Tuesday saw Feliciano Lopez play his first match at his last ever tournament, the Mallorca Championships. Not only did he delay his goodbye to the ATP Tour with a convincing win, he also sealed another record to cap off his long career.

The Spaniard, who beat Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5 in round one, served up 11 aces. According to Infosys ATP Stats, his new haul of 10,244 untouched serves puts him fourth on the all-time list of career aces.

The 41-year-old Toledo native leapfrogged serving great Goran Ivanisevic on the list. The Croatian was one of his childhood heroes.

“It’s a good stat, because Ivanisevic was one of my favourite players,” Feliciano told ATPTour.com. “When I was little, I always dreamed of being able to serve like him one day and now I’ve overtaken him on the list.

“I knew that I was among the top seven or eight, but I didn’t know exactly where. Surpassing Ivanisevic is a great achievement, I can’t say anything else. Thanks for letting me know,” he concluded with a smile.

Career Aces

To find the next Spaniard on the list you have to go down to Nicolas Almagro, who had a total of 5,493, while Fernando Verdasco completes the honourary podium with 5,422.

On Wednesday, Lopez will be back on court in the second round of the Mallorca Championships against Jordan Thompson. Once again, he will be battling to make sure it is not the last match of his career.

Editor’s Note: ATP began keeping ace statistics in 1991. Ivanisevic turned pro in 1988. 

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury survived a first-round scare Tuesday at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne.

The second seeds saved two match points in a Match Tie-break to defeat Robert Galloway and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 6-3, 6-7(6), 13-11. Ram and Salisbury won 86 per cent of points behind their first delivery and will next face Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn in the second round.

Top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek continued their hot streak by ousting Argentines Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Dodig and Krajicek have won 11 consecutive matches with titles at Roland Garros and last week in London. The Croatian-American pair will next meet home favourites Liam Broady and Jonny O’Mara.

Mallorca
Yuki Bhambri and Lloyd Harris cruised past Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-3, 6-2 after winning 23 of 25 first-serve points at the Mallorca Championships. The Indian-South African duo did not face a break point throughout the 52-minute contest to set a second-round clash against fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald saved all five break points faced as they rallied to beat French duo Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8.

The world’s best players, including seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, are practising at Wimbledon ahead of the grass-court major.

Djokovic, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner, Jiri Lehecka, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev were photographed training at SW19 on Tuesday.

Novak Djokovic” />

Djokovic has won the past four editions of The Championships. If the Serbian wins the title, he will have claimed the first three majors of the season for the second time in three years (also 2021).

Jannik Sinner stretches at practice on Tuesday ahead of Wimbledon.” />

Sinner defeated Stan Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz en route to the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year. The Italian won the first two sets before falling to eventual champion Djokovic in five.

Tomas Berdych mentors Jiri Lehecka at training Tuesday at Wimbledon.” />

Former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych was spotted on the practice court with fellow Czech star Jiri Lehecka, who will be competing at the grass-court major for the second time.

Alexander Zverev walks to practice on Tuesday at Wimbledon.” />

Alexander Zverev will try to advance past the fourth round at The Championships for the first time this year.

Andrey Rublev enjoys a break during practice on Tuesday at Wimbledon.” />

Andrey Rublev will carry momentum into Wimbledon after making the final of the Terra Wortmann Open, an ATP 500 event played on grass in Halle.

All photos courtesy of Clive Brunskill/Getty Images

China’s Zhang Zhizhen earned his first tour-level grass-court win on Tuesday at the Rothesay International where he defeated former finalist Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(4), 6-3.

The World No. 54 saved three set points on serve in the first set at 5-6, before earning the decisive break of the second set in the eighth game to advance after one hour and 59 minutes in Eastbourne.

“It was very enjoyable. My first win on grass, so it is amazing,” Zhang said. “Going from clay to grass is not easy, different styles… I am happy to win this match.”

Zhang, who is competing in his third tour-level event on the surface this week, will play Maxime Cressy in the second round after the American defeated Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4, 7-5 to snap an 11-match losing streak.

In other Tuesday action, Mikael Ymer notched his maiden grass-court win against a Top 50 opponent by defeating Botic van de Zandschulp 3-6, 6-4, 6-2. Ymer converted four of his nine break points to oust the ninth seed in two hours, 12 minutes and reach the second round. His next opponent will be Liam Broady, after the World No. 147 prevailed 6-3, 6-4 in an all-British battle against Jan Choinski.

Mackenzie McDonald joined his countryman Cressy in the second round on England’s south coast by easing past Marco Cecchinato 6-3, 6-3 to set a meeting with top seed Taylor Fritz.

The ATP has announced the launch of an official merchandise collection, dedicated to serving the more than 85 million recreational tennis players around the world, created in collaboration with Tennis-Point, the ATP’s Official Racket Sports Products Retailer.

The collection features a classic apparel line and essential equipment including tennis bags, strings and grips. With a focus on providing great quality at fair prices, the collection aims to make tennis more accessible to the millions of global fans who enjoy playing the game at all levels. It marks a significant new milestone in the global partnership between ATP and Tennis-Point, which began in 2021.

The unisex apparel line includes essential polos, tees, hoodies, shorts and headwear. Sporting the ATP Tour’s signature blue and white colourway, discreet detailing and clean lines inspired by classic tennis collections, the items offer a versatile and timeless on-court and clubhouse look.

In parallel, ATP and Tennis-Point have released a line of affordable, high-quality strings, grips and tennis bags. Other performance gear includes towels, wristbands and dampeners – providing players with the complete equipment set to maximise their enjoyment and performance playing the game. This marks the first time ATP has launched a comprehensive collection of apparel and equipment.

“We’re excited to bring the ATP Tour brand even closer to the tennis playing community through our new official merchandise line,” said Daniele Sanò, ATP Chief Business Officer. “We’re thrilled to expand our collaboration with Tennis-Point and offer high-value products that unlock great experiences for our fans.”

“Taking our already successful partnership with the ATP to new heights by making tennis equipment available to players of all levels for an affordable price is something we’re very proud of. The ATP brand is iconic in world sport, and we look forward to using our global presence to connect fans with this great collection,” said Christian Miele, Founder and Managing Director of Tennis-Point.

Browse the ATP Tour collection today in Tennis-Point retail stores, on Global.Tennis-Point.com, or national online shops in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Italy, Spain, UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. The collection will become available on Tennis-Point.com, TennisExpress.com and Tennispro.fr from the end of July.

– All photos courtesy of Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour.

Editor’s note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es

The challenge faced by Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Mallorca Championships is not unfamiliar to him. The Greek landed on the Balearic Island on Sunday aiming to make to it back-to-back titles at the grass-court ATP 250, something he has previously achieved in Marseille (2019-20) and at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (2021-22).

The No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is yet to add to his trophy haul this season, although he has reached two finals. One of them came on Spanish soil, at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (the other was at January’s Australian Open).

Tsitsipas is fifth on the leaderboard of most tour-level wins in 2023 with 32. This week, he will hope for a trophy to reward his consistent winning on the grass of Mallorca. For his trip to the ATP 250, Tsitsipas is joined by his father and long-term coach Apostolos Tsitsipas, his brother Petros Tsitsipas (who is competing in the doubles), and his girlfriend, WTA Tour star Paula Badosa.

Badosa, who is recovering from a stress fracture to a vertebra, is preparing herself for a return to competition. On Monday morning she took part in a practice session under the supervision of Apostolos.

In the afternoon, she shared a practice court with Stefanos before the 24-year-old, who is the top seed in the singles draw, took to court to play his first-round doubles match alongside Feliciano Lopez.

A nine-time ATP Tour champion, Tsitsipas will take on the in-form Yannick Hanfmann in his opening match, after the German defeated Pedro Cachin 6-2, 6-1 on Monday.