Arthur Fils: From a makeshift court to making the grade on the ATP Tour
Arthur Fils: From a makeshift court to making the grade on the ATP Tour
Arthur Fils: From a makeshift court to making the grade on the ATP Tour
Carlos Alcaraz has enjoyed a tremendously successful season, winning two majors (Roland Garros and Wimbledon), an ATP Masters 1000 event at Indian Wells and an ATP 500 in Beijing. But his great rival, Jannik Sinner, has already clinched ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours and Alcaraz is not shy about admitting the Italian has had the better year.
“For sure. I mean, [it] doesn’t matter that I have beaten Jannik three times. Probably I didn’t play good tennis in some tournaments. My percentage of wins this year is really, really high, but Jannik is another level this year,” Alcaraz said. “[He has earned] over 91 per cent of wins this year. So just [a] few players have done this before.
“But yeah, I think [all] players are looking for being more consistent during the year. In every tournament that you’re going to play, you want to go far or as far as you can. That’s my goal the next year. In the tournaments that I didn’t play well or I didn’t go as far as I wanted, just try to do it.”
Alcaraz has been consistent, winning 83.6 per cent (51-10) of his matches in 2024 according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. Sinner has just been more consistent, claiming 91.5 per cent (65-6) of his matches.
Despite the battle for year-end No. 1 being over, Alcaraz is keen to finish his season on a high, beginning this week at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he is seeded second.
“I have important tournaments ahead, that I really want to go far [in] and play good tennis,” Alcaraz said. “The most important thing that I have to think is to understand the goals about the end of the year. I want to finish second in the [PIF ATP] Rankings. That means that I have to play good tennis and be fresh mentally to do good results in the last tournaments.”
[ATP APP]Second-placed Alcaraz leads third-placed Alexander Zverev by 395 points in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, which serves as a barometer for the year-end PIF ATP Rankings. There is plenty of tennis left, beginning with a key ATP Masters 1000 event this week.
The Spaniard owns a 4-3 record at Bercy and has not advanced past the quarter-finals. He will begin his tournament against Nicolas Jarry or Lorenzo Sonego.
“I haven’t played good tennis here in this tournament. Probably at the end of the year, I have been tired,” Alcaraz said. “I think I did prepare really well this year. So I don’t know, you know… Coming to this year, I think I’m feeling different. I know what I have to do. I have been doing great work lately. So I think I’m ready to do good results or at least go farther than last year. That I think is not really difficult.”
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Home favourite Ugo Humbert maintained his impressive record on indoor hard courts in France on Monday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where he moved past American Brandon Nakashima 6-3, 4-6, 6-4.
The Frenchman has won his past nine matches on French indoor courts, having lifted trophies in Metz in 2023 and in Marseille in February. Backed by vocal home support in Paris, Humbert fended off both break points he faced against Nakashima in a tight deciding set to book his spot in the second round after two hours and six minutes.
ALLEZ, UGO!!! ALLEZ, UGO!!! 🔊🇫🇷@HumbertUgo holds his nerve to defeat Nakashima on home soil and will now face Giron in the second round.#RolexParisMasters | @RolexPMasters pic.twitter.com/CrUSRwP6GZ
— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 28, 2024
The 15th seed Humbert, who is the first Frenchman seeded at the ATP Masters 1000 event since Gael Monfils in 2021, now leads Nakashima 3-0 in the pair’s Lexus ATP Head2Head series.
Chasing his third title of the season, the No. 18 player in the PIF ATP Rankings will next play Marcos Giron after the American beat #NextGenATP Chinese lefty Shang Juncheng 7-6(6), 7-6(6).
Giron saved one set point in the first set and three set points in the second set before eventually advancing after two hours and seven minutes.
[ATP APP]Earlier, Dutchman Tallon Griekspoor downed Luciano Darderi 6-3, 6-4 to set a second-round meeting with third seed Alexander Zverev. Argentine Tomas Martin Etcheverry advanced, saving all five break points he faced according to Infosys ATP Stats en route to beating Zhang Zhizhen 6-3, 7-6(6). Etcheverry will face Nitto ATP Finals hopeful Grigor Dimitrov next.
Another Argentine, Francisco Cerundolo, also reached the second round. Cerundolo eliminated French qualifier Quentin Halys 7-6(5), 6-3. There was success for Frenchman Arthur Rinderknech, who progressed on home soil when Tomas Machac retired. Machac led 7-6(3), 3-5 when played was halted.
Cerundolo next meets sixth seed Andrey Rublev, while Rinderknech plays Pole Hubert Hurkacz or #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen. In other action, Australian Jordan Thompson eliminated Spaniard Pedro Martinez 6-4, 6-4.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Former Wimbledon champion Simona Halep loses on her latest WTA Tour comeback, having won just once since returning from a doping ban in March.
In the wake of Jack Draper claiming the biggest title of his career, BBC Sport analyses his transformation over the past 12 months.
At the 2005 Rolex Paris Masters, unseeded Tomas Berdych became the lowest-ranked champion in tournament history by beating Ivan Ljubicic in a five-set final. The Czech, No. 50 in the PIF ATP Rankings at the time, started a 21st-century trend of surprise champions at the ATP Masters 1000 in the French capital, with trophy runs for unseeded stars like David Nalbandian, Karen Khachanov and Holger Rune — plus the 16th-seeded Jack Sock — following Berdych’s triumph.
Since 2005, only one man has won multiple titles at the prestigious Paris event: Novak Djokovic, who claimed the first of his seven in 2009. Roger Federer (2011) and Andy Murray (2016) have also reigned at a tournament that has crowned superstars and rising stars as champions in equal measure. With the Serbian out of this year’s event and Federer and Murray now retired, the stage could be ripe for another dark horse to finish first.
Ahead of the latest edition of the Paris tournament, ATPTour.com looks back at the unexpected titlists who could inspire a new surprise champion in 2024.
[ATP APP]Tomas Bedych, 2005
A 20-year-old Berdych won his one and only ATP Masters 1000 title with a five-set victory against Ljubicic in the 2005 final on indoor carpet. The Czech beat five seeded players en route to the title, including Guillermo Coria, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Gaston Gaudio and countryman Radek Stepanek, before his 6-3, 6-4, 3-6, 4-6, 6-4 triumph against Ljubicic.
Berdych had previously beaten Federer at the 2004 Olympics, but even he was shocked by his success in Paris, where he remains the lowest-ranked champ in tournament history.
“If someone told me I was going to win the tournament, I would have called him crazy,” Berdych said at the time.
The Paris title was the second of Berdych’s 13 tour-level titles. He reached 19 additional finals, including three at the ATP Masters 1000 level and one at Wimbledon in 2020. The former World No. 4 retired in 2019 and has since gone on to coach Jiri Lehecka, though the pair split in September.
Tomas Berdych and Ivan Ljubicic are joined by 2004 Paris champ Marat Safin during the 2005 trophy ceremony. Photo by Clive Brunskill/Getty Images.
David Nalbandian, 2007
As the Rolex Paris Masters returned to indoor hard courts in 2007, Nalbandian ushered in the new era with a shock title run that saw him knock out both Federer and Rafael Nadal. The Argentine took out top seed Federer 6-4, 7-6(3) in the third round and later stunned Nadal 6-4, 6-0 in the final, also beating Carlos Moya, David Ferrer and Richard Gasquet along the way.
The title was part of a late-season surge for Nalbandian, who won the ATP Masters Cup (now the Nitto ATP Finals) in 2005 but dropped outside of the Top 20 during the 2007 campaign. He won 12 of his last 13 matches that year to end on a high with ATP Masters 1000 trophies in Madrid and Paris. In Madrid, he beat Nadal, Djokovic and Federer in succession to win the title.
Jack Sock, 2017
Sock’s surprise Paris title in 2017 was doubly significant: In addition to the title, the result earned him a place at that year’s Nitto ATP Finals, where he reached the semi-finals.
The American battled back from a set down in three of his five Paris victories, winning two tie-breaks to edge Kyle Edmund in his opening match and later battling back against Fernando Verdasco and Filip Krajinovic. A 5-7, 6-4, 6-1 victory against Serbian qualifier Krajinovic earned Sock his lone ATP Masters 1000 title.
“Crazy things can happen,” Sock, then 25, said of his run. “That’s sports, and that’s why we play.”
Sock became the first American to claim a Masters 1000 title since Andy Roddick won Miami in 2010; it was not until Taylor Fritz’s 2022 Indian Wells title that another player from the United States would break through at that level. Sock’s triumph also affected Big Four lore, as it meant that — for the first time since 2004 — more than three Masters 1000 titles were won by players outside that elite group.
Jack Sock celebrates at the 2017 Rolex Paris Masters. Photo by Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images.
Karen Khachanov, 2018
After saving two match points and surviving a 10/8 third-set tie-break against John Isner in the third round, Khachanov made quick work of fourth seed Alexander Zverev and sixth seed Dominic Thiem to reach his first — and to date, only — ATP Masters 1000 final.
The difficulty level would only increase at the last hurdle, with Novak Djokovic across the net chasing his fifth Paris title. Against a fourth consecutive Top 10 opponent, a 22-year-old Khachanov produced a big-hitting display to claim a 7-5, 6-4 victory.
“It means the world to me,” said Khachanov, who would rise to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 8 the following year. “I couldn’t be happier to finish the season like this.”
The result has stood up as the biggest of his career, alongside his 2021 Olympic semi-final victory that earned him a silver medal. Now 28, Khachanov has also reached the semi-finals at the US Open (2022) and Australian Open (2023).
Holger Rune, 2022
A fearless 19-year-old Rune saved three match points on the way to his first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Paris, but that was not the most eye-catching statistic from his breakthrough week. After saving those match points in his opening win against Stan Wawrinka, Rune rattled off five consecutive Top 10 wins to complete his shock run. The Dane beat Hubert Hurkacz, Andrey Rublev, Carlos Alcaraz and Felix Auger-Aliassime without dropping a set before meeting defending champ Djokovic in the final.
From a set down, Rune showed nerves of steel to attack the Serbian in the clutch moments of a 3-6, 6-3, 7-5 victory. In the match’s final game, he saved six break points as he dug deep to claim the biggest title of his career in dramatic fashion.
“It was the most stressful game of my life,” he said of the marathon game. “My heart was almost in my brain. I was already starting to think about the tie-break. I’m very proud I could finish it.”
On the heels of those five Top 10 wins, Rune earned himself a place in that elite group as he left Paris at No. 10 in the PIF ATP Rankings. The Dane finished the 2022 season by reaching four straight finals and claiming three titles. Buoyed by that success, he climbed to a career-high PIF ATP Ranking of No. 4 in 2023.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]With the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin edging to a close, the battle to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals took further shape in Basel and Vienna, where Turin hopefuls Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev, Alex de Minaur, Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Paul competed.
With two weeks to go until the Nitto ATP Finals, ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin as of Monday, 28 October.
[ATP APP]Alex de Minaur – Ninth (3,555 points)
The Aussie remains one place outside the Turin qualification cutoff but closed the gap on eighth-placed Andrey Rublev (3,720 points) after reaching the semi-finals in Vienna. De Minaur collected 200 points in the process. The 25-year-old, who has struggled with a hip injury since Wimbledon, beat Jan-Lennard Struff, Flavio Cobolli and #NextGenATP Czech Jakub Mensik in Austria. De Minaur is aiming to make his debut at the Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November.
View PIF ATP Live Race To Turin
Andrey Rublev – Eighth (3,720 points)
Rublev added another 100 precious points to his total by advancing to the quarter-finals in Basel. The 27-year-old, who has won two ATP Tour titles in 2024, is aiming to compete at the year-end event for the fifth consecutive season. Rublev will compete at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Paris this week.
Grigor Dimitrov – 10th (3,150 points)
Dimitrov has climbed one spot in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin after reaching the second round in Vienna. The 33-year-old is 570 points behind Rublev and will need a deep run in Paris to keep his qualification hopes alive. Last year, Dimitrov advanced to the title match at the final ATP Masters 1000 event of the season.
Jannik Sinner, Alexander Zverev, Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev have already qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]Former Top 5 stars Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori will be in action at the same ATP Challenger Tour event this week.
Wawrinka, the three-time major champion and Nishikori, the former No. 4 in the PIF ATP Rankings, will compete in the Slovak Open 2024. The ATP Challenger 125 tournament is being held in Bratislava.
Wawrinka, who also played ATP Challenger Tour events in Aix-en-Provence and Bordeaux earlier in the season, will begin his tournament against Maximilian Marterer.
Nishikori, who reached the quarter-finals in Como and Genoa in the past two months, will play third seed Marton Fucsovics in the first round.
Other players to watch include #NextGenATP star Joao Fonseca and fourth seed Jacob Fearnley, who owns a 23-1 ATP Challenger Tour record this season.
[ATP APP]There is plenty of Challenger action around the world this week, with events in Seoul, Sydney, Charlottesville, Guayaquil and Brazzaville, which is in Congo. The country makes its debut on the ATP Challenger Tour this week, becoming the 94th country/territory (and No. 10 in Africa) to host a tournament in Challenger history.
Hyeon Chung, who won the 2017 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, plays his first ATP Challenger Tour event of 2024 at the SISLEY Seoul Open.
You can watch all the action on Challenger TV, with live streams and full match replays.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]The final ATP Masters 1000 of the season, the Rolex Paris Masters, begins Monday with a full slate of action. Among the stars who will play are top-ranked Frenchman Ugo Humbert, 10th seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 11th seed Tommy Paul.
View the full Monday order of play below to see who is competing, on which court, and when they are scheduled.
[ATP APP]ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, 28 OCTOBER 2024
COURT CENTRAL start 11 a.m.
Tomas Machac (CZE) vs [WC] Arthur Rinderknech (FRA)
[Q] Quentin Halys (FRA) vs Francisco Cerundolo (ARG)
[15] Ugo Humbert (FRA) vs Brandon Nakashima (USA)
Not Before 7 p.m.
[10] Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs [LL] Roberto Carballes Baena (ESP)
Not Before 8:30 p.m.
[WC] Adrian Mannarino (FRA) vs [11] Tommy Paul (USA)
COURT 1 start 11 a.m.
Jordan Thompson (AUS) vs Pedro Martinez (ESP)
Tomas Martin Etcheverry (ARG) vs Zhizhen Zhang (CHN)
Sebastian Baez (ARG) vs [Q] Alejandro Davidovich Fokina (ESP)
Not Before 3:30 p.m.
[Q] Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Alexander Bublik (KAZ)
Nicolas Jarry (CHI) vs [Q] Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)
Hugo Nys (MON) / Jan Zielinski (POL) vs Nathaniel Lammons (USA) / Jackson Withrow (USA)
COURT 2 start 11 a.m.
Luciano Darderi (ITA) vs Tallon Griekspoor (NED)
[PR] Marin Cilic (CRO) / Ivan Dodig (CRO) vs Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) / Andres Molteni (ARG)
Not Before 1:30 p.m.
[Q] Juncheng Shang (CHN) vs [Q] Marcos Giron (USA)
Not Before 4:00 p.m.
[WC] Sadio Doumbia (FRA) / Fabein Reboul (FRA) vs Taylor Fritz (USA) / Ben Shelton (USA)
Marcelo Melo (BRA) / Alexander Zverev (GER) vs Austin Krajicek (USA) / Rajeev Ram (USA)
Not Before 7 p.m.
Nuno Borges (POR) vs Alejandro Tabilo (CHI)
Jannik Sinner, Carlos Alcaraz, Alexander Zverev and Daniil Medvedev have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. This week’s Rolex Paris Masters will play a critical role in deciding who will join them.
Taylor Fritz is in pole position to return to the season finale, to be played from 10-17 November, for the second time. In 2022, the American reached the semi-finals in Turin.
The fifth-placed Fritz has 4,290 points and can guarantee his place at the year-end championships by making the quarter-finals at the season’s final ATP Masters 1000 event. There are also other scenarios in which he would qualify earlier in the tournament based on the performance of players below him in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.
PIF ATP Live Race To Turin (entering Paris)
| Player | Points |
| 5) Taylor Fritz | 4,290 |
| 6) Novak Djokovic | 3,910 |
| 7) Casper Ruud | 3,845 |
| 8) Andrey Rublev | 3,720 |
| 9) Alex de Minaur | 3,555 |
| 10) Grigor Dimitrov | 3,150 |
| 11) Tommy Paul | 3,135 |
| 12) Stefanos Tsitsipas | 2,975 |
Sixth-placed Novak Djokovic is not competing in Paris. Since the Serbian is 380 points behind the American, Fritz is guaranteed to finish the regular season ahead of him in the Live Race.
Only 290 points separate seventh-placed Casper Ruud (3,845 points) and ninth-placed Alex de Minaur (3,555 points). Ruud (2) and Rublev (4) have made multiple Nitto ATP Finals appearances in the past, while De Minaur is trying to make his tournament debut.
“I’m looking over my shoulder because there are a lot of guys that can do really well here and even next week also counts,” Ruud said. “So there will still be a few more days or weeks of kind of nervous sleeping and thinking about it. But it’s okay.
“I’m in the position where if I do well it looks like I might be able to qualify, especially if I do well this week. So I’m just going to think about myself, not going to think about things I can’t control in terms of what other players do. But it’s getting tense. It’s becoming a really, really interesting Race and a close Race. A lot of things can still happen this week.”
[ATP APP]Tenth-placed Grigor Dimitrov, the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion, 11th-placed Tommy Paul and 12th-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas, the 2019 season finale winner, need deep runs in Paris to keep alive their dreams of qualifying.
Three potential Rolex Paris Masters third-round matches are Fritz facing De Minaur, Ruud taking on Paul and Rublev playing Tsitsipas. Each would be critical in not only the tournament, but also the Live Race.
The Belgrade Open and the Moselle Open, two ATP 250 events the week after Paris, also count towards the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and qualification for the Nitto ATP Finals.
[NEWSLETTER FORM]