Tennis News

Basavareddy’s Challenger title has teen surging towards Jeddah

Some thousand-odd kilometres away from tennis hotbeds such as California and Florida, where country clubs and academies come by the dozen, lies Carmel, Indiana; population roughly 100,000.

A northern suburb of the state’s capital city Indianapolis, Carmel is nestled amongst corn and soybean fields that dominate much of that region’s landscape. It might not seem like a natural cradle for tennis stars. But Carmel has charted an unlikely path as a small tennis spotlight.

Carmel is the hometown of not only Rajeev Ram, former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Doubles Rankings, but also Nishesh Basavareddy, the fast-rising 19-year-old who recently won his first ATP Challenger Tour title.

Basavareddy’s family moved from southern California to central Indiana when Nishesh was eight. His father, Muralikrishna, was relocated for his job with Toyota Industrial Equipment, which is headquartered in Columbus, Indiana.

“I think it is obviously a much different setting in Carmel, Indiana than L.A. It was a huge move for us, but I really liked it from the start,” Basavareddy told ATPTour.com. “The people here were really welcoming and we found a great coach in Bryan Smith, who I have worked with since I was eight years old.”

<img alt=”Nishesh Basavareddy and Rajeev Ram.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/10/15/15/25/basavareddy-ram-photo.jpg” />
^{Credit: Bryan Smith}

The #NextGenATP standout Basavareddy and Ram first crossed paths at a tennis camp ran by their mutual coach Bryan Smith. The 31-time tour-level doubles titlist Ram and an eight-year-old Basavareddy traded baseline rallies, which started their bond.

“My coach was like, ‘I think I have a pretty special one here. He’s only eight, but it’s incredible what he can do,’” Ram recalled.

Ram, a 2002 graduate of Carmel High School, has been an instrumental voice for Basavareddy, who earned his diploma exactly two decades later. Basavareddy and Ram’s connection grew in 2020, when they often trained together during the Covid shutdown.

“I’ve practised with [Nishesh] probably as much as I’ve practised with anybody in my life back home,” Ram said. “He’s been a good enough player since he was about 13 or 14 for me to hit with.”

In 2022, Carmel’s neighboring city Zionsville hosted the Rajeev Ram Foundation Indy Challenger, which featured one of the most dramatic championship matches in recent memory at that level — China’s Wu Yibing fought off six championship points to claim the title. That week was also a memorable moment for Basavareddy.

The Rajeev Ram Foundation presented Basavareddy with the Raghav Ram Rising Star Award, which comes with a $5,000 grant to support a high-performance player in the USTA Midwest section. The award, named in honour of Rajeev’s late father Raghav, is a part of the non-profit organisation’s mission of fostering the positive impact of tennis on youth in Indiana through grants, scholarships and events.

“Any time you can get that kind of support, financially, knowing that people are backing you is huge,” Basavareddy said. “[Rajeev] has been super important for my growth because he played junior tennis, college tennis and made that leap to pro tennis after leaving the University of Illinois. I think having all of his advice, what to expect on the pro tour, and the tennis advice has been huge for me.”

<img alt=”Nishesh Basavareddy and Rajeev Ram.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2024/10/14/23/57/basavareddy-ram-grant.jpg” />
^{Credit: Rajeev Ram Foundation}

Throughout the 11 years that Ram has known Basavareddy, one trait stands out about the teenager and it seamlessly translates into his game.

“He is a very calculated, diligent individual. I think one of the best things about him is that he doesn’t take decisions lightly. He gathers as much information as he can and tries to make as educated of a decision as he can possibly make,” Ram said.

“And honestly he plays tennis a bit like that too. He’s just got such a great mind for the game that he’s able to dissect opponents and matches better than most. I think along with being a very polite and nice individual, I think just his ability to process information is for me what sticks out and he’s had that since I can remember.”

At a career-high World No. 195 in the PIF ATP Rankings, Basavareddy’s hard work has paid off. Earlier this month, he lifted his first ATP Challenger Tour trophy in Tiburon, California, just 80 kilometres north of Stanford University, where Basavareddy is a junior and has received ITA All-American honours the past two seasons.

Shortly after Basavareddy won the Tiburon title, his phone lit up with a message from former NFL star Andrew Luck, a Stanford alum who was the first pick in the 2012 NFL Draft and went on to be a four-time Pro Bowl selection.

“I know him relatively well. I had lunch with him twice last year, so that was pretty cool,” Basavareddy said. “He’s a super humble, down to earth guy. At one point in his career, when he was playing for the [Indianapolis] Colts, he lived five minutes from where I live. I think that’s a pretty cool thing that we share.”

On Sunday, Nishesh Basavareddy became the second American teen to triumph on the Challenger Tour this season 👏🇺🇸

Relive his maiden moment ⬇️#ATPChallenger

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) October 7, 2024

Thanks to his collegiate success, Basavareddy has twice qualified for the ATP ITA College Accelerator Programme. Last year, he was the only player to qualify for both the ITF Junior Accelerator and ITA College Accelerator Programme.

Basavareddy used four main draw accelerator spots at Challenger 75 events in 2023, including when he made his first final at that level in Fairfield, California, where Ram was in attendance, supporting his mentee.

“I think it definitely helped me a lot,” Basavareddy said of the Accelerator Programme. “It allowed me to sort of skip a step in a sense and also just get some matches against really high level players when I wasn’t ranked that high.”

With less than two months remaining in the ATP Challenger Tour season, Basavareddy is aiming to make a late push and qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, which showcases the eight best 20-and-under players.

Basavareddy, a sparring partner at last year’s Nitto ATP Finals, is eleventh in the PIF ATP Live Race To Jeddah. There are two other Americans ahead of him: Alex Michelsen (second) and Learner Tien (sixth), who both train in Newport Beach, Basavareddy’s birthplace.

“That’s a huge goal of mine and hopefully I can do well at the end of this year and give myself a chance to play at it,” Basavareddy said about his ambitions to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF.

“It seems like a really cool showcase for the younger guys who maybe don’t get as much exposure if they aren’t playing on the main tour yet. I think it’s a really cool initiative and obviously [Carlos] Alcaraz has won the event. A lot of Top 10 guys have played it. I think it would definitely be cool to be a part of that.”

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Fearnley's 13-match winning streak ends in Stockholm

Britain’s Jacob Fearnley sees his 13-match winning streak come to an end with a defeat by Dutch opponent Tallon Griekspoor in Stockholm.

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Cerundolo ends 17-year-old Engel's Almaty run

#NextGenATP 17-year-old Justin Engel made history on Monday at the Almaty Open where he became the first player born in 2007 or later to win an ATP Tour match. But his run at the ATP 250 grinded to a halt on Wednesday when fourth seed Francisco Cerundolo moved past the German wild card 6-4, 7-6(3).

Engel, who defeated Coleman Wong on his tour-level debut, put up a fight against Cerundolo in an absorbing 90-minute clash. He battled back from a break down in the second set to eventually force a tie-break and showed flashes of brilliance, striking 15 winners.

However, Cerundolo was the more consistent, committing nine fewer unforced errors (24-35) in the pair’s first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting to seal his spot in the quarter-finals.

“It is always difficult to play a new guy,” Cerundolo said. “I don’t know how he plays and he is a young guy who has nothing to lose, so he plays freely. I think it was a controlled match from my side on my service games until 5-4 when I served and missed a few easy forehands.

“After that it was difficult to close the match because he started playing really well but luckily I finished it in the tie-break.”

The fourth seed has now recorded 30 tour-level wins in a season for the second time in his career, having earned 39 in 2023. Into his first hard-court quarter-final of the year, the Argentine will next meet qualifier Aslan Karatsev or Alexander Shevchenko.

Engel grew up idolising Rafael Nadal and balanced tennis with kickboxing until he was 12. The German, who lived in Moldova for three years with his grandparents, won his maiden ITF World Tennis Tour event in May in Villach, Austria.

The No. 458 player in the PIF ATP Rankings has won three further ITF titles since, and earlier this month notched his maiden ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victories to reach the quarter-finals at an event in Villena, Spain.

In first-round action, Australian Aleksandar Vukic defeated countryman James Duckworth 6-4, 7-5. Vukic will face eighth seed Adrian Mannarino in the second round.

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Stockholm Survival: Jarry saves MP in dramatic finish

Fifth seed Nicolas Jarry saved a match point Tuesday at the BNP Paribas Nordic Open, where the Chilean edged home hope Elias Ymer 2-6, 6-4, 7-6(7).

In a dramatic finish, Jarry was leading 8/7 in the deciding-set tie-break when he surged forward and hit a backhand volley winner before balancing on his toes to avoid touching the net. The chair umpire confirmed that the ball had bounced twice before Jarry reached over.

The 29-year-old Jarry, who saved a match point at 6/7 in the deciding-set tie-break, tallied three consecutive points to advance after two hours, 26 minutes.

“The end was very difficult for both. We were playing great points,” said Jarry, who improved to 2-0 against Ymer in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. “We were both very mentally strong, not giving any chances. I’m happy that in the end, I was able to be a little bit more aggressive. I served very well in the tie-break and didn’t give him many opportunities.”

Making his tournament debut, Jarry trailed by a set and a break, but quickly rebounded and held his nerve in a six-deuce game at 3-3 in the second set. The World No. 34 in the PIF ATP Rankings confidently struck his hefty forehand in pressure moments and drew errors from Ymer’s backhand.

Up next for Jarry is Miomir Kecmanovic, who spoiled Cameron Norrie’s return from injury with a 6-4, 6-4 victory. The Serbian won 62 per cent of his second-serve return points, compared to Norrie’s 31 per cent, according to Infosys ATP Stats. Norrie was competing in his first ATP Tour match since suffering a forearm injury in July.

British qualifier Jacob Fearnley earned his first tour-level win on hard court by defeating Corentin Moutet 6-2, 7-6(5). Fearnley, 23, has been one of the most dominant players on the ATP Challenger Tour this season, claiming four titles at that level and making his Top 100 debut last month. The former Texas Christian University standout is on a 13-match winning streak across all levels.

Laslo Djere cruised past Pedro Martinez 6-2, 6-0 to set a second-round meeting with fourth seed and 2021 champion Tommy Paul.

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Muster memorabilia, charity auction, on display at Erste Bank Open in Vienna

Thomas Muster’s iconic 1995 Roland Garros trophy is set to be auctioned off for charity as part of the ‘Champions of Vienna’ campaign. It marks a significant highlight of the ‘Official Tennis Experience’ at the Wiener Stadthalle, the home of the Erste Bank Open (21-27 October).

The ATP 500 tournament is celebrating its 50th anniversary, coinciding with the auction, running from October 9 to November 3, 2024. All proceeds will go towards the Ö3 ‘Christmas Miracle’ charity, which supports the LICHT INS DUNKEL emergency aid fund for families in need.

“When I held the trophies in my hand again, many things came back to me. Now my trophies are going to someone who may have been watching at the time, and you can do something good at the same time,” Muster said. “It’s not so easy to give it all away, because there are a lot of emotions and memories behind the trophies.”

The ‘Official Tennis Experience’ exhibition offers an exciting journey through the last five decades of tennis in Vienna, showcasing exclusive memorabilia from key players linked to the tournament’s history. In addition to Muster’s trophies, the exhibition features items from stars like Roger Federer, Novak Djokovic and Jannik Sinner.

Guests at the pre-opening on October 8 included former stars Jurgen Melzer, Stefan Koubek, and Alexander Peya, with large crowds gathering not just to see the trophies, but the whole experience.

“There are lots of other things,” Muster added. “Everything has been beautifully prepared. It was certainly a lot of work to put it all together and get it ready.”

The exhibition aims to highlight the rich history of tennis in Vienna but also incorporates modern elements like VR experiences to showcase the future of the sport. Tickets for the ‘Official Tennis Experience’ are available at www.championsofvienna.com, while bidding for Muster’s trophies is live on www.aurena.at until November 3.

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'About to lose', Mannarino rallies to Almaty win; Evans sets Tiafoe meeting

Eighth seed Adrian Mannarino dug deep Tuesday to keep his title defence hopes alive at the Almaty Open.

Roman Safiullin served for a straight-sets win at 7-5, 5-3, but the Frenchman Mannarino relied on his brickwall consistency to mount a comeback. After two hours and 45 minutes, the 36-year-old secured his place in the second round with a 5-7, 7-6(4), 6-3 victory. In the second-set tie-break, Mannarino won all five of his return points.

Mannarino earned a record-extending 11th match win at the Kazakhstani ATP 250, which was previously held in Astana.

“Today was a tough match. I was down, I was about to lose the match actually,” said Mannarino, World No. 56 in the PIF ATP Rankings. “I don’t know — a little bit of luck maybe and I came back. That was really close.”

With his opening-round win, the five-time tour-level titlist improved to 3-0 against Safiullin in their Lexus ATP Head2Head series. Mannarino, who earned his 300th career match win last month in Beijing, will next meet an Australian: James Duckworth or Aleksandar Vukic.

Other Tour-veterans who advanced Tuesday include Daniel Evans and Aslan Karatsev. Evans, 34, downed Japan’s Taro Daniel 6-2, 7-6(4) after fending off four of the five break points he faced, according to Infosys ATP Stats. The British qualifier will next clash against top seed Frances Tiafoe. Karatsev ousted China’s Zhang Zhizhen 6-4, 7-6(2).

Home favourites Alexander Shevchenko and Beibit Zhukayev advanced. The 23-year-old Shevchenko overcame countryman Mikhail Kukushkin 7-6(5), 7-6(4) while Zhukayev downed Benjamin Hassan 6-4, 6-1.

Otto Virtanen was a 6-3, 7-6(4) winner against Fabio Fognini and Gabriel Diallo powered past Christopher O’Connell 7-6(5), 6-2.

Tiebreak Triumph 😤

Shevchenko closes the day with a 7-6(5) 7-6(4) win over Kukushkin!@ktf_kz | #AlmatyOpen pic.twitter.com/9yNIxTQpFp

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 15, 2024

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#NextGenATP Engel on being inspired by Nadal & the moment he chose tennis

Rafael Nadal’s storied playing career may be drawing to a close, but the Spaniard’s legacy will likely continue to inspire future generations of ATP Tour stars. Just ask Justin Engel.

On Monday, Engel defeated Coleman Wong at the Almaty Open to become the first player born in 2007 or later to win an ATP Tour match. The #NextGenATP German, who was making his tour-level debut as a wild card, saved nine of 10 break points he faced against Wong. It was a display of resilience under pressure that his tennis hero would have been proud of.

“Rafa was always my idol,” Engel told ATPTour.com ahead of his second-round meeting with Francisco Cerundolo at the Kazakhstani ATP 250. “I loved watching him play and also wanted to be like him on the court, mentally always pushing and fighting and everything. He was my favourite player since I was a kid.

“On court, mentally and everything, I would say I’m not [exactly] like Nadal, because we are all different, but I’m always fighting and pushing. I was always a fighter on the court.”

Making history 🙌

17-year-old Justin Engel becomes the first player born in 2007 or later to record an ATP Tour win!

Read all about it 👇

— ATP Tour (@atptour) October 14, 2024

Monday’s win against Wong was a reward for the hard work that Engel and his father (and coach) Horst have put in since he was three years old. The German also did kickboxing to a high level between the ages of eight and 12, but says that some early successes with a racquet in his hand convinced him that tennis was his future.

“I started playing when I was three years old in Nuremberg with my dad,” recalled Engel. “But I was inspired to play tennis [seriously] because I won tournaments and that gave me a good feeling. I won the national Under-11 tournament, which was special for me, because it was only the third tournament I had ever played in my life.”

Away from tennis, Engel is a big fan of football star Cristiano Ronaldo and basketball icon LeBron James, and he enjoys watching TV series The Walking Dead and listening to The Weeknd. He is also multilingual: in addition to German, he speaks English and Romanian and can also understand Russian.

“I lived for three years in Moldova with my grandma and grandpa, so I speak Romanian,” Engel explained. “I also understand everything in Russian, but I can’t speak it anymore. I forgot it.

“I was almost more in Moldova than Germany at one point, from when I was two to five years old. When I turned five, I came back to Germany and went to school. I had a pretty hard time at first at school in Germany, because I could not speak that good German.”

Engel, who lives and trains in the city of his birth, Nuremburg, may only have turned 17 two weeks ago, but he already has a good idea of the highs and lows of competitive tennis. After struggling for positive results in 2023 and early 2024, he won his maiden ITF World Tennis Tour event in May in Villach, Austria. He has won three further ITF titles since, and earlier this month notched his maiden ATP Challenger Tour main-draw victories to reach the quarter-finals at an event in Villena, Spain.

Engel’s surge has been reflected in his dramatic rise in the PIF ATP Rankings. Outside the Top 1200 as recently as May, the 17-year-old rose 63 spots to No. 395 in the PIF ATP Live Rankings after defeating Wong in Almaty.

“Last year and at the start of this year, I had a lot of bad luck with matches. I always lost in the third set in juniors,” said Engel. “I trained so much and it didn’t work in these tournaments. I didn’t win many matches.

“Then, suddenly I won that Futures tournament in Austria, and suddenly everything was possible for me. I won lots of matches and got confidence. It was pretty surprising for me that it worked out like this.”

[NEWSLETTER FORM]

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Fearnley extends winning streak to 13 matches

Britain’s Jacob Fearnley extends his winning streak to 13 matches as he beats Corentin Moutet at the Stockholm Open.

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Djokovic surges into qualifying position in Live Race

Novak Djokovic did not leave the Rolex Shanghai Masters with his 100th tour-level title, but he departed China with critical points for the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin.

The Serbian star arrived at the season’s eighth ATP Masters 1000 event in ninth place in the Live Race. By reaching the final, he surged to sixth place, putting him in a qualifying position for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will take place from 10-17 November in Turin.

PIF ATP Live Race To Turin (as of 14 October)

Djokovic is 605 points ahead of Alex de Minaur, who in ninth place is currently the first player outside the cut for the season finale.

The 37-year-old Djokovic is trying to earn his place at the year-end championships for the 17th time. Only Roger Federer (18) and Rafael Nadal (17) have qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals that many times. Djokovic owns the record for most titles at the event with seven.

The players currently in seventh through 12th places in the Live Race are all in action this week, with four of them playing in the BNP Paribas Nordic Open in Stockholm and two at the European Open in Antwerp.

Seventh-placed Casper Ruud and eighth-placed Andrey Rublev will try to secure their standing. Ruud will pass Djokovic for sixth if he reaches the Stockholm final.

Ninth-placed De Minaur, 275 points behind Rublev for the final qualification spot, can make up ground in Antwerp. The Australian is trying to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time. He has not competed since reaching the US Open quarter-finals due to injury.

Tenth-placed Grigor Dimitrov — the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion — and 11th-placed Tommy Paul are in action in Stockholm, while 12th-placed Stefanos Tsitsipas is playing in Antwerp.

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My Influences: Tien trusting the process & bouncing off Michelsen

Will Learner Tien be the next American star on the ATP Tour? The 18-year-old is in red-hot form, having won 14 of his past 16 ATP Challenger Tour matches, lifting trophies in Las Vagas and Fairfield.

There are currently four Americans inside the Top 20 in the PIF ATP Rankings with Tien’s fellow #NextGenATP star Alex Michelsen inside the Top 50.

Speaking to ATPTour.com at the US Open as part of our Next Gen ‘My Influences’ series, Tien discusses his relationship with Michelsen, the key to a successful team and more.

What have you learned this past year on Tour?
I think just trusting what I’m doing. Just really believing in what I am putting in and eventually, whether it’s now or down the road, that it will pay off. I had an injury earlier this year and I was out for a few months. So I’m kind of behind, but I know that if I just keep working to get back I’ll inevitably achieve.

I think that it’s been huge for me just to have decent bit of success the past few months and see my work pay off. I think it’s been very motivating and it’s been a good lesson for me to just plug away and trust that what I’m doing is going to pay off.

Can you talk a little bit about your relationship with Alex Michelsen?
I think it’s really cool to have a friend that you see so often that you’ve practised with so often for the past three, four years. You see them having a lot of success and I think it’s always nice. It’s fun getting to practise with him. We’ve been going to the same academy for a while. It is inspiring to know that he’s leading the way and I am just trying to catch up.

I’m obviously really happy for him. He’s a good friend of mine and it’s great to see him do well.

What sort of attributes do you look for when bringing people into your team?
I feel like I try to surround myself with like-minded individuals, people that share the same goals.  Personality-wise, I don’t feel I have a set criteria for someone I want to surround myself with. With my goals, I mean aspirations.

I feel like it’s easier to relate and be yourself around other like-minded individuals, people that share the same motivations, the same qualities as you. I think everyone plays their own role in my team. Some people you need to lift you up, but you also need someone that’s not willing to take a chip at you.

You just need a balance. You can’t just be getting pampered, but at the same time can’t just be getting bashed down. So I think a good balance is good for healthy development.

Which former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion did you enjoy watching most when growing up?
I feel at a certain point, when you start to play tennis you appreciate everyone you really watch because you understand their thought process when you see them play and you understand what they’re trying to do. It’s cool to see how they progress after winning an event like the Next Gen Finals and how their pathway progresses after.

Which former Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF champion do you most identify with?
When I first started getting into tennis, watching tennis — and I didn’t for a while, until I was probably 15, 16 — it was probably [Carlos] Alcaraz. He really drew me into watching tennis at first. I guess the entertainment factor drew me in and I obviously started understanding tennis better watching all these guys. I really appreciated watching these matches a lot more.

What have been some of the general influences in your life over the years, whether it be parents, early coaches, other people who have influenced you?
My parents have been key. They introduced me to the sport, integrated me in. I am the youngest in my family and everyone played tennis before I did, so I was just following them. My dad was my coach until I was probably 11 or 12 and still had a big say in my tennis for a while after that. I definitely give a lot of credit to my dad for that.

Read More from our ‘My Influences’ series
My Influences: Shang on Alcaraz experience & parents’ support
My Influences: Quinn on ‘grounded’ Sinner & Paul’s mentorship
My Influences: Gaubas opens up on ‘amazing’ Alcaraz experience

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