Facundo Bagnis has already won three ATP Challenger Tour titles in 2016, but he’s eager to add another to the list this week.

The 26-year-old Argentine is the third seed at this week’s $50,000 event in Cortina, Italy. Setting the tone for what he hopes will be a successful week, Bagnis won 81 per cent of his first serve points to prevail in his opening round against Christian Garin of Chile, 6-1, 7-6(2).

Having started the year at No. 140 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Bagnis’ Challenger success pushed him inside the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings to his current standing of No. 91.

“I think I’m having so much success now because I worked a lot and for a very long time. It’s always about being ready and fit. That’s the only way you can get to a higher level,” said Bagnis. “This is the outcome of working every day, any given week of the year.”

Bagnis opened 2016 by winning three $50,000 ATP Challenger Tour events in the first three months of the year (Buenos Aires and Rio De Janeiro in January, followed by Santiago in March). All eight of his Challenger singles title have come on clay. Growing up playing on the red clay in his hometown of Rosario, he admitted he prefers to play on the surface whenever possible.

“We have so many clay courts in Argentina, so I’m confident playing on it,” he said. “You have to be physically good for clay and right now I’m in great shape. I’m physically well and that’s because of my good nutrition and attention to recovery… I have a great team with me, which helps me so much and makes me a better player.”

But Bagnis doesn’t want to be known as just a clay-courter. He’s working on being more aggressive to end points quickly and making more frequents trips to the net to finish off points. The Argentine has already been showing off these improvements in Cortina, a tournament which he has quickly grown to love.

“This city is beautiful,” he said. “We’ve already had the chance to take walks around and do activities in our spare time. We enjoyed the official players’ dinner up in the mountains as well. That was really cool.”

Reilly Opelka continued to make waves at the BB&T Atlanta Open on Wednesday, knocking out No. 3 seed Kevin Anderson 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-5 in just under three hours to reach the quarter-finals. The 18 year old was a game away from losing at 4-5, Anderson serving in the deciding set, but swept the final three games of the match to score his first win over a Top 30 player.

Opelka fired 11 of his 20 aces in the opening set but lost the tie-break to fall behind. In the second set, the 6’11” American ended a streak of six consecutive tie-breaks played by securing the lone break of serve to even the match. Opelka held nine break points in the third set, converting on two of them to defeat the 30-year-old South African.

Next up for the 2015 Wimbledon junior champion will be either Tim Smyczek or Donald Young. Opelka is currently No. 556 in the Emirates ATP Rankings but is projected to make a big jump in the rankings after reaching his first ATP World Tour quarter-final.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y., August 03, 2016 – The USTA today announced that outgoing ATP Player Council president and former Top 20 doubles player Eric Butorac has been named Director, Professional Tennis Operations and Player Relations, USTA, starting in October 2016. Butorac will have a dual report to USTA Chief Executive, Professional Tennis Stacey Allaster and US Open Tournament Director David Brewer.

In this newly created role, Butorac will be responsible for enhancing player relations year-round across all of the USTA’s professional tennis events, including the US Open, and he will work closely with both professional tours.  Additionally, he will assist USTA Player Development with doubles coaching and mentoring and will work with Player Development and Professional Tennis Operations on enhancing the USTA Pro Circuit, among other duties.

“Eric will bring a unique player perspective to our USTA team,” said Allaster.  “He is a well-respected professional whose leadership on the ATP Player Council will be a tremendous asset for our organization moving forward.”

Butorac, 35, has won 18 ATP doubles titles in his 14-year professional career and reached the doubles final at the 2014 Australian Open. A native of Rochester, Minn., he served eight years on the ATP Player Council and succeeded Roger Federer as its President in 2014.

Butorac was a three-time ITA all-American while playing college tennis for Gustavus Adolphus College in Minnesota and won the NCAA Division III singles and doubles titles in 2003. He also served as a volunteer assistant coach for Harvard’s men’s tennis team from 2010-14.

Butorac will start in this new position on October 1, 2016.  He plans on playing through the summer with his career culminating at the 2016 US Open.

I missed a flight?

I’ve never missed a flight because I usually travel with other people. If I were on my own maybe it’d be a different story.

I lost something important?

I lose my wallet and everything in it every six weeks. I’m still trying to find the answer to why that is.

I paid money to rent a tennis court or buy tennis balls?

It’s been a while since I’ve paid for a court. Growing up in Florida, there are public courts everywhere. Balls I will buy once in a while. Maybe six months ago was the last time I paid for a can of balls.

Being famous helped me?

Not too many people know a guy ranked 800^th in the world, so hopefully we can come back to that questions in a couple of years. People do call me John [Isner] a lot. One fan thought I was him in Boca Raton. She took a photo with me and was so excited that she never let me say anything. She said: “I took a photo with you in Cincinnati six years ago, and I’m curious to see what’s changed.”

I strung a tennis racquet?

I was never able to do it. I tried one time when I was 10 or 11 and it was a mess. I never had the patience for it.

I cooked for myself and others?

One time Tommy Paul and I made chicken alfredo pasta. It was on a holiday and everything was closed. We had some groceries at the house I was renting. We managed to not set the house on fire.

I met a childhood idol?

I met James Blake at the US Open last year. I’ve always looked up to him. In fact I have a poster of him at my house. He was the player I watched the most growing up.

I shared a hotel room with another player?

A couple of weeks ago, I roomed with Tommy Paul at a Futures tournament.

I asked someone famous for an autograph or a selfie?

I approached [recording artist] J. Cole at the Charlotte airport a couple of weeks ago on the way to Winston Salem. I got rejected. He didn’t want to be recognised but we shook hands so it was cool.

To hear John Isner say it, defending an ATP World Tour title only gets easier the more times you do it. The three-time defending BB&T Atlanta Open champion will test that theory again this week when he goes for his fourth consecutive crown at Atlantic Station in Atlanta.

Isner will be trying to join some elite ATP World Tour company. Among active players, only a quartet have won a tournament four straight times.

“I think defending a tournament win the first time is pretty hard. Now I’ve done it three times… in a way it sort of takes the pressure off,” Isner said. “If I can do it this year it’d be pretty special…. I do feel like I’m most likely the guy to beat here.”

Isner, No. 17 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, is the top seed at the ATP World Tour 250 event. The No.1 American opens his defence on Wednesday evening against Frenchman Adrian Mannarino. Isner is 5-1 against the left-hander, including a straight-sets win at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells earlier this season.

“It doesn’t surprise me at all that he’s contending for a fourth straight title here,” said Nick Kyrgios, who’s playing in Atlanta for the first time and is the second seed.

The fast Atlanta hard courts combined with the humid August air have helped Isner’s big game. “The courts and the conditions suit him well,” Kyrgios said. “If he’s having a good serving day, it’s almost impossible to return it.”

The 31-year-old Isner also benefits from an abundance of fan support. He played collegiate tennis only an hour and 20 minutes away from Atlanta at the University of Georgia in Athens. His former Bulldog coaches and hundreds of Georgia fans always come out to encourage him.

“I certainly feel their support when I’m on the court here,” Isner said.

Isner will try to jump-start his 2016 season in the friendly territory. The top American is still looking to win an ATP World Tour title for the seventh consecutive season.

“I haven’t really come through in some close matches whereas in the past I have. It’s nothing to do with my game, it’s just a couple things mental here and there,” he said. 

At Wimbledon, Isner had a match point and led Jo-Wilfried Tsonga two sets to love before falling in the fifth set 19-17.

“The good thing is I feel like I’m playing well. I’m not stressing about it,” Isner said. “I’m just happy to be back in Atlanta.”

If nothing else, Isner will apparently eat well while in the southeastern U.S. In Wednesday’s BB&T Atlanta Open “Daily Draw” program, Wayne Bryan, father of Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan, shared what Isner typically devours at the Waffle House restaurant:

“Two full chicken breasts, triple hash browns, double grits, seven scrambled eggs with cheese, a couple of slices of French toast and a short stack of pancakes – topped off with a quart of orange juice and a pint of milk,” Wayne Bryan wrote. “John Isner… you have to watch him very carefully around food.”

Before this season started, Kevin Anderson had set himself up for his best year yet on the ATP World Tour. In October, The 10-year veteran had reached a career high No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. The achievement came weeks after he had notched two of his three Top 10 wins of 2015 (d. Murray, d. Nishikori).

At 29 years old, the Johannesburg native was proving he belonged among the best on the ATP World Tour. But then there was the left knee injury. And then the right shoulder bothered him. He also underwent ankle surgery.

All in all, Anderson missed 10 weeks, retired from two matches and withdrew from seven tournaments.

But last week in Toronto, the Florida resident started regaining the level that helped him reach the Top 10. This week, he returns to the Atlanta for the sixth time with aspirations to maintain that strong form and achieve a career best result at the BB&T Atlanta Open.

“I feel like the last few weeks I’ve taken some good steps forward,” he said. “It’s just about staying patient. My body is healthy. I’m hitting the ball well. You’ve just got to trust the process.”

The timing of Anderson’s injuries especially frustrated the 6’8” right-hander. After a typical off-season of training in November and December, he usually feels eager to get back to competition on the court. But instead of focusing on returning to matches, Anderson was worried about just feeling healthy.

“It was always trying to get ready for the next week,” he said.

He took a few days off leading into the early events in Auckland and Melbourne to get his body ready, but the time away also affected his mindset. “You lose all your momentum, you don’t have that same confidence,” he said.

After playing two matches in Auckland, Anderson retired from his next two at the Australian Open and at Delray Beach. He sat out 10 weeks to try to feel better. But when he attempted to play at the Mutua Madrid Open, it was like the start of the season all over again.

“I got over there, I wasn’t healthy. I was taking time off. I was having a lot of stuff done just to try and play,” he said. “It just interrupted my rhythm a lot.”

The lack of match time also messed with Anderson’s mental game. He saw peers winning matches and climbing in the Emirates ATP Rankings as he was still on the sidelines.

“You’ve been out. Your ranking has slipped down. You haven’t been able to perform. You start asking questions about yourself,” he said.

On paper, Anderson started his season in Auckland. But, health-wise, the three-time ATP World Tour titlist feels like he started his season in June when the grass-court season began. At the Aegon Championships, Anderson said, he finally felt healthy. The last time he felt that way, he said, was in November 2015.

He won two qualifying matches in London, including a straight-sets victory against Jiri Vesely, who later would reach the Wimbledon fourth round. In Nottingham, Anderson won two consecutive main-draw matches for the first time all season (d. Dodig, d. Verdasco).

Last week in Toronto, he put together his best stretch yet. Anderson prevailed against World No. 35 Viktor Troicki and moved past Dominic Thiem because of a retirement. In the third round of the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament, Anderson beat World No. 22 Bernard Tomic, whom the South African had lost to at the Aegon Championships.

“It was definitely a good week,” he said. “I think there were some things I was doing much better on the match court. I feel like on the practice court I’ve been hitting the ball well. I haven’t been really able to find that form on the match court yet but I turned it around a little bit last week.”

Atlanta could be the place for him to further regain his Top 10 form. He’s played at the event five times and has reached the semi-finals and the final.

“I’m looking to do the sort of things I was doing the in my first few matches [in Toronto],” he said. “I feel like if I’m going to do that I’m going to give myself a very good shot of going far this week.”