Tennis News

Thompson the Tiger! Rugby-loving Aussie on training with his favourite NRL team

Jordan Thompson has plenty of highlights to look back on across his ATP Tour career so far.

A high of No. 30 in the PIF ATP Rankings, one singles title and six doubles crowns on the ATP Tour, and four victories against Top 10 opponents all feature on his tennis resume. Yet for the Australian, perhaps the thrill of all those achievements pales in comparison with one summer’s day in Sydney earlier this year.

A rugby league fanatic, Thompson was invited to join a training session with his beloved National Rugby League (NRL) side, Wests Tigers. He didn’t need asking twice.

“Honestly, when I finished, I went out for dinner and drinks at the end of the night, and I was like, ‘That was the best day of my life’,” Thompson told ATPTour.com. “I guess I’d always looked up to the coaches that were there, and they were running the show, and they were so welcoming.

“They let me join in on pretty much everything apart from the full-on game. I didn’t want a part of that anyway, I would have got destroyed! But I got to play, and it was honestly the best experience of my life.”

Thompson has previously stated that if he had not become a tennis player, he would have played rugby. So how did his skills match up compared to the Tigers’ roster?

“I don’t think they were too bad,” said the Sydneysider. “Obviously, I’m a lot smaller than them, but I think if I played rugby league, I’d try and beef up. I think I went okay, my speed was alright, my stamina was probably at the top end. I guess it was like I was on the court, trying to be pretty solid.”

Although life travelling the world on the ATP Tour can make being a committed NRL fan difficult, Thompson’s passion for the Tigers often overrides barriers such as tricky time zones or an inconveniently scheduled tennis match.

“I [get up in the mornings] to watch it,” he said. “I haven’t missed a game yet. And if it’s on at like, 3 a.m. I’ll turn my phone off, I won’t check any messages until I watch the game.

“Last year when I went back [to Australia], I went to a game in the middle of winter, and they won [66-18]. So it’s like the record that they’ve put on, and I was there to see it. It was pretty cool, so I guess I have to get back more often.”

Thompson’s support has been reciprocated in the past by the Tigers, who celebrated on social media in 2022 when he helped Australia reach its first Davis Cup final for 19 years.

Finals bound! 👏🏼🐯 @jordanthommmo2 @TennisAustralia #showyourstripes https://t.co/lYwwzIjvPc

— Wests Tigers (@WestsTigers) November 25, 2022

Thompson’s love of rugby has hardly distracted him from going from strength to strength on the tennis court. On Friday, he will attempt to notch his second match win against a No. 1-ranked opponent when he takes on Jannik Sinner in the third round at the Cincinnati Open. The 30-year-old’s previous win against a top-ranked player came against Andy Murray at Queen’s Club in 2017, but he can also look to a more recent victory against another great of the game for extra confidence.

In the opening week of the 2024 season, Thompson ended Rafael Nadal’s comeback run in the quarter-finals in Brisbane, where he saved three match points en route to defeating the Spanish lefty. The victory set the tone for what has been the best season of the 30-year-old’s career.

“Yeah, that gave me a lot of confidence, beating Rafa in Australia, in a quarter-final of the first week of the year, it’s pretty special,” reflected Thompson, who went on to lift his maiden ATP tour singles title in February in Los Cabos and is now 28-19 for 2024. “You put in all the hard yards during the offseason and then to get rewarded like that was very special. But not only like that, the guy has won over 20 Grand Slams.

“I know he was coming back from injury, but you’ve still got to beat him. I was in primary school when he was first winning Grand Slams, so to share the court with him was special and then to beat him was even more special. I’ve played him a few times, he got the better of me then, but also, I was a little bit more experienced now and he was coming back from injury. That made it a little bit easier for me, but it was still incredibly tough.”

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Draper battles back in first round at Cincinnati Open

Jack Draper battles back from 4-2 down in a deciding set tie-break to beat Jaume Munar 7-5 3-6 7-6 (7-5) in the first round of the Cincinnati Open.

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Lehecka stuns Medvedev in Cincinnati

Jiri Lehecka earned a stunning upset victory against former World No. 1 Daniil Medvedev on Wednesday evening in the second round of the Cincinnati Open.

Medvedev, the 2019 champion, arrived in Ohio hungry for matches and an uptick in form after an opening-round exit in Montreal. But instead Lehecka, who prior to Cincinnati had not played since Madrid due to a back injury, emerged victorious 7-6(2), 6-4.

“It’s amazing to be back, to be honest,” Lehecka said in his on-court interview. “It was a long time since I was playing on a big stage, so I enjoyed every moment of it today. To get a win again such a good player, talented player as Daniil surely is, is just a bonus for me.”

🚨 UPSET ALERT 🚨@jirilehecka put on a show for the Cincy crowd with a 7-6(2) 6-4 victory over Medvedev.@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/UcsNlau1yt

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 15, 2024

The runner-up at the 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF went more than two months without touching a tennis racquet. On 7 July, he returned to court. And just more than a month later, he has earned one of the best wins of his career.

Medvedev, who fell to Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in Montreal, landed just 44 per cent of his first serves according to Infosys ATP Stats and he hit seven double faults, including a critical one when facing break point at 3-3 in the second set. When he missed his second serve, the crowd fell silent.

Lehecka played fearless tennis, hitting 17 forehand winners to take advantage of his opportunities. This year’s Adelaide champion wrote a fitting message on the camera following the match: “I am back!”

Lehecka, who is now 5-14 against Top 10 opponents, will next play home favourite Frances Tiafoe. The American ousted in-form Italian 14th seed Lorenzo Musetti 6-3, 6-2.

“Served really well today. I was the aggressor, I was playing pretty deep, great depth,” Tiafoe said in his on-court interview. “But the thing is I just tried to get on him early. He’s been playing on a bunch of different surfaces, he’s played a lot of tennis lately. I know obviously he’s trying to get to his best at the US Open, but I thought I had to come out really hot and play as fast as I can. I came forward a lot today and I think really disrupted him.”

Tiafoe faced a tough challenge against the Paris Olympics bronze medalist, and he rose to the occasion. The World No. 27 did not face a break point to advance after 68 minutes.

“I know he just came from the Olympics, so those are the kind of matchups you want,” Tiafoe said. “I’ve been on the hard courts since Atlanta, only been playing better each and every week. I thought that was the biggest difference today.”

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Tom Hanks stars in tense thriller

Tom Hanks stars as a lawyer who ends up leading negotiations between the US and Russia

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Melo/Zverev find late surge to victory in Cincinnati

Marcelo Melo and Alexander Zverev rode a big serving performance to first-round victory on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open.

The Brazilian-German duo edged home favourites Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4, 6-7(5), 10-2 in a hard-fought 85-minute encounter at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Ohio. Melo and Zverev dominated the Match Tie-break to complete victory after winning 84 per cent (38/45) of points behind their first serves, according to Infosys ATP Stats.

Fourth seeds Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic will be Melo and Zverev’s second-round opponents. The clash will be the second Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting between the two teams, after Melo and Zverev’s triumph in the Monte-Carlo semi-finals in April.

Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten have won three tour-level titles together, including a major title at Wimbledon, since first teaming in April. The seventh-seeded pair was forced to retire with concussion last week in Montreal after clashing heads going for a smash, but it was quickly back to winning ways in Cincinnati, where it defeated wild cards Brandon Nakashima and William Woodall 6-4, 6-3. Heliovaara and Patten will next take on Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic.

Ivan Dodig and Jamie Murray were also early winners on Wednesday at the Lindner Family Tennis Centre. The Croatian-British pair booked its second-round spot with a 6-3, 7-6(4) triumph against singles stars Karen Khachanov and Andrey Rublev.

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Former champions Wawrinka, Thiem receive US Open wild cards

Former US Open champions Dominic Thiem and Stan Wawrinka will receive wild card spots in the US Open main draw this year, the USTA announced Wednesday.

Thiem, who has announced that the 2024 season will be his last, claimed his lone Grand Slam title at the 2020 US Open, where he rallied back from two sets down to defeat Alexander Zverev 2-6, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3, 7-6(6). The Austrian, who has 348 career match wins according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index, is hoping to reach the 350-wins mark before calling time on his career. 

Wawrinka captured his third Grand Slam and first US Open title in 2016, overcoming defending champion and then-No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Novak Djokovic 6-7(1), 6-4, 7-5, 6-3. That win was one of just six in 27 career Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings with the seven-time Nitto ATP Finals champion.

The former champions will be joined by fellow wild cards Christopher Eubanks, Zachary Svajda, Learner Tien and Matthew Forbes. Alexandre Muller and Tristan Schoolkate have also received wild cards as part of reciprocal agreements with other Grand Slam nations.

Both Svajda and Eubanks have previously reached the second round of the US Open; Tien has twice played in the main draw. Forbes will make his Grand Slam singles debut after winning the singles title at the USTA Boys’ 18s National Championships.

Brandon Holt, Ethan Quinn, Nishesh Basavareddy, Kaylan Bigun, Eliot Spizzirri, Aidan Mayo, Bruno Kuzuhara, Michael Zheng and Jack Kennedy have all received a US Open qualifying wild card.

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Sinner saves 8 break points to beat Michelsen in Cincinnati

Jannik Sinner bounced back from a hip-injury scare and a quarter-final exit in Montreal with a battling opening win Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open. The Italian saved all eight break points against him in a 6-4, 7-5 victory against #NextGenATP American Alex Michelsen on centre court.

Sinner improved to 25-2 on hard courts this season and will next meet Sebastian Baez or Jordan Thompson for a place in the quarter-finals. Sinner has reached that stage at all five previous ATP Masters 1000s he has played this season, but he has never advanced to the quarters in Cincinnati.

“It was a tough match. He played already some matches but for me it was the first match here, so I tried to feel the conditions a but more,” he said post-match. “I’m very happy to be in the next round. For me this is a place where I used to struggle a lot in the past years, so let’s see what I can do this time.

“I’m trying to stay in a positive mindset, positive moment, and I think that today also brought me the win.”

OUTRAGEOUS on the stretch! 💯@CincyTennis | #CincyTennis | @janniksin pic.twitter.com/LBbw3et2Q4

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 14, 2024

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings saved three break points in the opening set and five in the second, according to Infosys ATP Stats. He broke in his first and last return game of the match and wrapped up the win with an emphatic service hold.

In the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting, the 19-year-old Michelsen was bidding for his second Top 10 win after beating Alex de Minaur earlier this season in Los Cabos. The American took the match to Sinner at times and was vocal as he wriggled out of two tight service games late in set two. But after Sinner forced deuce for the third straight time on the Michelsen serve, the pressure yielded the decisive break.

While Sinner said he is still working his way toward full fitness, he was pleased to ensure he will have at least one more outing to improve in that regard. 

“For sure not 100 per cent yet [physically], but I’m trying to get used to these kind of conditions,” he said.

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Tsitsipas completes Cincinnati comeback against Struff

Stefanos Tsitsipas dug deep to get his North American hard-court summer moving on Wednesday at the Cincinnati Open.

Competing at the ATP Masters 1000 event off the back of an opening-round defeat in Montreal, Tsitsipas rallied from a set and a break down to defeat Jan-Lennard Struff 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. The Greek created plenty of opportunities on return across the second and third sets, when he converted three of 14 break points he earned en route to a one-hour, 57-minute triumph.

“I felt like I was in a great flow state towards the end of the match with my serve,” said Tsitsipas in his post-match interview. “Immediately my groundstrokes improved, immediately my confidence to come forward and close in improved, so there were a lot of improvements that contributed to my game today.

“I was down a break, and I managed to keep on fighting and get the break back. Suddenly I felt like I was starting to figure out what really worked behind his serve. He made a few double faults, and I took that chance, got myself in the lead, and I think once I started reminding myself of my best qualities as a player, these things really started working on court. It gave me a massive push to [close out the match].”

Mid-match improvements ✅✅✅✅@steftsitsipas made some changes and his #ShotQuality soared 📈#ShotQuality is calculated in real-time by analysing each shot’s speed, spin, depth, width, and the impact it has on the opponent#TennisInsights | @atptour | @CincyTennis pic.twitter.com/sqOfhxigAY

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) August 14, 2024

The way the match ended was in stark contrast to the opening set, during which Struff won all 15 points behind his first serve and did not face a break point, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The German’s victory bid was ultimately undermined by his delivery, however, as double faults contributed to him being broken in the final game of the second set and again in the second game of the decider.

A finalist in 2022 in Cincinnati, Tsitsipas’ next challenge at this year’s edition of the Ohio event will be a second-round clash with Jack Draper or qualifier Jaume Munar.

The 26-year-old Greek, who is competing in his first event since announcing the end of his coaching relationship with his father Apostolos Tsitsipas, is looking to boost his standing in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin with a deep run in Cincinnati. Tsitsipas is currently in ninth position as he chases a sixth consecutive appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Felix Auger-Aliassime also bounced back from an early exit in Montreal by starting strongly in Cincinnati. The Canadian eased to a 6-3, 6-1 triumph in his maiden Lexus ATP Head2Head clash with Aleksandar Kovacevic. A two-time quarter-finalist at the Lindner Family Tennis Center, Auger-Aliassime’s next opponent will be seventh seed Casper Ruud.

<img src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/08/14/17/41/auger-aliassime-cincinnati-2024-wednesday.jpg” style=”width: 100%;” alt=”Felix Auger-Aliassime” />

_{^{Felix Auger-Aliassime advances to the second round in Cincinnati. Photo Credit: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour}}

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De Minaur set to return at US Open

Alex de Minaur is set to return from injury later this month at the US Open, the Australian revealed on social media on Wednesday.

The 25-year-old has not competed since Wimbledon in July, when he suffered a hip injury during the closing stages of his fourth-round win against Arthur Fils. De Minaur was forced to withdraw ahead of his quarter-final clash with Novak Djokovic and has since missed the Paris Olympics and ATP Masters 1000 events in Montreal and Cincinnati.

However, De Minaur is ready to compete at the US Open in New York, where the final major of the season starts on 26 August.

“Little update. Been working hard trying to recover from my injury. It’s been very tough missing tournaments and excited to say I’ll be playing US Open,” De Minaur wrote on Instagram. “Thanks to all the support I’ve gotten, it’s definitely helped me through these tough times. There’s always light and the end of the tunnel.”

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A post shared by Alex De Minaur 🇦🇺 (@alexdeminaur)

De Minaur holds a 36-12 record on the season, highlighted by titles in Acapulco and ‘s-Hertogenbosch. The Australian is currently eighth in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin and will be aiming for a good end to the season to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time.

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Cilic set for return at Rafa Nadal Open Challenger Tour event

Former US Open champion Marin Cilic is set to play his first tournament in more than six months later this month when he returns to competitive action at the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar ATP Challenger Tour event in Manacor.

Cilic last competed at the ATP 250 event in Buenos Aires in February. The former No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings underwent right knee surgery in early May.

The Croatian will be one of the big names to compete in the sixth edition of the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar, which takes place from 26 August to 1 September.

After over two seasons plagued by injury, Marin Cilic will return to competition on the ATP Challenger Tour, where he previously won two titles in 2007 (Casablanca and Rijeka) and will now try to make it three of a kind 17 years later.

It will not be the first time the Rafa Nadal Open by Movistar has welcomed a US Open champion, after participations from Andy Murray (won at Flushing Meadows in 2012) and Carlos Alcaraz, who played in the Challenger event three years before claiming his first Grand Slam.

The Croatian’s presence will undoubtedly be one of the biggest attractions for tennis lovers. Fans will be able to enter the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar free of charge to enjoy this ATP Challenger Tour tournament, which takes place in Manacor in the last week of August. All they will have to do is download their free tickets from the tournament’s official website.

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