As he began his title defence at the 2023 US Open, Carlos Alcaraz said he felt like a better player than when he won his first major title in New York. While the Spaniard could not repeat his trophy feat at the hard-court Slam, his statistics this season trump his 2022 campaign almost across the board.

There is one key measure by which Alcaraz is off his previous pace: the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Alcaraz debuted at World No. 1 following his US Open triumph last year and held onto that position to finish the year as the ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone. This September, he sits at No. 2.

But a closer look reveals that the 20-year-old has improved even by the measure of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

After finishing the 2022 season with 6,820 points, Alcaraz already has 8,175 points in this year’s Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. He’s just 770 points behind Novak Djokovic in the Live Race, with two ATP Masters 1000s (Shanghai, Paris) and the Nitto ATP Finals still to come, among other events.

Following his US Open semi-final defeat to Daniil Medvedev, Alcaraz revisited his claim that he is a better player this season.

“These kind of matches can happen even if I feel myself [a] different player, more mature,” he said, before going on to provide a harsh self-assessment.

“I thought that right now I am better player, to find solutions when the match is not going in the right direction for you. But after this match, I’m going to change my mind. I’m not mature enough to handle these kind of matches. So I have to learn about it.”

Alcaraz was understandably disappointed after bowing out in New York, but a broader perspective shows his strides in the past 12 months.

In 2022, Alcaraz finished the season with a 57-13 record, an 81 per cent win rate. This year, he stands at 58-7, good for an 89 per cent winning rate. Despite not making his season debut until mid-February after missing the start to the season with an injury, Alcaraz has already surpassed his win total from a year ago. His 58 victories lead the ATP Tour according to Infosys ATP Stats, with Medvedev (55) the only other player above the 50-wins mark.

Of his seven defeats this season, only one has come in straight sets — a stunner against Fabian Marozsan in Rome. Outside of that second-round defeat and a quarter-final exit in Toronto, Alcaraz has reached at least the semis at each of his 11 other tour-level events in 2023.

Alcaraz will hope to continue his consistent season in Beijing, where he is set to make his debut at the ATP 500. All of the remaining ATP Tour events in 2023 will be played on hard courts, and the Spaniard’s statistics on that surface are also among the best.

With a 21-4 record, his 84 per cent hard-court win rate this season is third best on the Tour, behind only Djokovic (97%) and Medvedev (86%). His 21 wins are among the Top 10, a tally limited by his absence during the Australian Swing to begin the year.

With Djokovic not competing in Beijing or the ATP Masters 1000 in Shanghai, Alcaraz has a golden opportunity to close the 770-point gap between the pair in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. By the end of the Asian Swing, Alcaraz could have his fate in his hands in his bid to repeat as ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone.

Liam Broady reached the Wimbledon boys’ singles final aged 17 and after turning 18, became the No. 2 junior in the world. After more than a decade, the Briton has made his biggest breakthrough on the ATP Tour.

On Tuesday, 29-year-old Broady cracked the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time by climbing to a career-high World No. 93. The lefty credits his surge over the past few years to a change in mentality, how he treats his career and his attitude on the court. Why did he make that shift?

“Partly the feeling like I’m a bit of a disappointment to what my junior career was, and feeling like I was wasting my talent. I also didn’t really want to live with that feeling anymore of being rubbish or being trash at tennis and knowing I could do something about it,” Broady told ATPTour.com in July. “Whereas nowadays, I go to bed at night and I feel like, ‘Yeah, I’m doing everything I can to be better at the sport.’ I’m doing everything I can to try and achieve what I can and if I don’t, at least I can say I’ve done that.

“I’m a big believer in karma and stuff. I think if you do the right things, good things happen, whether that’s during your career or after it.”

Broady was immortalised on Netflix earlier this year when his match against Nick Kyrgios was covered on Break Point. But the Briton has proven he is far more than a complimentary character in a docuseries. He is himself one of the best players in the world, and credits his progression to his maturity.

“I think for years I struggled a lot with finding the right mentality and I think that’s part of growing up. I think the quicker you can grow up, the better player you’ll be,” Broady said. “A prime example: Rafa Nadal, Carlos Alcaraz, Novak Djokovic, Roger Federer. I mean, Roger actually probably peaked a little bit older than some of the other guys. I think his first Slam, he was 21 or 22.

“I just think it’s a matter of when you reach that maturity and obviously for me, it’s come 10 years later than some of those guys.”

The lefty believes the moment the switch flipped for him was around age 26, especially at the start of the 2020 season.

“I kind of decided, ‘Okay, let’s focus on the tennis now. It’s your profession, you only have one career, and let’s see how well we can do’. It’s kind of grown from there,” Broady said. “I wish I’d have made that decision when I was 18 years old and had another seven or eight years of learning the way that I’ve learned over the last three or four years. But that’s not the way it works sometimes. The last three years, really, I’m very proud of what I’ve managed to do.”

Broady vividly remembers winning just three games in the first round of qualifying at the 2020 Australian Open against Ilya Ivashka. He had enjoyed a “really good” pre-season and his first match of the year was over in just 73 minutes

“My first reaction was to go and get really drunk and go and have a good time in Melbourne and I just kind of thought, ‘I’ve been doing that now for three or four years, that’s not making things better, it makes it worse,’” Broady said. “I had a phone call with my coach straightaway and I said ‘Look, I don’t want to talk about the match, I don’t want to talk about how I played. I want to just say, let’s make a promise now that I’ll commit everything to my tennis for the next 12 months and we’ll see where we’re at. Then if it doesn’t go well, then maybe I’ll leave the sport. If it does go well, then let’s talk again.’”

^{Liam Broady and sister Naomi Broady, who reached World No. 56. Photo: Mike Lawrence/ATP Tour}
The Briton made an ATP Challenger Tour final and semi-final that year and also qualified for Roland Garros. Each season since he has consistently put himself in position to play on the world’s biggest stages. Last year he made the third round at Wimbledon with a win over Diego Schwartzman. This year at SW19, Broady upset Casper Ruud to make the third round.

“These matches are magical moments, and you never know, at the end of the day, you might never get a chance to play them again,” Broady said. “So that’s a huge motivation of mine, to get more and more of those moments, and players who are in the Top 50, Top 20, they’re playing those matches all the time. That’s where I want to be.”

British lefties have enjoyed success in recent years. Jack Draper, another former Wimbledon boys’ singles finalist, has taken the ATP Tour by storm. Henry Searle won the junior title at The All England Club this July.

“It felt really quick when Jack Draper made the final, and now even more so I’m being consigned to the annals of history now,” Broady said. “There are two guys that have done it since me and in a few years I’m sure there’ll be three guys. Before you know it, no one will remember that I did it. That’s sport, it moves on quick. Tennis waits for no one. If you stand still, then you fall behind. It’s as simple as that.”

But Broady is not falling behind. Aged 29, he is playing as well as ever. The evidence is in his Pepperstone ATP Ranking. He has also earned the respect of his peers, including British No. 1 Cameron Norrie.

“I know for him that’s been a huge goal to crack the Top 100, so I’m very impressed and I knew he had it in him,” Norrie said. “It just kind of shows what kind of person he is, the perseverance, and it is well deserved. He works harder than anyone, so I’m glad he’s made that jump and I think he can keep going. I don’t see why not.”

Eight of the Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings are set to compete at the China Open in Beijing, including debutants Carlos Alcaraz and Daniil Medvedev. In addition to the star-studded ATP 500, this week will also see ATP 250 action at the Astana Open, where home favourite Alexander Bublik joins Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem in the field.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at 10 things to watch this week.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN BEIJING
1) Alcaraz Returns To Action: Alcaraz is set for his first tournament since his semi-final defeat to Medvedev at the US Open. The Spaniard enters Beijing just 770 points behind Novak Djokovic in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, which also serves as a barometre for the battle for ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by Pepperstone. With strong results in Beijing and the following week at the Rolex Shanghai Masters, Alcaraz could leave Asia in fist place in the Live Race. He will face a qualifier in the first round in Beijing.

2) Medvedev Seeks To Extend Hard-Court Dominance: Medvedev has earned 38 hard-court wins this season, with the World No. 3 claiming four titles in 2023 on his favourite surface. Prior to his run to the US Open final, the 27-year-old’s hard-court form peaked earlier this season when he reached five straight ATP Tour finals, winning four titles, capped with a trophy at the Miami ATP Masters 1000 in early April. The Beijing second seed will need to be ready from the first point as he opens against World No. 13 Tommy Paul.

3) Rune, Sinner Seek Consistency: The 20-year-old Holger Rune and the 22-year-old Jannik Sinner are both in the top eight of both the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and the Pepperstone ATP Live Rice To Turin — but their positions are flipped across the two. World No. 4 Rune is clinging onto the all-important eighth spot in the Live Race, while World No. 7 Sinner is in fourth place in the Live Race, with a 1,310-point cushion over the Dane. They are seeded to meet in the quarter-finals in Beijing. Rune will open against Felix Auger-Aliassime and Sinner faces Daniel Evans.

4) Laver Cup Stars Make Trip To Asia: A host of Laver Cup competitors will make the journey from Vancouver to Beijing this week, including Casper Ruud, Andrey Rublev and Alejandro Davidovich Fokina from Team Europe and Auger-Aliassime and Paul from champions Team World. Stefanos Tsitsipas, who withdrew from Laver Cup with injury, is also in the ATP 500 field.

5) Zverev, Murray Among Other Big Names: The Beijing field has star power from top to bottom. World No. 12 Alexander Zverev will make the trip after a run to the Chengdu title, while Andy Murray travels from Zhuhai, where he was beaten by Aslan Karatsev in three sets in the second round. Murray opens against Alex de Minaur and could play Medvedev in the second round.

FIVE THINGS TO WATCH IN ASTANA
1) Griekspoor Seeks Third Title: After winning the first two titles of his career this season in Pune and ‘s-Hertogenbosch, Tallon Griekspoor hopes to continue his breakout season in Astana. He enters the event as the top seed, at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking of No. 24.

2) Home Favourite Bublik: Kazakhstan’s Bublik has not won a singles match since his run to the Wimbledon fourth round (0-4). The 26-year-old will bid to get back on track with the support of the Kazakhstani fans in his home nation’s capital. The third seed will open against Marton Fucsovics or Sebastian Ofner

3) Wawrinka, Thiem Add More Star Power: Both Stan Wawrinka and Dominic Thiem are competing in their first ATP Tour event since the US Open. Wawrinka reached the third round in New York (l. to Sinner) and then split a pair of Davis Cup matches, while Thiem was forced to retire in the US Open second round with an abdominal issue. The Swiss and Austrian could meet in the second round at the ATP 250 in a battle of former major champions.

4) Lehecka, Korda Lead Youth Movement: The 21-year-old Jiri Lehecka and the 23-year-old Sebastian Korda are both former Next Gen ATP Finals runners-up — Lehecka this past season (l. to Nakashima) and Korda in 2021 (l. to Alcaraz). Both will be among the seeds in Astana, with Korda entering after a semi-final run in Zhuhai.

5) Murray/Venus Lead Doubles Field: Jamie Murray and Michael Venus are the top seeds in the doubles draw, fresh off winning their fourth title of the season together in Zhuhai. The doubles field also includes Americans Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow and the British-Finnish pairing of Lloyd Glasspool and Harri Heliovaara.

Alexander Zverev completed a hard-earned title run on Tuesday evening in China as he claimed a 6-7(2), 7-6(5), 6-3 championship match win against Roman Safiullin at the Chengdu Open.

Zverev sealed his third three-set win in four matches at the ATP 250 by holding firm in the face of a clean-hitting display from Safiullin, who was competing in his maiden tour-level final. Zverev was two points from defeat at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break but he raised his level to seal a two-hour, 56-minute triumph and claim his 21st tour-level crown.

“He’s playing the best tennis of his life for sure,” said Zverev of Safiullin. “The way he was winning this week, I think he beat a lot of great players quite easily, so I knew that he was playing well. Obviously, I’m happy to be able to come back and to win this title.”

The little jump of happiness 😂

Your 2023 #ChengduOpen Singles Champion: @AlexZverev 🏆@ChengduOpen pic.twitter.com/Cr3AWUysG4

— ATP Tour (@atptour) September 26, 2023

Safiullin had lit up Chengdu with a series of clean-hitting displays en route to the final and he did not let up for the championship match, striking 33 winners to his opponent’s 25. He saved three set points from 4-5, 0/40 to win the opening set, but the World No. 10 Zverev dialled in behind his big first serve and finished the stronger as he improved to 14-6 in tour-level finals on hard courts.

Zverev, who also triumphed in Hamburg and reached the semi-finals at Roland Garros earlier this year, is now 46-21 for the year after missing the second half of the 2022 season with a serious ankle injury. His victory on debut in Chengdu also boosted his standing in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin. Zverev is now in seventh place as he looks to return to for a sixth appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, where he is a two-time champion.

The International Tennis Hall of Fame’s annual Fan Voting is back again for 2023, with six accomplished ATP and WTA players among this year’s candidates for the Class of 2024. From 27 September through 9 October 2023, tennis fans around the world can cast their ballots to help these players achieve induction into the Hall of Fame.

The six nominees in the Player Category for the Class of 2024 are:

• Carlos Moyá of Spain, winner of 1998 Roland Garros and former World No. 1
• Daniel Nestor of Canada, a former doubles World No. 1 and winner of 12 major titles in doubles and mixed doubles
• Leander Paes of India, winner of 18 Grand Slam titles in doubles and mixed doubles and a former doubles World No. 1. He makes history as the first Asian man nominated for the Hall of Fame in the Player Category.
• Cara Black of Zimbabwe, former doubles World No. 1 and a 10-time Grand Slam champion in doubles and mixed doubles
• Ana Ivanović of Serbia, former World No. 1 and 2008 Roland Garros champion
• Flavia Pennetta of Italy, former doubles World No. 1 and 2015 US Open singles champion

Paes is a new addition to the ballot, while the other five players return in the Player Category.

Fans can learn more and weigh in with their ballots at vote.tennisfame.com during the voting period. While fans can only vote once, they may vote for as many candidates as they would like.

How The Vote Works:
The Official Voting Group, comprised of tennis journalists, historians, and Hall of Famers, will submit their vote.

The top three vote-getters in the Fan Vote will receive bonus percentage points on their result from the Official Voting Group. The candidate with the highest result in the Fan Vote will receive three additional percentage points, while second and third place will receive two and one additional percentage points, respectively.

To be elected, a candidate must receive an affirmative vote in 75 per cent or higher of ballots submitted from the Official Voting Group or a combined total of 75 per cent or higher from their Official Voting Group result and Fan Vote bonus percentage points.

The 2024 ballot will also include two nominees in the Contributor Category: former player and longtime broadcaster Vijay Amritraj and renowned journalist Richard Evans. (There is no fan voting for the Contributor Category.)

For additional information on the Class of 2023 Fan Vote and the ITHF’s induction process, visit tennisfame.com.

Karen Khachanov returned to the winners’ circle for the first time since 2018 on Tuesday when he captured the title at the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships.

The top seed overcame Japanese star Yoshihito Nishioka 7-6(2), 6-1 in the final at the Chinese ATP 250 hard-court event to clinch his fifth tour-level title and first since Paris nearly five years ago.

Khachanov played ‘big-man’ tennis throughout the one-hour, 43-minute clash. After recovering from squandering a break advantage in the first set to edge a tight opener, the 27-year-old opened his shoulders in the second set, unleashing on the forehand to overpower Nishioka.

Khachanov struck 34 winners, including nine aces, to improve to 4-1 in his Lexus ATP Head2Head series against the eighth seed. Khachanov was competing in just his second tour-level singles event since his Roland Garros quarter-final in May, when he suffered a stress fracture in his back. His victory in Zhuhai seals a stunning comeback week.

The top seed lost in the first round at the US Open on his return in August, but looked close to his best in Zhuhai, dropping just one set en route to the title. Khachanov, who also triumphed on Chinese soil in Chengdu in 2016, is up to No. 14 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings.

Nishioka was competing in his fifth tour-level final and chasing his third title. His last tour-level crown came in Seoul in 2022.

Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul clinched their first ATP Tour title in thrilling fashion Tuesday, when they defeated Francisco Cabral and Rafael Matos 4-6, 7-5, 10-7 at the Chengdu Open.

French duo Doumbia and Reboul reeled off five consecutive points from 5/7 in the Match Tie-break to secure victory in one-hour, 52-minutes in China’s Sichuan province. The top seeds saved five of the six break points they faced to add a tour-level crown to the 15 ATP Challenger Tour titles they have won together since 2019.

The 33-year-old Doumbia and 28-year-old Reboul reached three tour-level semi-finals in 2022 and came close to becoming champions at that level for the first time in February, when they reached the championship match in Cordoba. After finally tasting title success by dropping just two sets all week in Chengdu, the French pair improved to 23-17 for the 2023 season.

Currently 17th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Doumbia and Reboul will next head to Kazakhstan to compete at the Astana Open. They will hope another deep run at an ATP 250 can maintain their momentum as they eye a late qualification charge for the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Jamie Murray and Michael Venus continued their impressive season on Tuesday when they captured their fourth tour-level title together at the Huafa Properties Zhuhai Championships.

The second seeds overcame third seeds Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow 6-4, 6-4 in one hour and 22 minutes to triumph at the Chinese ATP 250 hard-court event.

Murray and Venus, who dropped just one set en route to the title, saved all 13 break points they faced in the final, holding their nerve in the key stages to improve to 38-19 as a team in 2023.

The British-Kiwi pair is up three spots to ninth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings on 3,325 points. They are just 15 points behind eighth-placed Lammons and Withrow. Murray and Venus will aim to further boost their Nitto ATP Finals qualification chances when they compete in Astana this week.

“We know we need big results until the end of the year,” Murray said. “We know we need to win a lot of matches by the end of the year and this helps for sure. We’ve got plenty more big events to play until the end of the year that we will try to do well in to give yourselves the best chance of getting to Turin.”

Murray and Venus have improved to 3-2 in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series against Lammons and Withrow, while they have now won four trophies together this year, also triumphing in Dallas, Banja Luka and Geneva.

Americans Lammons and Withrow were chasing their fourth title of the season. They are 43-22 in 2023.

The China Open draw has thrown up a host of intriguing first-round matches. Third seed Holger Rune meets Felix Auger-Aliassime, former champion Andy Murray will renew his Lexus ATP Head2Head rivalry with Alex de Minaur and second seed Daniil Medvedev meets Turin hopeful Tommy Paul. Medvedev could play Murray in the second round.

The ATP 500 hard-court event, which is taking place for the first time since 2019, features eight of the Top 10 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. World No. 2 and top seed Carlos Alcaraz faces a qualifier on debut and could play Karen Khachanov or Lorenzo Musetti in the second round.

The Spaniard, who has won six tour-level trophies this year, is seeded to meet Casper Ruud in the quarter-finals. The seventh seed opens against Jan-Lennard Struff, who returned from injury last week in Zhuhai.

Rune is also in the top half and could play 22-year-old Italian Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals. Denmark’s Rune is eighth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin and will hope for a deep run to boost his chances of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals. Sixth seed Sinner meets Washington champion Daniel Evans in the first round.

Alexander Zverev, seventh in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Turin, is seeded to take on Stefanos Tsitsipas in the quarter-finals. Zverev opens against Diego Schwartzman, while Tsitsipas plays Nicolas Jarry. Fifth seed Andrey Rublev is in the bottom half and opens against Briton Cameron Norrie.

#NextGenATP Chinese star Shang Juncheng carries home hopes in Beijing. The 18-year-old begins against Yoshihito Nishioka.