ATP Finals quiz: What can you remember about London hosting event?
London will host the ATP Finals for a final time before the event moves to Turin – what can you remember about its 12 years in Britain?
London will host the ATP Finals for a final time before the event moves to Turin – what can you remember about its 12 years in Britain?
BBC Sport speaks to world number three tennis player Grigor Dimitrov about the long-lasting effects of coronavirus.
In the winter of 1974, a handsome 18-year-old Swede with a golden mane of long, frizzy locks turned up at the Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne, Australia to play in the $100,000 Commercial Union Grand Prix Masters. At the time, Sweden wasn’t exactly known for producing tennis talent.
A writer from Sports Illustrated opined that year that Sweden was “a country with a meagre athletic history save for hearty, bundled-up Vikings in snowshoes”. But this teen sensation who had qualified for the sport’s elite, eight-man season-ending Masters tournament was already an international sensation, a rock star whose instrument was a wooden Bancroft racquet. He was 18-years-old but his resume already included eight titles, including a major at Roland Garros. The teen sensation’s list of early victims read like a who’s who in the sport: Laver, Vilas, Nastase, Ashe, (Stan) Smith, Rosewall, Panatta, Connors, Kodes, Orantes and more.
The kid hadn’t qualified for the Masters based on his good looks, or the fact that teenage girls mobbed him like he was the fifth member of the Beatles at Wimbledon that summer. He came into his first Masters with a ridiculous 93 ATP tour wins that season. His first name, Björn, means bear in Swedish; his last, Borg, means castle. His middle name, Rune, was a nod to his father, a clothing salesperson who won a tennis racquet in a Ping-Pong tournament and gave it to his only child. It was too heavy, so young Björn used to hands to hit the ball against their garage door for hours and hours at a time.
At 13, young Björn once stayed on the court for more than 11 hours, winning nine matches in a single day. By 17, he had already earned enough money in the sport to buy his parents a summer house and a small grocery store they ran in the industrial town of Soldertalje. All this time, he was building toward qualifying for his first Masters, which meant the world to him.
The Swedish legend, now a youthful 64 if ever there was one, recently participated in a Zoom call with Roger Federer and Tim Henman, where he reflected on that first Masters and several others he remembers fondly. “During my time, the most important thing every year was to qualify for the ATP Finals, everyone talked about it week after week,” said Borg, who looked golden bronze after a holiday in Egypt, with his impeccably coiffed mane of neatly-parted grey hair, and a smart V-neck sweater.
John McEnroe, Ivan Lendl, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg at the Masters, Madison Square Garden. Photo: Getty Images
“They had this huge board with our names and (ATP) points at each tournament. We talked about it the whole week, month after month. To qualify was the most important thing. I didn’t do too well (my first year at the Masters), but I was happy to be there. It was a really big thing then as it is now.”
Borg failed to make it out of the round-robin phase of that first Masters, but he made a deep impression on the Aussie crowds, New Zealnder Onny Parun 10-8 in the third, and dropping a tough match to John Newcombe, then ranked No. 2, in a pair of tie-breaks. But bigger and better things were still to come for the kid from the suburbs of Stockholm.
The following year, 1975, the tournament moved to his hometown, and he beat Arthur Ashe to face Ilie Nastase in the final, which he lost in straight sets. “Playing in your home country is a lot of pressure but I was happy the ATP Finals moved to Sweden,” Borg told Henman. “I lost in the final to Nastase but it was a big thing (to make it that far).”
[WATCH LIVE 3]After a year in Houston, the event moved to Madison Square Garden in New York for the next 13 years. “It was a brilliant move to play there for many years,” Borg said. He played some of the best tennis of his career in that arena against his greatest rivals—McEnroe, Connors, Vilas, and Lendl. In 1978, Borg made it to the final of the tournament for the first time, losing to Connors in a hard fought three-setter.
Two years later, he won the event for the first time. Sports Illustrated called it “the best and the brightest and the most exciting tennis tournament anybody ever saw”. Borg beat Connors in the round robin and McEnroe in the semi-finals, both in riveting third set tie-breaks. Three other matches that week were also decided in third set tie-breaks.
“Those five matches that went to tie-breaks, it was unbelievable tennis,” Borg recalled. “It was a great promotion for the ATP Finals— it helped tennis a lot and it helped us a lot too.”
Vitas Gerulaitis snapped a 16-match losing streak against Connors in the semi-finals, inspiring one of the best quotes in the history of the sport: “Nobody beats Vitas Gerulaitis 17 times in a row,” he said. But Borg dismantled him 6-2, 6-2 in the final and did in fact end up beating Vitas 17 straight, finishing his career with a perfect 17-0 record against the feisty New Yorker. But aside from winning the tournament, Borg also lost his cool on court for the first time since his junior days.
At 3-all in the third set tie-break, Borg’s forehand pass was signalled good by the linesman, but Umpire Mike Lugg overruled the call, giving McEnroe the point. With the crowd booing and whistling, Borg pleaded with Lugg to ask the linesman about the call. “I got very upset,” Borg recalled. “I went to the umpire, I was pretty nice but I wanted some answers. He didn’t give me the right answer and I got a warning and then two penalty points. That was the only time in my career that I got warnings and penalties. But I won the match anyways.”
Borg recalled on the Zoom call why this episode was so unusual and memorable for him. “I was suspended for three months when I was 13 for bad behaviour and I didn’t open my mouth again because I wanted to play tennis, I didn’t want to be suspended again,” he said. “As a player you get so frustrated, you want to scream but you have to keep it inside. I think that was probably the strongest point of my game to do that. The other players have no idea what your emotion is; you just keep playing.”
Borg followed up his Masters win by winning the event again in 1981, this time beating John McEnroe, Jose Luis-Clerc, Jimmy Connors and then Ivan Lendl in the final. “I was happy to win twice and those victories mean a lot for me because it’s the best eight players in the world and it’s tough to qualify,” Borg told Henman.
But no one, perhaps not even Björn, knew that 1981 would be his last great year on Tour. He retired at 26, but could have undoubtedly added to his haul at the Masters and other tournaments if he had stayed in the sport. We’ll never know how many more titles Borg would have won, but for more than a decade, he catapulted the sport to new heights of popularity across the globe. He was and still is as Roger Federer referred to him in the recent Zoom call, “the king”.
Nitto ATP Finals 50th Anniversary Content
Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski advanced to their third final of the season on Thursday at the Sofia Open to extend their Nitto ATP Finals qualification bid.
The British pair saved all three break points they faced to overcome Fabrice Martin and Hugo Nys 7-6(4), 6-7(2), 10-4 in just under two hours. Murray and Skupski must win the Sofia title to have any chance of qualifying for the eight-team event, which will be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November.
[WATCH LIVE 2]If the top seeds in Sofia, Jurgen Melzer and Edouard Roger-Vasselin, beat Tomislav Brkic and Marin Cilic on Friday, they will qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time as a team.
Murray and Skupski are bidding to capture their first team title in the Bulgarian capital. The second seeds reached their first two ATP Tour championship matches as a pair earlier this year at the Western & Southern Open and the Erste Bank Open.
British pair Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski continue their bid to claim the last spot at next week’s ATP Finals by reaching the Sofia Open final.
Spain’s Rafael Nadal is drawn in an exciting group containing US Open champion Dominic Thiem as he looks to win a maiden ATP Finals title.
Novak Djokovic, who will be bidding to earn a record-trying sixth trophy at the season finale, learned his group for the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals on Thursday. The World No. 1 leads Group Tokyo 1970 alongside Daniil Medvedev, Alexander Zverev and Diego Schwartzman.
Djokovic has a 39-3 match record on the season and has qualified for the season finale 13 times. He triumphed at the event in 2008 and 2012-15.
Nadal, who has earned his spot at the prestigious event for a record 16 consecutive years, leads Group London 2020 alongside Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev. Nadal, who has a 25-5 record in 2020 with two titles, has earned a berth at the Nitto ATP Finals every season starting in 2005.
Group Tokyo 1970
Novak Djokovic
Daniil Medvedev
Alexander Zverev
Diego Schwartzman
Group London 2020
Rafael Nadal
Dominic Thiem
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Andrey Rublev
Come and Join @andy_murray and myself tomorrow at 8PM (7PM GMT) on https://t.co/Tk1TNA4qYm We will do a preview of the Nitto ATP Finals to be held in London from Sunday onwards. #NittoATPFinals 1/2 pic.twitter.com/ucD5kT632s
— Gael Monfils (@Gael_Monfils) November 12, 2020
The other two former champions of the event are 2019 champion Tsitsipas and 2018 titlist Zverev. Thiem, the third seed, captured his first Grand Slam title this year at the US Open. Rublev and Schwartzman are first-time competitors at the event.
The singles draw for the 2020 Nitto ATP Finals, to be held at The O2 in London from 15-22 November, was made on Thursday and broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live’s ‘5 Live Drive’ featuring ATP Supervisor Gerry Armstrong and 1970 tournament champion Stan Smith.
“If you look at this draw, you look at Medvedev and Zverev, who just played in the finals against each other in Paris last week, they obviously are playing quite well. They’re going to be pushing Novak in that group,” Smith said on the broadcast. “But on the other side, Rublev has really been hot overall for the year, it’s unbelievable. Tsitsipas is the defending champion and Thiem is the US Open champion, so Rafa’s got his hands full with those three guys.”
[WATCH LIVE 3]Seven different countries are represented in the elite eight-man singles field. Four played aged 24 and under will compete at The O2. This is the 50th Anniversary of the Nitto ATP Finals, which was first held in 1970 in Tokyo, where Smith lifted the trophy. It is the tournament’s 12th and final edition in London. Next year, the season finale will move to Turin, Italy.
Italian Matteo Berrettini, the 2019 qualifier, and Canadian Denis Shapovalov are first and second alternates, respectively, in the singles field.
ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 15, 2020
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
Doubles TBD Doubles TBD
Not Before 2:00 pm
[3] D. Thiem (AUT) vs [6] S. Tsitsipas (GRE)
Not Before 6:00 pm
Doubles TBD Doubles TBD
Not Before 8:00 pm
[2] R. Nadal (ESP) vs [7] A. Rublev (RUS)
ORDER OF PLAY – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2020
CENTRE COURT start 12:00 noon
DOUBLES TBD DOUBLES TBD
Not Before 2:00 pm
[1] N. Djokovic (SRB) vs [8] D. Schwartzman (ARG)
Not Before 6:00 pm
DOUBLES TBD DOUBLES TBD
Not Before 8:00 pm
[4] D. Medvedev (RUS) vs [5] A. Zverev (GER)
One year on from his championship victory against Alex de Minaur at the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, Jannik Sinner earned another memorable win against the Aussie on Thursday at the Sofia Open.
The #NextGenATP Italian rallied from a set down to overcome De Minaur 6-7(3), 6-4, 6-1 in two hours and 11 minutes. Sinner won 80 per cent of his first-serve points (43/54) and held his nerve under pressure, as he saved six of the seven break points he faced.
“The key [in the big moments] is the balance on court, trying to understand how big I should go,” said Sinner. “The important points, when you serve, try to serve with the first serve in and maybe then it is a little bit easier to win the point.
“I was just focussing on that and trying to let him play in one corner, because he moves very fast… My tactic was to stay in one corner and try and play a little bit faster than him.”
[WATCH LIVE 2]Sinner, who owns a 17-11 record in 2020, is through to his second ATP Tour semi-final of the year. The bett1HULKS Championship semi-finalist is aiming to reach his first ATP Tour championship match this week.
After dropping the first set in a tie-break, Sinner earned an unlikely break at 3-3 to turn the match in his favour. De Minaur raced into a 40/0 lead on serve, but Sinner played with aggression on his forehand to overpower his opponent.
After saving break points to close the second set, Sinner charged to victory in the decider. The Italian stepped in on short balls and ripped winners to open a 5-1 lead. De Minaur began to commit errors as he attempted to shorten points and Sinner moved through to the semi-finals when De Minaur fired a forehand beyond the baseline.
Sinner will face Adrian Mannarino for a place in the championship match. The Frenchman reached his second semi-final in three weeks with a 6-2, 1-6, 6-3 victory against Radu Albot.
The Nur-Sultan runner-up landed seven aces and broke serve on three occasions to reach his first semi-final in Sofia. Since arriving at the bett1HULKS Championship in Cologne last month, Mannarino has won 10 of his 13 matches.
“[Adrian] is a tough player, a lefty [who is] serving well and moving well in long rallies. It is going to be a physical match,” said Sinner. “I have to talk to my coach about how I am going to play tomorrow and try to be prepared.”
It’s easy to forget that Jannik Sinner was the eighth seed at last year’s Next Gen ATP Finals. Then only 18, the Italian had shown promise earlier in the year by reaching the Antwerp semi-finals. But he gained entry into the 21-and-under finale as a wild card. Sinner finished the 2019 FedEx ATP Race To Milan in 11th place.
But the one-time skiing prodigy was determined to prove that he could compete with more established #NextGenATP stars, like Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe and Casper Ruud.
“Last year, I was watching from the stands,” Sinner said before the tournament, cracking a smile. “This year, I can play in front of the stands.”
Sinner did more than just compete. He became the first Italian to lift the Next Gen ATP Finals trophy, beating De Minaur 4-2, 4-1, 4-2 with a breathtaking shotmaking display in the final. That proved to be just the beginning of what has been a rapid ascent for the teen.
The red-headed right-hander received plenty of attention for his efforts. Even Roger Federer chimed in at this year’s US Open.
“I think we’ll see so much more from him,” Federer said. “He’s an exciting guy and [a] super sweet kid, which I always love to see.”
The spotlight that was on Sinner only grew bigger throughout 2020, but the Italian never allowed the pressure to get to him. In fact, he thrived under it. Sinner has made the biggest jump into the Top 50 of the FedEx ATP Rankings this year, surging from No. 78 to No. 44, and he is not yet done, competing at this week’s Sofia Open.
The #NextGenATP star didn’t soar with just one big result, either. One can argue some of Sinner’s losses have been just as impressive as his wins.
The Italian earned his first Top 10 triumph in February, when he beat World No. 10 David Goffin in Rotterdam. The Belgian is one of the toughest baseliners on the ATP Tour, but Sinner dispatched him in straight sets.
“It feels like a normal victory, [but] sometimes you play [matches] better than others,” he said. “It’s all about improving and testing where you are [as a player].”
Since he first broke onto the scene, Sinner has maintained that he does not focus on one result. He is always working to best position himself for the long term, trying to improve daily.
After the ATP Tour was suspended for more than five months due to COVID-19, the Italian lost his first two matches back. But a five-set defeat against then-World No. 16 Karen Khachanov in the first round the US Open showed a big result was not far away.
Khachanov is one of the world’s biggest hitters, but Sinner had no problem going toe-to-toe with the Russian for three hours and 44 minutes, pushing the 2018 Rolex Paris Masters champion to a fifth-set tie-break. Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi was in the stands watching his countryman.
“Sometimes it’s like he’s playing another sport. The ball is going so fast from his racquet. He’s still thin, he’s not so big. But the ball is going really, really fast,” Lorenzi told ATPTour.com. “It was impressive. He was playing unbelievable [against Khachanov]. He was two sets up against a guy who is Top 15 in the world and they both were playing really good. I think that was a big step for him.”
Sinner carried that momentum into the clay-court season, during which he beat Stefanos Tsitsipas in the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia for his second Top 10 win. Sixteen months earlier, he had managed to take only five games from the Greek star at the same tournament.
That set the stage for one of the most impressive #NextGenATP efforts of 2020. Sinner only lost one set en route to his first Grand Slam quarter-final at Roland Garros, where he beat Goffin and recent US Open finalist Alexander Zverev. The Italian became the first player to reach the last eight on his debut at the clay-court Slam since Rafael Nadal in 2005. It was only fitting Sinner faced the Spaniard next.
“I don’t watch about records. I know who is on the other side,” Sinner said. “I have a lot of respect [for] him. At the end you want to win. You go on court to play your tennis with your personality. You go on court trying to play your tennis, trying to win obviously.”
Sinner gave it a good shot, winning more games against Nadal (11) than World No. 1 Novak Djokovic did in the final (7). The teen showed a willingness to engage the legendary lefty in baseline rallies, sometimes even overpowering the Spaniard.
“He’s improving every single week. He’s playing better and better and better,” Nadal said before their match. “He has an amazing potential, he moves [his] hands very quickly and he’s able to produce amazing shots.”
Two years ago, Sinner was in the stands in Milan. Last year, the Italian took centre stage. And now, the teen is proving that he is well on his way to the top.
British doubles player Joe Salisbury enjoys flying under the radar but his Grand Slam success is putting him in the spotlight.
