No need for tennis sneakers: The Blue Sky Foundation has been honoured this year for bringing “Boots on the Court” to military members across the United States.  

The organisation is this year’s recipient of an award from the Jim McManus Memorial Fund for its Boots on the Court initiative. The program was created by former World No. 8 Dick Stockton, now President and Executive Director of the Blue Sky Foundation, and his wife, Liz. The goal is to use tennis as a way of thanking American troops — servicemen, servicewomen, veterans and their families — for their continued service by offering free tennis clinics at different military installations around the country. The clinics are open to active personnel, Veterans, Wounded Warriors, and their spouses or children.  Every participant must be a “military ID cardholder” or the spouse or child of such a cardholder.

Since their initial event in July 2013 at Fort Bragg (N.C.), Boots on the Court has held 19 other events across the U.S. that include youth (ages 4-8), junior (ages 9-15) and adult clinics. This past year, they visited Fort Benning (Ga.), Camp Lejeune (N.C.), Andrews Air Force Base (Md.), and West Point (N.Y.).

“The response we have gotten has been amazing. We are averaging about 100 participants per event, ranging in age from three to 87. The biggest group is always the kids from four to 10 years old; probably 65 per cent of the total number of participants are in this particular age bracket,” said Stockton. “We have truly been honoured to be able to bring these clinics to the folks in our military. I can honestly say that this has been the most incredible experience in my life.”

The Jim McManus Memorial Fund is an initiative aimed to provide assistance to an individual or program which demonstrates passion and dedication for the sport of tennis, its heritage, sportsmanship and camaraderie.

Click here to learn more about Boots on the Court and the Blue Sky Foundation.

Murray, Djokovic Battle For No. 1

Andy Murray finished as the year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings for the first time and enters 2017 with a career-best 24-match winning streak, which included five straight titles. Djokovic saw his run of 122 consecutive weeks at No. 1 end on 7 November. The Serbian had been at the summit of men’s professional tennis for 223 weeks overall, behind Jimmy Connors (268 weeks), Ivan Lendl (270 weeks), Pete Sampras (286 weeks) and Roger Federer (302 weeks).

For the past 13 years the No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings has been held by a member of the Big Four: Murray (2016), Djokovic (2011-12, 2014-15), Rafael Nadal (2008, 2010, 2013) or Roger Federer (2004-07, 2009). The last time a foursome finished No. 1 for 13 straight years or longer was from 1974-87 with Connors (1974-78), Bjorn Borg (1979-80), John McEnroe (1981-84) or Lendl (1985-87, 1989).

Djokovic finished 2016 as one of only four players in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings to finish in the Top 3 for 10 or more years – including Lendl (10, 1981-1990), Federer (10, 2003-12; also No. 2 in 2014-15) and Connors (12, 1973-84). Djokovic celebrated 200 weeks at No. 1 and also became only the eighth player in tennis history to complete the career Grand Slam with his first Roland Garros crown in May.

Match Win Milestones

Roger Federer required just 13 match wins in 2016 to pass Lendl (1,071) for the second-most victories in the Open Era (since 1968) and now, with 1,080, only Connors – the all-time record-holder with 1,253 match wins, achieved in early 1985, stands ahead of the Swiss superstar.

This year also marked surges for Djokovic and Murray. As Nadal notched 800 match wins, Djokovic went an astonishing 100-6 from 600 to 700 match wins and Murray moved from 500 to 600 in just 116 matches.

‘#NextGen’ Campaign Launched

The ATP unveiled its ‘Next Generation’ campaign on the eve of the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells on 8 March. With Murray and Djokovic continuing to take the sport to new levels, the campaign introduced an exciting crop of young and talented players, who are rising to prominence on the ATP World Tour. There were 14 players – including Nick Kyrgios, Alexander Zverev and Borna Coric – in the Top 200 of the Emirates ATP Rankings, including six players in the Top 100, born in 1995 or later. Aged 21 or under each of them is striving to pose a future threat to the well-established hierarchy.

Visit #NextGen Landing

Later in the year, on 19 November, during the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals, the ATP announced that Milan in Italy, would host a new tournament, the Next Gen ATP Finals, featuring the world’s top 21-and-under singles players of the ATP World Tour season. The event in 2017 will be held from 7-11 November and the Race To Milan for the Next Gen ATP Finals will begin in January.

Doubles Milestones

The 40th anniversary of the Emirates ATP Doubles Rankings was celebrated on 1 March 2016, a year that saw the top spot change between three players: Marcelo Melo, Jamie Murray and Nicolas Mahut. To date, 49 different players have risen to the top spot.

Rising To Doubles No. 1 Tributes: Murray | Mahut

Daniel Nestor became the first doubles player to record 1,000-match wins when he partnered Marcelo Melo to a first-round victory at the Apia International Sydney on 11 January. Ten months later, on 28 October, it was the turn of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan to become the first doubles team to attain the 1,000 match wins milestone after beating Pablo Cuevas and Viktor Troicki at the Erste Bank Open 500 in Vienna.

Calling It A Career

Lleyton Hewitt, the 2001 and 2002 year-end No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, bid an emotional farewell to professional tennis at the Australian Open. He returned as a doubles competitor at Wimbledon alongside Jordan Thompson. The Adelaide native remains the third-youngest player to win an ATP World Tour title, having prevailed in his hometown at 16 years, 11 months.

Eric Butorac, a former president of the ATP World Tour Player Council and a winner of 18 doubles titles, officially retired at the US Open on 5 September. Michael Berrer, Rui Machado, Andreas Beck, Jesse Huta Galung, Julian Reister also ended their careers as professional players.

ATP, Grand Slam Anniversaries

ATPWorldTour.com reflected on the 10th anniversary of Djokovic’s first ATP World Tour title in Amersfoort and also the 2006 Rome final between Nadal and Federer at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The ATP also looked back on the 20th anniversary of Richard Krajicek’s 1996 Wimbledon final victory over MaliVai Washington. Krajicek is currently the Tournament Director of the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament in Rotterdam and also coach to Milos Raonic. Spanish greats also celebrates Manolo Santana’s run to the 1966 crown on Centre Court at the All England Club.

Friends Remembered…

There were tributes to the late journalist and broadcaster Bud Collins (4 March), Gardnar Mulloy, who passed away aged 102, (14 November) and also Tim Gullikson, the amiable former player and coach to Pete Sampras, on the 20th anniversary of his death (3 May).

Finals Club Celebrates 1980s

The ATP World Tour celebrated year-end championship participants from the 1980s at The O2 in London in the second year of the Finals Club. More than 30 other players reconnected with the sport, their peers, as well as the world’s best players of today.

Lendl Reflects On Masters In 1980s

Top Year-End Matches At Madison Square Garden (1977-1989)

Greatest Masters Final Ever: Lendl vs. Becker?

The 2017 season kicks off on Sunday 1 January in Brisbane and the following day in Doha and Chennai, with all Top 5 players in action in the opening week. Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic waste no time continuing their battle for the No. 1 position in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the Qatar ExxonMobil Open, where they are the Top 2 seeds. Milos Raonic, Stan Wawrinka, and Kei Nishikori, ranked No. 3 through 5, are the top seeds at the Brisbane International presented by Suncorp.

• Streaking into 2017: Murray enters 2017 with a career-best 24-match winning streak. It’s the fourth time since 1975 (since complete records were kept) that a player closed out the season with a 20+ match winning streak. Here are the streaks to end the year (listed chronologically):

Note: McEnroe won 24 in a row at the end of 1982 but streak ended at 26 with final loss to Lendl at Masters in January 1983, which was considered part of 1982 season.

• Murray’s Key to No. 1: Murray’s service improvement in the Infosys ATP Scores & Stats Leaders in 2016 was a major factor in the Briton finishing No. 1 for the first time. Murray was among the Top 10 in three of the six service categories for the second time in his career (four in 2009):

Murray also ranked among the Top 5 in all four return of serve categories with the biggest improvement coming in return games won with a personal-best 37 per cent, a jump of 6 per cent from 2015:

• Djokovic Top 2 Streak: Djokovic is one of four players in the history of the Emirates ATP Rankings to finish in the Top 2 for 10 or more consecutive years:

• Hard Court Points to Defend: Murray enters 2017 with a 630-point lead over Djokovic in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Here is a look at both players’ hard court points to defend from the Australian Open through the Miami Open presented by Itau:

• Milos Looks to Top 2: Raonic improved from No. 14 to a year-end best No. 3 in 2016. Raonic is attempting to become the first player outside the Big Four to rank No. 2 since Lleyton Hewitt on 18 July 2005. Raonic became the first player born in the 1990s to reach a Grand Slam final last season at Wimbledon (l. to Murray). Raonic’s eight career ATP World Tour titles is the most of any player born in the 1990s. Raonic will be coached by 1996 Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek in 2017.

• Stan Strong at No. 4: Stan Wawrinka is coming off his third straight No. 4 year-end Emirates ATP Ranking. In the past three years he is 11-1 in finals after compiling a 4-9 record in finals from 2006-13.

• Federer Returns: When Federer makes his 18th straight appearance at the Australian Open, it will be the Swiss superstar’s first tour level match since 8 July 2016 when he lost in five sets in the semi-finals to Raonic at Wimbledon. It will also be Federer’s first appearance outside the Top 10 in Melbourne since 2002 when he ranked No. 12. Federer finished last season with a 21-7 match record and No. 16 ranking. His streak of 14 consecutive years in the year-end Top 10 ended, which is second only to Jimmy Connors’ 16. His best result was a runner-up in Brisbane (l. to Raonic) in the opening week of the season. His streak of 15 straight years with at least one ATP World Tour title also came to an end. Prior to Federer’s knee injury, he was still playing at a high level as indicated in the Infosys ATP Scores & Stats. He would have been in the Top 5 if he played enough matches to qualify:

• 70-Titles Club Within Reach: Nadal and Djokovic are both closing in on 70 career titles on the ATP World Tour. Nadal has 69 and Djokovic 66 titles. If they both reach the milestone in 2017, they would join Federer (88) as part of the 70-Titles Club. The only trio to accomplish the feat in the Open Era are Jimmy Connors (109), Ivan Lendl (94) and John McEnroe (77). They all had at least 70 titles in 1994 when still active.

• Nadal Eyes Hard Court Title: Nadal enters 2017 trying to win his first ATP World Tour hard court title since Doha in January 2014 (d. Monfils). Since then, Nadal has played in 27 hard court tournaments, the longest hard court title drought of his career. The 30-year-old Spaniard has finished in the Top 10 the past 12 years, the longest active streak on the ATP World Tour.

• Moya Joins Nadal Team: Nadal added fellow Mallorca native and former World No. 1 Carlos Moya to his team for the 2017 season. Moya, who helped Raonic improve from No. 14 to a career-best No. 3 last season, is the fourth former No. 1 to team up with a member of the Big Four:

– Andy Murray & Ivan Lendl
– Novak Djokovic & Boris Becker
– Rafael Nadal & Carlos Moya
– Roger Federer & Stefan Edberg

• First-Time Champions: There were nine first-time champions on the ATP World Tour last season, the most since 10 in 2011. Among the first-time winners, six were 25 & under, including #NextGen stars Karen Khachanov and Alexander Zverev. Kyrgios was a member of last year’s #NextGen class.

• Top 10 Breakthrough In Sight: In 2016, four players ranked between No. 11-15 finished with their best career season on the ATP World Tour. No. 13 Kyrgios won a personal-best three ATP World Tour titles and at 21 was the youngest to finish in the Top 20. Kyrgios and the other three players look to go a step further in 2017 and break into the Top 10 Emirates ATP Rankings:

– No. 11 David Goffin
– No. 13 Nick Kyrgios
– No. 14 Roberto Bautista Agut
– No. 15 Lucas Pouille

• Sascha Looks to Continue Rise: In 2016, Alexander Zverev became the first teenager to finish in the Top 25 Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 24 since Novak Djokovic (No. 16) and Andy Murray (No. 17) in 2006. The 19-year-old German reached a career-high No. 20 on 17 October after winning his maiden ATP World Tour title in St. Petersburg. He was the first teenager to win an ATP World Tour title since Marin Cilic (19) at 2008 New Haven. Zverev will look to follow in the footsteps of Gael Monfils, who finished No. 24 in 2015 before climbing to year-end best No. 7 in 2016.

• Brothers Eye Top 50: Mischa Zverev finished a year-end best No. 51 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The last time he ranked in the Top 50 was 5 October 2009 at No. 48. The last time a brothers duo ranked in the Top 50 at the same time was 8 May 2006 when Olivier Rochus ranked No. 29 and Christophe Rochus was No. 42.

• Del Potro Comeback Leads Argentines: Juan Martin del Potro became the third player (Sergi Bruguera, Tommy Haas) to win the ATP Comeback Player of the Year twice. He also led Argentina to its first Davis Cup title and returned to the Top 50 of Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 38 (from No. 581) in 2016. He became the first player to jump from outside the Top 500 from the previous year to finish in the Top 50 since Tommy Haas and Thomas Johansson made leaps in 2004. Both were unranked in 2003 before climbing more than 1,300 spots the following season. Haas climbed 1,386 spots to finish No. 17 and Johansson 1,373 positions to reach No. 30. Del Potro announced this week that his 2017 campaign would start sometime after the Australian Open.

• Haas Returns: Former World No. 2 Tommy Haas, who will turn 39 on 3 April, is planning to return to the ATP World Tour for the first time since October 2015 in Vienna. Haas, who is the tournament director at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, plans to start his 2017 campaign at the Australian Open. Haas has a protected ranking of No. 25.

• Ivo Going Strong: Ivo Karlovic finished in the Top 20 for the first time in his career last season at No. 20. The 37-year-old Croat (turns 38 on 28 February), who won two ATP World Tour titles (Newport, Los Cabos), was the oldest player to rank in the Top 20 since Ken Rosewall (43) on 31 July 1978. Karlovic was bothered by a knee injury in the first quarter of last season, going winless (0-6) before reaching the semi-finals in Bucharest on 30 April. He finished with a 32-24 match record on the season.

• Titles Streak: There are six players who enter the 2017 season having won at least one ATP World Tour title for five or more years in a row:

• #NextGen Class of 2017 Looking To Milan: The Race to Milan for the Next Gen ATP Finals gets underway in January and here is a look at the group of #NextGen stars on the ATP World Tour with their 2016 year-end Emirates ATP Ranking:

Juan Martin del Potro is withdrawing from the ASB Classic (Auckland, New Zealand) and the Australian Open due to fitness concerns.

The 6’6” Tandil native was sidelined first in 2010 (right wrist) and then 2014 (left wrist) and needed entire seasons to recuperate. His most recent comeback came in February at the Delray Beach Open, where he reached the semi-finals, falling to Sam Querrey. He would go on to compete in 11 other tour-level events, including a title run in Stockholm (d. Jack Sock). He also reached the US Open quarter-finals (l. to Stan Wawrinka).

“It was a very special year for me,” said del Potro in November about his 2016 season. “I didn’t expect the results that I had.”

Del Potro finished the season with a 32-12 record, propelling him to No. 38 in the Emirates ATP Rankings after beginning the year in the 590th position. For his efforts, his fellow players voted him the Comeback Player of the Year in the ATP World Tour Award presented by Moët & Chandon.

Del Potro also compiled an incredible run at the Summer Olympic Games in Rio, where he claimed the silver medal after a four-set loss to Andy Murray. En route, he stunned Novak Djokovic in the first round and defeated Rafael Nadal in the semi-finals. In November, he joined Argentine teammates Guido Pella, Leonardo Mayer, and Federico Delbonis in defeating Croatia for their country’s first Davis Cup title.

Lleyton Hewitt (Retired: 21 January)
Lleyton Hewitt had already completed his final lap around the ATP World Tour in 2015, capped by a second-round finish at the Citi Open in Washington, but the Aussie legend had one last goodbye reserved for his home fans at the Australian Open. The former World No. 1 – and youngest to ever ascend to the top spot at age 20 – drew the curtain on his storied career in his 20th successive trip to Melbourne Park, defeating James Duckworth in his opener, before falling to eighth seed David Ferrer.

As expected, the 34-year-old Hewitt left it all out on the court, but Ferrer held off the Aussie’s challenge to claim victory in two hours and 32 minutes on Rod Laver Arena. Hewitt was watched from his box by his family, Tony Roche and Thanasi Kokkinakis among others.

“I came out and gave everything I had like always,” said Hewitt following the match. “I left nothing in the locker room. That’s something I can always be proud of. My whole career I’ve always given 100 per cent… It’s a weird emotion; I don’t think it will fully set in for a couple of days’ time. As I’ve always said, I’m such a competitor, I try and push myself all the time to get the most out of myself. Obviously it was in the back of my mind coming into every match this week, but I have had a fantastic last month.”

Hewitt spent 80 weeks at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and capped his career with 30 tour-level titles. His biggest crowns came at the 2001 US Open, 2002 Wimbledon Championships, year-end Tennis Masters Cup from 2001-02, and at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells, where he lifted the trophy in consecutive years from 2002-03. The two-time year-end No. 1 in 2001-02, the Adelaide native is also the third-youngest player to win an ATP World Tour title, having prevailed in his hometown at 16 years, 11 months.

Eric Butorac (Retired: 1 September)
With family and friends surrounding Court 9 at the US Open, Eric Butorac bade farewell to the doubles circuit. The affable former ATP Player Council president played his last professional match alongside good friend Scott Lipsky, falling to Raven Klaasen and Rajeev Ram 6-3, 6-4.

The 35-year-old father of two, who became USTA Director of Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations in early October, is an 18-time doubles champion on the ATP World Tour. He won at least one title in each of the past 10 seasons, including five with Jean-Julien Rojer and three each with Klaasen, Lipsky and Jamie Murray. Butorac most recently lifted the trophy at the Millennium Estoril Open with Lipsky in April, his third title at the ATP World Tour 250 event.

“I never expected to have a career like this,” added Butorac, whose best Grand Slam result came in the 2014 Australian Open, finishing runner-up alongside Klaasen. “I moved to France to play money tournaments, then stumbled into Futures and Challengers and later moved my way up. It was a surprise to be out there doing it. To look back and say I did it for 13 years is a strange feeling, but also quite rewarding. I feel accomplished, I worked really hard and got to see the world and meet great people. It was a great experience.”

The former Division III national champion at Gustavus Adolphus College said his biggest contributions to tennis took place away from the doubles court. Butorac served on the ATP Player Council for eight years, including two as president.

“Off the court, being a part of the Player Council was something really special for me. It was something I stumbled into and someone nominated me for it. I took it very seriously, spending eight years on the council and doing two as president. That was something I’m very proud of. As much as anything I achieved on the court, for the good of the sport I was able to do a lot more off it.”

Michael Berrer (Retired: 18 December)
Another former ATP Player Council member bade farewell in 2016, as Michael Berrer played his last match at the inaugural European Open in Antwerp, before officially retiring in December. Nearly two years after initially deciding to announce his retirement, the German pressed pause on his departure following a successful 2015 campaign that saw him notch the biggest win of his career over World No. 3 Rafael Nadal in Doha. It was his first victory over a Top 5 opponent in 14 tries.

A genuine and charismatic personality, Berrer was a dogged competitor between the lines, exuding passion and energy that made him an instant fan favourite. He left his mark on the court in ascending to a career-high World No. 42 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, reaching consecutive ATP World Tour finals on the indoor hard courts of Zagreb in 2010 and 2011, as well as posting a 235-152 record on the ATP Challenger Tour, including 11 titles. Off the court, he took part in the ATP’s scholarship program, obtaining a Bachelor’s degree in psychology at the University of Phoenix.

“I was still able to do some damage on tour and end it on my terms,” Berrer told ATPWorldTour.com. “It’s a new situation for me now, but I feel pretty good about it now. Being on tour was something I always enjoyed. I liked to spend time with the ATP employees and the players. It was always a good time and never a stressful one. There are many moments I will never forget. My victory over Rafael Nadal (in Doha) was special and playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2008 too. Those were moments that I always enjoyed. Playing in the United States too, especially reaching the third round in Indian Wells. The crowd gives you a great reception there and they really appreciate athletes.”

Berrer Retires at 36, Ready For Next Chapter

Other Farewells: Rui Machado, Andreas Beck, Jesse Huta Galung, Julian Reister
After 14 years on tour, one of the best players in the history of Portuguese tennis hung up his racquet in mid-June. Rui Machado, who attained a career-high No. 59 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in October 2011, decided it was time to retire.

“What made me decide to retire was having many injuries in recent months that did not let me practise and compete the way I’m used to,” said the 32-year-old Machado. “I really felt that my body was asking for some rest.”

After suffering wrist and knee injuries that largely kept him off the tour in 2006 and 2007, Machado was able to return and produced the best results of his career. He became a dominant figure in clay-court events on the ATP Challenger Tour, winning all eight of his titles on the surface from 2009-11. Fittingly, his best result on the ATP World Tour came at home, when he reached the quarter-finals of 250 event in Estoril in May 2010.

Machado Calls Time On Tennis Career

Andreas Beck, Jesse Huta Galung and Julian Reister all said goodbye towards the end of the season, with Germans Beck and Reister hanging up their racquets in October and Huta Galung in December. Former World No. 33 Beck reached his lone ATP World Tour final on the clay of Gstaad in 2009 (l. to Bellucci), with his best Masters 1000 result coming in Monte-Carlo earlier that year. He earned his lone Top 10 win over seventh-ranked Gilles Simon in the second round, en route to the quarter-finals. Beck also claimed five ATP Challenger Tour titles and amassed a 201-140 win-loss record on the circuit.

Huta Galung, meanwhile, achieved a career-high No. 91 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in February 2014. The Dutchman’s biggest victories came over former Top 10 players Ivan Ljubicic (Rotterdam 2012) and Janko Tipsarevic (Johannesburg 2011). He captured 10 titles on the ATP Challenger Tour in total.

Hamburg native Reister ascended to a peak position of World No. 83 in the Emirates ATP Rankings in November 2013. A winner of five ATP Challenger Tour titles, he also enjoyed success at the tour-level, reaching the third round at Roland Garros in 2010, before falling to Roger Federer. As an unseeded wild card, the German stunned World No. 16 Fernando Verdasco 6-2, 6-3 in Hamburg in 2012.

Over the past 16 years, Michael Berrer has called the ATP World Tour his home, traversing the globe while performing his dream job at the highest level. After 620 matches in more than 100 cities, the German has hung up his racquet for the final time, announcing his retirement at the age of 36.

The gregarious left-hander has had a burgeoning affinity for the game, ever since he first picked up a racquet as a young boy in Stuttgart. A genuine and charismatic personality, Berrer was a dogged competitor between the lines, exuding passion and energy that made him an instant fan favourite. For those fortunate to compete on the ATP World Tour and call it their profession, it is privilege, a sentiment echoed by Berrer as he looks back on his time between the lines.

“It’s a new situation for me now, but I feel pretty good about it now,” Berrer told ATPWorldTour.com. “For me, being on tour was something I always enjoyed. I liked to spend time with the ATP employees and the players. It was always a good time and never a stressful one. Even when you are traveling, you meet so many people and interact with so many characters. From the check-in and security at the airport and the tournament personnel, I loved it.

“There are many moments I will never forget. My victory over Rafael Nadal (in Doha) was special and playing on Centre Court at Wimbledon in 2008 too. Those were moments that I always enjoyed. Playing in the United States too, especially reaching the third round in Indian Wells. The crowd gives you a great reception there and they really appreciate athletes.”

While Berrer has certainly left his mark on the court, ascending to a career-high World No. 42 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, reaching consecutive finals on the indoor hard courts of Zagreb in 2010 and 2011, as well as posting a 235-152 record on the ATP Challenger Tour, including 11 titles, it is his achievements off the court that have prepared him for a fruitful career outside the lines.

Berrer took part in the ATP’s scholarship program, which gives players the opportunity to further pursue their intellectual interests via online college courses at the University of Phoenix. While competing full-time and raising his now four-year-old daughter Mia-Marie with wife Nadine, Berrer worked towards a Bachelor’s degree in psychology from 2011-15 and is in the process of completing his Master’s thesis in sports psychology. His focus? An issue that he believes plagues many professional athletes: Fear of success.

“It’s a common thing that many players have,” said Berrer. “There are many limiting factors that players display. That’s why I chose this topic. It’s very interesting, but it’s not a weakness. Even the best players in the world have that, but they have a way of overcoming these feelings and that’s why they are the best. You need to have coping strategies. It’s not a secret. If you watch it from the outside perspective, obviously it’s difficult to understand, but everyone is human.

“The biggest strength is that you are resilient. I first came to the Top 100 when I was 27. Most people are younger. Even if you are older, you can always improve. This must be your driving engine to always want to improve. If you don’t want to improve and get better, then you should try to find a different occupation. And you need to surround yourself with people that encourage this desire to grow.

“I needed the help of a sports psychologist myself. It’s hard to use all these theoretical frameworks on yourself because it doesn’t really work so much. You have some mechanisms, but it’s not easy to self-analyse. I’ve worked with really good people and it gives you a lot of positive energy.”

MICHAEL’S FIVE BIGGEST LESSONS LEARNED

A wealth of knowledge from countless hours on court and behind the scenes at tournaments provided a distinct opportunity in Berrer’s studies. With such a unique perspective, as the only player with his pedigree to pursue such a degree, he greatly drew upon his experience. Exclusive access to players and coaches, in particular, enhanced this angle and yielded more comprehensive research in constructing his thesis.

“I was doing questionnaires with a lot of coaches,” said Berrer, who also served on the ATP Player Council from 2008-09. “I approached coaches more, but I used my personal experience with players. If I can’t use my personal experience as a player, I don’t know who can. There isn’t one person doing a psychology thesis that’s better than me in tennis, so I’m pretty hopeful that it will be accepted.

“The ATP and University of Phoenix provided the perfect program and it was really challenging to do. Instead of going out, I was studying and working hard. You have to be online every other day and submit substantial posts that are evaluated by the instructor. There are a lot of written assignments. Writing skills are very important, so you also become even more fluent in English. Getting my certificate is just a piece of paper but it’s an important one. It’s good to have it. There aren’t a lot of former athletes who can say they have a degree right after finishing their career.”

Berrer played his last match at the inaugural European Open in Antwerp in late October, nearly two years after initially deciding to announce his retirement. The German had entered the Qatar ExxonMobil Open at the start of the 2015 season, having decided to call it a career by year’s end, but his campaign got off to quite the auspicious start. He would notch the biggest win of his career in the Doha first round, storming back to stun World No. 3 Rafael Nadal 1-6, 6-3, 6-4. His first win over a Top 5 opponent in 14 tries drove Berrer to one of his best seasons on tour and he would delay retirement for one more year.

A run to the third round at the BNP Paribas Open and first ATP World Tour semi-final in more than three years, in Bogota, would ensue, and he began climbing the Emirates ATP Rankings once again. As the calendar flipped to 2016, the 36-year-old would become the oldest Challenger winner this year, when he battled to the title in Leon, Mexico.

“I was still able to do some damage on tour and end it on my terms.”

With his playing career in the books and his studies wrapping up, Berrer has created a strong foundation to tackle his many prospective endeavors. He is already looking forward to a position with the German Tennis Federation in marketing and sponsorship, while also developing a plan with a consultant to go into motivational speaking.

“I’m feeling pretty happy actually. During the year I was nervous about what is coming up after my career and was under some pressure. But I have so many opportunities now and I decided to test a few things to see what will fit my personality the most. I will also get the chance to spend some time with good players in my regional federation to see how coaching works out for me. It’s some amazing things that I’m trying to develop. I’m really feeling good about it.”