John McEnroe said he thinks he did a “reasonably solid” job during his recent coaching stint with top Canadian Milos Raonic. But, like players who regret decisions after a match, the ATP World Tour legend also said he’s second-guessed his coaching in the weeks that have followed his initial work with Raonic.

“You always feel like you can do things better,” McEnroe said on Sunday at the BB&T Atlanta Open. “I felt like I did everything I could in the period of time I was given, but then afterwards I started thinking maybe I could have said or done something else. So you never can quite feel like you’ve done that A+ job.”

McEnroe joined Raonic’s team in late May and stayed with him until after the Wimbledon final on 10 July. The 25 year old achieved a career breakthrough with McEnroe by his side. For the first time, Raonic reached a Grand Slam championship final (Wimbledon, l. to Murray). The 6’5” right-hander also works with Carlos Moya, former No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and Riccardo Piatti.

“It’s nice to be around and if you can make that little bit of difference and help someone… that’s something I would take pride in,” McEnroe said.

The left-hander was in Atlanta to play an exhibition match with Sergi Bruguera, who has coached Richard Gasquet for the past three years. Bruguera agreed with McEnroe about second-guessing decisions. The 14-time tour-level champion also said the more time coaches can spend with players the more they can study them and learn how to best work with them.

“You need as much time as possible,” Bruguera said.

Raonic and Gasquet are part of a well-documented trend of current ATP World Tour stars hiring former greats to join their teams. Twelve-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 champion Andy Murray has re-hired Ivan Lendl. Stan Wawrinka, No. 4 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, also worked with 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek during the recent grass-court season.

“I respect the young players out there that are trying to be the best they can be and maximise their potential,” McEnroe said. “Sergi can obviously bring something to the table from his own experience. I’d like to think that I could as well.”

Bruguera, like McEnroe with Raonic, has been a part of career breakthroughs with Gasquet. This season, the 30-year-old Frenchman won Montpellier for the third consecutive season. Gasquet also reached the quarter-finals at Roland Garros for the first time (l. to Murray).

Bruguera said he has particularly tried to help Gasquet with being more professional and more solid throughout the entire season. “I was really focused on that,” he said. “You can always improve in every area.”

McEnroe said he plans to rejoin Raonic in the near future, most likely at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.

“It’s a process,” McEnroe said of working with a player. “[You’re] always trying to think of things and ways to try to get to know the person as well as possible.”

Konstantin Kravchuk can tell you that patience is a virtue. The 31 year old has been fighting to realise his dreams as a professional tennis player since first turning pro in 2004, and on Monday he made his long-awaited debut in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

Now one of five Russians in the Top 100, the Moscow native achieved the feat after reaching the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Astana last week, defeating second seed and former World No. 33 Denis Istomin to seal his place among the game’s elite.

“It was very emotional,” Kravchuk told ATPWorldTour.com. “When I served on match point and Denis didn’t return, I put my hands to my face and just sat there for a minute. Then, the tears came automatically. My entire tennis life, since my first pro match, came back to me.”

Ten years removed from making his ATP World Tour debut in Moscow, Kravchuk has enjoyed a breakthrough 2016 campaign, winning his second ATP Challenger Tour title in Busan, South Korea, in May, and surging up the Emirates ATP Rankings. Two weeks ago, he claimed his first match win on the ATP World Tour since 2013 with a three-set upset of Guido Pella on the clay of Gstaad.

“The biggest difference was Wimbledon. I got to warm up with Novak Djokovic and hit with Andy Murray. Hitting with the No. 1 and No. 2 players in the world and seeing how they approached a practice was really important. After this, I took a big step with my attitude and confidence.”

With a new chapter in his professional journey just starting, Kravchuk has new goals as he continues his ascent up the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“My goal is to finish this season as high as I can,” he added. “Of course I want to play my home [ATP World Tour] tournaments in St. Petersburg and Moscow and also be a part of our Davis Cup tie against Kazakhstan for a spot in the World Group. This is a big milestone, but just the beginning.”

Donald Young is through to the BB&T Atlanta Open second round but not before an almighty scare, saving two match points in a 22-point tie-break before denying Austin Krajicek 3-6, 7-6(10), 7-5. The No. 7 seed, playing in his home tournament, was forced to come back from the brink again in the deciding set, breaking as his fellow American lefty served for it at 5-3.

A ninth double fault from Krajicek surrendered that crucial break and it was the final momentum swing Young would need. He promptly brought up three break points, converting for 6-5 on his second opportunity, and served it out after two hours and 33 minutes.

“It was rough. I started off quite nervous. He was playing well,” Young said. “He was serving well, he was volleying, he played a little different than I expected. He was keeping the pressure on and making me come up with shots.”

Young, who lives just a few blocks from the BB&T Atlanta Open courts, did not panic when trailing in the second-set tie-break and in the third set. “I didn’t want to go out like that,” he said. “I didn’t want Monday to be my last day at the tournament and have to watch it from my window.”

Krajicek, the World No. 131 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, had won through qualifying for the second year in a row and looked on his way to inflicting Young’s sixth straight defeat in Atlanta. Fortunately for Young, his stay at his home event would be extended at least another round.

“It’s like a two-minute walk. It’s the best lodging to site all year for me, so I enjoy it,” he said. “I’m sleeping great – my bed, my pillows. It feels good.”

Next up for the 27 year old is countryman Tim Smyczek, a narrow winner over Brazilian lucky loser Thiago Monteiro. In the first meeting between Smyczek and Monteiro, the American fired 10 aces and capitalised on four of his nine break point chances to come from a set down 5-7, 7-6(5), 6-3. 

“I’m still trying to find my form a little bit,” Smyczek said. “I’m actually hitting the ball very well, so that’s exciting. It was good to get through this first hurdle here and give myself a chance to play even better the next round.” 

Second seed Nick Kyrgios will play his opener in Atlanta against fellow #NextGen star Jared Donaldson. The American reached the second round with a 6-2, 6-4 win over Sam Groth, saving both break points he faced to beat the Aussie in 65 minutes. Donaldson levelled his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Groth at 1-1.

“I felt like I used the conditions to my advantage and played a really solid match,” Donaldson said, adding on his next clash against Kyrgios: “It will be definitely a challenging match but I feel I’m in a good position to give him a good match also.” 

Adrian Mannarino had a narrow 6-3, 3-6, 7-6(5) escape against German qualifier Mischa Zverev. The World No. 139 Zverev served for the match at 6-5 in the decider only to be broken by the Frenchman. Mannarino needed three match points in the tie-break to get the job done. He will next meet top seed and three-time defending champion John Isner.

In a battle of two young Americans playing for their first ATP World Tour victory, it was 6′ 11” wild card Reilly Opelka who edged past 20-year-old qualifier Christopher Eubanks in the last singles match of the day. The 19-year-old Opelka did not face a break point in the 7-6(9), 7-6(5) win and he will go on to play No. 3 seed Kevin Anderson.

“It was awesome tonight. It feels good, especially with some of the injuries I’ve had and setbacks,” Opelka said. “I’m happy I was able to get a win tonight, get that off my back and get ready to move on.”

In doubles, Marcelo Demoliner and Guillermo Garcia-Lopez beat Tobias Kamke and Dusan Lajovic 6-2, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals while Ukrainian pairing Alexandr Dolgopolov and Sergiy Stakhovsky took down Australians Nick Kyrgios and James Frawley 6-4, 6-0.

Three-time defending champion John Isner leads the field this week in Atlanta, with other seeds including #NextGen star Nick Kyrgios, Kevin Anderson and Alexandr Dolgopolov.

DAY 2 PREVIEW:

Austin Smith makes his ATP World Tour debut when he faces No. 8 seed Taylor Fritz, the youngest player in the Top 100. Fritz, 18, is at a career-high No. 60 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.

No. 5 seed Fernando Verdasco and No. 6 seed Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain will make their Atlanta debuts against Dusan Lajovic and Horacio Zeballos respectively. Also on Stadium Court, American Bjorn Fratangelo meets Igor Sijsling of The Netherlands.

Roger Federer’s comeback win over Tomas Berdych at the 2010 Rogers Cup has been crowned the Golden Moment of Toronto’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament. 

View Golden Moment Bracket

Over eight days and three rounds, fans cast their votes for their favourite of eight Classic Moments from the Rogers Cup. ‘Federer Outduels Berdych’ received 91.84 per cent of votes cast in the final against ‘Safin’s First Masters Title’. It also won by overwhelming margins in the first two rounds, advancing in Round 1 over Andre Agassi’s 1992 defeat of Ivan Lendl and in the quarter-finals over Patrick Rafter’s dominant run in 1998.

Safin had narrowly earned a place in the final, edging Guillermo Canas’s 2002 giant-killing effort by a two per cent margin. In Round 1, Safin’s Classic Moment advanced over Novak Djokovic’s battling 2014 win over Gael Monfils. 

Wimbledon junior champion Denis Shapovalov has been making headlines for his recent success at the pro level, but fellow Canadian and doubles partner Felix Auger Aliassime is primed to do the same this summer.

The 15 year old has enjoyed plenty of accolades at the junior level, with a current standing of No. 5 in the ITF Junior Rankings. Auger Aliassime reached the boys’ singles final at Roland Garros this spring and followed that up with a runner-up finish in the boys’ doubles final (w/Shapovalov) at Wimbledon.

Now, the Montreal native is turning his focus to the pros on the ATP Challenger Tour. He’s competing at home this week at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Granby and hopes to use his time here as a valuable learning experience.

“It’s great to see the level of the Challenger guys and see what you have to work on to get to that level,” said Auger Aliassime. “Of course, they’re physically better. They have bigger shots, bigger serves. It’s good to see them play and good to see that I can compete with these guys.”

Last year in Granby, Auger Aliassime came through qualifying to reach the quarter-finals. At 14 years old, he became the youngest player to win a main draw match on the ATP Challenger Tour and the youngest player to break into the Top 800 of the Emirates ATP Rankings.

“Rewriting history was great for me,” said Auger Aliassime. “Just being able to reach a Challenger quarter-final for the first time was awesome.”

Shapovalov is joining him in Granby this week and the pair is also teaming up in the doubles draw. With both of them and another rising Canadian, Benjamin Sigouin, on the rise, they’ve all been motivating each other to keep taking their games to the next level.

“It wouldn’t be the same thing if it was only one of us,” said Auger Aliassime. “We keep pushing each other to always improve. And Denis is a great partner for me. We have a good energy and bond well together.”

Having already reached his first pro final this May at a Futures event in Spain, Auger Aliassime is eager for more success. His ultimate goal is to make it onto the ATP World Tour and experience the same level of success as fellow Canadian Milos Raonic.

“When I was about 10 or 11, he told us to just work hard and listen to our coaches. I mostly learn from watching him play matches and seeing him on tour,” said Auger Aliassime. “He’s a great role model for Tennis Canada and a great ambassador for the tennis community.” 

Nick Kyrgios will dribble past you and possibly break your ankles. You have to put a hand in Christopher Eubanks’ face, even if he’s a foot behind the 3-point line. You cannot stop 7’0” Reilly Opelka. Really. You can’t stop him. And don’t underestimate Taylor Fritz’s deep jumper.

The four budding ATP World Tour players took a break from the hard courts at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Sunday evening to try out their skills on the hardwood at Georgia Tech. The quartet headed across the road from the ATP World Tour 250 tournament, held at Atlantic Station, to McCamish Pavilion to play some two-on-two hoops.

They wide-eyed past jerseys of former Georgia Tech stars who became successful NBA players, including Chris Bosh and Jarrett Jack. They practised among the NCAA Tournament banners of former Yellow Jacket teams. The four tennis players also played a little hoops themselves, sweating through their shirts after competing for more than 90 minutes.

“It’s just amazing to come out here… a big arena, playing, just the play the four of us,” Fritz said. “It’s special. You don’t get to do it, ever.”

The four played three two-on-two games, changing teams after every game. Kyrgios crossed up his opponents, making Fritz fall backwards at one point with his dribble-drive penetration. But the 18-year-old American earned revenge the very next point on his fellow #NextGen star when he hit a 3-pointer a foot behind the arc.

“Fritz started off pretty cold but he played well,” said Kyrgios, a Boston Celtics fan who wore a Nike “Basketball Never Stops” T-shirt for the occasion.

The hot hand rotated throughout play. During some stretches, Eubanks couldn’t miss. “This guy’s feeling it out there. He’s shooting like Bradley Beal!” Kyrgios said, comparing Eubanks to the Washington Wizards star.

No one could stop Opelka. Even the 6’7” Eubanks had trouble guarding him. “He’s so big!” Eubanks said.

“I can’t guard him, obviously,” Fritz said after a failed attempt.

Intentionally fouling the 7’0” right-hander also didn’t work. “Hack-a-Shaq,” shouted Kyrgios, with his arms wrapped around Opelka, referring to how some NBA teams used to try to guard former NBA star Shaquille O’Neal, who was 7’1”.

“We fouled a lot,” Eubanks said. “It still didn’t work.”

On Monday evening, Eubanks and Opelka will return to a more familiar court to compete, the hard courts at the BB&T Atlanta Open.

Eubanks, who grew up in Atlanta, will make his ATP World Tour debut after qualifying for the 250 event. The 18-year-old Opelka also will be making his Atlanta main draw debut after receiving a wild card.

“It was pretty fun today,” Opelka said. “Me and Eubanks were going at it on the basketball court. Looking forward to [Monday]. We’re pretty good friends. It’s going to be a good one.”

The foursome also were already making plans for more basketball, depending on how their tennis goes, of course.

“It was a lot of fun coming here and just seeing what it was like to get on a court like this,” Kyrgios said. “Hopefully we can continue to play… It was unbelievable.”

Kei Nishikori continued his qualification push last week for a spot at the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 13-20 November. The Japanese star rose one spot to fourth place in the Emirates ATP Race To London after a Rogers Cup runner-up finish – his third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 final run. He is now 510 points behind No. 3 Milos Raonic (4,015).

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The recent Citi Open champion Gael Monfils moved Tomas Berdych out of an automatic qualification position by advancing to the Toronto semi-finals (l. to Djokovic). The Frenchman, who is now at No. 8, is 185 points behind seventh-placed Stan Wawrinka, who also reached the last four (l. to Nishikori) at the Aviva Centre.

Wawrinka (2,730 points), Monfils (2,545) and Berdych (2,440) are all now within sight of sixth-placed Dominic Thiem (2,845), who has gone 1-3 in his past three tournaments.

View Emirates ATP Race To London

Five-time Barclays ATP World Tour Finals titlist Novak Djokovic, who captured his 30th ATP World Tour Masters 1000 trophy last week, and No. 2 Andy Murray have already qualified. Six singles spots are up for grabs.

Dodig/Melo Make Their Move

Ivan Dodig and Marcelo Melo secured their third ATP World Tour Masters 1000 team title with victory in Toronto on Sunday. It helped the Croatian-Brazilian pair to jump three spots to fifth position (3,130) in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London, just 140 points behind No. 4-ranked Feliciano Lopez and Marc Lopez (3,270). Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut (6,175) lead overall with all eight doubles team berths available.

View Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London

Novak Djokovic owned the start of the point and the back of the court to defeat Kei Nishikori 6-3, 7-5 in the the final of the Rogers Cup in Toronto on Sunday.

Djokovic is a master at figuring out where the key areas of separation exist in a match, and there were numerous battles against Nishikori that finished even, or ones that he lost. 

Nishikori won more of the extended rallies of 10+ shots (9-8), hit more overall winners (14-13), and performed better on second serves, winning 56 per cent (9/16) to Djokovic’s 43 per cent (6/14).

But those were secondary elements of this final. You can’t win all the skirmishes around the court, and Djokovic focused his strengths on attacking early, pressuring with direction, and taking time away in the preparation phase of Nishikori’s lethal groundstrokes. 

First Strike Tennis

The length of a point matters a lot in our sport. On hard courts, around 70 per cent of points are played in the 0-4 shot rally length, 20 per cent in the 5-9 shot rally length, and only 10 per cent of points make it 10 shots or longer.

Players that win the 0-4 shot rally length typically win the match more than 90 per cent of the time. Surprisingly, players that win the extended rallies of 10 shots or more (the rallies that look so much like the practice court) have a much lower correlation of winning the match – less than 60 per cent of the time. 

True to form, Djokovic won the short rallies up to four shots 36-26, and lost the really long rallies 8-9. Fifty four per cent of total rallies existed in the 0-4 shot range, 31 per cent in the 5-9 shot range, and only 15 per cent of total points went 10 shots or longer.

Djokovic simply reigned supreme in by far the biggest pool of points a tennis match offers (0-4 shots), which is the same at every level of the game. 

Baseline Control

Once the point developed into a baseline duel, Djokovic dominated 35-28. The writing was on the wall early, with Djokovic winning baseline points by an 18-10 margin in the opening set. With Djokovic up a set and a break, 6-3, 2-1, he had directed 48 per cent of his forehands to Nishikori’s forehand, 47 per cent to his backhand, and only two rally forehands had landed in the middle third of the court.

Djokovic did not particularly care where he attacked from the back of the court, as long as his court position was superior and he was making Nishikori lean off the ball. This forced Nishikori to “press” with his groundstrokes, often going for a little too much when it wasn’t quite there.

Nishikori narrowly missed time and time again, trying to play offence when Djokovic was dictating that he needed to play defence. Overall, Nishikori committed 17 forehand and 17 backhand errors for the match, a testament to Djokovic’s attacking so evenly with his forehand. 

Serve + 1 Forehands

Djokovic’s backhand normally gets all the attention, but right from the start of this match he was looking to upgrade to a forehand as much as possible with his first shot after the serve, sometimes running into the Ad court to do it. Djokovic won 69 per cent (11/16) when he started the point with a serve and a forehand, including eight of ten in the opening set. He only won 50 per cent (9/18) when he started with a serve and a backhand, including just 33 per cent (3/9) in the second set.

Djokovic picks and chooses his battles wisely, and his leverage is not immediately picked up by the naked eye. But a stats sheet lays bare where the World No. 1 creates his separation.