No. 15, Stan Wawrinka, +2, 1,820 Points
The 16-time tour-level titlist advanced to his second indoor final of the year at the European Open in Antwerp. Wawrinka defeated Feliciano Lopez and Gilles Simon in three sets, before ending the run of Jannik Sinner in the semi-finals. Despite his three-set loss to former World No. 1 Andy Murray in the championship match, the 34-year-old jumps two spots to No. 15 in the ATP Race To London. Read Final Report.

Leading ATP Race To London Contenders

No. 7, Alexander Zverev, 2,855 points
The reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion can confirm his spot in London this week if he lifts the Swiss Indoors Basel trophy and other results go his way. Zverev enters the ATP 500 event in form, after reaching his first ATP Masters 1000 final of the year at the Rolex Shanghai Masters (l. to Medvedev). The 22-year-old reached the semi-finals in Basel last year, before falling to Romania’s Marius Copil in three sets.

No. 8, Matteo Berrettini, 2,525 points
The Italian will attempt to strengthen his position in the Race with a strong debut appearance at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. Sitting in the eighth and final qualification spot for The O2, Berrettini leads ninth-placed Roberto Bautista Agut by just 40 points. The US Open semi-finalist also arrives in Europe after an impressive run in Shanghai, where he reached his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final (l. to Zverev).

Read Vienna Draw Preview

No. 9, Roberto Bautista Agut, 2,485 points
Bautista Agut will be hoping to re-enter the qualification positions with a deep run in Basel. Competing for the first time since losing to fellow contender Berrettini in Shanghai, the Spaniard will face last year’s runner-up Copil in Switzerland. Bautista Agut has reached the Basel quarter-finals in each of the past two editions of the ATP 500 tournament.

No. 10, David Goffin, 2,325 points
In the same quarter of the draw as Bautista Agut in Basel, David Goffin also faces a tricky opener this week as he looks to close the 200-point gap to eighth-placed Berrettini. The Belgian will meet 2016 champion Marin Cilic for a spot in the second round. Goffin and Cilic are tied at 3-3 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, but Cilic has won each of their three most recent encounters without dropping a set.

Read Basel Draw Preview

No. 11, Fabio Fognini, 2,235 points
A further 90 points behind Goffin is Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters winner Fognini. The 32-year-old arrives in Basel after falling to Janko Tisparevic in his opening match at the Intrum Stockholm Open last week. The fifth seed, who shares the second quarter of the draw with Stefanos Tsitsipas, opens his Basel campaign against Next Gen ATP Finals contender Alexei Popyrin.

A LOOK BACK
Las Vegas Tennis Open (Las Vegas, Nevada, USA): In January, Vasek Pospisil was laying on an operating table. The Canadian had undergone back surgery to repair a herniated disc and would miss the next five months, before returning at Wimbledon.

On Sunday, Pospisil found his way back to the winners’ circle. The 29-year-old claimed his eighth ATP Challenger Tour title and first in nearly two years, prevailing on the hard courts of Las Vegas. He defeated Aussie James Duckworth 7-5, 6-7(11), 6-3 in two hours and 26 minutes.

“He’s a great competitor and it was just a really good match,” said Pospisil. “It had some ups and downs and drama, which is expected in a final. I’m just happy I got through it. I wasn’t serving as well as I would have liked to. The difference was that I started to be a little more aggressive. It was a very competitive match. From my end, it was about doing well on second serve returns and applying a bit of pressure.”

Duckworth did well to deny five match points in the second set tie-break, but it was Pospisil who eventually converted his sixth. He completed an impressive week that saw him not drop a set en route to the final, also defeating Michael Mmoh, Peter Polansky, Mitchell Krueger, Taro Daniel and a red-hot Christopher O’Connell.

It has been an impressive comeback campaign for the Canadian, who is just 10 days removed from a Round of 16 appearance at the Rolex Shanghai Masters as a qualifier. There, he earned his second Top 20 win in recent weeks, upsetting Diego Schwartzman after toppling Karen Khachanov at the US Open.

“I still I have a lot of work to do. Tennis is all about ups and downs like anything else in life. For the moment I’m enjoying the wave I’m on and we’ll see where it takes me.”

The former World No. 25 will rise to No. 168 in the ATP Rankings.

International Men’s Challenger (Ningbo, China): Yasutaka Uchiyama is saving his best tennis for the final months of the season. The Japanese No. 3 turned in a masterclass on Sunday in Ningbo, needing 71 minutes to dismiss Steven Diez 6-1, 6-3 for the championship. Uchiyama dropped one set all week to secure his fifth Challenger title.

“It was tough, especially at the beginning of the match,” said Uchiyama. “I wasn’t serving well, but after 3-1 in the first set I started to get my rhythm. And at the end of the match, it wasn’t easy to close it out but I’m happy to win in two sets.”

At the age of 27, the victory moves Uchiyama into the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings for the first time. He is in the midst of a dominant run of form in recent weeks, also lifting the Challenger trophy in nearby Shanghai and streaking to the quarter-finals at his hometown ATP Tour event in Tokyo. It will all culminate in a career-high position of No. 87 on Monday.

Wolffkran Open (Ismaning, Germany): On the lightning-fast carpet courts of Ismaning, it was Lukas Lacko who sprinted into the winners’ circle on Sunday. The Slovakian defeated Maxime Cressy 6-3, 6-0 in just 50 minutes to lift the trophy.

Lacko, who saved three match points in Saturday’s semi-final victory over Julian Lenz, proceeded to lift his 13th Challenger trophy and first of the year. The former World No. 44 is pushing towards a Top 100 return at the age of 31. He rises to No. 192 in the ATP Rankings with the triumph.

Photo: Juergen Hasenkopf

A LOOK AHEAD
It’s the final week of the ATP Race To Milan and Ugo Humbert is on the brink of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Sitting in eighth position, he enters Brest, France as the top seed. Roberto Carballes Baena, Thomas Fabbiano and Corentin Moutet are also competing at the Challenger 100 event.

In Traralgon, Australia, Uchiyama looks to secure titles in back-to-back weeks. The first of a two-week Aussie swing also features home hopes James Duckworth, Marc Polmans, Alex Bolt and Andrew Harris.

Hamburg debuts with Salvatore Caruso and Elias Ymer leading the indoor hard court event. And the Chinese swing moves to Liuzhou, where Prajnesh Gunneswaran and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina are the top seeds.

Meanwhile, in Lima, Peru, native son Juan Pablo Varillas returns home to a hero’s welcome after securing his country’s first Challenger title in 11 years. The Lima Challenger is the first of three clay-court tournaments in South America, to be followed by Guayaquil, Ecuador and Montevideo, Uruguay.

Most ATP Tour players wouldn’t look back fondly on a first-round exit, but Stefanos Tsitsipas believes his opening-round defeat at this year’s US Open was a blessing in disguise.

”It was probably the best thing that ever happened to me,” Tsitsipas said ahead of the Swiss Indoors Basel, where he is seeded third. “I stayed in New York for six or seven days after and it gave me time to discover new things. It was important for me to enjoy and realise what I needed in my life.

”It was my decision to live life how I wanted to, not how others wanted me to. There was a time last summer when I doubted myself, [thought] that I wasn’t interesting as a person. I wanted to be someone else, but now I understand that it’s awesome to be myself.”

Since New York, the #NextGenATP Greek has succeeded with his unique brand of tennis. He finished runner-up in Beijing (l. to Thiem) and scored a win over World No. 1 Novak Djokovic en route to a semi-final showing at the Rolex Shanghai Masters. The pair of results helped clinch his maiden appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 November at The O2 in London.

Tsitsipas also credited his recent form with a different approach to his tennis. In keeping with the need to be himself, he decided to accept his limitations and play to his strengths. A player with as much variety as Tsitsipas can sometimes have difficulty selecting what shot to hit, so the Greek opted to keep things simple on the practice court and in matches.

“I practise more efficiently. I focus on things that may work not in the long term, but [will] in the short term. I know where I should push more,” Tsitsipas said. “Before, I was always seeking more and didn’t really understand what my orientations were. That would make me crazy, even during matches, and I’d have outbursts.

“I took things way too seriously and thought that was how I got the titles, whatever I was pushing towards. I was pushing way too much and sometimes I have to enjoy it. I can’t win every single week.”

But Tsitsipas isn’t just making changes on the court. Once an avid social media user, he let his manager handle his personal accounts and deleted all of his social media apps (except for Gidget and WhatsApp). He believes the decision sparked more authentic interactions in his life and allowed him to relax away from the court.

“I’m not checking Instagram on my phone for 30 or 40 minutes like I used to. It was really stressful and drove me crazy a little bit,” Tsitsipas said. “I feel a difference in my behavior and how I feel. I can connect with people better. Being away from social media and spending more quality time is one of the best things that’s happened to me.”

After a challenging four-month stretch this season that saw Tsitsipas endure six opening-round exits, he has emerged as a stronger player. Although the Greek would love to clinch his first ATP 500 title in Basel, the end result won’t deter his belief that he’s moving in the right direction.

“I’m currently in the best state of my life,” Tsitsipas said. “It doesn’t have to do with results or playing good tennis or bad tennis. I’ve been feeling very happy and very well. I’ve been enjoying life more in general and that reflects in my game. It makes me happy and makes me want to live better.”

In a year filled with highs on the court, Rafael Nadal is also creating unforgettable moments off the court. The Spaniard tied the knot with longtime girlfriend Maria Francisca Perello over the weekend in Mallorca.

Nadal revealed the news via his academy’s social media accounts on Sunday. Fabio Fognini, Jeremy Chardy and Marc Lopez are among the players who have expressed their excitement.

CONGRATULATIONS! ❤️
Que seáis MUY FELICES! ?

? @frnadal pic.twitter.com/7gaKSS9j9o

— Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar (@rnadalacademy) October 20, 2019

Nadal is scheduled to return to action later this month at the Rolex Paris Masters before turning his attention to the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals, held from 10-17 at The O2 in London.

The final two ATP 500 events of the season take centre stage this week. Two-time defending champion and top seed Roger Federer will bid to lift his 10th title at the Swiss Indoors Basel, while home favourite Dominic Thiem leads the way at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna. With 500 ATP Rankings points available to the champions at each event, the two European indoor tournaments could prove crucial in the ATP Race To London and ATP Race To Milan.

View Draws: Vienna | Basel

Things To Watch In Vienna
1) Top Seed Thiem: World No. 5 Dominic Thiem will make his 10th straight appearance in Vienna this year. The 26-year-old is hoping to advance past the quarter-finals at the ATP 500 event for the first time. Thiem will be confident of success at home this year after lifting his first trophy on Austrian soil at the Generali Open in Kitzbühel two months ago.

2) Tsonga Returns: Thiem’s first-round opponent in Vienna will be 2011 champion Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. Making his seventh appearance in Vienna this year, Tsonga has compiled a 15-5 record and reached three championship matches at this event. Tsonga is chasing his third indoor trophy of the year, after title runs at ATP 250 tournaments in Montpellier and Metz.

Read Vienna Draw Preview

3) Matteo In The Race: Third seed Matteo Berrettini is aiming to pick up crucial points in the ATP Race To London. The 23-year-old currently occupies the eighth and final qualification spot, with a 40-point lead over ninth-placed Roberto Bautista Agut. Making his debut in Vienna, Berrettini will bid to reach his first indoor final on the ATP Tour.

4) More Tennis For Denis: Intrum Stockholm Open titlist Denis Shapovalov is back in action after lifting his maiden tour-level trophy in the Swedish capital on Sunday. The #NextGenATP Canadian did not drop a set en route to the ATP 250 title, but can expect to be tested in his opening match against Chengdu champion Pablo Carreno Busta. During his week in Stockholm, Shapovalov also qualified for the Next Gen ATP Finals for the third straight year.

5) Going For No. 3: Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo are aiming to lift their third Vienna trophy as a team. The top seeds claimed back-to-back titles in the Austrian capital in 2015 and 2016 and enter the tournament in impressive form. The Polish-Brazilian pairing reached back-to-back finals in its two most recent events: Beijing and Shanghai.

Things To Watch In Basel
1) Welcome Home: Roger Federer is looking to lift his 10th Swiss Indoors Basel title this year. The World No. 3 — a former ball kid in Basel — has won his past 20 matches at this event and owns a 71-9 tournament record. Federer will contest his 1,500th tour-level match in the opening round against Peter Gojowczyk. The Swiss has reached the championship match in each of his 12 most recent appearances at the ATP 500 event.

2) Zverev Continues Push: Alexander Zverev can qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals this week if he wins the Basel title and other results go his way. The reigning Nitto ATP Finals titlist currently occupies seventh position in the ATP Race To London with just two places remaining at the elite eight-man event to be held at The O2 from 10-17 November. Zverev reached the semi-finals in Basel last year and will be aiming to lift his fourth ATP Tour indoor trophy.

3) The Chasing Pack: Roberto Bautista Agut, David Goffin and Fabio Fognini all feature in the Basel draw. They occupy positions 9-11 in the ATP Race To London and will be hoping to narrow the gap on Zverev and Berrettini with just two weeks remaining for players to book their spot in London.

Read Basel Draw Preview

4) Wild Card Copil: Last year’s runner-up Marius Copil returns to Basel as a wild card this year and will face Nitto ATP Finals contender Bautista Agut in the first round. The Romanian defeated two Top 10 players — Zverev and Marin Cilic — to reach his first ATP 500 final last year. Copil fell in straight sets to nine-time champion Federer in the championship match.

5) In-Form Germans: Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies enter Basel in form after capturing the European Open doubles trophy on Sunday. Krawietz and Mies are attempting to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time this year and currently occupy third place in the ATP Doubles Race To London. The German pairing has lifted three ATP Tour trophies this season.

Last year at the Citi Open, Andy Murray visibly broke down into tears after defeating Marius Copil in a match that ended past 3 am in Washington, D.C. Those emotions didn’t just come because he won, but because the Scot had underwent hip surgery earlier in the year and was struggling through the pain during his comeback.

Little did he know that more than 14 months and another hip surgery later, he would be in tears after a match again. This time, it was after defeating Stan Wawrinka in Antwerp to win the European Open, the first title of his singles comeback.

“I don’t know why you get emotional about certain things or the reason for why it comes. Everyone is different,” Murray said. “It was because the past few years have been hard for me and tennis is something that I love doing and today was unexpected and yeah, there’s lots of reasons for me to be emotional today.”

Before Antwerp, Murray competed in three tournaments in Asia — Zhuhai, Beijing and Shanghai — and ahead of the trip the Scot spoke with his team to discuss goals for what he wanted to achieve.

“I just want to try and be competitive. I want to feel like when I’m on the court I’m not getting smashed, that I’m making it difficult for them and competing as best I could,” Murray told his team.

“I wasn’t thinking I’m going to win tournaments or I’m going to be beating guys like Stan and Berrettini and pushing guys like Fognini close. I just wanted to feel like I was competitive. This has come as a surprise to me and my team.”

Murray did not win a set in his first two tour-level matches back on the singles court in Cincinnati and Winston-Salem. When he arrived in Antwerp, he had not made a quarter-final at any level in six attempts. So although the 32-year-old carried 45 tour-level titles into Sunday’s clash with Wawrinka, it was still uncharted territory.

“I was nervous before the match today for sure. Yesterday, not so much. But before the match I was pretty nervous and I didn’t feel prepared really to win… because I wasn’t expecting it,” Murray said. “When I was out there, I wasn’t ahead at all until right at the end. Had I had a lead maybe I would have found it more difficult but because I was always playing from behind the whole time, I got that break right at the end… I didn’t feel ready to win if that makes any sense. But it happened.”

Earlier in the week, Murray admitted that when he lost in the third round of an ATP Challenger Tour event held in Mallorca during the US Open, he was a bit concerned with both his tennis and his physical conditioning. The Scot thought he was, “quite far from this level”. But the concern was because he had hope. And he showed that in Antwerp, where he battled through four matches in four days — including three consecutive three-setters — to emerge glorious for the first time since 2017 Dubai.

“Once I actually started playing singles matches again and stuff I could see there was something there, I might be able to be competitive and stuff. If I could improve my agility, my movement around the court, I could start asking the question, ‘Why not? Why shouldn’t I be able to compete? I can still hit the ball the same as I did before. I’m able to serve better than I was the past couple of years,’” Murray said. “I made the quarters of Wimbledon when I was pretty much on one leg that year [in 2017]. So I was like, ‘If I could get my leg strong again and get the movement back, I’m in a different spot.’ I just thought it would take longer to get to this point. I thought it would take longer for sure. But obviously I’m happy that it hasn’t.”

As valuable as this Antwerp trophy will remain to Murray for years to come, there’s something that is perhaps even more important. The last time he broke down on a court, it was because he knew how badly he was struggling with his body. This time, his hip is not a worry at all.

“My hip is fine. There’s no pain there anymore, which is amazing. I guess there shouldn’t be because it’s metal, there’s no pain receptors or anything in the metal, so that’s brilliant,” Murray said. “It allows me to compete like that and enjoy what it is that I’m doing.”

There wasn’t a dry eye in the house at the European Open in Antwerp as Andy Murray completed a remarkable comeback from hip surgery by defeating Stan Wawrinka in Sunday’s final. The win gave the Brit his first ATP Tour title since 2017 Dubai.

The outpouring of love was also evident on social media, where everyone from Feliciano Lopez to James Corden sung their praises for Murray. ATPTour.com looks at some of the best tweets about this unforgettable moment.

Andy ******* Murray!!!!

— Jamie Murray (@jamie_murray) October 20, 2019

Cheers. @andy_murray #antwerp pic.twitter.com/Q7VVDipxiQ

— judy murray (@JudyMurray) October 20, 2019

@andy_murray it’s always been a pleasure sharing a court with you, great to have you back & congrats on a strong tournament!
Antwerp thank you for your love & support, and for a special day on court today!???????❤️
#Antwerp #Final #BackToWork #TrustTheProcess #Belgium #Love pic.twitter.com/sDZ2b4ICP0

— Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka) October 20, 2019

What can i say @andy_murray ???‍♂️
Makes me so happy to see you succeed..insane what you’ve done this week after everything u went through..truly inspiring ❤️will have ? tonight to celebrate with you from a distance. ? off Sir Andy

— Feliciano López (@feliciano_lopez) October 20, 2019

What Andy Murray has just done is incredible. To win in Antwerp like he has just done shows such unbelievable resilience and commitment. Amazing achievement

— James Corden (@JKCorden) October 20, 2019

‘It ain’t about how hard ya hit. It’s about how hard you can get hit and keep moving forward. How much you can take and keep moving forward. That’s how winning is done!’ – Rocky Balboa.
Congrats @andy_murray on one of the all-time great sporting comebacks. ???? pic.twitter.com/bB5hUTwMWs

— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) October 20, 2019

The Comeback King. Well done @andy_murray ??? https://t.co/WqdyVMhp9Z

— Nicola Sturgeon (@NicolaSturgeon) October 20, 2019

CRYING! @andy_murray Wow. @the_LTA https://t.co/vhJWfmpuij

— Miranda Hart (@mermhart) October 20, 2019

Tremendous fight from Sir Muzzard @andy_murray toughing out Stanimal for the Antwerp @atptour ?, so great ? to see AM competing out the highest level ?????

— Brad Gilbert (@bgtennisnation) October 20, 2019

Hip hip hurray Murray . Amazing stuff. Congrats to the whole team @andy_murray

— Ivan Ljubicic (@theljubicic) October 20, 2019

Can’t believe @andy_murray has won his 1st Atp singles title with a metal hip.Incredible effort. What a competitor to win from a set and a break down against Stan the man. Who would have believed it. Amazing

— Greg Rusedski (@GregRusedski1) October 20, 2019

Entering this year’s New York Open, Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies had mostly competed on the ATP Challenger Tour, only playing three tour-level events together before that week. But the Germans won that title and they have not looked back since.

Top seeds Krawietz and Mies captured their third title of the season on Sunday in Antwerp, defeating second seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury 7-6(1), 6-3 in one hour and 14 minutes to triumph at the European Open.

“We enjoyed it a lot all week. The tournament was really nice, very well organised… We had a lot of fun this week,” Mies said. “We had a good time.”

The Germans, who won Roland Garros this year, surge into third place in the ATP Doubles Race To London thanks to their Antwerp victory. Krawietz and Mies are trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, and they saved the only break point they faced against Ram and Salisbury in front of an enthusiastic crowd.

“The Belgians were really loud, actually. We had a great atmosphere. It really helps for the doubles when you have Stan Wawrinka against Andy Murray in the final coming up after our match,” Mies said. “It was pretty packed and we really enjoyed the atmosphere. It was unbelievable, and we played one of our best matches this year.”

Krawietz and Mies earn 250 ATP Doubles Ranking points each and a share of €35,960 for their efforts. They did not drop a set at this ATP 250 event.

“Lovely tournament. A lot of people came for the doubles final, also for the rounds before. The crowd was huge yesterday,” Krawietz said. “[We] enjoyed the game and enjoyed the tournament.”

Ram and Salisbury, who are also in Nitto ATP Finals contention, could have surpassed Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau for sixth place in the Race if they defeated the Germans. Instead, the American-British pair add 150 points to their tallies and split €18,430.