Simona Halep: Former world number one appeals to Cas over doping ban
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against her four-year doping ban.
Two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep has appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport against her four-year doping ban.
The final ATP Masters 1000 event takes place at the Rolex Paris Masters, where six-time record champion Novak Djokovic and Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz compete.
Here’s what you need to know ahead of the indoor hard-court event in France:
The 2023 Rolex Paris Masters will be held from 30 October-5 November. The indoor-hard ATP Masters 1000 tournament, established in 1986, will take place at the AccorHotels Arena in Paris, France. The tournament director is Guy Forget.
The Rolex Paris Masters will feature record champion Novak Djokovic, Carlos Alcaraz, Daniil Medvedev, Jannik Sinner and defending champion Holger Rune.
The Rolex Paris Masters draw will be made on Saturday, 30 October at 12:00 p.m.
* Qualifying: Saturday, 28 October – Sunday, 29 October at 10:00 a.m Saturday and 11:00 a.m. Sunday
* Main Draw: Monday, 30 October – Sunday, 5 November. Monday – Thursday at 11:00 and 7:30 p.m. Friday at 1:00 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. Saturday at 11:30 a.m.
* Doubles Final: Sunday, 5 November at 12:30 p.m.
* Singles Final: Sunday, 5 November at 3:00 p.m.
*View On Official Website
The prize money for the Rolex Paris Masters is €5,779,335 and the Total Financial Commitment is €6,748,815.
SINGLES
Winner: €836,355/ 1000 points
Finalist: €456,720/ 600 points
Semi-finalist: €249,740/ 360 points
Quarter-finalist: €136,255/ 180 points
Round of 16: €72,865/ 90 points
Round of 32: €39,070/ 45 points
Round of 64: €21,650/ 10 points
DOUBLES ($ per team)
Winner: €282,960/ 1000 points
Finalist: €147,840/ 600 points
Semi-finalist: €78,140/ 360 points
Quarter-finalist: €43,300/ 180 points
Round of 16: €23,760/ 90 points
Round of 32: €13,200/ 0 points
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Holger Rune triumphed in the Rolex Paris Masters singles final with a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 win against Novak Djokovic in the championship match. Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski lifted the doubles trophy in Paris with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in the final.
Most Titles, Singles: Novak Djokovic (6)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (4)
Oldest Champion: Novak Djokovic, 34, in 2021
Youngest Champion: Boris Becker, 18, in 1986
Highest-Ranked Champion: No. 1 Stefan Edberg in 1990, Pete Sampras in 1997, Andre Agassi in 1999, Novak Djokovic in 2014-15, 2019, 2021.
Lowest-Ranked Champion: No. 50 Tomas Berdych in 2005
Last Home Champion: Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2008
Most Match Wins: Novak Djokovic (45)
View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown
Spanish tennis today seems to be a bottomless source of emerging talent on the ATP Tour. Among the young guns bidding to find a space in the circuit’s elite is 21-year-old Pablo Llamas Ruiz, who has his sights set on a place in the Next Gen ATP Finals, to be held from 28 November – 2 December in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
Spaniard Llamas Ruiz is hoping to follow in the footsteps of countrymen Jaume Munar (2018), Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (2019), and Carlos Alcaraz (2021), who have previously played in the tournament that pits the best eight under-21 players in the world against one another.
Like almost every boy born in Spain early in the 21st century, he grew up watching Rafael Nadal.
“When I started playing, everything was Nadal. I remember everyone had his racket, everyone was talking about him”, he says of the 22-time Grand Slam champion.
The No. 135 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings hails from a land in which success has become the norm. Spanish tennis boasts a huge haul of titles in recent times, not only thanks to Nadal, but also figures like David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Pablo Carreno Busta, Roberto Bautista Agut and, more recently, Alcaraz.
“Historically, Spain has always had many players in the Top 100, there was even a time when we had four or five players in the Top 20, that’s incredible”, he acknowledges. “Having seen Spanish players like Rafa Nadal, David Ferrer, Feliciano Lopez, Fernando Verdasco, Pablo Carreno on TV… it really helps you and I’ve even shared training sessions with them, at the High Performance Centre I practised with Carreno.”
But if there is one man Llamas Ruiz has modelled himself on, it is former World No. 3 David Ferrer.
“I was at his Academy and at that time he really helped me a lot,” Llamas Ruiz said. “I trained with him occasionally, he was there a lot, but seeing him train or even sharing the court with him taught me so much.”
He was training alongside one of the players which forms part of his first memory of tennis. At just nine years of age, sitting in front of the television, he watched in awe as Ferrer, along with Nadal, Verdasco and Feliciano won Spain’s fifth Davis Cup salad bowl.
“I wasn’t aware of everything, but I could see it was more than tennis, it was bigger, I started to appreciate things”, he explains. “I remember the Davis Cup against Argentina in 2011, with the Nadal – Del Potro match, the atmosphere, how the tie went, each match, that’s when I became more aware of what Spanish tennis was.”
Llamas Ruiz is an heir to a certain way of understanding the game, and of competing. His tennis DNA shares many of the traits of the great players who learned their trade on Spanish soil.
“My game from the baseline, running, grit, high bounces, dictating the game, not giving up on points, those kinds of things”, he says of the influence Spanish tennis has had on his game.
But he has also developed his own hallmarks: “I like to approach the net and volley, I have good hands… you didn’t used to see that so much, it was based more on baseline tennis, long rallies. I remember players like Nadal and Ferrer could play from the baseline for hours, in that regard, I prefer using my hands [touch at the net].”
The enormity of all those names does nothing to frighten Llamas Ruiz, who is clear that he is very much on his own journey.
“It doesn’t put me under pressure that Spanish tennis has been, and is, one of the best countries in tennis, it makes me proud to be part of that and I’ll try to give my best”, he says.
Nor is he worried that a player who is one year younger than him, Carlos Alcaraz, has skyrocketed into the ATP Tour elite.
“Not at all! I’m proud of that, I’m so happy for him”, answers Llamas Ruiz without hesitation of the meteoric rise of his compatriot, peer, and friend.
“Hopefully someday I can play in the same tournaments and on the same courts as him. Everyone, as I always say, has their own path. He’s taken his, and he couldn’t have done any better, and I’ll try and take mine so that someday I can share the court with him and even try to catch him, why not?”, asks Llamas Ruiz.
Bidding to earn himself a place in the Top 100, Llamas Ruiz concludes with an interesting perspective on the legacy that his compatriots have left.
“People don’t appreciate what it is to be in the Top 140, Top 100 or Top 80 in the world. If you’re not in the Top 10 you’re not worth it,” he said. “Spain has always had great players in high positions, so if a Spaniard is at world number 110 it seems like they don’t know how to play tennis.”
In 2023, he has already claimed his first ATP Challenger title in Segovia, Spain and picked up his first ATP Tour win in Lyon [d. Max Purcell]. His next challenge is earning himself a place among the best of his generation at the end of the season in Jeddah.
Any time Dominic Thiem steps on court at the Erste Bank Open, the home crowd raises the volume inside the Wiener Stadthalle. That raucous atmosphere may hit new highs on Tuesday in Vienna, however, when the Austrian favourite takes on Stefanos Tsitsipas in a blockbuster first-round clash at the ATP 500.
“There are some sports where you play home games every second week and everybody’s telling you about the advantages, about how much better you play at home,” Thiem told ATPTour.com on Sunday in Vienna. “And it is like that, but as a tennis player, as an Austrian especially, you only have it two or three times a year. I always love it. The crowd gives me unbelievable energy.”
A clash between two former World No. 3s would be a much-anticipated opening round no matter when or where it takes place. The two Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings between Thiem and Tsitsipas that have taken place this year add an extra dimension to their Vienna clash.
Thiem-Tsitsipas, Sinner-Shelton Among First-Round Blockbusters In Vienna
The 17-time tour-level champion Thiem, working hard to rediscover his mojo against the world’s best after a serious wrist injury he suffered in mid-2021, pushed Tsitsipas to deciding-set tie-breaks in Madrid and at Wimbledon this year. On each occasion it was the Greek who ultimately prevailed, and Thiem knows the margins could well be fine once again on Tuesday evening in Vienna.
“I guess the only thing which I’m thinking about is that when we’re both playing well, the possibilities are high that we have another very close and tight match,” said Thiem, who is 5-5 overall in his rivalry with Tsitsipas. “I hope so because that would mean that we’re playing well or that I’m playing well. It would mean a great match for the crowd as well.
“We had two matches this year, and twice it ended up being a deciding tie-break, as well as at the 2019 Nitto ATP Finals, which was on a similar surface as well, and indoors. Again, it was a deciding tie-break. It would be great, obviously, if it would be another match like this, but with a different outcome.”
Unlike in Madrid and at Wimbledon, however, Thiem may have a secret weapon to help him get over the line on Tuesday against Tsitsipas. He does not have to look back far to remember the power of the Vienna crowd, which roared him to a remarkable first-round triumph after he saved two match points against Tommy Paul a year ago. Having missed the 2021 edition of the tournament as part of his nine-month absence due his wrist injury, that moment still stands out for the Austrian.
“That was a reminder of what I’m playing for and what I’m working hard for,” said Thiem. “Not only [during my] comeback, but if I look back at special matches in my whole career, this one is up there, 100 per cent.
“Honestly, I was the worse player the whole match, but with this amazing help from the crowd and with great luck and great fighting spirit, I was somehow able to win it and that was special. That’s why it will always be up there somewhere when I look back on special matches.”
This year, Thiem arrived in Vienna with a 17-21 tour-level record for the season, a tally which includes a championship-match run at the only other Austrian ATP Tour event in Kitzbühel, and three other ATP 250 quarter-final appearances. Currently at No. 99 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Thiem’s relatively moderate year has not dampened his desire to push for a return to the upper echelons of the game. For him, it is not a question of regaining his previous level, but being able to produce it often enough.
“I had some positive weeks, like Kitzbühel, and some great matches as well, for example against Stef at Wimbledon or the US Open, where I played well,” recalled Thiem. “So there were some good weeks and some good matches, but I was not able to do it often enough and that’s why my ranking is where it is. It’s not satisfying for me, and I have to play well, more consistently, to rise up again. That’s the goal for the last three weeks and obviously also for the next year.
“For me it’s pretty clear [I’m lacking] consistency, because I had some good weeks. If I would have been able to repeat them more often, then my ranking would be way higher, but I was not. I guess that’s that’s the key point. That’s what I was able to do before the injury, when I was very high in the rankings, and that’s the goal, to get that back.”
It is no secret that Thanasi Kokkinakis loves basketball, including the NBA. The Australian, who this week is playing an ATP Challenger Tour event in Playford, Australia, has long been a huge fan of all-time great point guard Chris Paul.
For years, one of Paul’s greatest rivals was the Golden State Warriors. Now, the 38-year-old is on the Warriors and Kokkinakis will be cheering him on as the season gets underway this week.
“I’m excited to see how it’s going to work out. It was a big trade. It’s going to be interesting,” Kokkinakis told ATPTour.com earlier this year in Washington. “They’ve been rivals for so long, so it’s going to be interesting to see with the Warriors.”
One of Kokkinakis’ early pinch-me moments came when as a teen he met the basketball icon around the 2013 US Open. Paul still follows the Aussie on Instagram today.
“We had the same agency and I saw him train when I was like 15 or 16 in New York for the US Open juniors,” Kokkinakis said. “So I met him and watched him work out in a private facility. So that was pretty cool.”
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Kokkinakis typically is a fan of whichever team Paul is playing for. But he follows all the teams and tries to watch the NBA wherever he is in the world.
“In Australia it’s not too bad when I’m home, because the time is okay. Usually the game starts early afternoon. And when I’m in America, it’s great obviously,” Kokkinakis said. “When I’m in Europe and it’s NBA playoffs and finals time, that’s when it’s a mess. I’ve had a few 3 a.m. wake-ups. It messes with my sleeping, that’s for sure.”
It was no surprise that when asked whom he’d like to switch places with for a day, he selected a basketball star.
“It would be probably LeBron [James]. I reckon it would be cool to be playing in L.A.,” Kokkinakis said of the Los Angeles Lakers star. “I reckon it would be too much to be honest. But that’s why for a day, I wouldn’t mind it. But being LeBron every day, I think that would carry a massive, massive amount of pressure. So that would be tough.”
As much of a Chris Paul-fan Kokkinakis is, he has respect for many of the game’s past and present stars. He picked another icon when asked which three people he’d love to go to dinner with.
“One would have been Kobe Bryant. Kobe Bryant would have been cool,” Kokkinakis said. “Conor McGregor would be interesting. I’m a big WWE fan. So maybe one of the wrestling legends. So maybe The Rock or Stone Cold, something like that.”
Had Kokkinakis not embarked on his life as a professional tennis player, “I would have liked to have thought I would have been a basketball player,” he said. “But I don’t know how good I would have been. I think being a basketball player or an actor or even an artist or a DJ or something like that.
“I like to go to music festivals. I like to listen to that. I obviously love my NBA. And I love driving. I love good cars. So that’s one of my things that I really enjoy doing.
“I like more sort of road cars and things that I can do. I don’t know how well I’d do behind a Formula One car. It’s probably a death sentence in the first sort of five seconds.”
The last nations standing in the 2023 Davis Cup have announced their teams for the Final 8 knock-out stage in Malaga, Spain next month, with some of the game’s biggest stars set to do battle for the right to be named 2023 world champions.
World No. 1 Novak Djokovic will lead a Serbia team bidding to win a second Davis Cup title, while Jannik Sinner (Italy), Alex de Minaur (Australia) and Cameron Norrie (Great Britain) will also feature in the event at the Palacio de Deportes José María Martín Carpena.
Defending world champions Canada have restored world No. 19 Felix Auger-Aliassime to their team alongside Gabriel Diallo, Alexis Galarneau and Vasek Pospisil, who starred as the Canadians finished top of Group A in Bologna in September. Former Wimbledon runner-up Milos Raonic has also been named in the Canadian squad and could make his first Davis Cup appearance since 2018, having battled various injuries in recent seasons.
The Canadians will contest the opening tie of the week on Tuesday 21 November against first-time Davis Cup quarter-finalists Finland, who have named the same squad which finished runner-up to Netherlands in Group D in Split last month. World No. 67 Emil Ruusuvuori, who has won five of his six Davis Cup matches this season, will lead the Finnish team in Malaga.
The second quarter-final on Wednesday 22 November will see 2022 runners-up Australia take on the Czech Republic, both of whom have named unchanged teams from September’s Finals Group Stage and are led by De Minaur and Jiri Lehecka, respectively.
World No. 4 Sinner will return to Davis Cup action for Italy’s quarter-final clash against Netherlands on Thursday 23 November, after the 22-year-old missed the Finals Group Stage due to injury. The Dutch team is spearheaded by world No. 25 Tallon Griekspoor, with doubles world No. 3 Wesley Koolhof also in captain Paul Haarhuis’ squad.
The last of the four quarter-finals on the evening of Thursday 23 November will feature 24-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic alongside teammates Laslo Djere, Dusan Lajovic, Miomir Kecmanovic and Hamad Medjedovic. The Serbians are captained by Viktor Troicki, who, along with Djokovic, was a member of the team which won Serbia’s only Davis Cup title to date in 2010.
Serbia will take on Great Britain, who will be hoping to continue the momentum from their dramatic victory over France which saw them secure first place in Group B in Manchester last month. Norrie is the Brits’ highest-ranked player, but the team also includes Daniel Evans (who won both matches he played during the win against France) and three-time Grand Slam winner Andy Murray, as well as 21-year-old Jack Draper and doubles world No. 4 Neal Skupski.
The Davis Cup quarter-finals will be played from Tuesday 21 to Thursday 23 November. The semi-finals will be played on Friday 24 and Saturday 25 November, with the 2023 Davis Cup final taking place on Sunday 26 November.
For more information about the Final 8 in Malaga, including ticket details, visit the Davis Cup website.
2023 Davis Cup Final 8 schedule
Quarter-finals
Tuesday 21 November, 1600 CET – Canada v Finland
Wednesday 22 November, 1600 CET – Czech Republic v Australia
Thursday 23 November, 1000 CET – Italy v Netherlands
Thursday 23 November, not before 1600 CET – Serbia v Great Britain
Semi-finals
Friday 24 November, 1600 CET – Canada or Finland v Czech Republic or Australia
Saturday 25 November, 1200 CET – Italy or Netherlands v Serbia or Great Britain
Davis Cup final
Sunday 26 November, 1600 CET – Winner semi-final 1 v Winner semi-final 2
2023 Davis Cup Final 8 squads
Canada
Felix Auger-Aliassime
Gabriel Diallo
Alexis Galarneau
Vasek Pospisil
Milos Raonic
Captain: Frank Dancevic
Finland
Emil Ruusuvuori
Otto Virtanen
Patrick Kaukovalta
Harri Heliovaara
Patrik Niklas-Salminen
Captain: Jarkko Nieminen
Czech Republic
Jiri Lehecka
Tomas Machac
Jakub Mensik
Adam Pavlasek
Captain: Jaroslav Navratil
Australia
Alex de Minaur
Max Purcell
Jordan Thompson
Thanasi Kokkinakis
Matthew Ebden
Captain: Lleyton Hewitt
Italy
Jannik Sinner
Lorenzo Musetti
Matteo Arnaldi
Lorenzo Sonego
Simone Bolelli
Captain: Filippo Volandri
Netherlands
Tallon Griekspoor
Botic van de Zandschulp
Gijs Brouwer
Wesley Koolhof
Captain: Paul Haarhuis
Serbia
Novak Djokovic
Laslo Djere
Dusan Lajovic
Miomir Kecmanovic
Hamad Medjedovic
Captain: Viktor Troicki
Great Britain
Cameron Norrie
Daniel Evans
Andy Murray
Jack Draper
Neal Skupski
Captain: Leon Smith
The Davis Cup Finals and Qualifiers are an official part of the ATP Tour calendar, after the ITF and ATP established a new strategic collaboration on the competition’s governance in 2022.
The 2023 Davis Cup Final 8 is being hosted in Malaga as part of a wider partnership between the ITF and region of Andalucia, which also sees the Billie Jean King Cup by Gainbridge Finals in Seville (7-12 November) and the junior finals of both competitions in Cordoba (30 October-12 November).
Follow @DavisCup on Twitter and Instagram, and Davis Cup Tennis on Facebook for the latest updates on the men’s World Cup of Tennis.
Nicolas Jarry is enjoying the best season of his career, breaking into the Top 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time Monday. On Sunday, he spent time with his family ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel to take it all in.
Jarry, his wife Laura, sons Juan and Santiago, and his mother Cecilia toured the city, including a ferry ride across the Rhine River.
“Having my family around is wonderful and means the world to me,” Jarry said. “I’m happy to be here and looking forward to playing the Swiss Indoors.”
His wife Laura added: “I enjoy visiting new places and Basel is very beautiful. This summer we had a great time in Geneva and it is nice to be back in Switzerland.”
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There is one food you will never catch Nicolas Jarry eating.
The Chilean recently joined ATP Uncovered’s ‘What I Eat’ series to discuss his approach to nutrition and general eating habits. The 2023 breakthrough star also revealed the fruit he does not go anywhere near.
“I don’t like tomatoes,” Jarry said. “It’s always been something that I don’t eat since I’m a kid. Now it’s just mental. I know I can eat it, but it’s just a part of me.”
The 28-year-old brought fans inside his eating routine for breakfast, lunch and dinner. He also revealed his favourite tournaments for certain meals. Hint — one event serves particularly good ice cream.
To discover his selections and much more, watch the full video below.
Will this be the week Andy Murray wins his first ATP Tour title since 2019?
The former No. 1 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings made a good start on Monday when he defeated German Yannick Hanfmann 7-5, 6-4 to reach the second round at the Swiss Indoors Basel. The Scot snapped a three-match losing streak and will next face Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry, who ousted eighth seed Sebastian Korda 6-3, 1-6, 6-3.
“Happy to come through,” Murray said in his on-court interview. “He’s had a brilliant year and has been playing very well, so it’s a good result.”
Resilience personified 💪
Match point perfectly summing up a gruelling 7-5, 6-4 triumph for @andy_murray #SwissIndoorsBasel pic.twitter.com/Vif6yxdk9m
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 23, 2023
As normal for a Murray match, straight sets did not necessarily mean straightforward. The 36-year-old faced eight break points in the match and was broken when he served for the match at 5-3 in the second set.
“It was tough. The first four or five games were something like 45 minutes,” Murray said. “I don’t remember having that really before, it was ridiculous. And then had a chance at the end of the first set, didn’t get it and just managed to sneak a break at the end. Up again in the second, couldn’t quite finish it, but did well to respond and get the break at the end. Played a great point obviously on the match point to finish.”
But Murray was unrelenting on return, winning 43 per cent of his return points and breaking his opponent’s serve four times from six attempts to triumph after two hours and 19 minutes.
This is Murray’s third appearance at the ATP 500 event. He reached the second round last year (l. to Bautista Agut) and had not previously played in Basel since 2005.
Jan-Lennard Struff snapped a four-match losing streak on Monday, when he eliminated American Christopher Eubanks 7-6(7), 6-4. The big-serving German saved one set point in the first-set tie-break at 6/7 before he won 88 per cent (15/17) of points behind his first serve in the second set to earn his first Top 50 hard-court win of the season after one hour and 36 minutes.
Struff, who is making his second appearance in Basel, will next play fourth seed Hubert Hurkacz or Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The World No. 27 Struff has enjoyed standout results on clay and grass this year, advancing to the title match in Madrid as a lucky loser before reaching the final in Stuttgart. He holds a 4-6 record on hard courts in 2023.
In a three-hour, three-minute clash, Dutch qualifier Botic van de Zandschulp battled past former World No. 9 Roberto Bautista Agut 7-5, 6-7(3), 6-2. The 28-year-old converted six of his 16 break points to set a second-round match against sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime or another wild card, home favourite Leandro Riedi.
In other action, Sebastian Baez clawed past Christopher O’Connell 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-3 to improve to 2-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series. The Argentine Baez captured his first title on hard courts in Winston-Salem in August.
The 22-year-old will next meet top seed Holger Rune or Serbian Miomir Kecmanovic. Rune is currently eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and will seek a deep run in Basel to boost his Nitto ATP Finals qualification hopes.
Alexander Zverev hit 50 tour-level wins for 2023 in style on Monday at the Erste Bank Open, where the fifth-seeded German beat home wild card Sebastian Ofner 6-4, 6-1 at the ATP 500 in Vienna.
After an even start, Zverev won 10 of the final 12 games to claim a 78-minute triumph for a 3-0 lead in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Ofner. The German did not face a break point and converted four of seven break points he earned to improve to 8-1 in Vienna, where he lifted the trophy in 2021.
‘I’m A Contender’: Zverev Looks To Maintain Turin Charge In Vienna
Now 50-24 for the season, Zverev will take on Cameron Norrie or Austrian qualifier Filip Misolic on in the second round as he looks to add another Vienna crown to the Hamburg and Chengdu titles he has already won this season.
The 26-year-old Zverev, who snapped a three-match losing streak with Monday’s win against Ofner, remains seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin as he chases a Nitto ATP Finals qualification spot.
More to follow…
