The Comeback Player of the Year Award in the 2017 ATP World Tour Awards Presented by Moët & Chandon recognises those players who have overcome injury in re-establishing themselves as one of the top players on the ATP circuit. The winner, as selected by the players, will be announced ahead of the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals. 

Kevin Anderson
Injuries derail many careers, and some players never can play their sport at the same level again. But not Anderson. Not because of an ankle operation last spring, a dental operation or a hip injury.  Sure, a difficult 2016  health-wise set the South African back physically and literally at the beginning of this year — the right-hander did not play until Memphis and won his first match of the year in March. He didn’t earn victory No. 5 until May. But here we are, and Anderson has found arguably the best tennis of his life.

The University of Illinois product roared from as low as No. 80 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in January back into the Top 20 after advancing to the final of the US Open. It was Anderson’s first Grand Slam final, and not only that, he had made just one previous quarter-final at a major. Other strong results throughout the summer, including a runner-up finish at the Citi Open and a quarter-final appearance at the Coupe Rogers, put Anderson from nearly falling out of the Top 100 right into the mix for one of the final two Nitto ATP Finals spots during the last tournament of the regular season, the Rolex Paris Masters.

“I feel very honoured to be recognised as one of the candidates for Comeback Player Of The Year,” Anderson said. “I’ve worked really hard and had to face and overcome many challenges. My congratulations to everybody else also nominated who all have done incredible well.” 

Roger Federer
The 36-year-old Swiss defies convention. It can take months if not years to retrieve form after missing time due to injury. Federer fell to a year-end ranking of No. 16 in 2016 after playing his final match of the season in a semi-final loss at Wimbledon against Milos Raonic. Considering he had placed outside of the Top 3 just once in the 13 years before that, it was a shock. Entering the Australian Open as the No. 17 seed felt significantly abnormal, too.

Federer quickly corrected that, winning the first three ‘Big Titles’ of 2017 at the Australian Open, the BNP Paribas Open and the Miami Open presented by Itau to soar from No. 17 to No. 4 by the beginning of April. Since then, he has won Wimbledon, risen to No. 2, clinched his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals and claimed yet another ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title in Shanghai. Perhaps most astonishing has been his performance against his chief rival in Rafael Nadal. Federer has turned the tide in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series, winning all four meetings this year. Getting seeded No. 17 in Melbourne seems like it happened years ago, but Federer is indeed back and possibly better than ever.

“It feels very special. It’s always nice to be nominated for any award from the ATP, so this one’s different,” Federer said “Being out eight months of the year last year, it feels great to be back on the tour, number one. Being healthy again, being able to play again with the best and live basically my dream — this one I really appreciate. I know that everybody in that category who has been nominated for Comeback Player of the Year deserves it because all of us did something very special, something that we can be very proud of. So whoever is going to win it probably feels like the other one should have won it too. I feel that way as well and I’m just happy I was able to play a full year this year, which is great.”

Filip Krajinovic
Wrist and shoulder injuries limited Krajinovic to just five events after April last season. By the end of the year, he had fallen to as low as No. 237 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and finished the year at No. 234. He had not won an ATP Challenger Tour title since August of 2015.

But after winning a tour-leading five ATP Challenger Tour titles this year, it is safe to say that Krajinovic has bounced back. If there’s any sign in particular that Krajinovic’s level is only improving, look at his performance at back-to-back Challenger Tour events from the end of September into October — the Serbian won both titles in Rome and Almaty, losing just 37 total games. That is an average of 3.7 games lost per match, not just per set. He then qualified for his first ATP World Tour main draw of the season, winning a match before losing a tight three-setter against eventual finalist Ricardas Berankis. The effort helped Krajinovic achieve his career-best ranking of No. 75 on 23 October, and he is set to continue his rise after reaching his first Masters 1000 quarter-final at the Rolex Paris Masters. The two-time junior Grand Slam semi-finalist took adversity, and used it to propel him to his best tennis yet.

“The last five months was amazing. I won so many matches and it gave me a lot of confidence,” Krajinovic said. “It’s amazing to be one of these guys nominated for Comeback Player of the Year. Next to Nadal, Anderson and those guys, it’s for me a dream come true after so many injuries that I had the last couple of years. For me this year was amazing. I won five ATP Challenger Tour titles. Now I’m starting to play ATP World Tour more. Now I have the ranking to play and compete with the big guys so everything is going well.” 

Rafael Nadal
The Spaniard rode a roller-coaster last season. Nadal was forced to withdraw from Roland Garros mid-tournament due to a wrist injury, which forced him out of Wimbledon. Then, he showed signs of rebounding by capturing a gold medal with compatriot Marc Lopez in men’s doubles at the Olympic Games, but that positivity screeched to a halt after an early loss at the US Open and a premature close to the season due to his still-ailing wrist. He finished the season at No. 9 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, his lowest year-end placing since 2004.

It is safe to say that Nadal has done far more than ‘come back’ in 2017. He has roared back — to the tune of two Grand Slam titles, six total tour-level titles, 12 Top 10 wins and most notably of all, a return to the top of the rankings for the first time since 2014. This past spring, he became the first player in the Open Era to win 10 titles at the same tournament. Even more impressively, he accomplished ‘La Decima’ not just once, but three times with his triumphs in Barcelona, Monte-Carlo and Roland Garros. The ferocious competitor maintained his momentum through the second half of the season, with back-to-back titles at the US Open and China Open, and reached a tour-best 10th final of the season in Shanghai. Ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, Nadal clinched year-end No. 1 — nine years after he first accomplished the feat — and rewrote history books as the oldest player to finish a season as the ATP World Tour’s top player. Will the 31-year-old slow down? He showed no signs of it in 2017.

“When you get an injury, then it seems like the season is a disaster. But the real disaster of last year was the injuries. Because the level of tennis, when I was playing after Indian Wells, was good in almost all the events, no?” said Nadal at the US Open. “Of course it’s difficult to imagine eight or nine months ago that [Roger and I would] be winning two Grand Slams each. But here we are, and just can say thanks to life for that opportunity. I think I did the right work. I believed on the work, on the diary work all the time. I still believe on these things to improve, and I wake up every morning with the passion to go on court and to try to improve things. Probably that’s why I still have chances to compete in this sport and to do it well.” 

Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Stebe was No. 470 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the beginning of the season. It had been just about three years since he had been inside the Top 200. Injuries plagued what looked like a promising career — he won the ATP Challenger Tour Finals in 2011 at the age of 21. But from hip impingement surgery to back problems and pelvic surgery to a stress fracture of his pubic bone, Stebe faced hurdle after hurdle.

Yet this season, the German has not just come back, but soared back inside the Top 100 thanks to a quarter-final run at the Banque Eric Sturdza Geneva Open as a lucky loser, three Challenger Tour trophies and not just his first Grand Slam main draw appearance since the 2013 Australian Open, but his first Slam victory since the 2012 US Open. Now, Stebe is up to No. 80 in the world, and nearing his career-high ranking of No. 71, which he achieved in 2012. The road back has been long and jagged, but Stebe is back on the rise.

“After still struggling in the first half of the season, I managed to turn it around in the second part with many good tournaments and wins in a very short period,” Stebe said. “After such a [great] season I’m extremely happy to be nominated for the Comeback Player Of The Year Award. The only thing that can top this now is if I win!” 

Janko Tipsarevic
For nearly two years, the Serbian found himself outside of the Top 300 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. That was certainly unfamiliar territory for a former Top 10 player who won four ATP World Tour titles and advanced to five more finals between 2011 and 2013 alone. But recurring foot problems kept the right-hander off the court for much of two years. So inevitably, Tipsarevic tumbled down the rankings. On 16 May 2016, he was No. 686 in the world.

A year later, Tipsarevic was No. 61, completing an astonishing 625-spot rise in just one year. He won the four ATP Challenger Tour titles he played this season, dropping just two sets over the course of four tournaments — that is 40 of 42 sets won. The 33-year-old reached as high as No. 58 in the rankings, showing that he is still capable of competing at a high level. But hamstring issues forced Tipsarevic to undergo surgery in late September, after only playing three events following Wimbledon. Tipsarevic says he is set to return in the first quarter of 2018.

“Privilege to be nominated,” Tipsarevic posted on Instagram. “Thanks @atpworldtour #keepdigging.”

Comeback Player of the Year:
The player who has overcome serious injury in re-establishing himself as one of the top players on the ATP World Tour.

Rafael Nadal clinched the year-end No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings on Wednesday for the fourth time. But the Spaniard’s season is not over yet.

Nadal continued his pursuit of a first Rolex Paris Masters title with a 6-3, 6-7(5), 6-3 victory over Pablo Cuevas to advance to the quarter-finals. The left-hander’s best result at the event came in 2007, when he lost in the final against David Nalbandian.

In the bigger picture, Nadal earned his 18th win in his past 19 matches, gaining momentum ahead of the Nitto ATP Finals, another event at which he will try to win his first title.

Nadal was certainly tested by Cuevas, who trailed by a set and a break. But the Uruguayan battled, breaking back immediately before overcoming a 2/4 deficit in the second-set tie-break to force a decider. In the third set, Cuevas overcame a 0-3 hole to get back on serve, but Nadal’s aggressive baseline play was simply too good on the day.

Cuevas hung in there against Nadal’s massive forehand, and produced some excellent shotmaking himself in what was an entertaining match, including a forward-facing tweener passing shot for a winner.

Nadal takes the set.

Cuevas gets the style points.

??#RolexpMasters pic.twitter.com/2OCz7Y3DjI

— Tennis TV (@TennisTV) November 2, 2017

It was just the sixth time during Nadal’s recent hot streak that he dropped a set, excluding his loss against Roger Federer in the final of the Shanghai Rolex Masters.

Nadal will open a new FedEx ATP Head2Head series on Friday, when he plays qualifier Filip Krajinovic for the first time. The Serbian evened his FedEx ATP Head2Head matchup with wild card Nicolas Mahut at 1-1, beating the Frenchman, 6-2, 3-6, 6-1, to advance to the quarter-finals after never previously making the third round of an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event.

Krajinovic eliminated 10th seed Sam Querrey in the second round, ending the American’s hopes of qualifying for his first Nitto ATP Finals. Krajinovic is playing just his second tour-level event since winning back-to-back ATP Challenger Tour titles in Rome and Almaty, Kazakhstan.

The winner will play one of two London contenders, ninth-seeded John Isner or the No. 13 seed, Juan Martin del Potro. Third seed Marin Cilic beat 14th-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut in the last match of the day on Thursday evening, so del Potro can clinch his spot in London by beating Isner.

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David Goffin has become the first Belgian singles player in the 48-year history of the Nitto ATP Finals to qualify for the prestigious season finale. He will join World No. 1 Rafael Nadal, six-time champion Roger Federer, debutants Alexander Zverev and Grigor Dimitrov, and former qualifiers Dominic Thiem and Marin Cilic in the elite eight-man field at The O2 in London from 12-19 November.

Goffin is the seventh player to secure his place as a result of play at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday. He served as an alternate at 2016 Nitto ATP Finals, replacing the injured Gael Monfils in one round-robin match (l. to Djokovic).

“I would have preferred to have qualified by winning my match and Lucas is a friend but I am still so happy to have qualified!” said Goffin. “It is every player’s dream to make the (Nitto ATP) Finals and it is my first time there so I can’t wait to get to London!”

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The 26-year-old Goffin has compiled the best season of his career, with his first 50+ match wins record and as the first Belgian to break into the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 10 on 20 February. He ended a six-match losing streak in finals with back-to-back ATP World Tour titles in October at the Shenzhen Open (d. Dolgopolov) and the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2017 in Tokyo (d. Mannarino).

He also finished as runner-up in consecutive finals in February at the Garanti Koza Sofia Open (l. to Dimitrov) and the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam (l. to Tsonga). Goffin earned the biggest victory of his career over then No. 2-ranked Novak Djokovic in April at the Monte-Carlo Rolex Masters (l. to Nadal in SFs) and has compiled a 21-5 match record since 28 August.

With less than one week left of the regular 2017 ATP World Tour season, Spain’s Pablo Carreno Busta currently holds the last remaining qualification berth, but could still be ousted by one of Juan Martin del Potro, Roberto Bautista Agut, John Isner and Jack Sock subject to results in Paris this week.

The eight-team doubles field is already set, featuring Lukasz Kubot/Marcelo Melo, defending champions Henri Kontinen/John Peers, 2015 titlists Jean-Julien Rojer/Horia Tecau, Jamie Murray/Bruno Soares, four-time former winners Bob Bryan/Mike Bryan, Pierre-Hugues Herbert/Nicolas Mahut, Ivan Dodig/Marcel Granollers and Ryan Harrison/Michael Venus.

The Nitto ATP Finals welcomes more than 250,000 fans to The O2 arena each year, as well as generating a global TV viewership of more than 100 million, as the ATP’s best eight singles players and doubles teams of the season compete over eight days at the biggest indoor tennis tournament in the world.

Julien Benneteau fell to as low as No. 696 in the Emirates ATP Rankings last January. After one of the great wins of his career, that seems far away.

The Frenchman thrilled his raucous home crowd at the Rolex Paris Masters on Thursday, eliminating seventh seed David Goffin, 6-3, 6-3, to advance to his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 quarter-final since Shanghai in 2014.

And as special a moment it was for Benneteau, it was devastating for Goffin. The Belgian could have clinched his first berth in the Nitto ATP Finals by taking out the Frenchman. But instead, he had to nervously await the results of other London contenders.

But luckily for the Belgian, 16th-seeded Jack Sock guaranteed Goffin’s spot in the year-end finale by defeating 17th-seeded Lucas Pouille, 7-6(6), 6-3. If Pouille continued on, it could have complicated qualifying scenarios for Goffin. But the 26-year-old became the seventh player to book his spot in the Nitto ATP Finals nonetheless. He appeared in the event last season as an alternate.

“I would have preferred to have qualified by winning my match and Lucas is a friend, but I am still so happy to have qualified,” said Goffin. “It is every player’s dream to make the (Nitto ATP) Finals and it is my first time there, so I can’t wait to get to London!”

Before Thursday’s loss, Goffin led his FedEx ATP Head2Head series with Benneteau 1-0, having defeated him in the first round of this year’s US Open in four sets. Their only other meeting came at an ATP Challenger Tour event in 2011, which Benneteau won.

Benneteau will play the winner of third seed Marin Cilic and another London hopeful, No. 14-seeded Roberto Bautista Agut, who contest the final match of the day on Court Central.

Sock will play Fernando Verdasco, who maintained his good form, upsetting fifth seed Dominic Thiem, 6-4, 6-4.

For the American, it is a major opportunity to turn around the end of his season. He arrived in Paris having lost three of his past 10 matches. And it looked like the slump would continue when he fell behind Kyle Edmund 1-5 in the third set in Wednesday’s second round. But ever since, Sock has been on a roll, taking out the rising star from Great Britain before ousting the home favourite, Pouille, eliminating any chance the Frenchman had of earning his first London berth.

While his hopes are still slim, Sock can give himself a chance to qualify for the year-end finale for the first time by winning the title in Paris. He would need help from other London contenders to earn the event’s final spot.

Sock won his only past FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting against Verdasco in Stockholm two years ago.

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“At 31 years old, you’re the oldest player to finish the year at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings.”

“Really?”

After beating Hyeon Chung 7-5, 6-3 in the second round of the Rolex Paris Masters to ensure he finished the year as World No. 1 for the fourth time in his career, Rafael Nadal was in awe to learn that he is the oldest player to achieve that feat since the Emirates ATP Rankings were established in 1973.

“It was an amazing year, just amazing,” said Nadal, who also finished atop the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2008, 2010 and 2013. “I never would have imagined I would end up as No. 1 at the end of the season again. Finishing the year as No. 1 means a lot to me. It wasn’t one of my goals going into the season — far from it. After returning from a difficult period in my career and battling through injuries, this wasn’t on my mind.”

Nadal’s climb back to the top would have been hard for anyone to predict. In January, when he returned to the ATP World Tour at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp after closing his 2016 following the Asian swing, looking to recover from his left wrist injury, Nadal began the year ranked No. 9. By August, the Spaniard was ranked No. 1 leading into the US Open and had clinched his 10th French Open title. After claiming the US Open crown and a successful campaign in Asia, in which he won the China Open and was runner-up to Roger Federer at the Shanghai Rolex Masters, finishing the year at the top suddenly seemed realistic.

“When the opportunity (to end the year at No.1) presented itself, it became my goal,” Nadal said. “The Asian swing was very important for me, because the points I gained during that time were valuable.”

Returning to the top spot at a certain point in the year and actually ending the year at No. 1 are two separate accolades, according to Nadal, and the Spaniard feels it’s extra special to close out the year as the best player in the world.

“Being No. 1 for a part of the year is great, that’s obvious, but ending the year No. 1 is even better,” Nadal said. “The two things are beautiful and important, but without a doubt there’s a big difference, if you ask me. In the end, this is like a league and when you finish a year as No. 1, it means you were the best player for that season.”

Nadal is also aware of what it means to be the oldest player to end the year on top, considering he’s had to battle back from numerous injuries throughout his career.

“It means many things,” the 16-time Grand Slam champion said. “It means that I’ve had a very long and successful career. It means that I have maintained my form. It means that I have kept the desire to play, despite the adversities that come with injuries. It means a lot after all I’ve been through. When I receive the trophy in London [for ending the year at No. 1], it will be an exciting time for me because I thought it would not happen again.”

Ending 2017 as No. 1 means Nadal achieves another milestone in tennis history: More than nine years have passed since the first time (2008) and the most recent time he accomplished the feat (2017) — an incredible testament to his longevity.

“The gap between the first time I finished No. 1 and now is very wide,” Nadal said. “Therefore, it also means a lot to be able to continue playing at this level for so long.”

Nadal has now set his sights on two more goals to close out the year: to claim this week’s Rolex Paris Masters and the Nitto ATP Finals — two titles that have so far eluded him.

“Now I can try to do my best to end the season without thinking about it,” said Nadal. “Playing without that tension loosens me up to fulfill other objectives. The season is not over. I’m in Paris, possibly the most important city of my career. I want to give it my best and close out the year with even more success.”

Juan Martin del Potro continued his march towards a Nitto ATP Finals spot on Thursday when he defeated Robin Haase of the Netherlands 7-5, 6-4 for a place in the Rolex Paris Masters quarter-finals for the third time (also 2009, 2013).

The popular Argentine, who was at No. 47 in the Emirates ATP Race To London prior to the start of the US Open, is now up to No. 10 on 2,595 points — only 20 points behind Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta (2,615), who sits in the last automatic qualification berth.

Del Potro, the No. 13 seed this week, has gone 20-4 since 28 August and will now look to move past Carreno Busta with a victory on Friday over sixth-seeded Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov or ninth seed John Isner of the United States.

In recent weeks, Del Potro has captured his 20th tour-level title at the Intrum Stockholm Open (d. Dimitrov) and finished runner-up at the Swiss Indoors Basel (l. to Federer). He has a 38-15 mark on the season.

The 29-year-old Del Potro has qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals on four previous occasions (2008-09, ’12-13), highlighted by a run to the 2009 title match (l. to Davydenko). The season finale begins at The O2 in London on 12 November.

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