Tennis News

Andy Murray awarded wildcard for February's delayed Australian Open

Andy Murray gets a wildcard for February’s Australian Open, two years after what looked like his final appearance.

Source link

How Sinner Is Soaring Behind His Return

The youngest player in the Top 100 posted the eighth-best return metrics on the ATP Tour this season. The hype is real for nineteen-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of eight players aged 21-and-under identifies Sinner as the peak performer on the Infosys Serve and Return LEADERBOARDS in 2020 thanks to his efforts on the return. Both leaderboards aggregate multiple serve and return metrics to come up with a singular rating. Emil Ruusuvuori, aged 21, did not have enough match data this season to qualify for the leaderboards.

View ATP Stats LEADERBOARDS

Return LEADERBOARD
Sinner led the group in posting the best rating on the Return LEADERBOARD at No. 8. He did particularly well this season with first-serve return points won, claiming 32.5 per cent of them. That winning percentage was seventh-best among all qualifying players on Tour this season.

Sinner finished 2020 by capturing his first ATP Tour title in Sofia. He started the year at No. 78 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, went 19-11, and finished the year at World No. 37.

The only other 21-and-under player to have a Return Rating in the leading 20 players on Tour was 21-year-old Spaniard Alejandro Davidovich Fokina, who came in 11th place. His best return performance was finishing sixth-best in first-serve return points won at 32.6 per cent, just ahead of Sinner. Davidovich Fokina finished 13-10 on the year, moving from World No. 85 to year-end No. 52. Season highlights for the Spaniard included a trip to the fourth round at the US Open and the semi-finals of Cologne-2.

21-And-Under Players: Return LEADERBOARD Rating

Serve LEADERBOARD
What’s interesting is that the average placement for the eight 21-and-under players in the Return Rating category was 35th, which was considerably better than the average of their Serve Ratings, which put them in 48th.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, a 20-year-old Canadian, led the group with the best Serve Rating at No. 20. He reached three ATP Tour finals in 2020, posting a 23-19 record. Fellow Canadian Denis Shapovalov was second in the group with a Return Rating ranking 26th-best. Shapovalov reached the quarter-finals of the US Open and the semi-finals of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia this season.

21-And-Under Players: Serve LEADERBOARD Rating

The future looks extremely bright for these rising stars, who are already mixing it with the best in our game as they continue to march up the FedEx ATP Rankings.

Source link

Andy Murray Receives Delray Beach Wild Card

Former World No. 1 Andy Murray will compete in the 2021 Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com as a wild card, the tournament announced Saturday. The 33-year-old will be the 11th former World No. 1 to play in the event’s history.

“I am looking forward to starting the 2021 season in Delray Beach.” Murray said in a press release. “This event will be a good test for me and I’m excited to be back playing on the Tour.”

Murray is set to make his tournament debut in the evening session on 8 January.

This ATP 250 is played on hard court, a surface on which Murray has long enjoyed success. The 46-time tour-level titlist has lifted 34 of his trophies on hard courts, including his past eight triumphs.

The World No. 122, who is still working his way back to top form following 2019 hip surgery, last won a title in the United States at the 2013 Miami Open presented by Itau. He showed signs of good form after the ATP Tour’s return this August, when he upset Alexander Zverev at the Western & Southern Open.

Murray will be joined in the Delray Beach field by former World No. 3 Milos Raonic and four former champions: Kei Nishikori (2008), Sam Querrey (2016), Frances Tiafoe (2018) and Reilly Opelka (2020). No. 1 American John Isner and Chilean star Cristian Garin are also entered.

The Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com is typically played in February, but it is now in Week One alongside the Antalya Open due to COVID-19. The main draw will be played from 7-13 January.

Source link

The Numbers Game: 2020 ATP Challenger Tour

Karatsev Tops Wins Leaderboard
Aslan Karatsev was nearly unstoppable on the Challenger circuit in 2020. The Russian amassed a tour-leading 27 match wins in just eight tournaments this year, concluding his breakout campaign with a 27-6 record. Francisco Cerundolo and Dmitry Popko finished tied for second with 23 victories apiece, while France’s Arthur Rinderknech ended his impressive season with 22 wins.

Meanwhile, Carlos Alcaraz was the most consistent performer, boasting a 83.3 win percentage (min. 19 matches played). The Spanish teen took full advantage of his opportunities, claiming 20 of 24 matches played in 2020. Karatsev was the only other player with at least 80 per cent matches won (81.8).

Since returing from the COVID-19 shutdown, only two players posted 20 wins or more. Cerundolo led the ATP Challenger Tour with a 22-6 record following the restart on 17 August. Alcaraz finished a close second with 20 victories.

Alcaraz, Cerundolo Claim Most Titles
Alcaraz and Cerundolo were the only players to lift three trophies in 2020. The Spaniard entered the history books with his title treble, capturing his maiden crown in Trieste, Italy, and following that with back-to-back victories on home soil in Barcelona and Alicante. The 17-year-old became the youngest to ever win titles in consecutive weeks and the second-youngest (Gasquet) to triumph on at least three occasions prior to his 18th birthday.

Cerundolo’s three victories also came on clay courts. The Argentine celebrated his maiden moment with a title in Split, Croatia in October and added a second crown in Guayaquil, Ecuador one month later. In the final week of the season, the 22-year-old would conclude his campaign in style with a victory in Campinas, Brazil.

Jurij Rodionov, J.J. Wolf, Arthur Rinderknech and Steve Johnson dominated the early months of the season, all winning a pair of titles before the COVID-19 shutdown. Taro Daniel, Marc-Andrea Huesler, Ilya Ivashka and Aslan Karatsev also lifted multiple trophies in 2020.

Teen Titans
Four different teenagers accounted for a total of six Challenger titles this year, with Alcaraz the lone player with multiple crowns (Trieste, Italy and Barcelona & Alicante, Spain). At 17 years and 3 months, he joined Felix Auger-Aliassime and Alexander Zverev as the youngest champions since 2010.

At the age of 18, Lorenzo Musetti won his maiden title in Forli, Italy, carrying the momentum from a Round of 16 finish at the ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. He would dominate on the clay of Forli, becoming the youngest to defeat four Top 100 players in one week since 2000.

Brandon Nakashima and Tomas Machac were the other teenage winners in 2020. Nakashima became the youngest American titlist since Frances Tiafoe in 2017, while Machac’s victory marked the first time a Czech teen had lifted a Challenger trophy since Jiri Vesely in 2013.

Biggest Movers To Top 150
Seven of the Top 8 movers to the year-end Top 150 won Challenger titles in 2020. Alcaraz jumped 350 spots to a year-end position of No. 141 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. Musetti leapt 233 places to No. 128 and Daniel Altmaier soared 191 spots to No. 130.

Title Leaders By Country
Players from 22 countries won titles this year. Mohamed Safwat became the first from Egypt to lift a trophy since 1996, while Cem Ilkel was the first from Turkey to do so since 2016.

The United States boasted a tour-leading 11 titles from nine different players, followed by Spain (7) and Germany (5). It marked the third time in four years that the American contingent has led the tour in titles.

First-Time Winners
The shortened season did not stop 14 players from celebrating their maiden moments in the spotlight on the ATP Challenger Tour. Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, it was Machac, Rinderknech, Ilkel, Safwat, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski and Roman Safiullin crashing the party. They would be followed by Alcaraz, Musetti, Nakashima, Cerundolo, Meligeni, Sebastian Korda and Spaniards Carlos Taberner and Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Alcaraz became the youngest first-time winner since a 16-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime in 2017, while 29-year-old Safwat is the oldest first-time winner since Spain’s Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol in 2018.

Alcaraz’s Achievements
-Youngest champion from Spain since Rafael Nadal in 2003.
-Second-youngest to win three titles. Only a 16-year-old Richard Gasquet was younger.
-One of five players to win three titles before 18th birthday, joining Gasquet, Auger-Aliassime, Novak Djokovic and Juan Martin del Potro.
-Youngest ever to win titles in consecutive weeks.
-The clutch factor: 9-0 in tie-breaks in 2020 and 11-3 in deciding sets since the restart.

Fast Facts

• Ulises Blanch pulled off the stunner of the year in the first week of the season. At No. 419 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, he became the lowest-ranked winner in 2020, lifting his second Challenger trophy in Ann Arbor.
• This year, one player saved a match point in a Challenger final. Thiago Monteiro survived a thriller in Punta del Este, Uruguay, turning aside three championship points to defeat Marco Cecchinato.
• A total of nine #NextGenATP stars (born 1999 or later) won titles. In addition to teens Alcaraz, Musetti, Nakashima and Machac, it was 20-year-olds Sebastian Korda and Jurij Rodionov lifting trophies.
• The ATP Challenger Tour featured two champions aged 35 and older in 2020. Philipp Kohlschreiber (36) won in the opening week of the season in Canberra, while Stan Wawrinka (35) kicked off the restart with a title in Prague.
• Andrey Golubev led the doubles circuit with six titles – three with Aleksandr Nedovyesov and three with Ariel Behar. Behar and Gonzalo Escobar, meanwhile, had the most success of any duo. The Uruguayan-Ecuadorian team won titles in Newport Beach and Istanbul, reached two more finals in Aix-en-Provence and Parma and posted a 14-1 record together.
• Qualifiers claimed one title, with Alcaraz winning seven matches in nine days in Trieste. He became the first player born in 2003 to lift a trophy.
• Two players successfully defended titles: Thiago Monteiro on the clay of Punta del Este, Uruguay and J.J. Wolf on the indoor hard courts of Columbus, USA.
• One unseeded wild card won a title: Musetti on home soil in Forli, Italy.
• Marc-Andrea Huesler was the only player to win titles on multiple surfaces. The Swiss prevailed on the clay of Sibiu, Romania, before taking the title on the carpet courts of Ismaning, Germany.
• Longest final: The longest final registered at two hours and 51 minutes, with Monteiro beating Cecchinato 7-6(3), 6-7(6), 7-5 in Punta del Este.
• Shortest completed final: The shortest final registered at just 58 minutes, with Thai-Son Kwiatkowski downing Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4, 6-1 in Newport Beach, USA.
• Two Top 40 players entered a Challenger in 2020. World No. 34 Taylor Fritz reached the third round in Newport Beach, while 17th-ranked Wawrinka won the title in Prague. The Swiss is the highest-ranked champion since No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic in Zagreb 2005.
• A total of seven players made their Top 100 debut in the FedEx ATP Rankings in 2020. Dennis Novak did so in January and was followed by Attila Balazs and Gianluca Mager in February. Emil Ruusuvuori, Marcos Giron, Federico Coria and Pedro Martinez entered the club following the restart.
• Kohlschreiber’s victory in Canberra came 14 years and one month after his most recent Challenger crown (Reunion Island 2005). It is the fourth-longest gap between titles on the circuit.
• Paolo Lorenzi finished the season with 418 career match wins on the ATP Challenger Tour. He is currently just five victories behind Ruben Ramirez Hidalgo for the all-time lead.

Source link

Challenger Season In Review: 20 Storylines In 2020

The Ascendance of Alcaraz
In such an unpredictable and unprecedented year, it was a teenager that captured the imagination of so many. The ATP Challenger Tour was under assault by a 17-year-old from Spain, who made the circuit his personal playground.

Carlos Alcaraz’s breakthrough was unlike any other. From sitting just inside the Top 500 of the FedEx ATP Rankings to start the year, Alcaraz plotted an astounding ascent, breaking records and etching his name in the history books along the way.

When Alcaraz splashed onto the scene at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro in February, earning his first Top 50 win in his ATP Tour debut, it was merely a harbinger of a wildly successful season to come. The Spaniard dominated following the tour’s restart in August, immediately capturing his maiden Challenger title in Trieste, Italy, as a qualifier. At the age of 17 years and three months, he became the youngest Spanish champion since Rafael Nadal in 2003.

And less than two months later, Alcaraz further cemented his Challenger legacy, becoming the youngest player to ever win titles in consecutive weeks. His victories on home soil in Barcelona and Alicante not only vaulted him to the Top 150, but put him in an exclusive club as one of just five players to win three titles before their 18th birthday.

Most Titles Age 17 & Under

Alcaraz concluded his 2020 campaign with a 20-4 record on the Challenger circuit, boasting a tour-leading 83.3 win percentage. Two stats stood out above the rest for the teenager: Not only did he extend his staggering record in tie-breaks to 14-1 in his young career, but he finished a perfect 9-0 in 2020. With the pressure on, he was as clutch as they come, posting an 11-3 record in deciding-set matches since the circuit resumed on 17 August.

Cerundolo’s Big Breakthrough
In the final months of the 2020 season, Francisco Cerundolo was undoubtedly the player to beat on the ATP Challenger Tour. The Argentine put the rest of the tour on notice with a ruthless clay-court game that saw him reel off 20 of 23 matches.

In October, Cerundolo introduced himself to the tennis world with a maiden Challenger title in Split, Croatia. The Argentine told us the story of how he studied for three exams while battling through the Split Open draw.

In November, competing in his first tournament as a Top 200 player, Cerundolo returned to South America and blitzed the field in Guayaquil, Ecuador. In front of former World No. 4 and tournament director Andres Gomez, he powered to his second title.

And in December, Cerundolo completed an unforgettable title treble in Campinas, defeating World No. 102 Roberto Carballes Baena for his third crown in three months. The Argentine joined Alcaraz as the most decorated players on the ATP Challenger Tour in 2020.

Cerundolo rose to a career-high No. 139 in the FedEx ATP Rankings with the victory in Campinas, soaring more than 100 spots since the start of the year. His 22 match wins were most on the Challenger circuit since the restart from the COVID-19 shutdown.

Russian Resurgence: Karatsev Dominates In 2020
In the first week of the ATP Challenger Tour restart, Stan Wawrinka and Aslan Karatsev met for the Prague crown. All eyes were on the Swiss star as he made one of the more memorable Challenger appearances in recent history. But while Wawrinka would go on to take the title in two tight sets, it was that moment that sparked something even bigger in his Russian counterpart.

Since the ATP Challenger Tour restart in mid-August, only one player owned a winning percentage of 90 per cent or higher (minimum 10 matches played). That was none other than Karatsev. The 27-year-old was one of the dominant forces on the circuit following the COVID-19 break, following that defeat to Wawrinka with back-to-back titles in Prague-2 and Ostrava. Moreover, he posted a staggering 18-2 record in that span. Five years removed from his lone previous title on the ATP Challenger Tour, Karatsev enjoyed an impressive resurgence with new coach Alberto Lopez.

After battling a knee injury for many years, Karatsev is wasting no time in his journey to crack the Top 100. In October, he also earned his first win on the ATP Tour in five years, defeating Tennys Sandgren in St. Petersburg. It marked his first victory over a Top 50 opponent. From just inside the Top 300 to open the year to a career-high No. 111 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Karatsev took full advantage of his opportunities in 2020.

A Restart To Remember
It was a year unlike any other. When COVID-19 was declared a pandemic in March, few could predict the impact the virus would have on our lives. In the tennis world, the professional circuit came to an abrupt halt as players hung up their racquets in the middle of the season. For a sport that is a nonstop traveling roadshow week in and week out, it forced us to pump the breaks for more than five months.

For many players, this provided even more motivation to train and improve their physical and mental conditioning. As sports slowly began to return and restore some sense of normalcy during the summer months, the ATP Challenger Tour brought the fireworks from the first ball. Italy and the Czech Republic took centre stage, with Yannick Hanfmann and Wawrinka taking the first titles in Todi and Prague, respectively.

Alcaraz and Karatsev put in countless hours of work during the hiatus and it showed in the initial weeks of the restart. Both would dominate the month of August, lifting trophies and racking up wins without pause. The most consistent performers throughout the coming months, they combined to win 38 matches and lift five trophies.

Thank You To Our Tournaments
The ATP Challenger Tour features some of the hardest working and dedicated organisers and staff in professional tennis. They work tirelessly throughout the year to produce world-class events, which are often an integral part of their regions’ economy and culture. Many of these tournaments were directly impacted by the coronavirus pandemic, either forcing their cancellation or postponement. The impact of the pandemic has been felt throughout the world and these events are no exception. We sincerely thank them for all they do.

In total, there were 32 tournaments in 14 countries during the ATP Challenger Tour restart. Operating a professional tournament amid a global pandemic is no simple task. From establishing protocols and policies to make everyone feel safe and secure, while maintaining world-class hospitality, much credit goes to the organisers for making this a possibility.

With frequent temperature checks, mask wearing enforced throughout the grounds and social distancing in effect, it has become a game of adaptation. Players have shown their appreciation for the tournaments’ efforts to maintain a safe environment, while creating playing opportunities in the final four months of the season.

The February Four
Prior to the tour’s shutdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, four players were taking the circuit by storm. The stoppage in play halted the momentum of Arthur Rinderknech, Jurij Rodionov, J.J. Wolf and Maxime Cressy.

The foursome had dominated the month of February on the ATP Challenger Tour, surging to the top of the 2020 wins leaderboard with a combined 44-9 record and five titles. Rodionov was the top performer of the month, winning 15 of 17 matches and lifting a pair of hard-court trophies in Dallas and Noumea.

Cressy was a close second, claiming 12 of 15 matches, including a title in Drummondville and final appearance the following week in Calgary. Rinderknech, who fell to the American in the Drummondville final, exacted revenge in Calgary for his second crown of the year. In January, he prevailed on the indoor hard courts of Rennes, France. And the 21-year-old Wolf was just as ruthless in the early months of 2020, posting a 14-2 mark in January and February with victories in Noumea and Columbus.

Musetti’s Magical Week
Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti were arguably the biggest revelations of the 2020 restart. Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, few were familiar with the teenage sensations, but that would change in a flash.

For Musetti, the month of September is one he will never forget. Not only did the 18-year-old burst onto the scene at the Foro Italico in Rome, making a splash on the ATP Masters 1000 stage with a run to the Round of 16, but he would follow that with a maiden Challenger title just one week later. Upsets of Stan Wawrinka and Kei Nishikori in Rome were immediately followed by statement Top 100 wins over Frances Tiafoe, Andreas Seppi, Lloyd Harris and Thiago Monteiro in nearby Forli.

Musetti: ‘The Real Work Was In The Challengers’

It was a whirlwind stretch for the teenager and it all culminated with Italy’s newest star clutching his first trophy. Musetti became the youngest to defeat four Top 100 players at a Challenger tournament since 2000 and the highest-ranked to do so since Alberto Martin in 2007. In fact, he entered Rome without a Top 100 victory to his name, but in the span of 12 days he claimed six such victories.

In addition, at 18 years and six months, Musetti became the fifth-youngest Italian champion in Challenger history with his triumph in Forli. Only Jannik Sinner’s three titles in 2019 and Stefano Pescosolido’s triumph in Parioli in 1989 came at a younger age.

Challenger Stars Crash Roland Garros Party
You love to see it. When an ATP Challenger Tour star makes a run at a Grand Slam, it is the reward for months and years of hard work. A platform to showcase their skills and eventually take the next step on the ATP Tour, it presents a huge opportunity on a global stage. This was on full display at Roland Garros in September, as a bevy of Challenger stalwarts announced their arrival in grand fashion.

Sitting outside the Top 150 of the FedEx ATP Rankings at the time, Sebastian Korda, Hugo Gaston and Daniel Altmaier would all reach the Round of 16 of the clay-court Grand Slam. Altmaier earned a stunning victory over seventh seed Matteo Berrettini, while Hugo Gaston registered a thrilling five-set win over Stan Wawrinka and Korda defeated countryman John Isner before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

Sixteen years after his brother Guillermo Coria reached the Roland Garros final, Federico Coria scored his best result at a major with a third round finish. And 30 years after his father Andres Gomez triumphed on the terre battue, Emilio Gomez qualified for his first Grand Slam at the same tournament.

A Family Affair
Coria and Gomez weren’t the only players to follow in their famous relatives’ footsteps in 2020. In February, 37 years after his father Bjorn Borg announced his retirement, Leo Borg arrived on the scene. The 16-year-old made his ATP Challenger Tour debut in Bergamo, Italy. The local media took notice, with two of the most important Italian TV stations – Sky Sports and Mediaset – traveling to Bergamo to cover the Swede’s debut.

Then, in early November, Sebastian Korda captured his maiden Challenger crown on the carpet courts of Eckental, Germany. The son of former World No. 2 Petr Korda, ‘Sebi’ made his long-awaited appearance in the winners’ circle with his first professional title. He would reel off a combined 13 of 15 matches from the start of his memorable fourth-round run at Roland Garros. He would soar to a career-high No. 116 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

And two weeks later, it was Felipe Meligeni who added his first Challenger crown in Sao Paulo, exactly 27 years after his uncle Fernando Meligeni won his maiden title in the same city. The 22-year-old Brazilian dropped one set all week at the Clube Hipico Santo Amaro, rising to a career-high No. 242. His uncle Fernando was a former World No. 25 and Roland Garros semi-finalist in 1999.

Swiss Sensation
Who was the only player to win on multiple surfaces in 2020? Marc-Andrea Huesler’s victories on the outdoor clay of Sibiu, Romania and indoor carpet courts of Ismaning, Germany, gave the Swiss the unique distinction.

Huesler was one of the hottest players on the planet following the COVID-19 break, not only lifting his second and third Challenger trophies, but also streaking to the semi-finals at the ATP 250 stop in Kitzbuhel. He reeled off five straight wins as a qualifier, including his first career Top 20 victory over Fabio Fognini.

Huesler was a Swiss sensation in the restart, securing a combined 17 wins from 20 matches on the Challenger circuit and ATP Tour. Considering that the Zurich native had sat out the start of the 2020 season with a foot injury, missing action for a total of nine months, his dominant run of form is even more impressive. In August, the Zurich native was sitting outside the Top 300 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. He concludes the year at No. 148.

The #NextGenATP Charge
We all know about the dominance of Carlos Alcaraz during the restart, as well as the breakthroughs of Lorenzo Musetti and Sebastian Korda, and the ruthless month of February from 20-year-old Jurij Rodionov. But don’t leave out Tomas Machac and Brandon Nakashima on the list of emerging #NextGenATP stars in 2020.

Machac became the first teenage winner of the year when he dominated on the indoor hard courts of Koblenz, Germany, in February. It marked the first time a Czech teen had lifted a Challenger trophy since Jiri Vesely in 2013. Having opened the year outside the Top 350, Machac would surge to the year-end Top 200, also reaching the final in Bratislava and qualifying for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros. There, he pushed 27th seed Taylor Fritz to five sets in the first round.

Nakashima, meanwhile, became the youngest American champion since Frances Tiafoe in 2017 with his maiden title in Orlando. At the age of 19, the California native did not drop a set all week at the USTA National Campus. Up to a career-high No. 166 in the year-end FedEx ATP Rankings, Nakashima also triumphed in his Grand Slam debut at the US Open (d. Lorenzi) and reached the quarter-finals in his ATP Tour debut earlier in the year in Delray Beach.

You Always Remember Your First
The shortened season did not stop 14 players from celebrating their maiden moments in the spotlight on the ATP Challenger Tour. Prior to the COVID-19 shutdown, it was Machac, Rinderknech, Thai-Son Kwiatkowski, Cem Ilkel, Roman Safiullin and Mohamed Safwat crashing the party. They would be followed by Alcaraz, Musetti, Nakashima, Korda, Cerundolo, Meligeni and Spaniards Carlos Taberner and Bernabe Zapata Miralles.

Alcaraz became the youngest first-time winner since a 16-year-old Felix Auger-Aliassime in 2017, while 29-year-old Safwat is the oldest first-time winner since Spain’s Sergio Gutierrez-Ferrol in 2018.

Safwat Puts Egypt On The Map
Speaking of Safwat, the 29-year-old’s maiden moment was a significant one, not only for himself but for his native Egypt as well. Safwat became just the second Egyptian to win a Challenger title and first since 1996, when Tamer El Sawy went back-to-back in The Bronx, New York. The long 24-year drought came to a close as Safwat fired a service winner out wide to clinch the title in Launceston, Australia.

“I can’t really describe how I feel,” Safwat said. “It’s something I’ve been chasing for a long time. I’ve been working hard towards it. Multiple times in the past I got very close to it but I couldn’t take it. This time, I never expected to win it in Launceston, never ever.”

Safwat has been flying the flag for Egypt for the past decade, as the only player from his country in the Top 200 of the FedEx ATP Rankings. Fellow North African nations of Tunisia and Morocco have both featured Challenger champions in that span. For a nation without a rich tennis history, a moment like this can provide a significant boon and inspire a new generation of Egyptian players.

The American Onslaught
The only nation with double-digit champions was the United States. A total of nine different Americans won titles in 2020, led by J.J. Wolf’s pair of early-season victories in Noumea and Columbus and Steve Johnson’s crowns in Bendigo and Indian Wells.

Ulises Blanch prevailed in Ann Arbor to open the year, with Thai-Son Kwiatkowski taking his maiden title in Newport Beach and Maxime Cressy emerging victorious in Drummondville, Canada. When the Challenger circuit resumed in mid-August, it was Frances Tiafoe returning to the winners’ circle on the clay of Parma, Denis Kudla and Brandon Nakashima going back-to-back on home soil in Orlando and Cary, and Sebastian Korda adding his first title in Eckental.

Spain finished second with seven winners, followed by  Germany with five champions.

Challenger At Home
During the pro circuit’s COVID-19 shutdown, today’s ATP Challenger Tour stars peeled back the curtain, discussing how they have been impacted by the pandemic and providing an exclusive glimpse into life at home.

Watch ‘Challenger At Home’ Episodes

Stan’s Surprise
When it was announced that the ATP Challenger Tour would make its long-awaited return on 15 August in Prague, former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka immediately tossed his name into the field. The return of the Swiss star to the Challenger circuit became one of the biggest headlines of the year.

In search of match rhythm and clay-court preparation after the professional circuit’s five-month hiatus, Wawrinka opted to stay in Europe ahead of Rome and Roland Garros. The decision would pay dividends, as he battled to the title in the Czech capital. It did not come easy for the Lausanne native, who rallied from a set down on three occasions during the week.

One of two Top 40 players to enter a Challenger tournament in 2020 (also Fritz in Newport Beach), World No. 17 Wawrinka became the highest-ranked champion since No. 14 Ivan Ljubicic in Zagreb 2005.

Feel-Good Story Of The Year: Attila Balazs
In 2010, Attila Balazs won his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Palermo, Italy, but in 2014, the Hungarian would retire from pro tennis to begin a coaching career following a rash of injuries.

Now, six years later, Balazs is back with a vengeance. At the age of 31, he would provide the feel-good story of the year, when he lifted the trophy at the Bangkok Challenger in January. Despite a decade passing between titles, it’s like Balazs never left the tour. He would rise to a career-high No. 76 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in March, having also reached the semi-finals at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro.

It all culminated in September, when the Budapest native earned his first win in a Grand Slam at Roland Garros.

Behar, Escobar Dominate Doubles Circuit
In 2018, it was Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies. In 2019, it was Luke Saville and Max Purcell. And now, in the most unprecedented of seasons, one thing remained predictable: Ariel Behar and Gonzalo Escobar dominating the doubles circuit on the ATP Challenger Tour.

The Uruguayan-Ecuadorian duo won titles in Newport Beach and Istanbul, posting a 34-4 record in their last 10 Challenger appearances together. They also reached the final on the clay of both Aix-en-Provence and Parma. Additionally, Behar added three more titles alongside Andrey Golubev in Italy, going back-to-back-to-back to open the restart in Todi, Trieste and Cordenons.

Behar and Escobar will look to ride the momentum on the ATP Tour in 2021. The 31-year-old Behar is up to No. 67 in the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings, while the 31-year-old Escobar is up a career-high No. 69.

Three Unforgettable Matches
If there was ever a turning point for a young player in search of confidence and belief, look no further than this. Competing in just the ninth Challenger event of his young career and facing his biggest foe yet, top seed Frances Tiafoe, it proved to be a seminal moment for Brandon Nakashima on a Thursday night in Dallas. With NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki in the house, Nakashima and Tiafoe put on a show under the lights at T Bar M Racquet Club.

An air of tension filled Stadium court, as the Americans traded blows for two hours and 18 minutes. Neither was willing to concede an inch, as Tiafoe battled from a set and a break down to prevail 3-6, 7-6(2), 7-5. It was counterpunch after counterpunch, with a bevy of baseline bombs exchanged throughout the encounter and Nakashima’s steely resolve on full display.

Last night, we were all witnesses as Brandon Nakashima introduced himself in Dallas.

The 18-year-old announced his arrival in grand fashion, in defeat to Frances Tiafoe. Poise and focus beyond his years… pic.twitter.com/ETaypdzxKg

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) February 7, 2020

There was just one occasion in 2020 that a player saved a championship point in a Challenger final. That match turned out to be an absolute thriller on the clay of Punta del Este, Uruguay. The first clay-court final of the year featured defending champion Thiago Monteiro against former Roland Garros semi-finalist Marco Cecchinato. Monteiro, would fight off three match points at 5-4 in the third set, before prevailing 7-6(3), 6-7(6), 7-5 after two hours and 51 minutes. He turned in a clutch serving performance as well, denying eight of nine break points faced.

While Nakashima/Tiafoe and Monteiro/Cecchinato certainly brought the fireworks, look no further than the Trieste semi-final between Carlos Alcaraz and Lorenzo Musetti for a glimpse into the future of the ATP Tour. The Spaniard would prevail 7-5, 2-6, 6-3 en route to his maiden Challenger crown. The great potential of the teenagers was on full display as they slugged it out for two hours and 14 minutes.

Bendigo, Iasi, Split & Trieste Make Dazzling Debuts
Four tournaments made their debut in 2020, with Bendigo, Australia, leading the charge in January. When the year began, Australia had witnessed widespread devastation due to bushfires that ravaged the country. The fires greatly impacted both the Australian public and the surrounding wildlife and environment. In the tennis world, hazardous air quality in Canberra – Australia’s capital city – forced the relocation of the ATP Challenger Tour season opener. Tennis Australia officials made the unprecedented decision to move the Apis Canberra International to Bendigo, also the site of next week’s Challenger 80 event.

As the surrounding region continued to cope, the Challenger in Bendigo provided a moment of inspiration. With a total of 997 aces hit during the week, AU $99,700 was raised for the Australian Red Cross disaster relief.

In August, the new tournament in Trieste, Italy helped kick off the Challenger restart, while the new 100-level event in Iasi marked the second tournament held in Romania.

In October, pro tennis returned to Split, Croatia for the first time since 1998, as the beautiful seaside city welcomed the inaugural Split Open. The second-largest city in Croatia is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Eastern Europe, nestled on the eastern shore of the Adriatic Sea.

Source link

Murray & Skupski 'Excited & Surprised' By Fans' Favourite Honour

Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski were thrilled to be selected as the Fans’ Favourite doubles team in the 2020 ATP Awards.

“I am very excited and surprised to receive this award for fans’ favourite doubles team on the ATP Tour in 2020 with my partner, Neal Skupski,” Murray said. “Thank you all for your support throughout this year through difficult circumstances for everyone. We hope you are all safe and healthy. Looking forward to the Christmas season and obviously in 2021 hopefully getting back to some normal life and seeing all you guys at the tennis stadiums at the biggest tournaments in the world on the ATP Tour soon.”

“Thank you all for your support throughout this year.”@jamie_murray | #ATPAwards pic.twitter.com/OfC9jfLsL1

— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 21, 2020

“I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the fans around the world for voting us the ATP 2020 Fans’ Favourite doubles team of the year,” Skupski added. “We feel very proud and humbled. It’s a great honour for us. It’s a great achievement to win this award, especially since the Bryan [Brothers] had won it since 2005.”

In their first full season as a team, the Brits claimed their first tour-level title together at the Sofia Open in Bulgaria. They were the first alternate team at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Murray and Skupski earned a 21-15 record together this year, reaching an ATP Masters 1000 final at the Western & Southern Open and an ATP 500 championship match at the Erste Bank Open. This was the first time that the team that won this award did not include Mike Bryan or Bob Bryan, who announced their retirement in August.

Source link

Alcaraz On Winning Newcomer Of The Year: 'I'm So Happy'

Carlos Alcaraz has been selected by fellow players as the winner of the Newcomer of the Year in the 2020 ATP Awards. The Spaniard received this honour for a breakthrough campaign in which he climbed 350 spots in the FedEx ATP Rankings to finish the season at World No. 141 after reaching a career-high of No. 136 in October.

“I wanted to thank the ATP and everyone who voted for me in the Newcomer of the Year Award. I’m so happy,” Alcaraz said. “Honestly, this wouldn’t be possible without my team. We did some great work this year despite the difficulties.

“I want to also congratulate all of the other nominees for this award. They’ve had a great year too and played at a high level, and I wish them the best of luck in 2021.”

There’s nothing like your first #ATPAwards trophy! ?@alcarazcarlos03 is the 2020 Newcomer of the Year ? pic.twitter.com/3o5FoHYNpW

— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 21, 2020

The 17-year-old, who was the youngest player in the year-end Top 200, claimed his first tour-level win in dramatic fashion, outlasting veteran Albert Ramos-Vinolas in three hours and 37 minutes at the Rio Open presented by Claro in February. That set the tone for the teen’s ascent.

Alcaraz made his Challenger breakthrough when he lifted the trophy in Trieste, but the best was yet to come as he arrived on home soil. The Spaniard lifted back-to-back Challenger trophies in Barcelona and Alicante – the latter sealed with his second Top 100 victory of the year in the final against Pedro Martinez. As a result, Alcaraz added his name to an exclusive club of players who have won at least three Challenger titles before turning 18, joining Richard Gasquet, Novak Djokovic, Juan Martin del Potro and Felix Auger-Aliassime.

Five other #NextGenATP stars – Sebastian Korda, Lorenzo Musetti, Jurij Rodionov, Emil Ruusuvuori and Thiago Seyboth Wild – were also nominated in this category.

Source link

Djokovic, Nadal To Lead Field At 2021 Australian Open

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal, who have combined to win nine of the past 13 Australian Open titles, are set to lead the field at Australia’s Grand Slam championship in 2021.

Djokovic, the eight-time champion who has claimed back-to-back titles Down Under, tops the entry list as the No. 1 player in the FedEx ATP Rankings. The Serbian owns a 75-8 record at the season’s first major, where he is a perfect 8-0 in finals.

Nadal, the 2009 titlist, has found great consistency in Melbourne. The Spaniard has only lost before the quarter-finals once since 2005, and he has earned four runner-up finishes.

Two players to keep an eye on are World No. 3 Dominic Thiem and World No. 4 Daniil Medvedev. Thiem claimed his first Grand Slam title at this year’s US Open, and he had previously reached three major finals. The Austrian was close to a Slam breakthrough at the 2020 Australian Open, where he pushed Djokovic to a fifth set in the championship match.

Medvedev finished the season in peak form. The Russian lifted the biggest trophy of his career at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he became the first player to beat the top three players in the FedEx ATP Rankings at the season finale. Medvedev’s best run at a major came at the 2019 US Open, where he made the final.

Six-time champion Roger Federer is on the entry list. The Swiss star last competed at this year’s Australian Open due to a knee injury, which required two surgeries.

Ninety-eight of the Top 100 players in the FedEx ATP Rankings are entered in the first major of 2021, with all members of the Top 50 set to compete. The tournament will take place from 8-21 February due to COVID-19, but nonetheless Tournament Director Craig Tiley says organisers are ready to host another exciting event.

“We are looking forward to welcoming the world’s best players to Melbourne and what promises to be a spectacular Australian Open following a year of disruption on a scale none of us has ever experienced before,” Tiley said. “Although the AO will look a bit different to previous years, the safety of everyone is our top priority. We have the opportunity to stage a very safe, and happy Slam, and give the players the experience of competing in front of crowds again, something they’ve missed for most of this year.”

The tournament has awarded two of its main draw wild cards so far, with them going to Christopher O’Connell and Marc Polmans. Qualifying will be played from 10-13 January in Doha, before players and staff travel to Australia for a 14-day quarantine in accordance with local public health authorities.

The 2021 ATP Tour season begins on 6 January in Antalya and Delray Beach. After the Australian quarantine, the ATP Cup and two ATP 250s will all be played in Melbourne Park the week before the Australian Open.

Source link

Season Portrait: Novak Djokovic

Over eight days, ATPTour.com has served up a season snapshot of the eight players who qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals. Illustrated by intimate portraits from British photographer Simon Owen, the series concludes today with a review of World No. 1 Novak Djokovic’s season.

Memorable Moment
Incredible as it may seem, Novak Djokovic came into 2020 having finished year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings just once in the previous four seasons. In reclaiming the year-end throne from Rafael Nadal, the Serb tied his idol Pete Sampras with six No. 1 finishes. In December, Djokovic joined Roger Federer as just the second man to reach 300 total weeks at No. 1.

Key Stat
En route to his eighth title at the Australian Open in January, Djokovic became the sixth player in the Open Era to reach 900 tour-level match wins with a third-round victory over German Jan-Lennard Struff. Interestingly, Djokovic’s 900-187 mark at the time exactly matched Rafael Nadal’s win-loss record when the Spaniard reached the same milestone in 2018. Djokovic needs 66 match wins to reach 1,000. Could he do it in 2021? He won 65 matches in 2016 and 82 in 2015.

Quotable
“I will keep striving to be a better player, hopefully have more success and break more records in a sport I love with all my heart.”

The Road Ahead
Should Djokovic remain atop the FedEx ATP Rankings in the first part of the season, he will break Federer’s record of 310 weeks at No. 1 on 8 March. Beyond that, he will try to set a new record of seven year-end No. 1 finishes. The owner of 17 Grand Slam titles will try to close the gap on Federer and Nadal’s record haul of 20. The 33-year-old will also look to build on his record 36 ATP Masters 1000 titles, which has him just one ahead of Nadal’s 35 victories at the level.

View Full Series

Photos: Simon Owen/Wonderhatch

Source link

Inside The Court Call With Per Bastholt

The roar of the crowd as he steps out onto a big court, the intense focus of all the cameras, the adrenaline rush of performing under pressure… It might sound like the start of a Grand Slam final, but for members of the ATP Tour’s Medical Services team, it’s just another day on the job.

After a very challenging season, ATPTour.com sat down with longtime Sports Medicine Clinical Trainer Per Bastholt to learn from his unique experiences as a key member of the Tour’s Medical Services team as he prepares for 2021. He gave us an inside look at what it takes to keep the top players healthy – and what goes through his mind when he’s called on court.

A native of Denmark, Bastholt began his career as a clinical trainer in tennis in the early ‘90s at the Mont-Carlo Country Club, assisting the Tour during its annual Masters 1000 stop in the South of France. His diverse background includes a five-year spell working for professional football for Ligue 1 team AS Monaco (2008-2012), as well as three years private service to former Wimbledon finalist Tomas Berdych and one year with former WTA World No. 1 Victoria Azarenka.

“Per is one of our leaders among our ATP Medical Services Team,” said Todd Ellenbecker, ATP Vice President of Medical Services. “His longevity on tour speaks volumes for his ability to gain the confidence of our players and staff. He has managed key situations on the world’s biggest tennis stages and facilitated our players’ ability to recover and return to play following all types of injuries. Having this level of experience among our group is tremendously advantageous for ATP Medical Services.”

Since joining the Tour full-time in 1994, Bastholt has witnessed first-hand the evolution of the sport’s physicality and intensity, as well as its effects on a tennis player’s body.

“The players are physically better. The game is faster. The game has changed, the racquets have changed. Everything has changed. Only the size of the court stayed the same,” Bastholt joked. “But even the courts have changed, in quality, in speed. It’s just not the same game.

“But of course, we have evolved as well in trying to keep the players fit and trying to keep them healthy on the court. What has changed the most is the player preparation.”

^{Bastholt treating World No. 6 Stefanos Tsitsipas during a court call at 2020 Roland Garros. (Photo credit: Peter Staples/ATP Tour)}

While the most visible part of a clinical trainer’s job occurs on the court, the increased importance of physical conditioning means that most of Bastholt’s day-to-day takes place in the ‘treatment area’ located inside or adjacent to the player locker room.

Bastholt explained that the bulk of the team’s work involves pre-match preparation and post-match recovery, using his extraordinary level of expertise in biomechanics, stretching and musculoskeletal injury prevention to treat and condition the players. The team focusses especially on treating the players’ shoulders and lower backs, ‘concern areas’ that suffer the most wear and tear from tennis.

“At the big events, the days start somewhere like 9:00 in the morning, and we finish at midnight – and that’s on a good day. Sometimes we finish at two in the morning,” he said.

“The preparation is about us being ready to assist the players in all sorts of ways: Some people tape their toes to prevent blisters, some people tape their ankles if they’ve had previous injuries to prevent getting hurt again. If a player has a sore back or hasn’t really recovered from his previous match, we try to assist them in getting those little concern areas warmed up or stretched out before they go out to have them be in their best position to perform at the best level without hurting themselves.”

According to Bastholt, the first 30 minutes after a tough match are vital for a player’s efficient recovery. There are various techniques and methods that the Sports Medicine team applies to make sure players are ready for their next match, and each player requires a unique approach.

“Recovery is an art and it’s very individual,” Bastholt said. “Hydration and various recovery tools are available for the players. We assist with potential little nagging injuries, dry needling, stretching and specific tissue work. Many tournaments have sports massage therapy, ice baths, stationary bikes, all of it part of the recovery process that the players go through after each match.”

^{Bastholt in action at the 2008 US Open treating World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. (Credit: Getty Images)}

But no matter what – or who – Bastholt is working on, as soon as the call comes in from the chair umpire summoning a clinical trainer to the court, it’s go time. During a match, players can request a visit from the trainer during a changeover in the case of an injury and may receive a three-minute Medical Time Out. With only a pressure-filled 180 seconds to assess and treat anything from a sprain to a severe, match-terminating injury, Bastholt and his team must act quickly and decisively to maximise a player’s chances of staying healthy for competition.

“We drop everything we have in our hands if there is a court call,” he said. “We have a radio on us. If that radio goes, we go. Everybody in the room knows, even if we’re preparing a player for a match, that player will wait and his match will wait until we come back and then finish the preparation.”

For Bastholt, even 27 years after his first court call, there’s still a certain adrenaline rush whenever his radio goes off at a big event.

“There’s always a moment when your adrenaline starts pumping a little bit. And that’s not a bad thing, because it makes your attention to everything so much better,” he said. “I don’t get too nervous about it, and I never have been.

“My approach is calm. Getting into position, I always try to put myself lower than the player so the player doesn’t have to speak up. I’m looking straight into the eyes of a player and I always want to project calm.

“You run onto a big court, everyone’s attention is on you. I try not to focus on the music or the cameras or what’s going on or what the announcer is saying. I’m with the player, only with the player.”

Source link