Stefanos Tsitsipas showed few signs of nerves in his maiden ATP Tour grass-court final on Saturday at the Mallorca Championships, where the second seed downed Roberto Bautista Agut to claim his first tour-level title on the surface.

In a topsy-turvy encounter, Tsitsipas was broken when serving for the match at 5-3 in the deciding set, but the Greek held firm to claim a thrilling 6-4, 3-6, 7-6(2) win and clinch the ninth tour-level title of his career. The second seed was clinical with his opportunities at key moments to prevail after two hours and 31 minutes.

“It looks like I’m playing longer matches on grass than I do on clay,” joked Tsitsipas in his on-court interview. “This was an incredible fight and an incredible battle. I know it can be difficult for one person to deal with the loss, but I think for tennis it is great that we are able to play at this high level and show our sport [at its limits].”

It was a Tour-leading 40th win of the season for Tsitsipas, who also lifted the trophy at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April. The Greek moved past Ilya Ivashka, Marcos Giron, Benjamin Bonzi and Bautista Agut this week to improve his career record on grass to 14-10, and Tsitsipas climbed one spot to No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his exploits in Mallorca.

Tsitsipas came out firing in the early stages and the Greek’s aggressive play earned him a 4-0 lead as Bautista Agut struggled to settle in front of an enthusiastic home crowd. Although the Spaniard was able to regain his composure to reclaim one break, Tsitsipas found sufficient rhythm on serve to ease to the first set.

Bautista Agut appeared in deep trouble when Tsitsipas broke again in the third game of the second set, but the situation appeared to bring freedom to the home favourite. The Spaniard reeled off five games in a row from 1-3, demonstrating the sort of clean hitting that earned him a quarter-final win against World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Thursday, to roar back into the contest. Bautista Agut claimed the second set having struck 12 winners to just three from his opponent.

Despite the mid-match barrage from Bautista Agut, Tsitsipas was able to unlock the Spaniard’s delivery again for a 3-1 lead in the deciding set. Although the Greek stuttered when serving for the title at 5-3, he dominated the deciding-set tie-break to extend his ATP Head2Head series lead over the Spaniard to 3-0.

Bautista Agut was bidding for his second title of the year after he claimed the 10th ATP Tour crown of his career in Dubai in February. The Spaniard’s run in his homeland this week improved his record for the 2022 season to 23-8.

“I’d like to congratulate Roberto on your run to the final,” said Tsitsipas at the trophy presentation. “You are one of the toughest competitors out there and one of the toughest guys I have played. There is lots of respect from my side for [producing] such premium tennis at such a high intensity and level.

“You’ve done incredible things for our sport, especially against top players, and have proven yourself again and again, so congrats on an amazing week. I’m happy that we had such a good battle in the final.”

Rafael Nadal last took the court for a competitive match three weeks ago, when he won his record-extending 22nd Grand Slam singles title and 14th Roland Garros crown. Now set to play Wimbledon for the first time in three years, the 36-year-old enters London halfway to a calendar-year Grand Slam for the first time in his career.

But in typical Nadal fashion, the Spaniard is focussing on the present. Fortunately for the second seed, the current situation is positive with regard to his chronic foot injury. After playing Roland Garros with his foot “asleep” as a result of frequent injections, Nadal underwent a new treatment to numb the problematic nerves in his foot for what he hopes is a more permanent solution.

“[I am] quite happy about how [it has] evolved,” he told the press on Saturday ahead of his opening-round match against Francisco Cerundolo. “First of all, I can walk normal most of the days, almost every single day. That’s for me the main issue. When I wake up, I don’t have this pain that I was having for the last year and a half, so quite happy about that.

“And second thing, practising. I have been overall better, honestly. Since the last two weeks, I didn’t have not one day of these terrible days that I can’t move at all… The feeling and overall feelings are positive, because I am in a positive way in terms of pain, and that’s the main thing.”

Like at Roland Garros, Nadal made it clear that he would not discuss his injury during Wimbledon. But before his Tuesday opener, he answered several questions on the topic, admitting he cannot be sure how long the improvement will last.

“Of course, the treatment that I did didn’t fix my injury, not improving my injury at all, but can take out a little bit the pain. That’s the main goal,” he said.

“Honestly, I feel happy because the toughest thing is when you have too much pain — not playing tennis,” Nadal added. “Tennis is the second part of your life. Probably the toughest part is having pain on your life on a daily basis. If you don’t have pain outside of the tennis, it’s fine. Maybe you don’t play tennis. But the problem that I have is I have pain walking every single day. That sometimes affects your happiness… and how the attitude is not positive all the time.

“That’s all. Positive now. Let’s see what can happen in the future.”

Nadal was also asked to reflect on his stellar start to the 2022 season, which has seen him claim four trophies in six months, including the year’s first two Grand Slams. But the Spaniard is not looking back.

“Past is past,” he said. “Sport and life goes so quick. I am not a big fan of living on the things that you achieved because sport doesn’t give you that time to keep thinking on the things that happened.”

It’s almost that time of the year and the field is SET! 🍓

Who’s your favourite? 👇@Wimbledon pic.twitter.com/DECm42B77d

— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 24, 2022

Despite the ongoing foot injury and a rib fracture that sidelined him for over a month following his run to the Indian Wells final, Nadal has compiled a 30-3 record in the season — a run of success that has surprised even him.

“I will never say a drama because drama are other things in life,” he explained. “Without a doubt, we are only playing tennis. But in terms of daily suffering, it has been tough in terms of every day going on the court without knowing if I am going to be able to finish the practice the proper way or finish the match the proper way. That’s tough to accept.

“But in general terms, it has been an amazing, positive six months in terms of tennis results. I enjoy it because it has been unexpected. But now is the moment to keep going, if I am able to be better with my body. Main thing for me is keep enjoying my daily work and my day-by-day playing tennis.”

Nadal’s path to a third Wimbledon title could go through sixth seed Felix Auger-Aliassime — whom he battled in a five-set Roland Garros fourth round — or Eastbourne champion Taylor Fritz in the quarter-finals, with fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas and 2021 Wimbledon finalist Matteo Berrettini potential semi-final opponents.

Their partnership is barely three months old, but a lack of experience was again no problem for Rafael Matos and David Vega Hernandez as they claimed the title at the Mallorca Championships on Saturday afternoon.

The Brazilian-Spanish duo came strong late in the championship match to secure a 7-6(5), 6-7(6), 10-1 victory against Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar. It is a second tour-level title for the pair, which only came together in March and was making its grass-court debut at the ATP 250 event in Spain.

“The victory feels amazing,” said Vega Hernandez after lifting the trophy in front of his home fans. “I started the week without knowing if I would be able to finish it as I had an issue in my abductor. We worked really hard with our team and to be able to finish the week like this is really incredible.”

“We had been playing for ten weeks straight,” said Matos. “We took two or three weeks off to rest and practice, and to see that the hard work paid off is really important for us to continue. And to do it on a surface that’s not our best one makes it also really special.”

Until the Match Tie-break, there was little to separate the two teams in their maiden ATP Head2Head series meeting. After clinching the first-set tie-break, Matos and Vega Hernandez fell short in the second-set tie-break despite rallying from 1/6 to level proceedings at 6/6. That disappointment was short-lived, however, as they dropped just one point in the decider to complete a two-hour, 23-minute victory.

Matos and Vega Hernandez lifted the trophy at their first tour-level tournament together in Marrakech in April, before reaching the final in Munich later that month and the quarter-finals at Roland Garros. Their run in Mallorca, which included an impressive semi-final triumph against Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer, takes the pair to a 15-3 record for the season.

Vega Hernandez admitted that their strong off-court relationship was a major contributing factor to the pair’s instant success. “It’s really important to get along on and off the Court,” he said. “I think that if there is chemistry off-court, it later shows on-court.”

Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic defeated Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the 2021 Wimbledon semi-finals en route to winning their maiden Grand Slam title as last year’s top seeds. Those two teams can only meet in the final this year in London, with Mektic/Pavic set to defend their title as the second seeds and Ram/Salisbury on the draw’s top line.

The Croatian defending champions are set to open their campaign against Benoit Paire and Albert Ramos-Vinolas, with a rematch of their Queen’s Club final against Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara looming as a potential third-round showdown in the draw’s bottom quarter. 

VIEW DOUBLES DRAW

Mektic/Pavic enter Wimbledon on the heels of an Eastbourne title for the second straight season and will look to extend an eight-match win streak that dates back to their Queen’s Club triumph earlier this month. Since they won their first tour-level title of the 2022 season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome, Mektic/Pavic have won four of their past five events.

Also in the bottom quarter is the first-time pairing of Casper Ruud and American William Blumberg. The Norwegian Ruud reached the 2021 Wimbledon quarter-finals alongside Andre Goransson, and progressed to his first Grand Slam singles final last month at Roland Garros. Ruud/Blumberg face Nicolas Barrientos and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela in the opening round.

The draw’s third quarter is anchored by Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer. Seeded fourth, the Salvadoran-Dutch duo opens up against American Denis Kudla and Jack Sock and could face fifth seeds Tim Puetz and Michael Venus in the quarter-finals.

Atop the draw, Ram/Salisbury — seeking their third Grand Slam title (2020 Australian Open, 2021 US Open) — will face Daniel Altmaier and Carlos Taberner in the opening round. The American-British duo won its lone trophy of 2022 at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April.

The Wimbledon top seeds reached the Roland Garros quarter-finals without dropping a set before bowing out to Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek in one of the most dramatic matches of the tournament, falling 6-3, 6-7(9), 6-7(10). A rematch could be on the cards in the Wimbledon quarter-finals.

Dodig and Krajicek, who went on the reach the Roland Garros final, are seeded eighth at Wimbledon and will take on Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey in the first round.

In the draw’s second quarter, third seeds Wesley Koolhof and Neal Skupski, who lead the Pepperstone ATP Doubles Team Rankings behind their five tour-level titles in 2022, will face the Argentine duo of Facundo Bagnis and Diego Schwartzman in the opening round. Ninth seeds Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares, who have won two major titles together, also landed in that quarter and will open against the French team of Benjamin Bonzi and Arthur Rinderknech.

For the third straight match, Maxime Cressy has extinguished the hopes of a British home favourite at the Rothesay International.

In Friday’s Eastbourne semi-finals, the American outlasted #NextGenATP Jack Draper 7-6(5), 6-7(2), 6-3 to reach the second ATP Tour final of his career. The two-hour and 41-minute victory follows straight-sets wins against top seed Cameron Norrie in the quarter-finals and Daniel Evans in the second round.

“Three matches in a row, it’s getting tough,” he said in an on-court interview, before addressing the British crowd. “Hopefully you guys are [cheering] for me tomorrow. Sorry guys, I apologise for this week. I know I made all the Brits lose, but thank you for a fantastic atmosphere… I’m very grateful for you guys.”

Cressy earned the first break of the match on his 10th chance to lead 4-2 in the third. But after facing just one previous break point, he had to save five in his last two service games as Draper dialled in on the return. The American dug deep to escape holes of 15/40 and 0/40 in those two games, rediscovering his serving touch at the crucial moments, and ultimately closed out the match by winning the five points in a row.

“It’s a roller coaster,” Cressy said of the nervy finish. “At 0/40… it’s hard to describe the feeling, but I feel a lot of relief from that game. I’m incredibly happy and thrilled to be in the final here.”

Cressy pressured Draper throughout the opening two sets, creating six break points, but found himself level with the 20-year-old after the Briton played an inspired second tie-break, buoyed by his home crowd. A dramatic final set included nine of the match’s 16 break points, with Cressy’s lone break proving the difference.

True to form, the 25-year-old charged the net at every opportunity and won 66 per cent (39/59) of such points. He frequently followed up big serves with volley winners, leading to an 81 per cent (57/70) win rate on first serve, including 21 aces.

The American received a medical timeout late in the second set for a lower-body issue, but responded well after dropping the tie-break to earn a chance to play for his first tour-level title. He reached his first final in January, when he put forth a strong effort in a 7-6(6), 6-3 defeat to Rafael Nadal.

Cressy’s run to the Eastbourne final lifts him to No. 46 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. His career-high Pepperstone ATP Rankings is No. 59, achieved in January. Draper, who was playing in his first tour-level semi-final, is up to No. 94 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings after reaching the semi-finals. He is currently fifth in the Pepperstone ATP Race To Milan. 

Cressy awaits the winner of Friday’s second semi-final between third seed Taylor Fritz and sixth seed Alex de Minaur. He has not dropped a set on the week and improves to 6-3 on grass courts with the victory.

More to come…

Top seeds Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic completed a British trophy double on Friday, following up last week’s triumph at the Queen’s Club with a successful title defence at the Rothesay International.

The Croatians defeated Matwe Middelkoop and Luke Saville 6-4, 6-2 in the Eastbourne final to win their fourth title of the 2022 ATP Tour season, all coming in the past two months.They did not drop a set this week and will now look to defend their 2021 Wimbledon title.

“We played good in Queen’s we played even better here,” Mektic said post-match, “so we’re very comfortable now going into Wimbledon.” The 33-year-old also explained how the pair’s challenging Queen’s Club run — in which they came from a set down to win a Match Tie-break in their last three matches — gave them confidence to dominate this week.

In the final, Metkic/Pavic won the opening set behind an early break, then saved two break points to hold for 2-2 in the second and spark a run of five straight games to close out the contest.

After winning nine tour-level titles in their first season as a team in 2021, the pair won its first trophy of this season at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. Since claiming that ATP Masters 1000 title, they went on to win in Geneva ahead of a third-round run at Roland Garros.

“We needed to get back the confidence, added Pavic. “When we did finally in Rome, it opened up a little bit. We won the title and then obviously from Rome we lost just one match in the French and were on a good run. We have confidence, we’re playing well. We’re going to be an interesting team at Wimbledon.”

Matos/Vega Hernandez Reach Mallorca Final

Brazil’s Rafael Matos and Spain’s David Vega Hernandez upset top seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer Friday to advance to the Mallorca Championships final. After taking out the Roland Garros champions 6-4, 3-6, 10-7, the pair will face Gonzalo Escobar and Ariel Behar in Saturday’s final.

Escobar and Behar won their semi-final on Thursday, 6-4, 6-2 against Matthew Ebden and Philipp Oswald.

Fifty-two years ago, Zeljko Franulovic earned one of the biggest titles of his illustrious career at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. In 2005, the Croatian came full circle when he became tournament director at the ATP Masters 1000 event. After a successful 17-year run at the helm of the tournament, Franulovic will step away from that role on 30 June.

“What I’m really proud of from my time leading an ATP Masters 1000 tournament is exceptional player participation and their great support of the event, as well as significant improvements in terms of fans and media facilities,” Franulovic told ATPTour.com. “These achievements have enhanced the image of Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and ensured continued growth and overall success of the event.”

The 75-year-old has contributed to tennis for almost his entire life, from his time as a player to his various roles in the sport and now serving as tennis director in the Principality.

Today, Croatians follow in the footsteps of Goran Ivanisevic, Ivan Ljubicic, Marin Cilic and others. But Franulovic was among those who paved the way. Franulovic reached a career-high No. 30 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, but his efforts before the Rankings were first created in 1973 put him in rare company in the sport.

The Split native remains one of the best clay-court players in history. Although a right shoulder injury cut short the length of his prime, he earned 301 tour-level victories on the surface, which ranks 14th in the Open Era. In 1970, Franulovic triumphed in Monte Carlo before advancing to his first Grand Slam final at Roland Garros.

Following his playing career, Franulovic began his career in tennis management, and he has made a positive impact on the sport ever since. The Croatian, who also earned a law degree, held various roles at the ATP, including Executive Vice President, Europe and tournament director of the Nitto ATP Finals.

It did not take long for Franulovic to make a difference at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters after becoming tournament director in 2005. A famous story he tells about his early days in the role relives the start of the 2006 tournament. Franulovic and his team decided that for the first time they would promote the tournament in the heart of Monte Carlo, right in front of the Casino de Monaco, one of the most iconic settings in Europe. Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal were meant to drive in a vintage convertible to the square themselves to hit some tennis balls.

The problem was that neither legend knew how to operate the car, which was tricky to drive. A local representative of the car company eventually drove the pair, but when they arrived, another problem arose: Nadal did not have his racquet. The Spaniard’s current PR manager “must have broken the Formula 1 record” riding a scooter to the hotel to get the racquet, according to Franulovic, but he made it back.

That taught Franulovic and his team that it is difficult to plan to the last detail. He has worked tirelessly to promote, improve and consistently elevate the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters.

“Roger and Rafa playing in front of the famous Casino de Monaco was just one of the episodes that had contributed to increased fame and popularity of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters,” Franulovic said. “I guess it was more impactful because it was done for the first time in Monaco but, since then there is not an iconic spot in Monaco where we did not stage this type of exhibition — from in front of the Palace to the roof of the iconic Monaco Yacht Club.

“I’m proud for this because it was my idea at the very beginning of my involvement in the Monte Carlo tournament and we kept organising it successfully in the following years.”

As he departs his role as tournament director, Franulovic says there is “nothing particularly emotional”. The work he has done for the tournament, however, will last for years to come.

“The truth is that I will be leaving a tournament that I’ve been strongly attached to for 17 years,” Franulovic said. “But I’m not leaving tennis in general where I will continue to stay active in one way or another.”

– Reporting contributed by James Buddell