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Danilo's Dream: Petrovic Claims Maiden Title In Jerusalem

  • Posted: May 27, 2019

Danilo’s Dream: Petrovic Claims Maiden Title In Jerusalem

May272019

Danilo Petrovic reflects on his road to lifting the trophy in Jerusalem

Five months ago, Danilo Petrovic was at home, deeply concerned that his knee would never be the same. The simplest of tasks proved to be a struggle. Just taking a step and going for a walk yielded great pain and discomfort.

For nearly a decade, the 27-year-old has been fighting to realise his dreams on the ATP Challenger Tour. And it was almost over in a flash. Petrovic was battling a debilitating case of ‘Jumper’s Knee’, a chronic form of patellar tendonitis, towards the end of the 2018 season.

The Serbian had reached his first Challenger final earlier in the season in Puerto Vallarta and was turning a corner in his professional career. But, having also struggled with an ankle injury, his fortunes were shifting towards the wrong direction. That is, until now.

For many players competing on the ATP Challenger Tour, a first title can change everything. Petrovic is hoping it is a new beginning. On Sunday, the Belgrade native had his moment in the spotlight, lifting his first Challenger trophy at the inaugural Jerusalem Volvo Open.

Petrovic has been knocking on the door in 2019 and he would finally storm through, blasting to the final without dropping a set. A semi-final upset of top seed and New York Open runner-up Brayden Schnur was followed by a 7-6(3), 6-7(8), 6-1 victory over Filip Peliwo in Sunday’s championship.

“I’m quite happy to be honest,” Petrovic told ATPChallengerTour.com. “I knew already for a few months that I could do this. As I was telling my coaches, I was playing well but losing so many tight matches. We were discussing that it’s going to come, but just a matter of time.”

Petrovic downed a pair of home hopes to kick off the tournament, including top Israeli Dudi Sela, before earning one of the biggest wins of his career over World No. 106 Schnur.

“I played really good this week. After beating Sela in the second round, that was a big moment early in the week. I like big matches and I like playing the top players. I think I don’t have much pressure. And Brayden, he has had a great season and almost won on the ATP Tour in New York. His game is big and I know that was the best match I played all tournament. In my head, I didn’t have a lot to lose and everything came together. That was for sure one of the best matches I played this year.”

After surrendering a set and a break lead to Adrian Menendez-Maceiras in last year’s Puerto Vallarta final, he refused to succumb to the same fate on Sunday. Once again, he would concede a break lead in the second set and squandered three match points in the ensuing tie-break, but a frustrated Petrovic channeled his aggression and made the most of the decider. He would take six the next seven games to cross the finish line and lift the trophy.

“Last year, I was a set and a break up in the Puerto Vallarta final, but I lost it. It almost happened again today. I had match points in the second set tie-break and I tried to play it safe and he was playing smart. After that, I got quite pissed and that’s what woke me up in the third set. In Puerto Vallarta, I got pissed and blew it, so it played out in a different way. Today, I was pissed in a way that I was ready to fight like hell to do anything to win.”

Petrovic

After struggling through a physically taxing second half of 2018, Petrovic is not looking back anymore. With his injury concerns behind him, the Serbian says he can focus on playing his game, which he believes can be a rather formidable force on any given day.

“The end of the 2018 season for me was quite harsh. I should have gotten into the Australian Open qualifying so easily, because I had five months to make 20 [ATP Rankings] points. But I twisted my ankle in Vicenza and didn’t play for a month. But I kept pushing it just to get some points and then I got messed up with Jumper’s Knee.

“I couldn’t play for six more weeks. Some days it would be fine, then others I could barely walk. Honestly, I’m so happy that it hasn’t come back because I was so scared. Blaz Kavcic has the same problem and he can’t really play anymore. It was a rough end to the season. I was feeling good on the court, but these injuries were really hard on me.

“Even into this year, I was playing good but something happened that would give me an average result. My coaches kept saying that if I won a few matches in a row, this moment would come for sure. That’s what happened here. After I won three matches, I was in a completely different mental state. I was pumped again.”

Jerusalem

Petrovic, who reached a career-high No. 220 nearly one year ago, is back inside the Top 300 of the ATP Rankings at No. 296. With more and more players proving that age is just a number, the 27-year-old is showing that it’s never too late to hit your peak.

One of the more charismatic players on tour, Petrovic is never one to shy away from a good time off the court. When you’re traveling the world for a living, exploring the local cultures is an important part of life. Earlier this month, during the Puerto Vallarta Open, the Serbian took in the local sights, enjoying a boat ride across the bay and indulging in an excursion to a nearby waterfall on horseback.

This week, he visited the historic and sacred Old City in Jerusalem. The tournament was making its debut on the ATP Challenger Tour nearly two decades after Jerusalem last appeared on the calendar. Israel last hosted a Challenger from 2015-16 in Ra’anana, with the city of Ramat Hasharon also welcoming players from 2008-10.

“In new tournaments, the people are trying so much to help the players. They were asking me every day what they could do better. And of course I went around Jerusalem, going to the Old City. I think every player in the draw went there. I was there two days in a row. And the Western Wall too.”

Petrovic is continuing a trend of Serbian success in 2019 and says he is inspired by his countrymen’s breakthroughs. From Laslo Djere’s triumph at the ATP 500 event in Rio de Janeiro to Dusan Lajovic reaching the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters final and Filip Krajinovic surging to the Top 60, many are following in Novak Djokovic’s footsteps.

Next up, he is scheduled to play a pair of Challengers in Kazakhstan: Almaty and Shymkent, with the hope of getting into Wimbledon qualifying.

ATP Challenger Tour 

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The Stat To Watch As Djokovic & Nadal's Year-End No. 1 Battle Heats Up

  • Posted: May 27, 2019

The Stat To Watch As Djokovic & Nadal’s Year-End No. 1 Battle Heats Up

May262019

Find out who has excelled in breaking serve directly after losing serve

You do not truly break serve until you consolidate it with a hold in the next game. And it’s no surprise which two players have been the best on the ATP Tour in 2019 at preventing that from happening.

Novak Djokovic and Rafael Nadal have proven better at breaking back immediately after losing serve than any other players. Their ability to keep opponents from extending an advantage could prove crucial as the battle for the year-end No. 1 ATP Ranking begins to heat up at Roland Garros.

Nadal leads the way in return games won after getting broken, doing so 38.9 per cent of the time so far this season. The Spaniard also leads the ATP Tour in return games won overall at 37.6 per cent, according to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats. But he has buckled down even more right after getting broken.

2019’s Best Players At Breaking Back Immediately After Losing Serve (min. 20 times broken)

 Player  # Times Broken  # Times Broken Back  Broken Back %
 1. Rafael Nadal  36  14  38.9%
 2. Novak Djokovic  50  18  36%
 3. David Ferrer  35  12  34.3%
 4. Cristian Garin  64  21  32.8%
 5. Pedro Sousa  25  8  32%

The same could be said about Djokovic, who has broken back after losing his serve 36 per cent of the time in 2019. But while Nadal has only improved his rate of return games won after dropping serve compared to return games overall by about three per cent, Djokovic has done so by around eight per cent. Djokovic currently ranks fourth on the ATP Tour by winning 33.1 per cent of his return games.

Only four players in the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings are among the 35 best at breaking after losing serve. The two players outside of Nadal and Djokovic are World No. 7 Kei Nishikori and reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev. Nishikori is in sixth place (30.9%), while Zverev is 13th (26.1%). Nishikori has won 26.5 per cent of his return games overall this year, while Zverev has claimed 28.7 per cent of them.

Entering Roland Garros, Roger Federer ranked 22nd in return games won in 2019 at 24.3 per cent. But the 37-year-old Swiss has only broken after losing his serve 19 per cent of the time, ranking outside the Top 50 on the ATP Tour.

How The Top 5 Has Performed Returning After Getting Broken In 2019

 Player (by ATP Ranking)  # Times Broken  # Times Broken Back  Broken Back %  Broken Back Rank
 1. Novak Djokovic  50  18  36%  2
 2. Rafael Nadal  36  14  38.9%  1
 3. Roger Federer  21  4  19.0%  56
 4. Dominic Thiem  53  12  22.6%  32
 5. Alexander Zverev  69  18  26.1%  13

One of the breakthrough stars of this clay-court season has been Chilean Cristian Garin, who captured his first two ATP Tour titles in Houston and Munich. The 22-year-old has won 28.1 per cent of his return games this season, 12th-best. But Garin has stepped it up even more after getting broken, winning 32.8 per cent of those return games, fourth-best among players broken more than 20 times this year.

Another player who has played the best tennis of his career in 2019 and has excelled in this category is 2018 Next Gen ATP Finals qualifier Hubert Hurkacz. The Polish star, who will try to upset Djokovic in the first round at Roland Garros, was 57th on the ATP Tour entering the week in return games won at 18.5 per cent. But when he’s been broken, he has broken right back 23.9 per cent of the time. 

Did You Know?
Nadal could take the lead in the ATP Race To London if he lifts his 12th Coupe des Mousquetaires in Paris, as he trails Djokovic by just 500 points after his victory in Rome.

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French Open: Elina Svitolina beats Venus Williams to reach second round

  • Posted: May 26, 2019
2019 French Open
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June
Coverage: Live text and radio commentary on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app.

Ukrainian ninth seed Elina Svitolina overcame a tricky first-round draw by beating seven-time Grand Slam champion Venus Williams in straight sets at the French Open.

Both players struggled on serve before 24-year-old Svitolina finished both sets stronger to win 6-3 6-3.

American Williams, 38, has not gone past the third round of a Slam since reaching the 2017 US Open semi-finals.

Svitolina will play compatriot Kateryna Kozlova, the world number 67, next.

Svitolina, 24, missed two match points before sealing victory at the third opportunity when Williams sprayed a backhand into the tramlines.

The Ukrainian, a two-time Roland Garros quarter-finalist, has seen her season disrupted by a knee injury but showed little sign of any lingering problem as she won in one hour and 13 minutes.

Yet going into the second Grand Slam of the year, she had not won not the clay – which she describes as her most natural surface – after successive defeats in Madrid and Rome.

That led to her jokingly describing the draw against the veteran American as more “punishment”.

However, it was the Ukrainian who did the punishing as she managed to grind down Williams.

The pair exchanged five successive breaks of serve in their opening set, Svitolina holding for 5-3 and breaking again for a one-set lead, as 18 unforced errors flew off Williams’ racquet.

And, after Williams led 3-1 following some more erratic service games, Svitolina won five successive games to continue her record of reaching the second round in each of her main-draw appearances at Roland Garros.

Svitolina wins on new ‘garden’ court

The first-round match between one of the game’s greats and a seed rated an outside chance of winning the tournament was always going to go on one of Roland Garros’ show courts.

So organisers opted to put the match on the new Court Simonne Mathieu, showcasing an arena which they say is the “only plant ecosystem of its kind in the world”.

Named after France’s second most successful female player, the court is semi-sunken and surrounded by four greenhouses which house tropical plants from South America, Africa, South East Asia and Australia.

However, Svitolina said walking to the court – where spectators wander freely on narrow gravel paths through the gardens – was a “little bit uncomfortable”.

“Today I won and it was nice to go through the crowd, but I think when you lose that’s very, very disturbing, I would say,” she said.

“The court itself is beautiful. I really enjoyed the bounce of it and I think the crowd is great, especially when it’s a full house.”

The first match on the court was Garbine Muguruza’s victory over American Taylor Townsend and the Spaniard was enthusiastic about her surroundings.

“It’s in a very different place,” said the former Wimbledon champion. “You don’t feel like you are around a court. It’s like in a garden. It’s a different feeling. It’s not small, but it’s cosy.”

  • Read: Elina Svitolina’s BBC column
  • Live scores, schedule and results
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Kerber suffers shock first-round exit in Paris

  • Posted: May 26, 2019
2019 French Open
Venue: Roland Garros, Paris Dates: 26 May-9 June
Coverage: Live text and radio commentary on selected matches on the BBC Sport website and app

Wimbledon champion Angelique Kerber said the pain from an ankle injury was “not my excuse” after her shock first-round exit at the French Open.

The German fifth seed lost 6-4 6-2 to world number 81 Anastasia Potapova.

The three-time Grand Slam champion said she “did not have much expectation” after pulling out of the Madrid and Rome clay tournaments this month.

Elsewhere, Spanish 19th seed Garbine Muguruza came from a set down to beat American Taylor Townsend 5-7 6-2 6-2.

Muguruza was broken for a second time late in the first set by the world number 83 but breezed through to win the next two sets in the first main draw match on the new Simonne Mathieu court.

The 2016 French Open champion will play Sweden’s world number 172 Johanna Larsson in the second round, following her victory over Slovak Magdalena Rybarikova.

Russian Potapova, playing in her first French Open, faces Marketa Vondrousova of the Czech Republic next.

“My phone is exploding at the moment,” said a delighted Potapova after her surprise win.

Meanwhile, Czech second seed Karolina Pliskova eased into the next round with a straight-set victory over Madison Brengle.

The 27-year-old, who reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros in 2017, won 6-2 6-3 to set up a meeting with Slovakian qualifier Kristina Kucova.

Last year’s runner-up Sloane Stephens also progressed on Sunday, with the 26-year-old American winning a tie-break in the second set to beat Japan’s Misaki Doi 6-3 7-6 (7-4).

  • Konta in form and doing the right things – Russell Fuller
  • Live scores, schedule and results
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Kerber, who was bidding for a career Grand Slam, had played only three matches in the current clay-court season before coming to Roland Garros.

She admitted two weeks ago she was unsure she would be able to compete.

“At the end I didn’t have much expectation for the tournament. And I think the feeling I had before the tournament was right,” she said after her defeat on Philippe Chatrier court.

“I was able to practise in the last few days really good, but it was not a long clay-court preparation with everything. At the end, I was just happy to at least go on court, playing a match, and of course it is not like I hoped for.”

On whether she was suffering pain, she added: “It is not my excuse, I tried my best. I know there is still a little bit of work to do to play matches 100%, into sliding, to jumping on the foot, and on the leg.”

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View Schedule: Djokovic, Nadal & Thiem Headline Day 2 At Roland Garros

  • Posted: May 26, 2019

View Schedule: Djokovic, Nadal & Thiem Headline Day 2 At Roland Garros

May262019

2015 champion Wawrinka also in Monday action

A blockbuster Day 2 at Roland Garros will see top seed Novak Djokovic, 11-time champion Rafael Nadal and fourth seed Dominic Thiem all begin their campaigns in Paris. 2015 champion Stan Wawrinka is also in action on Monday.

Djokovic starts his fortnight against talented Pole Hubert Hurkacz. The Serbian lifted his 33rd ATP Masters 1000 title this month at the Mutua Madrid Open (d. Tsitsipas) and finished runner-up at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Nadal). Djokovic has never lost in the opening round here (14-0) or before the quarter-finals since 2009. The 22-year-old Hurkacz reached his first Masters 1000 quarter-final earlier this year at the BNP Paribas Open.

Second seed Nadal begins his title defence against German qualifier Yannick Hanfmann. After three consecutive semi-final finishes during the European clay swing, Nadal beat Djokovic in the Rome final for his 34th Masters 1000 title. The Spaniard’s 86-2 record in Paris is unmatched and he’s also a perfect 14-0 in first-round matches at this event. Hanfmann, currently No. 184 in the ATP Rankings, is making his main draw debut in Paris.

Thiem starts his quest for his first Grand Slam title against American wild card Tommy Paul. The Austrian won the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (d. Medvedev) without dropping a set and recorded a semi-final showing in Madrid. Thiem knows what it takes to excel in Paris, having finished runner-up last year (l. to Nadal) and in the semi-finals in 2016-2017. Paul, currently No. 133 in the ATP Rankings, won the Roland Garros boys’ singles title in 2015 (d. Fritz).

Wawrinka will look to create more magic in Paris when he faces Slovakian Jozef Kovalik. The 34-year-old Swiss defeated Kei Nishikori en route to a quarter-final showing in Madrid and finished runner-up this February at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament (l. to Monfils). Kovalik is seeking his first Grand Slam main draw win.

Other notable matches on Tuesday include twelfth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev taking on Frenchman Pierre-Hugues Herbert and thirteenth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric squaring off with Slovenian Aljaz Bedene. #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov, seeded twentieth, faces German Jan-Lennard Struff.

More On #RG19
* Djokovic, Chasing All Four Slams, Feels Extra Motivation
* Nadal Rested & Confident Ahead Of Campaign
* The 5 Players Who Can Challenge Nadal Mano A Mano

ORDER OF PLAY – SUNDAY, 26 MAY 2019

Court Philippe-Chatrier start 11:00
WTA match
[2] Rafael Nadal vs [Q] Yannick Hanfmann
[1] Novak Djokovic vs [3] Hubert Hurkacz
WTA match

Court Suzanne Lenglen start 11:00
2 WTA matches
Jo-Wilfried Tsonga vs Peter Gojowczyk
[4] Dominic Thiem vs [WC] Tommy Paul

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Court Simonne-Mathieu start 11:00
WTA match
Mischa Zverev vs Richard Gasquet
[24] Stan Wawrinka vs Jozef Kovalik
WTA match

Court No. 1 start 11:00
2 WTA matches
[13] Borna Coric vs Aljaz Bedene
[28] Kyle Edmund vs Jeremy Chardy
Robin Haase vs Philipp Kohlschreiber

Court No. 14 start 11:00
[12] Daniil Medvedev vs Pierre Hugues-Herbert
WTA match
Benoit Paire vs Marius Copil
WTA match

Court No. 7 start 11:00
Two WTA matches
[26] Gilles Simon vs Sergiy Stakhovsky
[20] Denis Shapovalov vs Jan-Lennard Struff

Court No. 6 start 11:00
[WC] Corentin Moutet vs [Q] Alexey Vatutin
Two WTA matches
Pablo Cuevas vs [WC] Maxime Janvier

Court No. 4 start 11:00
WTA match
[Q] Kimmer Coppejans vs [Q] Yannick Maden
Jaume Munar vs Salvatore Caruso
WTA match

Court No. 5 start 11:00
Pablo Carreno Busta vs Joao Sousa
WTA match
[Q] Pedro Martinez vs [LL] Henri Laaksonen
WTA match

Court No. 8 start 11:00
WTA match
Roberto Carballes Baena vs. Alexandre Muller
WTA match
Radu Albot vs Tennys Sandgren

Court No. 9 start 11:00
[15] Nikoloz Basilashvili vs Juan Ignacio Londero
Cristian Garin vs Reilly Opelka
Two WTA matches

Court No. 10 start 11:00
Miomir Kecmanovic vs Denis Kudla
WTA match
Lloyd Harris vs [LL] Lukas Rosol
WTA match

Court No. 12 start 11:00
[32] Frances Tiafoe vs Filip Krajinovic
[19] Guido Pella vs Guido Andreozzi
Two WTA matches

Court No. 13 start 11:00
[21] Alex De Minaur vs Bradley Klahn
Two WTA matches
Alexander Bublik vs [Q] Rudolf Molleker

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