The ATP has announced the 2017 ATP Challenger Tournaments of the Year, with players voting two of their favourite Challenger Tour stops in Germany (Braunschweig and Heilbronn) and one in Canada (Vancouver) from the 155 tournaments in 41 countries staged last year.

The Challenger Tournament of the Year awards recognise excellence in standards set across the global Challenger Tour. Braunschweig’s 24-year-old Sparkassen OPEN has won the award every year since 2014 and has long been a player favourite. The NECKARCUP, staged in Heilbronn, Germany, for the last four years, and Vancouver’s Odlum Brown VanOpen, relaunched in 2016, have also been rewarded with the player vote after ambitious improvements each year.

ATP Challenger Tour Committee Co-Chairs, Alison Lee, ATP International Executive Vice President and Ross Hutchins, Chief Player Officer, said “Challengers are incredibly important events for rising players to come through the ranks. The people who run Challengers really do it for the love of tennis and their enthusiasm shows with the professionalism and care they take at these award-winning events. It is natural that Challenger tournaments popular with players are also well-attended by tennis fans and well-supported by sponsors.”

Sparkassen OPEN Tournament Director Volker Jaecke said, “It is such an honour for our whole team to receive the ATP Challenger Award again. The selection by the players as one of the three best ATP Challengers on the 2017 circuit and for the fourth time in a row, is unbelievable. A very special thanks to the ATP and all players, who have voted for the Sparkassen OPEN in Braunschweig.

Tournament Promoter and CEO of Brunswiek Marketing Harald Tenzer said, “We are very pleased about the establishment of such a great event in our region, particularly with regards to our sponsors, partners and tennis fans. We hope that the Sparkassen OPEN contributes to the value of the whole ATP Challenger Tour, and we were happy to host the first global ATP Challenger Workshop in Braunschweig in 2017. We are looking forward to another successful cooperation with the ATP in 2018.”

NECKARCUP Tournament Director Metehan Cebeci and Chief of Organisations Mine Cebeci said, “We are so happy that all our efforts have paid off. We do our job passionately to offer a high-quality event for the players and their team as the well-being of everyone is our aim. 2018 has started well for us and the NECKARCUP-team. After only four years, we have reached two of our objectives: to increase the prize money to €85,000 and to be honoured as one of the best Challengers worldwide in the circuit!”

Odlum Brown VanOpen Tournament Chair Carlota Lee said, “It is an incredible honour to receive this award and extra special given that it’s voted on by players on the ATP Challenger Tour. In bringing back the Odlum Brown VanOpen last year, it was our goal to create a tournament experience unlike any other for the players, spectators, officials, volunteers, patrons and our partners. This award reflects the hard work of our entire team and we look forward to building on last year’s success to make things even better this year. The Odlum Brown VanOpen wouldn’t exist without the generous support of our partners and patrons, they are an integral part of our tournament’s success. This prestigious award is dedicated to them and the entire Canadian tennis community.”

The ATP Challenger Tour is a launching pad for up-and-coming players to improve their skills, gain experience and necessary ATP Ranking points. Challenger tournaments provide ATP players with important playing opportunities for much of the year, and provide local tennis fans with the chance to see world-class tennis and rising stars. 

In 2017, the ATP Challenger Tour had 155 events in 41 countries which provided US$12.015 million prize money. More than 780,000 spectators attended these tournaments worldwide. ATP Challenger Tour matches are streamed live on www.atpchallengertour.com

Four-time champion David Ferrer (2010-12, 2015) gained some early-season revenge against #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev, dismissing the 20-year-old 6-4, 6-3 on Monday at the Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC in Acapulco.

Ferrer raced to a 5-1 lead in the opener only to have to hold on with a break after 36 minutes. Rublev was more solid in the second, but Ferrer was at his vintage self, pushing and pulling the young Russian all over the court.

Watch Ferrer Hot Shot

Rublev had beaten Ferrer last month at the Australian Open, handing the Spanish veteran a rare first-round loss at a Grand Slam. The 35-year-old right-hander will next meet either fifth seed Juan Martin del Potro or Mischa Zverev of Germany.

Ryan Harrison of the U.S. improved to 3-6 against countryman John Isner in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. Harrison saved seven of eight break points to advance 6-3, 7-6(5).

The 25-year-old will next face Diego Schwartzman of Argentina or Spain’s Fernando Verdasco. The first-round contest is a rematch of Sunday’s Rio Open presented by Claro final, which Schwartzman won.

Harrison’s countryman Jared Donaldson will also stick around in Acapulco. The 21-year-old was leading 6-2, 3-2 when Georgian Nikoloz Basilashvili retired. Donaldson will next play defending champion Sam Querrey of the U.S. or Aussie Matthew Ebden.

Federico Delbonis has fond memories of the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo, where he won his first ATP World Tour title four years ago, using the effort to crack the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings for the first time.

The Argentine is looking to use those memories to propel him to a strong performance this week in Brazil. And the 27-year-old got off to a good start on Monday, beating recent Ecuador Open champion Roberto Carballes Baena 6-4, 6-4 in one hour, 38 minutes.

“Coming here where I won my first ATP World Tour title, I have very good memories,” Delbonis said. “I try to play like the tournament when I won, but I have to keep going and play match by match.”

The eighth seed saved all three break points he faced while capitalising on two of his eight opportunities to oust the dangerous 24-year-old Spaniard, the World No. 79.

“He’s a young gun. He’s ascending at the ATP World Tour level. He won a couple weeks ago an ATP tournament,” Delbonis said. “He’s going up. But I played a solid game, mostly at the end of each set.”

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Delbonis will next face 34-year-old Guillermo Garcia-Lopez, who overcame a second-set hiccup and 1-3 third-set deficit to defeat Austrian Gerald Melzer 6-4, 3-6, 6-3.

“It’s always tough to come from outside courts to play indoors. It’s not easy, because the conditions are different,” Garcia-Lopez said. “The match was tough until the end because he was winning 3-1 in the third set and I had to play my best tennis in that moment… at the end, I felt really, really good on the court.”

Did You Know?
Delbonis has made at least the quarter-finals in three of his four main draw appearances at the Brasil Open. He won three of his five matches in three sets when he claimed the title in 2014. 

Comparisons between the “Big Four” have been numerous the past several years – but never regarding the specifics of their return depth and direction.

A new Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers match data platform compiles exactly that. It is the Serve & Return Tracker, and it sheds new light on where players return, and how their win percentages increase the deeper they get the return in the court.

The dataset for this analysis comes from ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the Nitto ATP Finals from 2011-2017, during the dominance of the Big Four. It is specific to returning first serves.

Return Direction vs. First Serves
The first thing that stands out is that Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Andy Murray surprisingly return a lot more first serves to the Deuce court than the Ad court.

Big Four Average On First-Serve Returns
To the Deuce Court = 62 per cent

To the Ad Court = 38 per cent

The obvious reason is that they are essentially on defence returning first serves, and going crosscourt from the Deuce court and more middle from the Ad court simply means more returns in play. Keep in mind these returns are going back to a right-hander’s more aggressive forehand, so it’s a trade-off between balls in play and continually being attacked.

Big Four 2011-2017: First-Serve Returns To The Deuce Court / Ad Court

Return Depth vs. First Serves
The court is cut up into three specific depths to evaluate return performance.

Short return = in the service box.

Middle return = closer to service line than baseline.

Deep return = closer to baseline than service line.

Imagine a line halfway between the service line and the baseline. That’s the barrier that separates a middle return from a deep return. Djokovic was the best of the Big Four at getting first-serve returns deep back at the server.

Deep Returns Made
Djokovic 26%

Federer 25%

Murray 22%

Nadal 21%

All four player players hit the majority of returns in the middle section of the court. Only Djokovic and Federer were able to hit more balls deep near the baseline than short in the service box.

Big Four 2011-2017: First Serve Returns Made Short / Middle / Deep

^{(bold = best)}

We are accustomed to watching Nadal stand way back to return first serves, and we see one of the outcomes here. Standing farther back lets the ball slow down and drop into Nadal’s hitting zone where he can swing big, but the result is he hits more returns short than any of the other three players. Nadal hit 32 per cent of his returns in the service box, and was the least proficient at getting the return deep, at 21 per cent.

Return Depth Win Percentage
Both Djokovic and Nadal were the leaders at winning points with deep returns, at 58 per cent. Djokovic has had the highest win percentage of the Big Four when the return landed short and in the middle of the court.

Big Four 2011-2017: First Serve Returns Win Percentage Short / Middle / Deep

^{(bold = best)}

Overall, the honours for return performance against first serves go to Djokovic, as he led the Big Four with the highest percentage of deep returns, the least short returns, and the highest win percentage overall.