wanted to keep going and try to enjoy every point.”
Miles MacLagan, former coach of Andy Murray, on 5 live sports extra
“Nadal is not here to take part, he wants to add this title. He’s a competitive player, he enjoys being amongst it.
“He has an injury I’m sure he’s been told won’t get any worse in the long term; I hope we see him again here this week but this a problem that’s clearly been there a long time and won’t clear up in two days.”
Dimitrov, 26, just about held his nerve to win a gripping battle of the one-handed backhands against Thiem, who is playing in the Finals for the second year running.
It was the Bulgarian who had the edge for most of the contest, breaking serve once to win the first set and not facing a break point until the end of the second.
However, Thiem took his chance in the 12th game to draw level and force a third set, before breaking back when Dimitrov served for the match at 5-4 in the decider.
Dimitrov missed a chance to earn two match points when he failed to challenge a ball that had missed the baseline, but the former junior Wimbledon champion recovered his poise to break for a third time in game 11, eventually converting his third match point after two hours and 19 minutes.
“I’m not going to lie – I was pretty nervous, my first match out here,” said Dimitrov.
“I’m just very grateful to win that match, especially in that manner. It’s never easy to come out here and play for the first time.”
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Watch five of the best shots as Grigor Dimitrov edges past Dominic Thiem in three dramatic sets at the ATP Finals in London.
Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares lost their opening doubles match in the ATP Finals against Mike and Bob Bryan.
The American twins saved three set points in the first set before Britain’s Murray and Brazil’s Soares came from 4-1 down to win the second.
But the four-time champions came through 7-5 6-7 (3-7) 10-8.
The two pairs, who were both 2016 semi-finalists, will now play Ivan Dodig and Marcel Granollers, and top seeds Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo.
Dodig and Granollers play Kubot and Melo at 6pm on Monday to complete the first two matches in Group A.
Following the conclusion of the eight-team round-robin group format, four doubles teams progress to Saturday’s semi-finals before the final on Sunday.
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Jamie Murray fears there would be no tennis legacy in Scotland if he and brother Andy called time on their careers at the top of the game today.
The brothers have won eight Grand Slam titles across singles and doubles.
“I obviously hope that when me and Andy stop playing that there will be something to show for it, there will be some sort of legacy,” Murray said.
“I mean, right now, if today was our last day playing tennis, I would say that there hasn’t been.”
Doubles specialist Murray, 31, has won two men’s and three mixed titles at Grand Slam level and was also in Great Britain’s 2015 Davis Cup-winning side.
His brother, meanwhile, has won three men’s singles Grand Slam titles, back-to-back Olympic singles gold medals, the 2015 Davis Cup and he also reached number one in the world rankings.
With the likes of GB Davis Cup captain Leon Smith and new national coach Colin Fleming heavily involved in Scottish tennis now, Jamie hopes the game is moving in the right direction.
“I hope that people who are in the necessary positions are going to have a vision of what is a way to kind of grow or at least make the most of the interest that we’ve brought to tennis in this country and that can make the most of it,” he said.
“I think we just wait and see how that money’s spent and hopefully that there are a lot more covered sport.
“That’s not just a problem in tennis but in all sports in Scotland with the climate that we have.”
Murray and Brazilian partner Bruno Soares started their ATP Tour Finals campaign on Monday against the USA’s Bryan brothers, with the Scot relishing the London tournament.
“The last few years there have been some great doubles matches,” he added. “A lot of high-quality matches.
“And, look, we’ll be trying to win. The doubles is very open.
“This year, no-one has really dominated the season. There have been a lot of teams winning tournaments.
“It will be open, but the level is high. We’re looking forward to get out there and competing.”
Buoyed by his stellar season and another year end No. 1, Rafael Nadal will be full of confidence going into his opening…
Filip Peliwo celebrated the seminal moment of his young career on Sunday, breaking through as an ATP Challenger Tour champion for the first time. The 23-year-old Canadian defeated Denis Kudla 6-4, 6-2 to claim his maiden Challenger crown on the indoor hard courts of Knoxville.
Peliwo streaked to the title in impressive fashion, dropping just one set in eight matches as a qualifier. Peliwo toppled eighth seed Tommy Paul, a surging Liam Broady, third seed Taylor Fritz and second seed Henri Laaksonen, before ousting Kudla in the final.
A former junior No. 1 and champion at Wimbledon and the US Open in 2012, Peliwo has struggled in his transition to the professional circuit. Having fallen outside the Top 500 in April, he will soar 84 spots to a career-high No. 195 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday.
First #ATPChallenger title for @filippeliwo! The ?? defeats Denis Kudla 64 62 for the @KnoxChallenger ?. pic.twitter.com/ZWOETrC8PL
— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) November 13, 2017
Filip, this was a long time coming. It’s been five years since you were No. 1 as a junior. Now you finally have a Challenger title. Talk about the progress you’ve made, specifically over the past six months.
It’s been a huge improvement mentally, to put everything together and have it set in stone with my gameplan and patterns. Just to make sure I’m not too pumped and have too much adrenaline or too down and losing focus. I needed to keep my intensity, but in a sustainable way. My coach Fred has really helped me to do that. Earlier in the year, I fought through many Futures events and was grinding it out. I had a few titles out there, which got me started on this roll. It’s been a great year in general and to cap that off like this is great.
Eight matches in eight days is an absurd accomplishment. To have that level of energy today, is that something you wanted to ride early in the match?
I knew going into the match that Denis was going to be a little tired, because in his two previous matches he had to play a tough three-setter against Bjorn Fratangelo and yesterday against Bradley Klahn. I assumed he was going to be a little slow and he was struggling to reach some of my shots. But I was focusing more on myself and trying not to get out of the zone and stay in my bubble. That’s what came together. I didn’t get distracted and didn’t focus on what my opponent was doing too much. I played my game and did what I had to do.
In terms of what you’re doing on court, how would you describe your game now? How has that developed specifically this year?
My game is definitely an aggressive game. I try to take the ball early and do what I can to move forward. I’ve been working a lot on shot selection and having the right patterns, with something to go to in the big moments. That is, not drifting away and hitting balls. To actually have some sort of plan. My coach has really been trying to put that in my head since we started working together over the summer. It’s been a slow and steady process and it’s starting to come together.
Frederic Niemeyer is the Fred you keep referring to. He’s got a few ATP Challenger Tour titles in his past. He is more emotional as a coach than any other coach we see out here. Are you cognisant of that and do you feed off of that at all?
Absolutely. Fred really cares about what we’re doing and he’s giving us the opportunity to succeed. He’s very knowledgable and that helps. It’s always nice to have your coach behind you like that and really cheering you on. Just always being there, but without being negative. If something is a little off, he’ll tell me what I need to hear but he won’t do it in a way that’s going to kill my confidence or get me frustrated at him. We have really good chemistry and Fred does get emotional, but in a productive way. It’s been a huge help for me.
The big story here is the culmination of these four years for you, since turning pro. Do you view it as that or is it more a step on a long path?
Maybe a few years ago I would have viewed it as that, but I’ve been trying to stay in the present and put whatever past I’ve had behind me. I don’t want to think about all the expectations I had, like maybe I should have been playing better and had a higher ranking earlier. All of those ‘what ifs’. I’m starting fresh and focusing on week by week, match by match, game by game, point by point. In a way, it is a culmination of all the work I’ve put in and it feels great, but I’m just moving forward and trying to not rely heavily on that.
A lot of players win their first Challenger title and come out the next week a little flat. On top of that, you’re now inside the Top 200 for the first time and are into Australian Open qualifying. How is your mental approach for next week in Champaign?
I’ll just try to keep what I’ve been doing out here. Obviously the conditions will be a little different and (first round opponent) Chris (Eubanks) is a dangerous opponent. He serves big and hits big, so when he’s on, he’s always difficult to play your game. But I’ll focus on my own game and if it works out it does and if it doesn’t, it doesn’t. As long as I put in the work and the right game and do my job, I’ll stay positive.
This is a $10,000-plus cheque. You have to celebrate a little tonight. How do you celebrate your first Challenger title?
Well, there’s always the temptation to do that, but I have one more week and I want to finish it well. I don’t want to ruin my chances of that. I’m just going to celebrate my driving a few hours to Louisville and then Champaign. Especially at the end of the year I don’t want to tire myself out too much. I’ll definitely have a nice meal and some nice dessert that I’ve been putting off for a while. Something small and mellow.
