Roberto Bautista Agut grew up watching the likes of Juan Carlos Ferrero, Sergi Bruguera and Carlos Moya. All three were Spanish Grand Slam champions. They were role models for Bautista Agut to look up to, a benchmark to strive towards.

“I wanted to be one of the best players in the Spanish history,” Bautista Agut told ATPTour.com.

Rafael Nadal, who is two years older than him, has become one of the best players in history, and the likes of Fernando Verdasco, Feliciano Lopez, Pablo Carreno Busta, Tommy Robredo and the recently-retired David Ferrer have made waves of their own in the sport. But 2019 has been the year that Bautista Agut has soared to new heights, currently at a career-high No. 13 in the ATP Rankings.

“At the beginning I thought I could make it,” Bautista Agut said of the start of his career. “Then I passed through very difficult moments. But the good thing is that I am here, I am healthy, I am enjoying my career and I keep improving.”

On 21 May 2018, Bautista Agut’s mother passed away, and groin and abdomen injuries hindered the middle of his 2018 season. But the nine-time ATP Tour titlist has found some of the best form of his career in 2019. Bautista Agut advanced to his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, pushing World No. 1 and eventual champion Novak Djokovic to four sets before succumbing.

In the bigger picture, that effort propelled Bautista Agut into the thick of the ATP Race To London, as the veteran seeks to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. In 2016, he finished 14th in the Race, serving as an alternate. But he entered this week’s Coupe Rogers in eighth place, in strong position to make a run at playing in The O2.

“It would be good news for me to have the opportunity to play the [year-end] Masters,” Bautista Agut said of competing in London. “But now, it’s still far. It’s still three months or four months of the season and I have to win a lot of matches and to play very good tennis if I want to be there.”

Taking it one step at a time is how Bautista Agut has put himself in this position in the first place. The Spaniard does not feel he’s made a massive change to his game that has set him on this upwards trajectory. Instead, he has steadily worked on various facets of his tennis.

“The good thing is that I keep improving. I keep working hard and I feel that I am a better player every year, which is the most important thing to move up in the [ATP] Rankings,” Bautista Agut said. “I’m trying to keep doing everything similarly, everything I’ve been doing from the beginning of the season until now. I will try to keep the same things.”

To Nadal, Bautista Agut’s performance this season and his standing in the Race is not a surprise, given his consistency over the years. Bautista Agut has finished inside the year-end Top 25 in the ATP Rankings each year since 2014.

“He’s a great player. He has been a great player for a very long time already,” Nadal told ATPTour.com during a press conference. “This year the big improvement is he made the semi-finals of Wimbledon.

“When you are in that [ATP] Ranking, Roberto has been in a very high position in the Rankings for a very long time, the difference being Top 10 or being [No.] 16 is being in the right moment in the right time. He has been there in Wimbledon, winning a couple of matches. [It has] been a lot of points for him. He is a very [consistent] player, very stable player, very strong mentally.”

According to Ferrero, Bautista Agut’s idol, that may be the part of his game that he has improved the most. About a decade ago, Bautista Agut went to practise at the former World No. 1’s academy, doing pre-season preparation in December for two or three years in a row.

“At that time, he wasn’t as good of a player as he is right now because he was like 200 or 150 in the [ATP] Rankings. I thought that he would play a bit better on hard courts than clay courts because of his kind of shots, his forehand and backhand,” Ferrero told ATPTour.com. “But I was thinking that he could improve his way of working, his attitude on the court and physically he could be the player he is right now.”

Before this season, Bautista Agut held a 7-46 record against opponents inside the world’s Top 10. But this year, he has gone 4-4 against the elite group, handing World No. 1 Novak Djokovic two of his six losses. The No. 10 seed at this week’s Coupe Rogers has risen to the occasion against the best in the sport with no apprehension.

“That’s why we practise a lot. That’s why as a kid you dream to play on these courts, big matches,” Bautista Agut said. “With experience now, I can enjoy more those moments and I know how to manage all the difficult emotions during those situations.”

To Ferrero, that is what Bautista Agut has improved the most. The 16-time tour-level champion thinks that goes back to the 2016 Rolex Shanghai Masters, where the then-World No. 19 did not drop a set en route to the final, including a semi-final triumph against Djokovic.

“I think he improved very much his mentality, the way he faces the moments, to go and play the best players in the world on the court,” Ferrero said. “I think what he improved the most is his mentality facing the problems and how he manages the important moments on the court.”

On Wednesday, Bautista Agut was down a break late in the second set of his second-round match in Montreal, with Diego Schwartzman serving to force a decider. But the Spaniard remained calm, and simply kept going about his business and doing what he’s been doing a lot of in 2019: winning.

“I really believe if he stays relaxed like he is, he going to have a good chance to be in the World Tour Finals,” Nadal said. “He’s one of the most stable players on Tour.”

Did You Know?
With Kei Nishikori’s loss against Richard Gasquet on Wednesday, Bautista Agut can move into seventh place in the Race with a victory against Gasquet Thursday. If Daniil Medvedev loses to Cristian Garin in the Round of 16 in Montreal, a Bautista Agut victory would propel him into sixth.

It has not been the easiest season for former World No. 7 Richard Gasquet. Most people are used to watching the Frenchman use the tennis court as his canvas, painting magical strokes off both wings from the baseline, especially with his elegant one-handed backhand. But it’s difficult to do that when you’re recovering from an injury.

On 18 January, Gasquet was forced to undergo groin surgery, an operation that kept him out for six months. It’s not the first time the Frenchman has struggled with his body, needing to withdraw from the first five ATP Masters 1000 tournaments of 2017. But this time, Gasquet was out for a significant period of time, causing his ATP Ranking to last month drop outside the Top 50 for the first time since May 2010.

For players who have achieved what Gasquet has — winning more than 500 tour-level matches in his career, cracking the Top 10, and more — it may be difficult to find the motivation to work back towards the top again. But not for Gasquet.

“You have no choice. I like to play tennis. I enjoy it a lot,” Gasquet told ATPTour.com. “Of course surgery was tough, especially after that to recover was very difficult. But I still like tennis, I still like to travel and play on great courts. I’m 33, I don’t have so many years to play now, so I have to enjoy it.”

Gasquet made his return at the Mutua Madrid Open in May, but his best result since was making the Libema Open semi-finals. He knew that it would take time to work back into form, though.

“I stopped for a long time, six months. It was very difficult, I know this. But after surgery, physically you need to build day after day,” Gasquet said. “But I’m feeling better, I played in July on clay. So physically, I’m better. I won on Monday against Paire. It was a good match, so that’s why I felt more confident after that and of course I played a great match today.”

Gasquet needed all the energy and form he could find to upset fifth seed Kei Nishikori 6-7(6), 6-2, 7-6(4) on Wednesday at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, overcoming a tough opponent, as well as himself. It seemed that everything that could go wrong towards the end of the match was going wrong.

The Frenchman served at 5-4 in the third set for a victory against Nishikori. In the next game, on the Japanese superstar’s serve, Gasquet could not convert any of the three break chances he earned. At 5-6, the 33-year-old made some mistakes to let slip a 0/40 lead, needing a big serve out wide to save a match point. Then in the tie-break, he gave up a double mini-break advantage.

But finally, after three hours and nine minutes, the one thing that the 15-time ATP Tour titlist needed to go right went perfectly: Gasquet won, blasting his one-handed backhand down the line for a winner and throwing his fist in the air in celebration.

“It was a crazy match, of course, especially when I was winning 5-4 with the break and I couldn’t serve it out, he played well. It was tough,” Gasquet said. “It was really, really close, especially in the tie-break. But I’m very happy with the way I fought, with the way physically I played. So it was a great victory. Kei is one of the best players in the world, so of course it’s huge for me to win.”

If there was any player Gasquet would flounder against in a decider, it would be Nishikori, who is the Open Era leader in final sets won at 74.6 per cent entering this week. But the World No. 66 is not ready to stop building on his game.

“I think I can still improve. But today was the first match I felt good on the court [since my surgery]. That’s why I could win,” Gasquet said. “To beat Kei you need to play great tennis and I did it. Of course I hope to recover now. The day after it will be tough, but I’ll try my best.”

The climb won’t be easy for Gasquet, nor will his next opponent, Roberto Bautista Agut. But the player with 33 Top 100 triumphs will hope for another energetic crowd in Montreal for his third-round match.

“It’s a great feeling that you can still play well and to come battle, fight with these kinds of players. That’s why I’m still practising, it’s still a game for me,” Gasquet said. “It’s difficult, very demanding, but I still like it.”

As Roger Federer today celebrates his 38th birthday, the Swiss great is still going strong and is set to return at next week’s Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati, where he is a seven-time champion.

At an age when professionals are calling time on their global adventures, World No. 3 Federer continues to excel in 2019 with a 38-5 record and three trophies. He has lifted silverware at the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships (d. Tsitsipas), which marked the 100th title of his illustrious career; his 28th ATP Masters 1000 crown at the Miami Open presented by Itau (d. Isner) and a 10th Noventi Open (d. Goffin). He reached his 12th Wimbledon final (l. to Djokovic) and finished runner-up at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells (l. to Thiem).

In his 22nd season as a pro, and with 102 titles and 1,222 match wins, Federer is also closing in on Jimmy Connors’ all-time records of 109 crowns and 1,274 victories.

Federer isn’t the only ATP Tour star celebrating a birthday on 8 August. Canadian #NextGenATP star Felix Auger-Aliassime turns 20 today and plays sixth-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal.

World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer make their return to action at the Western & Southern Open for the first time since their historic clash in the Wimbledon championship match. (Read More) Rafael Nadal, who is looking to win a 35th ATP Masters 1000 title this week at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal, will be the second seed in Cincinnati. 

Last year at the Western & Southern Open, Djokovic celebrated a historic achievement as he became the first player to complete the Career Golden Masters. After five runner-up finishes in Cincinnati, he finally claimed the one title missing from his Masters 1000 set with victory over Federer in the final. 

While Djokovic and Nadal will each attempt to win Cincinnati for a second time, Federer will be going for a record-extending eighth title at his most successful Masters 1000 tournament. He triumphed in 2005, 2007, 2009-10, 2012, and 2014-15. 

BNP Paribas Open champion Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Kei Nishikori, Alexander Zverev and Karen Khachanov round out the top eight seeds. John Isner, who finished runner-up to Nadal in 2013, will lead the American charge. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Cincinnati tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more. 

Established: 1899

Tournament Dates: 11-18 August 2019

Tournament Director: Andre Silva

Draw Ceremony: Friday, 9 August at 6:30pm

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday and Sunday at 10:00am
* Main draw: Sunday not before 2:00pm and 7:00pm, Monday – Friday at 11:00am and 7:00pm,
* Semi-finals: Saturday, 17 August, doubles at 1:00pm, singles not before 1:00pm and 6:00 pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 18 August at 12:15pm
* Singles final: Sunday, 18 August not before 4:00pm

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Lindner Family Tennis Center
Main Court Seating: 11,614

Prize Money: USD $6,056,280 (Total Financial Commitment: USD $6,735,690) 

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (7)
Most Titles, Doubles: Bob Bryan, Mike Bryan, Daniel Nestor (5)
Oldest Champion: Ken Rosewall, 35, in 1970
Youngest Champion: Boris Becker, 17, in 1985
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 23 Peter Fleming in 1979
Most Match Wins: Roger Federer (46)

2018 Finals
Singles: [10] Novak Djokovic (SRB) d [2] Roger Federer (SUI) 64 64   Read & Watch
Doubles: [4] Jamie Murray (GBR) / Bruno Soares (BRA) d [7] Juan Sebastian Cabal (COL) / Robert Farah (COL) 46 63 10-6  Read More 

Social
Hashtag: #CincyTennis
Facebook: @cincytennis
Twitter: @CincyTennis
Instagram: @cincytennis

Did You Know… The Cincinnati tournament has come a long way from its humble roots, first played at the Avondale Athletic Club more than a century ago, to the grand-scale ATP Masters 1000 event held at the Lindner Family Tennis Center today. Past champions include such all-time greats as Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Pete Sampras, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic..

Andy Murray and Feliciano Lopez saw their unbeaten streak snapped at five matches on Wednesday at the Coupe Rogers in Montreal. This year’s Fever-Tree Championships doubles winners (d. Ram/Salisbury) pair fell 2-6, 6-3, 10-8 to Roland Garros finalists Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin.

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos scored the upset of the day by defeating sixth seeds and defending champions Henri Kontinen and John Peers 6-4, 6-2. Awaiting them in the quarter-finals are Andrey Rublev and Alexander Zverev, who rallied to defeat Peter Polansky and Brayden Schnur 1-6, 6-1, 10-8.

Seventh seeds and five-time champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan encountered few problems in their 6-3, 6-3 win over Argentines Guido Pella and Diego Schwartzman. Next up for them in the second round are Austin Krajicek and Michael Venus, who saved a set point at 4-5, 40/40 in the opening set of their 7-6(5), 6-7(5), 10-6 victory against Austrians Oliver Marach and Jurgen Melzer. The winner of Bryan/Bryan and Krajicek/Venus will play Robin Haase and Wesley Koolhof, who cruised past Alex de Minaur and Jordan Thompson 6-2, 6-2.

Fifth seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau needed just 43 minutes to get by Cristian Garin and Cameron Norrie 6-3, 6-3. The final opening-round match of the day saw Kyle Edmund and Taylor Fritz march on with a 6-3, 6-4 win over Nikoloz Basilashvili and Jan-Lennard Struff.

Alexander Zverev scored his first hard-court ATP Masters 1000 title two years ago at the Coupe Rogers. He looks to produce more great memories in Montreal during a packed third-round schedule on Thursday that also includes Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem.

The third-seeded German takes on No. 13 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili of Georgia for a place in the quarter-finals. They’re tied 1-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry, but Basilashvili saved two match points to oust Zverev two weeks ago in the semi-finals of the Hamburg European Open before clinching the title (d. Rublev). The Georgian is enjoying a career-best season that has seen him reach a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 16 in May.

Zverev has been finding consistency after a difficult start to the season. He took the title in Geneva (d. Jarry) and advanced to at least the quarter-finals in four of his past six events. The German is in tenth place in the ATP Race to London and a big week in Montreal could move him into qualifying contention for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Top seed and defending champion Rafael Nadal aims to continue his success in Canada when he meets Argentine Guido Pella. The Spaniard leads their FedEx ATP Head2Head rivalry 3-0, including a victory this April in the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Nadal seeks his fifth title in Canada as he pursues a successful hard-court title defence for the first time in his career. Pella has produced a career-best season that saw him clinch his maiden ATP Tour crown this March in Sao Paulo (d. Garin) and crack the Top 30 of the ATP Rankings for the first time.

“I am just going step by step,” said Nadal. “[I’m] back on court again tomorrow against a player who is playing great. He’s having the best year of his career. He’s super dangerous, winning great matches. I need to be ready for tomorrow.”

Second-seeded Austrian Dominic Thiem puts his five-match winning streak on the line against No. 14 seed Marin Cilic of Croatia. Thiem won their lone FedEx ATP Head2Head three years ago in Brisbane. He’s coming off a title run last week on home soil in Kitzbuehel (d. Ramos-Vinolas) and scored his first-ever win in Canada this week against Denis Shapovalov. Cilic has had a difficult season by his lofty standards, but is always a threat on hard courts.

Other notable matches on Thursday include eighth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev taking on Chilean Cristian Garin and No. 16 seed Gael Monfils taking on rising Pole Hubert Hurkacz, who upset fourth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas on Wednesday. Meanwhile, Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime will celebrate his 19th birthday with a match against sixth seed Karen Khachanov on Court Central.

Who will win the first @FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between these players?#CoupeRogers

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) August 8, 2019

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY, 8 August 2019

Court Central start 12:00 noon
[14] Marin Cilic vs [2] Dominic Thiem
NB 2:00 pm
Felix Auger-Aliassime vs [6] Karen Khachanov
NB 6:30 pm
[1] Rafael Nadal vs Guido Pella
[16] Gael Monfils vs Hubert Hurkacz

Banque Nationale start 1:00 pm
[8] Daniil Medvedev vs Cristian Garin
[3] Alexander Zverev vs [13] Nikoloz Basilashvili
NB 6:30 pm
Adrian Mannarino vs [8] Fabio Fognini
[10] Roberto Bautista Agut vs Richard Gasquet

Click here to view the schedule for all other courts.

They say success breeds success. So does stability, according to Rafael Nadal.

The 34-time ATP Masters 1000 champion says that sticking with his trusted team over his 16-year career has underpinned his on- and off-court achievements.

Long-term relationships with coaches Toni Nadal, Francisco Roig, Carlos Moya, physio Rafael Maymo, manager Carlos Costa and publicist Benito Perez-Barbadillo have been a hallmark of his career. And, of course, his long-term partner Xisca Perello and family are never far from his side.

Importantly, he has nurtured an environment in which team members feel confident to speak truth to power, even when it may not be advice he wants to hear. That, Nadal says, is a point of difference with many of his rivals and their coaching relationships.

“Tennis has a problem that normally the player pays the coach and the physio, the team. That sometimes creates an atmosphere that the people who are around the player are a little bit more scared about saying the real things to the player,” Nadal said.

“The player needs to give them the confidence that they can tell you what is the real thing for them, not what you want to hear all the time. In my opinion, it is difficult to build that in a short period of time.

“If you have the same team for a long time, of course they know that they are not in danger if they say one thing or another thing.”

The top seed and defending champion will again lean on his team this week at the Coupe Rogers, where he must reach the final to prevent Roger Federer from displacing him as World No. 2 when the new ATP Rankings are released on Monday.

But whether his outlook on commitment to team will work for others, Nadal was somewhat non-committal.

“I don’t know what the new guys thinks about it. Times change. I can’t say what works for me going to work for them.

“But for me personally, to have a good group of people around me helps me a lot for my education, for my preparation… growing during all these years.

“Important thing is to have a group of people around you that they feel free enough to tell you if you are doing the things right or not right, no? When you are changing people around you it very often is difficult to find this confidence.”

The stage was set for Denis Shapovalov to begin another memorable Montreal run on Wednesday. The #NextGenATP Canadian had the crowd behind him at the Coupe Rogers – a given in Canada – and a Top 5 opponent in Dominic Thiem, who hadn’t played a hard-court match since March and had been winless in Canada (0-5).

Thiem, however, had his own ATP Masters 1000 run in mind. The Austrian held off Shapovalov and his cadre of fans on Court Central 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 to end his winless streak at Canadian Masters 1000 events.

“Every win is special in these tournaments because it’s only against great opponents,” Thiem said. “Against Denis, it was special because he’s a local hero. All the crowd was supporting him, so it was tough.”

More From Montreal
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The second seed saved four of five break points and benefitted from some untimely unforced errors from Shapovalov, who has lost six of his past seven matches. The 20-year-old double faulted to get broken at 4-4 in the opening set, but Shapovalov came back strong in the second, ripping forehands and engaging the crowd with fist pumps.

The two were on serve at 3-4 in the third but Shapovalov dumped an overhead into the net to give Thiem the break and an opportunity to serve out the match. The Austrian pushed his winning streak to five after taking home the Generali Open crown on Saturday in Kitzbuhel.

“It’s never easy, the smashes. Maybe it was a little bit windy. Already the lights were on. These kinds of smashes, especially in a tough situation where you’re under lot of pressure, they look way easier than they are,” Thiem said.

The BNP Paribas Open titlist will next meet Croatian Marin Cilic, the 14^th seed. The Croatian beat Australian John Millman 6-3, 6-4.

Cilic reached his second quarter-final of the season last week at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C. (l. to Medvedev). The Croatian won the 2016 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati for his lone Masters 1000 title.

Eighth seed Daniil Medvedev routed Brit Kyle Edmund 6-3, 6-0 to maintain his high level on the North American hard courts. The Russian was perfect on break points, saving all three he faced and converting all five on Edmund’s serve. Medvedev made the Citi Open final on Sunday, falling to Nick Kyrgios in two tie-break sets. 

He will next meet Chilean Cristian Garin, who improved to 2-0 at the Masters 1000 level with a 6-3, 6-4 upset against 12th seed John Isner of the U.S. Garin, a two-time ATP Tour titlist this season, played a bit like Isner, winning 89 per cent of his first-serve points (33/37) and saving all five break points.