Your favourite players are all back at home, but they’re finding plenty of ways to stay active. From Alex de Minaur’s unique putting game, to Andy Murray’s tiger backboard, find out how the biggest names in tennis are keeping busy.

De Minaur shifted his competitive focus to mastering a unique putting skill.

This took way too long please don’t let it flop!! ???‍♂️⛳️ @atptour #3days pic.twitter.com/7mjIucf3uh

— alex de minaur (@alexdeminaur) April 15, 2020

Murray posed a question to fans that showed he’s been watching Netflix series “Tiger King”.

 

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Hey there cool cats and kittens! ?. Who would you feed to the tiger? 1. Joe Exotic 2. Doc Antle 3. Carole Baskin 4. All 3. There is only one correct answer. Thanks to @rebowall for the fun practice wall?. #tiger #tennis #stayhome #staysafe #animalabuse #animalrights

A post shared by Andy Murray (@andymurray) on Apr 16, 2020 at 6:07am PDT

Alexander Zverev and Mischa Zverev took part in an early morning workout with their favourite football team.

⚽️ x ?

The Zverev brothers had the chance to attend @FCBayern‘s cyber training session over the weekend?pic.twitter.com/GTriQiXSAJ

— ATP Tour (@atptour) April 16, 2020

Novak Djokovic expressed how we all feel.

Everything https://t.co/BlsztfMsfC

— Novak Djokovic (@DjokerNole) April 15, 2020

Gael Monfils and Elina Svitolina didn’t hold back in an intense game of table tennis.

 

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A post shared by (G)ael.(E)lina.(M).(S). (@g.e.m.s.life) on Apr 16, 2020 at 4:27am PDT

Pablo Andujar found a unique substitute for a tennis racquet.

 

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I keep training at home ??. My dustpan it´s my new racquet and my tennis ball ? are my socks. What’re yours? I challenge you to keep your “tennis ball” up as many times as you can ?. I´ve done 10! Tag me @pabloandujaroficial with the hashtags #TennisAtHome and #TeamLacoste ?. I will share the best ones on my stories ?

A post shared by Pablo Andújar (@pabloandujaroficial) on Apr 16, 2020 at 8:46am PDT

Meanwhile, JC Aragone demonstrated that a tennis racquet has more uses than you might think.

Quaran-tennis@ATPChallenger @atptour @SOLINCOsports #stayathome #tennisathome pic.twitter.com/tSt8Mgpx9g

— JC Aragone (@AragoneJC) April 15, 2020

Stan Wawrinka dug deep into his photo archive to pull out a classic photo with Roger Federer.

Another one from the archives! Do you guys like these throwbacks ?#ThrowbackThursday #CatchMeIfYouCan #Archives #OldGold #GoodTimes #StanTheMan pic.twitter.com/QrwmIMNKM1

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) April 16, 2020

Guido Pella took on the dance craze known as the Savage Challenge.

Gente de 30 años haciendo Tik toks ? @guido_pella pic.twitter.com/CQz9uGdRTv

— Stephanie Demner (@stephaniedemner) April 16, 2020

Taro Daniel passed the time with a classic Japanese toy.

足の間にもくもくと食べてる人がいる?けん玉で新技ゲット Look between my legs ? 　#けん玉　#kendama pic.twitter.com/CDU4f7ucLP

— ダニエル太郎/Taro Daniel (@tarodaniel93) April 16, 2020

In his first ATP Tour championship match at the 2000 Open 13 Provence in Marseille, Roger Federer fell in a final-set tie-break to countryman Marc Rosset. By the time the next all-Swiss final was contested on the ATP Tour, Swiss tennis would find itself in an unrecognisable landscape.

It took more than 14 years to reach that moment at the 2014 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, when 78-time tour-level titlist Federer faced Australian Open champion Stan Wawrinka for the trophy. World No. 3 Wawrinka, who had recently overtaken his rival as Swiss No. 1, and World No. 4 Federer were meeting for the 15th time in their ATP Head2Head series (Federer led 13-1).

Wawrinka entered the contest in the best form of his career, seeking his third title of 2014 (Chennai, Australian Open) after a 19-3 start to the year. On the opposite side of the net, Federer was aiming to lift an elusive first Monte Carlo trophy, having finished as runner-up to Rafael Nadal on three consecutive visits to the Principality from 2006 to 2008.

Federer claimed the opening set with a single break of serve to move one set away from a 12th straight victory against his gold medal-winning 2008 Beijing Olympics doubles partner. But, in 2014, Wawrinka had made a habit of ending long-standing losing streaks against the biggest stars on the ATP Tour. At the Australian Open, the 29-year-old ended 14 and 12-match losing streaks against Novak Djokovic and Nadal, respectively, en route to the trophy.

Wawrinka held his nerve in a tightly contested second set, moving up the court to finish points in a must-win tie-break to force the match to a third set. Riding his momentum into the decider, Wawrinka took time away from Federer with powerful groundstrokes to establish a 4-0 advantage. From there, the Australian Open titlist comfortably held his next two service games to claim his maiden Masters 1000 trophy.

“It’s always special to play Roger,” said Wawrinka. “We know it’s always a strange match, especially being in the final here. He’s my best friend on the Tour. We respect each other so much. I’m just trying on the court to win the match. Before and after, we are still very good friends. During the match, we just try everything to win. Today, I’m really happy to take that one.”

It was Wawrinka’s second ATP Head2Head triumph against Federer, adding to his 2009 victory at the same event. By lifting the trophy, Wawrinka became only the third man to clinch a Masters 1000 crown outside the ‘Big Four’ of Nadal, Djokovic, Federer and Andy Murray since the 2010 edition of the tournament. Rolex Paris Masters champions Robin Soderling (2010) and David Ferrer (2012) were the only other men to achieve the feat during that period.

“Of course, I’m very happy for Stan,” said Federer. “It’s a huge win for him after winning his first Grand Slam this year, also to win his first Masters 1000. To take the opportunities when they’re there, that’s key in a tennis player’s career. So I’m very happy for him.”

Wawrinka’s sixth Top 10 victory of the year (6-0) catapulted him to No. 1 in the ATP Race To London. The newly-crowned Australian Open winner went on to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, making his second of four straight appearances at The O2 from 2013 to 2016, before falling to Federer in the semi-finals. The semi-final encounter was later named ATPTour.com’s Match of the Year.

From Sao Paulo to Mumbai, Emirates SkyCargo is providing vital support to cities across the world during the COVID-19 pandemic. Emirates, the ATP’s premier partner, is delivering essential supplies, including testing kits, masks and food across the globe.

Testing Kits And Medical Supplies
On 30 March, an Emirates SkyCargo flight carrying close to 500,000 COVID-19 testing kits landed at Sao Paulo airport in Brazil. The kits were moved from Guangzhou via Dubai by the air cargo carrier on the first of two flights operated to transport supplies to Sao Paulo.

During the same week, Emirates also executed two special charters carrying almost 200 tonnes of medical supplies such as hand sanitisers and protective face masks from Hong Kong to Sydney while another flight transported pharmaceutical supplies to Karachi.

Hospital Equipment And Pharmaceuticals
As part of a special charter operation, an Emirates Boeing 777 freighter transported close to 100 tonnes of relief material, including hospital equipment, to Milan and over 55 tonnes of highly temperature sensitive pharmaceuticals were flown to New York from Mumbai. Between March and April, the air cargo carrier will also be operating nine freighter flights to Budapest as part of a charter to transport supplies such as face masks and equipment to Hungary. 

Food Materials
In addition to transporting critical medical supplies around the world, Emirates SkyCargo is also playing a vital role in bringing food materials into the UAE and the Middle East. During the last week of March, the carrier operated special flights from Pakistan and India to bring in more than 150 tonnes of perishables to Dubai. Dedicated cargo flights from Cairo and Nairobi have also been transporting perishables to Dubai and onwards to other destinations within the Middle East.

“In these trying times, we more than ever stand by our commitment for Emirates SkyCargo to act as a global conveyor belt for the transport of much needed commodities such as food and medicines and also for flying in equipment, machinery and other components which are vital for business continuity across essential industries,” said Nabil Sultan, Emirates Divisional Senior Vice President, Cargo.

“As an extremely agile and customer-focused business, we have been able to establish a new network and schedule for our cargo operations within a very short period of time, utilising lower deck capacity on our widebody Boeing 777 passenger aircraft, which supplement the cargo capacity, we offer on our freighter aircraft. 

Reilly Opelka has quickly become one of the toughest players to face on the ATP Tour, backed with one of the world’s biggest serves and underrated movement that allows him to compete well from the baseline. 

The 22-year-old doesn’t allow just his tennis to define him, though, as he enjoys various hobbies off the court to stay busy when he’s not working hard towards his on-court goals.

ATPTour.com takes a look at five things to know about the American.

1) The American Loves Fashion
Throughout the world at various ATP Tour events, there’s one thing you can count on: Opelka will spend some of his free time on fashion. Whether in Tokyo, which he calls the “menswear fashion capital of the world”, or New York, where he enjoys fashion shows, the 22-year-old always has his eyes on the fashion scene.

In some cases, like in Tokyo, Opelka isn’t necessarily looking to buy anything. He simply enjoys checking out what local designers come up. Vogue’s editor-in-chief, Anna Wintour, frequents tennis tournaments, and Opelka would enjoy the chance to meet her one day.

“I’d love to [meet her]. For sure [it’s on the bucket list],” Opelka said. “I follow Harper’s Bazaar, I read a lot. I read all different types of outlets from that [fashion] standpoint.”

^{Photo Credit: Reilly Opelka}
2) Opelka Is A ‘Foodie’
Opelka doesn’t solely focus on fashion. He enjoys high-quality food, too.

“In New York, I was eating good. I love this restaurant called Moreia. I love Italian. I was ordering an Italian dish there as well, Gnocchetti. Carbone is really good there. I was going to Per Se. I was eating [at a] ton of good foodie spots pretty much every night. Le Coucou is another one,” Opelka said.

Will you catch the big man cooking, though?

“Absolutely not,” Opelka said. “Zero chance. Never.”

3) He Has Lifted Trophies In Two Straight Seasons
The American won his two ATP Tour trophies only 53 weeks apart.

Opelka clinched his maiden tour-level title last February at the New York Open by defeating Brayden Schnur in a third-set tie-break. He also saved six match points against John Isner in a thrilling semi-final clash. Opelka finished the week with 156 aces, including 43 in the championship match, and closed out the tournament with 68 consecutive service holds.

He also triumphed at this year’s Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, doing double duty on the tournament’s final day. Opelka rallied past former World No. 3 Milos Raonic, saving a match point in the semi-finals to triumph 4-6, 7-6(6), 6-3, before crushing 27 aces en route to a 7-5, 6-7(4), 6-2 victory against Japan’s Yoshihito Nishioka for the title.

4) He Has Been Quarantining With Tommy Paul
Opelka is good friends with his fellow rising Americans, including Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul, and he has been quarantining with Paul during the COVID-19 pandemic. One day, he posted on Instagram that they were watching the Scripps National Spelling Bee on ESPN.

You know times are tough when I am excited about watching @Taylor_Fritz97 stream his Fortnite tournament on Monday..

— Reilly Opelka (@ReillyOpelka) April 12, 2020

5) Opelka Graduated From Challengers
Opelka set up his breakthrough 2019 season with a dominant run in 2018 on the ATP Challenger Tour. He finished the year with back-to-back Challenger titles in the United States and reached the championship match in four of his last six Challenger events.

“It was the first time I consistently put together a lot of matches in a row. I reached a lot of semi-finals and I think the year before there wasn’t one week where I had won three matches in a row,” Opelka said. “Being able to play on the Challenger Tour and not as many ATP Tour events helped me string all those matches together. It gave me a lot of confidence and I learned a lot about myself and my tennis. It allowed me to work on some things that I knew needed to be addressed.”

With no action from the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters this year, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, ATPTour.com has taken the time to reflect on some of the greatest moments in the tournament’s history as we celebrate 30 years of ATP Masters 1000 tennis.

From 1990 to 2019, here are some of the key milestones from Monte Carlo:

One Year Ago, 2019: Fognini’s Dramatic Run
It was almost a flying visit to the Monte Carlo Country Club for Fabio Fognini in 2019. The Italian, born in nearby Sanremo, trailed Andrey Rublev 4-6, 1-4 in his opening match before an impressive comeback. It proved to be the start of a dramatic, career-defining week for Fognini.

The 13th seed, who also rallied from 1-6, 0-2 down against Borna Coric, stunned then-World No. 3 Alexander Zverev and 11-time champion Rafael Nadal in straight sets to set up a surprise final against Dusan Lajovic. After falling behind an early break on Court Rainier III, Fognini raised his level in front of a pro-Italian crowd to become the first man from his nation to win a Masters 1000 trophy.

“I just feel happy because I won a big tournament that was always my goal in my career,” said Fognini. “I think everybody, when you’re growing up and you start and you decide to play tennis, you are dreaming to win a big tournament.”

Five Years Ago, 2015: Djokovic Makes History
Two years after ending Nadal’s eight-year reign as Monte Carlo champion, 2013 winner Novak Djokovic collected his second title in the Principality. The Monte Carlo resident moved past Albert Ramos-Vinolas, Andreas Haider-Maurer and Marin Cilic to book a fourth ATP Head2Head meeting against Nadal (1-2) at the event.

Djokovic broke his great rival’s serve on four occasions to reach the championship match with a 6-3, 6-3 victory and become the only man to beat the Spaniard on multiple occasions at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament. Djokovic was pushed the distance by Tomas Berdych in a rain-interrupted final, before clinching the trophy 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 after two hours and 43 minutes. As a result of his final win, Djokovic also became the first man to win the opening three Masters 1000 events of the year after completing the Sunshine Double in Indian Wells and Miami earlier in the month. At his next two events, the Serbian claimed his fourth Masters 1000 trophy of the year in Rome and reached the Roland Garros championship match.

10 Years Ago, 2010: No Stopping Nadal
When Rafael Nadal hangs up his racquet, he may look back at the 2010 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters as the most dominant tournament of his career. The Spaniard entered the event on an 11-month trophy drought, dating back to his 2009 Internazionali BNL d’Italia title run, but dropped just 14 games across five matches to capture his sixth successive Monte Carlo crown.

Nadal beat Thiemo de Bakker, Michael Berrer, Juan Carlos Ferrero and David Ferrer to book a final clash against Spanish No. 2 Fernando Verdasco. The five-time defending champion produced his best tennis against his countryman, dropping just one game to take the title after 86 minutes. Nadal won an Open Era-record eight consecutive titles in Monte Carlo between 2005 and 2012.

20 Years Ago, 2000: Pioline’s Greatest Triumph
In 2000, Cedric Pioline became the first French winner of the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in the Open Era. After runner-up finishes at the event in 1993 and 1998, the 6’2” right-hander produced his best level to capture the biggest title of his career in the Principality.

Pioline dropped just one set en route to his third Monte Carlo championship match, where he faced first-time Masters 1000 titlist Dominik Hrbaty for the trophy. The 30-year-old Frenchman held his nerve throughout the two-hour, 40-minute final, defeating Hrbaty 6-4, 7-6(3), 7-6(6). It proved to be the final trophy of Pioline’s career.

30 Years Ago, 1990: Chesnokov’s Maiden Masters 1000
In 1990, Andrei Chesnokov arrived in Monte Carlo seeking his first Masters 1000 title. The Russian, who entered the event with four ATP Tour crowns, did not drop a set en route to a semi-final clash against World No. 8 Emilio Sanchez. Chesnokov was down a set against Sanchez, who had beaten World No. 3 Boris Becker in the quarter-finals, before clinching his place in the championship match with a final-set tie-break triumph.

In a meeting of first-time Masters 1000 finalists, Chesnokov defeated 22-year-old Thomas Muster in straight sets to claim the trophy. Three weeks later, Muster overcame Chesnokov to capture his maiden Masters 1000 title at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. The Austrian captured three Monte Carlo titles (1992, ’95-’96) during his career.

That’s a match up even Ivanisevic can win (say that fast 10 times).

Press conferences for athletes (and the media) can be pretty dull affairs on occasion, but given a bit of thought and flare they can be winners for both the players and the media involved. There were few better than Goran Ivanisevic at spicing up the day.

Ivanisevic gave what is arguably the funniest tennis press conferences in history at Wimbledon in 2001 and that off court performance still brings smiles to the faces of anybody who was lucky enough to be in the room at the time.

During his amazing run from wild card to Wimbledon winner in 2001, Ivanisevic revealed for the first time, that there were two Gorans that he had to manage during his matches. The Nice and Nasty, the Good and Bad.

The Bad Goran wanted him to argue with the umpire, break a few racquets, get fired up. The good Goran disagreed and wanted to concentrate on winning his matches by focusing on the game at hand. Ivanisevic said things got so bad at times that the two Gorans would start arguing with each other during points and he would just freeze up.

“Guys, guys… one has to be under control, but they both, they were going,” he said in one Wimbledon interview. “One was rushing, the other one was rushing even more.”

It got so bad that during a third-round match with Andy Roddick, Ivanisevic had to call in a secret, and as yet undisclosed THIRD Goran.

“The third one came and said, “Guys, relax. It’s a lovely court, relax. Just calm down.’”

“The third one had to come. I had to call him. He’s the emergency one. Emergency 911 call. That’s the one who just comes when [there is] a very emergency situation. He is nowhere you know, he is like behind the scenes, you know. He is like the brain man. He’s controlling.”

The good news is all three Gorans went on to win one of the most emotional and exciting Wimbledon finals, seeing off Australian Patrick Rafter 9-7 in the fifth set of a classic match carried over to a third Monday. The bad news is there was only one trophy to present.

The three Gorans have recently be inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. I am not sure which one of the three is actually inducted but you could ask former US powerhouse Todd Martin, the Hall of Fame CEO. He recently met all three Gorans at an induction function at the Australian Open in January. He’ll know. My bet is it is Good Goran.

As a 40-year-plus veteran sports journalist and ATP insider, I must have been to a million pressers (okay, so a little journalistic licence there – it’s probably only 756,000 at best) and most of them went in one ear and out the other.

But there are a few that stand out for me as a reporter.

I always thought the Australian golfer Greg Norman had the right attitude in the press room. For him, the conference was his as much as the media’s and he was always looking for ways to give a good story and grab a headline. One of his better efforts in my book came many years ago at the World Matchplay Golf championship in London.

After a particularly dreary day, Norman came into the interview room late in the day and sensing the flat atmosphere said, “So do you guys have a story for today?”. The answer was a resounding no, so Norman took charge.

“I’ll give you a story,” he said. “I am going crocodile hunting in the Australian outback next week.”

“Isn’t that dangerous?,” somebody asked.

“You bet it is,” Norman said. “My wife is insisting I take a satellite phone and check in twice a day.”

The story got bigger and bigger as the interview went along and the next day everybody ran a version of “The Shark hunts Crocs” story. It led most sports pages. Norman had taken the opportunity not only to give a great story, but also to promote his swashbuckling brand. The media got an entertaining yarn. Everybody was happy.

As far as I am aware, no crocodiles were hurt in the production of that story.

While on golf, I can’t pass without mentioning the Merry Mex, Lee Trevino. For him, press conferences were more like stand-up comedy. Always a full house when he came in, no matter what score he shot. Every golfer knows a million Trevino stories, and some of them are even true.

Here are three of my favourites:

“I’m in the woods so often I can tell you which plants are edible.” Good line, but a Trevino embellishment. He was one of the most accurate players to ever pick up a club.

“One of the nice things about the Senior Tour is we can take a cart and a cooler. If you’re game is not going well, you can always have a picnic.”

“Columbus went around the world in 1492. That isn’t a lot of strokes when you consider the course.”

I covered the Winter Olympics in Calgary in 1988 and finished up working the downhill skiing out in Banff. The mixed zone interview area, where media meet the players for quick comments after competition, was a gently sloping snowed area and for the first few days with plenty of snow it was hard to catch much from the athletes as they slid gracefully by.

Then came a Canadian chinook, and that melted the snow in the mixed zone and the skiers became bogged going though and, suddenly, had a lot more to say. The winners though, always came into the interview room and through a translator would do their pressers in a variety of languages. One that stood out for me was a Swiss skier, Peter Mueller. I can’t remember what medal he won and I’m too lazy to look it up now, but if you’re reading this I know you have time on your hands, so you look it up.

Anyway, being Swiss he was automatically multi-lingual, so he dismissed the translator and started to work his way through various languages and seemed to going pretty well until he got to Japanese. I’m pretty sure the combination of “Suzuki, Toyota, Mitsubishi …san” wasn’t quite cutting it, but a gold medal from me for trying. The Japanese press loved it.

As the starting date draws nearer, the organisers of the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro announced on Wednesday that Gael Monfils and Fabio Fognini will take part in the pioneering tournament, which will replicate the tennis event in a virtual format where the best tennis players in the world will square off from their homes from 27 to 30 April. The players will swap their racquets for a PlayStation 4 to clash in a Manolo Santana Stadium that has been recreated in exquisite detail in the Tennis World Tour videogame (Nacon Gaming).

World No. 9 Monfils enjoyed a spectacular start to the season, winning two titles (Montpellier and Rotterdam), giving him a total of 10 ATP Tour titles in his career. Now, the 33-year-old Frenchman will start out as one of the favourites in the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro thanks to his love of video games.

“I have been playing a lot of video games during the lockdown, so I will be glad to meet up [with] my fellow players again during the Tennis World Tour tournament organized by the Mutua Madrid Open,” said Monfils. “We will be back in competition mode but more importantly we will play for a great cause.”

Fognini, last year’s Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion, will also have the chance to help the tennis players most in need at this time, those that have no income to help them through these months of inactivity and those affected by COVID-19 in the pioneering online charity competition. The tournament will include a purse of €150,000 in both draws (ATP and WTA), from which the winners will be able to decide on how much they donate to the tennis players currently suffering economically, and €50,000 that will all go towards reducing the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“I’m very curious about this new event. I will try to do my best to win it, but I have heard some of my colleagues are very good and are practising hard,” said Fognini. “Let’s see who will come up on top! [It is a] great idea and initiative from the Madrid organisers.”

The format for the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro will be as follows: 16 singles players in each of the two draws (ATP and WTA) initially divided into four groups. The champion of each group will progress to the quarter-finals, which will also include the runner-up of each group. From there, the tournament will be played as a knock-out. In addition, in parallel with the official competition, there will be a series of benefit matches that will see some of the biggest content creators in the gaming world take on the professional tennis players to raise funds to help those affected by COVID-19.

All fans will be able to follow the tournament online, on television and on the Mutua Madrid Open’s social media, with a spectacular production that will include commentary on all the matches, analysis and highlights programmes and interviews with the winners after each match.

Eight ATP Tour players have confirmed their participation so far: Rafael Nadal, Andy Murray, Monfils, David Goffin, Fognini, Karen Khachanov, John Isner and Lucas Pouille. The WTA draw includes Kiki Bertens, Angelique Kerber, Madison Keys, Kristina Mladenovic, Carla Suarez Navarro, Victoria Azarenka, Fiona Ferro and Eugenie Bouchard. The organisers of the Mutua Madrid Open will soon reveal the remaining participants, as well as other news of the competition.