South African Lloyd Harris enjoyed the best season of his young career in 2019, breaking into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings for the first time and reaching a career-best No. 82 in July.

The 22-year-old is in London during the Nitto ATP Finals attending ATP University, gaining valuable insight into the life that lay ahead of him on the ATP Tour.

“We’re learning more about the game, what happens behind the scenes, the media involved with that,” Harris said. “They’re teaching us about what to expect with life on Tour and life off the Tour. We’ve had some really interesting conversations and lectures so far.”

The group received a visit from former World No. 1 Carlos Moya, who is currently part of Rafael Nadal’s coaching team.

“We had Carlos Moya come to speak with us. [It was good to] just to get some insight into what the World No. 1 is doing post-match, before the match, after getting to the final of a Grand Slam,” Harris said. “You begin to think that these are things we should be picking up and putting into our routines as well. It’s small things from different categories that you can pick up and use.”

Harris will try to put those lessons to good use in the inaugural ATP Cup in January, in which he will represent South Africa as the second-ranked player from his country. Harris spoke to ATPTour.com about the new event, what’s most exciting about playing for a team, playing alongside Kevin Anderson and his childhood growing up in South Africa.

How excited are you to play at the ATP Cup?
From all the hype that is going on, it looks like it is going to be a fantastic event. I am sure anything of this calibre has to be great. It is a team event, that aspect is always fun.

I think the crowd is going to love it. It is going to be super-entertaining and I am looking forward to playing alongside some unbelievable players and against some good players. I think it is a great way to start the year.

What is exciting about playing as part of a team?
I think it is like a different energy. The whole year, you are competing for yourself and you have your team. But when you have your guys backing you up, sitting next to the court and cheering you on, you are not just playing for yourself.

If you win or lose a match, you are playing for them too. They also want to win and you want to go through to the next round. I think the atmosphere and vibe around that is just more fun and enjoyable for the players.

How cool is it that you will get to play alongside Kevin Anderson, who is one of the best players in the world?
He is an unbelievable player. Injury means nothing. He just hasn’t been able to play this year. It has been a really tough year for him. But I have spoken to him and he is positive. He is not down about it at all.

I think he is going to come back very strong next season. He is going to get his body fully ready and have a long time to prepare. He wants to come back in 2020 and be ready to crush it, so it is going to be unbelievable playing alongside him.

I know you have spent time with him before, but will it be nice to work with him to start the year?
I think it will be different. Practising with a person is one thing, but when you are sitting next to the court and maybe talking and analysing your matches a little bit more, then I can learn a lot from him. He has been in situations I haven’t been in. He has won titles. He has won so many matches in Grand Slams, reaching two finals. There is definitely a lot of knowledge I can pick up from him.

Growing up in South Africa, you were a bit too young to watch Wayne Ferreira and his generation, but was there a South African you would watch on TV?
No, not at all, to be honest. At the time I was growing up, from a reasonable age when I was watching tennis, there was no one playing. Kevin was the first one to come along again and it has been unbelievable to see his rise up the ranks.

It is a pity that I wasn’t able to see all the past guys, because we used to have so many good players, Top 100 players, just a couple of years before. Unfortunately, when I was growing up, they were already done.

What was it like growing up in South Africa? I read that you had a court right by where you lived growing up, what was that like for you?
I grew up in a tennis home. My mum played tennis, my dad played tennis and my sister started playing tennis. I am four years younger than her, so little me was sitting next to the court watching all of them play tennis. So what do I want to do? I want to play tennis, too. So I picked up the racquet really, really young and all I wanted to do was just play with them as well.

My mum asked the coaches, ‘Is he not too young? Can he start?’ I was not even three years old. There I was hitting balls already. The thing is, I enjoyed every second of it. I never had played too much.

I played all the other sports. South Africa is such a big sporting country, so you play rugby, you play cricket, you do athletics, you do swimming. I did all of that until I was 15 or 16. So that kept me excited for tennis and I kept on enjoying it. That was great. Back in South Africa, I was lucky enough to be in great schools and have all the facilities and stuff that I needed.

What is special about getting to represent your country?
You are representing your country all the time. You are playing with the flag beside your name. But in an event [like this]… it is just a different motivation. That makes you feel like you literally have the whole country behind you. Everybody is watching, whereas when you are playing individually, it is not the same.

I feel like [in a team environment] you have all the eyes on you and you want to make everyone happy. [You want to] entertain them, you want to get the win for South Africa and that makes it all the more special when you do get those wins.

What do you love about South Africa, as a country?
First of all, it has to be the beauty of the country. The beauty of the people. So many different cultures, so many amazing people. It is so different, all throughout the country, depending on where you are.

Even where I live, in Cape Town, there are so many different people and the pure beauty about it is special. The way it makes me feel is like, I am at home there. It is something I haven’t been able to feel somewhere else and I think it will have to stay my home for the rest of my life, probably. It is just a homely feel for me and everything about it is special.

Is there something that reminds you of home on the road?
There are certain foods and there are certain things that I will do back home that maybe remind me. The best times I have are mostly in England and America, you get a bunch of South Africans and they invite you to their house and we have a braai, which is a South African barbecue. Or you walk into a South African restaurant or a South African shop and they have all these things, which is crazy cool.

Another thing that reminds me of home is anything to do with rugby or cricket, wherever I might be. If I see something rugby or cricket related, I am thinking [about] those times I went to the stadiums and supported our teams.

One year ago, Alexander Zverev shocked the tennis world when he defeated Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic in back-to-back matches to win the biggest title of his career at the Nitto ATP Finals. After battling through a pressure-packed match against Daniil Medvedev to earn a spot in the semi-finals on Friday, Zverev is just two wins away from retaining his crown.

But the 11-time ATP Tour champion has a significant hurdle directly in front of him in Austrian Dominic Thiem, who is into the semi-finals at the season finale for the first time. Thiem leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 5-2, and he is playing some of his best tennis, defeating both Federer and Djokovic in Group Bjorn Borg play.

“He’s been playing some unbelievable tennis, maybe the best tennis that we have ever seen from him. Actually beating Roger and Novak on this court is very special. Doing it back to back is very, very difficult,” Zverev said. “It’s going to be a very difficult match. I’m looking forward to it. Honestly, I’m just happy to be in the semis, and from here on we’ll just see how it goes.”

Advancing to the semi-finals at The O2 is a major accomplishment in itself, with the eight best players in the world competing for only four spots. But that is only part of the battle, with players then needing two additional victories to lift the trophy.

“I think that maybe this tournament is the most difficult to win, because you have to beat five Top 10 guys in a row. Okay, you can afford to lose one match maybe, but still, that’s why I’m 100 per cent sure that if you win this title you can win, as well, any other title,” Thiem said. “I haven’t done it yet, but I think that if you win this title, it gives you a lot of confidence for especially of course Australia, because it’s the closest, but for the full next year.”

Thiem and Zverev have not played since 2018 Roland Garros, where the Austrian dropped just seven games in the quarter-finals en route to reaching his first Grand Slam final. He also won the pair’s only previous match on an indoor hard court, at 2017 Rotterdam. That victory came in three sets.

Zverev has the edge in experience at The O2, though. Although this is Thiem’s fourth appearance to Zverev’s third, the German triumphed last year, while the Austrian had won three matches in his three previous showings combined.

“This arena, this place is special to me,” Zverev said. “I feel different here, and this kind of feeling I want to take to next year, as well, to the next tournament. Doesn’t matter if I win or lose. Obviously I want to win and I’ll do everything I can.”

Both players have shown good form this week, and Zverev admits that not just in his match, but in the tournament on a whole, there is plenty still up in the air. Every player will need to bring their best in their respective clashes from start to finish.

“It’s going to be interesting to see who will be the winner. Maybe we’ll have the oldest winner of all time. Maybe it’s going to be one of the new guys, young guys. Maybe we’ll have a first-time winner,” Zverev said. “I hope it will be a back-to-back for me, but I have a very difficult semi-final tomorrow.”

If only Alexander Zverev could play all of his matches at The O2 in London. The 22-year-old German admits to not having the type of regular season he wanted in 2019. Zverev is the only Nitto ATP Finals qualifier who didn’t win more than one ATP Tour title.

Yet in the final weekend of the season, the seventh seed is again among the last four at the season finale. The defending champion secured his place in the semi-finals for the second consecutive year on Friday evening with a 6-4, 7-6(4) win against Daniil Medvedev.

“This arena, this place is special to me. I feel different here, and this kind of feeling I want to take to next year, as well, to the next tournament,” Zverev said.

“[It] doesn’t matter if I win or lose [this weekend]. Obviously I want to win and I’ll do everything I can, but [having this kind of experience] last year and this year and getting it to the other big events, as well, is something that I’ll hope to do for the future.”

Zverev improved to 5-1 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev. On Saturday evening, the German will meet Austrian Dominic Thiem, who beat Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic to win Group Bjorn Borg.

It will be their first matchup of the season, but Thiem leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head series 5-2. They split their two hard-court meetings.

“He’s been playing some unbelievable tennis, maybe the best tennis that we have ever seen from him. Actually beating Roger and Novak on this court is very special. Doing it back-to-back is very, very difficult,” said Zverev, who accomplished the feat last year in the semi-finals and final in London.

“It’s going to be a very difficult match. I’m looking forward to it. Honestly, I’m just happy to be in the semi-finals, and from here on we’ll just see how it goes.”

Zverev, along with 21-year-old Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, is one of two former #NextGenATP players to make the semi-finals. And although no player under 30 has won a Grand Slam title, Roger Federer, 38, is the only player older than 30 to make the semi-finals at the season’s final tournament.

“The young guys have been playing much better tennis than they were maybe last year. I think the biggest surprise is actually that Novak is out of the tournament, because I think for him, this court, the conditions is the best fit for his game,” Zverev said.

“The other thing is the biggest surprise, obviously Rafa. Nobody expected him to be out from our group. Our group was very, very difficult, and for me and Stefanos to qualify, I don’t think a lot of people would have picked [us], especially probably me with the year I had. But we played good tennis over the last five days, so that helped us.

“The tournament is still not over. It’s going to be interesting to see who will be the winner. Maybe we’ll have the oldest winner of all-time. Maybe it’s going to be one of the new guys, young guys. Maybe we’ll have a first-time winner. We’ll see how it goes.

“I hope it will be a back-to-back for me.”

Roger Federer won a highly anticipated blockbuster clash against Novak Djokovic on Thursday evening at the Nitto ATP Finals, defeating the five-time champion in straight sets with a London semi-final spot on the line. But the Swiss’ job is far from done.

If the Swiss star dreams of extending his record number of trophies at the season finale to seven, he will have to get past sixth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas in the last four.

Federer does carry momentum, though, after a splendid performance against Djokovic in which he won 78 per cent of his service points and was not broken. After that win, a reporter asked the 38-year-old Federer if he feels as young as he looks on the court.

“I feel good. I feel young,” Federer said, cracking a smile. “But I think it’s the haircut.”

Federer knows he faces a dangerous opponent in Tsitsipas, who beat him at this year’s Australian Open in four sets. The 103-time tour-level titlist has since taken a 2-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series with 6-4, 6-4 victories in both Dubai and Basel.

“I’m happy to stick around,” Federer said. “Hopefully [I can] go a step further than I did last year. I played a good match against Zverev last year, but he was unreal last year, so that was tough.”

Alexander Zverev won that match 7-5, 7-6(5) in his first Nitto ATP Finals semi-final, and the German went on to lift the trophy. Tsitsipas, making his debut in the year-end championships, will hope to follow in the defending champion’s footsteps.

“My body feels well currently. I don’t feel pain anywhere. I feel fresh, honestly,” said Tsitsipas after losing a two-hour, 52-minute battle against World No. 1 Rafael Nadal on Friday. “After having a long, difficult match like this, I feel like I can go out and play tomorrow the same way. So I don’t have any problem with that.”

Tsitsipas will be confident after getting off to a 2-0 start at this event in his first appearance at The O2. The Greek did not lose a set against either Zverev or Daniil Medvedev.

It will be interesting to see how Tsitsipas adapts his court positioning compared to how he played against Nadal, who took more balls inside the baseline than the Greek. Federer is well-known for taking time away from his opponents by making contact inside the baseline often.

In Melbourne, Tsitsipas saved 12 of the 12 break points he faced against Federer. In their two more recent matches, the 21-year-old was able to stave off just six of the Swiss’ 10 opportunities. That could prove key with a spot in the championship match of the Nitto ATP Finals on the line.

Did You Know?
All four semi-finalists went through round-robin play with a 2-1 record. The last time none of the semi-finalists had a 3-0 round-robin record was in 2009, the first year the Nitto ATP Finals was held at The O2 in London.

Daniil Medvedev’s week at the Nitto ATP Finals didn’t pan out as he had hoped, but he’s confident that the experience will serve him well in the future.

The Russian admitted that he’s a player who needs a first run to learn the ropes of a new environment before excelling. He lost his first ATP Tour final in 2017 Chennai (l. to Bautista Agut) before bouncing back to win his next three tour-level finals the following year. Medvedev also fell in his first ATP Masters 1000 final this year in Montreal (l. to Nadal) before regrouping with Masters 1000 crowns in Cincinnati (d. Goffin) and Shanghai (d. Zverev).

Although he departed The O2 in London with an 0-3 record in Group Andre Agassi, history indicates there won’t be a repeat if he’s able to qualify again next year.

“I always said that for me, the experience of something new is the key and it was my first time in the [Nitto] ATP Finals,” Medvedev said after his loss on Friday to Alexander Zverev. “I tried to remember if I actually had any good first-time experiences in tennis… I don’t think I ever did. 

“I’m the guy who needs to know how it is before really getting into it. Hopefully this experience will help me if I will have the chance to be in another [Nitto] ATP Finals during the next years.”

Read More: Medvedev’s Secret Is Out: He’s Ready To Challenge The Big Three 

In July, Medvedev was an outside contender to appear at the season-ending championships. But the Russian quickly leaped into the Top 8 of the ATP Race to London after producing a magical three-month run of results. In addition to his Masters 1000 success, he clinched his maiden ATP Tour crown on home soil in St. Petersburg (d. Coric) and first Grand Slam final at the US Open (l. to Nadal).

Medvedev’s season highlights also include a title in Sofia (d. Fucsovics) and runner-up showings in Brisbane (l. to Nishikori), Barcelona (l. to Thiem), and Washington, D.C. (l. to Kyrgios). He finished the year with more tour-level wins (59) than any other player.

Most Tour-Level Wins In 2019

The 23-year-old arrived in London at a career-high No. 4 in the ATP Rankings and is guaranteed to finish the year inside the Top 5. But Medvedev has always strived for bigger and better. He has drastically improved his ranking each year since arriving on Tour and is optimistic that next season will yield a similar result.

“It’s always a question with my team for the next year to come,” Medvedev said. “After the end of the year, we always try to analyse what parts of the season we could have done better [and] what we could do better overall. [But] we are also trying to do the same thing, practise as hard as I can and work physically to be 100 per cent fit.”

Alexander Zverev will have a chance at defending his Nitto ATP Finals title this weekend. The seventh-seeded German reached the semi-finals for the second consecutive year on Friday at The O2 in London, beating Daniil Medvedev 6-4, 7-6(4) to finish second in Group Andre Agassi.

Zverev will meet Group Bjorn Borg winner Dominic Thiem on Saturday evening. Stefanos Tsitsipas, also 2-1 in the group, wins Group Andre Agassi and will face Roger Federer on Saturday afternoon for a place in the season finale title match. Rafael Nadal, 2-1 in the group, finishes third and does not advance to the semi-finals.

“The O2 is the most special arena for me. It’s where I play my best tennis,” Zverev said. “The atmosphere here is something we don’t play in anywhere else in the world. It’s so special to us.

“I’ve still got to improve. We’re in the semi-finals now and it doesn’t get any easier from here. I’m going to have to play my best tennis to have a chance.”

Zverev, who trails Thiem 2-5 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, became only the fifth active player, along with Nadal, Federer, Novak Djokovic and Swiss Stan Wawrinka, to make the semi-finals at the season-ending championships in back-to-back seasons.

“[Thiem] has been playing some unbelievable tennis, maybe the best tennis that we have ever seen from him. Actually beating Roger and Novak on this court is very special. Doing it back-to-back is very, very difficult,” Zverev said.

The German improved to 5-1 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Medvedev and, despite knowing he needed to win to advance, played freely against the Russian.

Zverev broke in the opening game and mixed in slices and drop shots to bring Medvedev off the baseline. Medvedev, who was going for his first Nitto ATP Finals win after an 0-2 start, freed up in the second set, hitting the occasional second serve at 131 mph, like he did against Djokovic in the Cincinnati semi-finals en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 title.

But the Russian gambled too much in the tie-break, double faulting at 3/4. Zverev, steady on serve all match, served it out to extend his stay one more day. The German landed 81 per cent of his first serves and won 88 per cent (45/51) of those points.

“[Daniil] had nothing to lose here. For me, this was a must-win situation,” Zverev said. “All credit to Daniil. It’s been an unbelievable season for him, and I think he’s going to be very dangerous next year as well.”

Super performance from @AlexZverev ?

The defending champion defeats Medvedev 6-4, 7-6 to clinch the final spot in the semis at the #NittoATPFinals!

?: @TennisTV pic.twitter.com/SYFG8p4oer

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 15, 2019

Rafael Nadal has done his part, beating Greece’s Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-7(4), 6-4, 7-5 on Friday to finish 2-1 in Group Andre Agassi. Now the World No. 1 waits to learn his weekend fate.

If defending champion Alexander Zverev wins the final Group Andre Agassi match on Friday evening, the German will win the group and Tsitsipas, who is also 2-1, will finish second. But if fourth seed Daniil Medvedev can earn his first win of the tournament and beat Zverev, Nadal will win the group and Tsitsipas will finish second.

“I’m not sure if I’m going to watch the match or not. I don’t know. The only thing that is sure is I have to be ready for anything, so I think I did my work and I did it well,” Nadal said. “[I’m] happy for the victory. Now I have to wait.”

Should Medvedev win, on Saturday afternoon, Nadal would face Roger Federer, who finished second in Group Bjorn Borg behind Austrian Dominic Thiem. The two would be meeting for the 41^st time in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

Nadal leads 24-16 and won their last matchup at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2013, but Federer has won six of their past seven, including their Wimbledon semi-final in July.

“It is one of the surfaces that he feels comfortable on. He plays so well. He plays so fast. So I need to play a perfect match tomorrow if I want to have any chance to be in that final,” Nadal said.

“I think I am playing better, but it’s true that Roger yesterday played unbelievable. So he will come to that match with plenty of confidence. So let’s see. I hope to be ready to compete at the highest level possible if that’s the case.”

Should Zverev win and Nadal not make the semi-finals, however, the Spaniard will leave London feeling positive about his game. After a slow start against the seventh-seeded Zverev on Monday night, the year-end World No. 1 bounced back with two victories, including a comeback win against Medvedev on Wednesday in which Nadal saved a match point at 1-5 in the third set.

“I know how I arrived here. I know the preparation [was] very short for me and not the ideal one after the injury in Bercy,” Nadal said.

“For me, it was important to give [myself] a chance to compete better than what I did the first day. The first day [was] a tough day.

“It’s the worst tournament possible to arrive without the best preparation possible, because in other tournaments sometimes you can be a little bit more lucky with the draw… But here, the first day you play one of the best players of the world on a tough surface. So if you don’t arrive with plenty of confidence on your body and your movements and everything, things become much more difficult. And I think that’s what happened. Then I think I have been improving my tennis every day.”

Nadal was reminded how much he’s improved and achieved this year after his 53^rd win when he was honoured on-court with the ATP Tour No. 1 trophy.

“This trophy is the work of the whole year, a great year in all terms. To have this trophy with me is a big personal satisfaction,” Nadal said.

“I think we did a lot of things well during the whole year. Of course the team and the family played a very important role this year, even more than other times because [there] have been some tough moments at the beginning of the season, in terms of physical issues that demoralised me a little bit. So they played a very important role, so I can’t thank all of them enough for all the support.”

Rafael Nadal has already clinched year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, but he wants more at the Nitto ATP Finals. The Spaniard grabbed the second set on Friday against Stefanos Tsitsipas and levelled the score at 6-7(4), 6-4 in Group Andre Agassi.

Neither player faced a break point in the opening set. Nadal and Tsitsipas remained even until 4/4 in the tie-break, when the Greek secured a mini-break after Nadal hit a backhand into the net. Tsitsipas closed out the set with an ace two points later. He finished the set with 13 winners and 13 unforced errors.

But Nadal wasn’t ready for his time at The O2 to end. He earned the first pair of break points of the match at 2-2 in the second set, but couldn’t convert. A third break point came and went at 3-3 after a strong first serve from Tsitsipas. But Nadal made good at 4-4 and roared in approval after Tsitsipas launched a forehand wide. The Spaniard comfortably held in the next game to even the score. Nadal produced 11 winners to just six unforced errors in the second set and only lost five points on serve (20/25).

Here comes, Rafa ?@RafaelNadal takes the second set 6-4 to level the match & it is GAME ON in London ?

?: @TennisTV | #NittoATPFinals pic.twitter.com/YxS9K9vKTS

— ATP Tour (@atptour) November 15, 2019

Nadal must defeat Tsitsipas to have a chance at advancing out of round-robin action. Daniil Medvedev must then defeat Alexander Zverev in the night session in order for the Spaniard to secure his place in the semi-finals. The World No. 1 is trying to reach the last four at the season-ending championships for the first time since 2015 and sixth time overall. He is 5-2 in final round-robin matches at this event.

The Spaniard secured year-end No. 1 in the ATP Rankings after Roger Federer defeated Novak Djokovic on Thursday. It’s the fifth time that Nadal has finished a season in the top spot.

Nadal holds a 4-1 lead in his FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry with Tsitsipas. All three of their clashes this year took place in the semi-finals. Nadal prevailed at the Australian Open and Internazionali BNL d’Italia, while Tsitsipas scored an upset at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Tsitsipas qualified for the semi-finals on Wednesday by winning his first two matches in Group Andre Agassi. He’ll finish first in the group if he beats Nadal. The Greek is making his debut at The O2.