While Novak Djokovic was enjoying his historic 23rd major title Sunday, one of the Serbian’s career rivals, Andy Murray, was lifting the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour 125 event in Surbiton.

Despite the different paths for the 36-year-olds who have met 36 times in their ATP Head2Head series [Djokovic leads 25-11], you won’t catch Murray comparing himself to other Grand Slam champions. The World No. 44 is enjoying his own unique journey and working hard in his 18th year on tour.

A few hours after the Scot won his second Challenger title of the season (Aix-en-Provence) Sunday, he was off to another Challenger event, this week’s Rothesay Open in Nottingham. While making the trip, Murray got a meaningful message from his wife, Kim.

“I got a message from my wife on Sunday evening when I was driving here [to Nottingham] and she said, ‘I just was watching Novak on the news and that he won in Paris. I’m so proud that you’re still grinding out in Challengers and still working as hard as you’ve ever [done],’” Murray said Tuesday at a press conference in Nottingham. “That means a lot to me.”

Murray has claimed three major titles of his own and been as high as World No. 1. At age 36, he is still enjoying being on court, whether it’s on a big stage or an intimate setting on the Challenger Tour.

“I would love to be competing for Grand Slams and be in that position. I’m also aware that what [Novak has] done is incredible and what he’s still doing at his age is brilliant,” Murray said. “But we have completely different journeys, what happened with my hip while I was at the peak of my career was really unfortunate.

“You can’t always be comparing yourself to other people when they are more successful than you. I’ve probably learned that more as I’ve gotten older. When I was in my mid-twenties, a lot of the questions would get asked like, ‘When are you going to do this? These guys around you are always winning.’

“And I always wanted what they had, but I think once I started to accept that I should not be comparing myself to other people and just focus on my own journey and work as hard as I possibly can to achieve the goals I want to, that’s all you can do and I’m still doing that now.

“Whether I win another Grand Slam or winning Challengers is the peak for me now, I’m okay with that because I’m doing what I love to do.”

Last week in Surbiton, Murray became the oldest grass-court champion in Challenger history (since 1978) and just the sixth player to win Challenger titles on both clay and grass in the same season. The Glasgow native will aim to continue his strong run this week in Nottingham, where he defeated Belgian qualifier Joris De Loore 6-3, 6-4 in the opening round. Murray will next face Hugo Grenier on Thursday.

France Tiafoe made a fast start to his grass-court season on Wednesday with a strong serving performance in his BOSS OPEN debut. The third-seeded American earned a 7-6(2), 6-4 win against Jiri Lehecka to advance to the quarter-finals at the Stuttgart ATP 250 event, where he will meet Italy’s Lorenzo Musetti.

It is Tiafoe’s 29th tour-level quarter-final and his third on grass after he reached that stage at The Queen’s Club in 2018 and 2021. The American improved to 24-9 on the season with his latest victory, his best result of 2023 coming on home soil with his Houston title run in April.

The 25-year-old saved all three break points against him in his Stuttgart opener with the help of nine aces and an 84 per cent win rate (37/44) on first serve. After running away with the first-set tie-break, Tiafoe converted his lone break chance of the match to edge in front at 5-4 in the second set. In serving out the match, he erased two break points before clinching victory on his second match point.

Tiafoe was back on the court for the first time after his four-set defeat to eventual semi-finalist Alexander Zverev in the Roland Garros third round. The American defeated Filip Krajinovic and Aslan Karatsev in Paris before being turned back in an entertaining evening matchup against Zverev in which he lost two tie-breaks.

With his victory in Stuttgart, Tiafoe has already bettered his grass-court ATP Tour results from last season, when he exited in the opening round at The Queen’s Club and Eastbourne. But his game clicked in time for Wimbledon last year, where he enjoyed a career-best run to the fourth round before a five-set defeat to David Goffin.

Lorenzo Musetti and Hubert Hurkacz each sealed quarter-final spots Wednesday at the BOSS OPEN, but the pair took starkly contrasting paths to the last eight.

The sixth-seeded Musetti delivered a classy display at the grass-court ATP 250 in Stuttgart to see off Gregoire Barrere 6-3, 6-3. The Italian saved all seven break points he faced in a 96-minute encounter during which he also produced some trademark moments of magic off his backhand wing.

“Today I think I played really great tennis,” said Musetti, whose opponent in his first tour-level quarter-final on grass will be third seed Frances Tiafoe or Jiri Lehecka. “I showed that I can play really, really well even on grass. I surprised [myself] a little bit, because I was serving really big, especially in the important moments.

“I’m really happy because Gregoire is a really good player and I was thinking he could be a tough opponent, but today I think I showed a really great level.”

Hurkacz had to battle back from the brink for his first win in three appearances in Stuttgart. The fourth seed was two points from defeat against Yosuke Watanuki when the pair was locked at 5/5 in the second-set tie-break, but Hurkacz held firm for a 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(5) second-round triumph.

The World No. 14 Hurkacz, who won his maiden ATP Tour title on grass at the ATP 500 event in Halle last year, will play Christopher O’Connell next. The Australian earlier prevailed 7-6(5), 6-3 against Lorenzo Sonego to reach his fifth tour-level quarter-final of the season.

Jannik Sinner was presented with a tough test to start his 2023 grass season, but the Italian passed with flying colours on Wednesday at the Libema Open.

The second-seeded Sinner nullified the big-serving threat of Alexander Bublik for a 6-4, 6-2 victory at the ATP 250 event in ‘s-Hertogenbosch. Sinner converted three of his 12 break points to earn an 84-minute win in his second-round clash with Bublik, who is a two-time ATP Tour finalist on grass.

“Against him it is never easy to play,” said Sinner of Bublik. “He serves very good, he can play every kind of shot, so I had to be very careful. From my side, I think I served well in important moments. For me this is a special tournament, because in 2019 I won my first match on grass here, and obviously the support [here] is always very nice… It means a lot.”

Sinner is now 11-0 in opening matches at tour-level events for the season. The 21-year-old is relatively inexperienced on grass, on which he holds a 5-5 record, but the 2022 Wimbledon quarter-finalist again demonstrated how effective his ferocious groundstrokes can be on the surface with a classy performance against Bublik.

“I’ve grown up, but I’m still young,” said Sinner, when asked about how he had changed since his previous appearance in ‘s-Hertogenbosch in 2019. “I learned many things. My position is very different, much better [now], but I know that I can still improve a lot. Every match I try to play my level, try to improve and obviously I am trying to go as far as possible.”

Sinner’s quarter-final opponent will be Emil Ruusuvuori, after the Finn notched a hard-earned 6-2, 6-7(6), 6-4 triumph against seventh seed Ugo Humbert. It will be Ruusuvuori’s second tour-level quarter-final of the season, with Sinner his opponent in both. The Italian prevailed in straight sets in the pair’s last-eight clash in Miami in March.

Kei Nishikori returned to the court in winning fashion Tuesday at the ATP Challenger Tour 75 event in Palmas del Mar, Puerto Rico.

The former World No. 4, who had not competed in 20 months due to injuries, displayed vintage all-court coverage to cruise past American Christian Langmo 6-2, 6-4 at the Caribbean Open. Nishikori dropped just one point behind his first serve in the opening set and often worked his way forward to close the match in one hour, 43 minutes.

The Japanese star underwent arthroscopic left hip surgery last year and had not played a match since the BNP Paribas Open in October 2021. The 33-year-old will next meet seventh seed Mitchell Krueger in the second round at the hard-court event.

Fans can visit Challenger TV to watch all ATP Challenger Tour matches live and on demand at no cost.

Luca Van Assche boosted his bid for a debut appearance at the Next Gen ATP Finals after clinching his maiden match win at a major at his home Grand Slam of Roland Garros.

The 19-year-old Frenchman defeated Marco Cecchinato in the first round on his main draw debut in Paris. Van Assche’s straight-sets triumph against Italy’s Cecchinato has solidified his standing in sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race.

Van Assche has also lifted two ATP Challenger Tour titles this year and is now at a career-high No. 69 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. He now has 435 points in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race, 120 shy of fifth-placed Ben Shelton.

Van Assche’s fellow Frenchmen Arthur Fils and Arthur Cazaux also competed at Roland Garros. Despite both falling to first-round defeats, the duo remains in strong contention to qualify for the 21-and-under event. The 19-year-old Fils is in fourth place on 673 points, having leapfrogged Shelton after winning his maiden ATP Tour title in Lyon in May, while Cazaux is in 12th.

Italian Flavio Cobolli and Serbian Hamad Medjedovic are in seventh and eighth place, respectively. Both battled through qualifying to make their Grand Slam main-draw debut at Roland Garros, where the 21-year-old Cobolli fell to then-World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz in the first round.

Rounding out the Top 10 in the race are 2022 Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finalist Dominic Stricker and 20-year-old Dalibor Svrcina. The 20-year-old Czech Svrcina lifted his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in his homeland on Saturday to move to 247 points, just nine behind both Medjedovic and Switzerland’s Stricker.

Stanford University’s Arthur Fery is riding his momentum on the ATP Challenger Tour following a strong season at the collegiate level.

The 20-year-old, who grew up five minutes from the All England Club, earned his maiden Challenger Tour main-draw victory Tuesday when he rallied to beat former World No. 21 and legendary USC alum Steve Johnson 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 at the Rothesay Open in Nottingham.

Fery, who grew up attending the Grand Slam event in his backyard, recently finished his junior year as No. 3 in the Intercollegiate Tennis Association singles rankings. To understand how Fery got to this point takes visiting his childhood, where he attended Wimbledon at a young age and holds many fond memories, including earning a doubles win last year at the All England Club alongside countryman Felix Gill.

“Growing up around Wimbledon was awesome. It was obviously a great foundation for my tennis and I got to learn a lot about tennis really quickly,” Fery told ATPTour.com recently at the NCAA championships in Lake Nona, Florida. “I have memories of being in primary school aged 7, 8, 9, 10 and going after school. My mum picking me up from school and just going to watch. It was great.”

^{Arthur Fery in first-round action at the Rothesay Open. Credit: Nathan Stirk/Getty Images for LTA}

Fery described his move to California to attend Stanford as an ‘obvious pick’ once he was accepted because of the great academics at the Pac-12 Conference school. Working towards a degree in Science, Technology, and Society, Fery has reached the quarter-finals in the NCAA singles championships the past two seasons.

During Fery’s sophomore year in 2022, he became Stanford’s first player to reach No. 1 in the ITA Rankings since Bob Bryan in 1998. Following Bob and Mike Bryan’s three years at Stanford, the twin brothers went on to an illustrious professional career, collecting 16 major team titles. They often return to campus to support their alma mater.

“Bob and Mike are really good with staying in contact with the team,” Fery said. “They come to campus occasionally and shared their experience. It’s always really valuable to get insights from such good players.”

Fery first began playing tennis at a young age with his mother Olivia, who is a former WTA professional. His father, Loic, is involved in professional sports in a different manner, serving as the president of French Ligue 1 club FC Lorient.

This week will not be the last time tennis fans hear about Fery on the Challenger circuit. Through the ATP & ITA Accelerator Programme, Fery’s hard work at the collegiate level has guaranteed him six Challenger main draw entries, which he can begin using next month at select Challenger events. The Wimbledon native is one of 21 players eligible for accelerator spots via their year-end ITA ranking or by reaching the quarter-finals of the NCAA singles championships.

“That was honestly the best news for college tennis this year, that they managed to do something with the ATP like that,” Fery said. “It provides an incentive for people to stay in college longer and not just kind of jump into the pros too fast. Because they know that if they’re successful in college, then they’re going to get opportunities regardless in Challengers.

“I’m definitely going to use those to my advantage in the next few months.”

Throughout Fery’s time at Stanford, head coach and former World No. 58 American Paul Goldstein has been able to see what the Briton is like on and off the court. 

“Arthur had one of the finest seasons in recent Stanford tennis history,” Goldstein said. “While his results playing No. 1 singles and No. 1 doubles throughout the season were truly exceptional, he made an even more lasting impact by consistently representing himself, his teammates and our university with extraordinary class and integrity.

“He will absolutely benefit from the accelerator program. Since the announcement of the program, it has served as a motivator for Arthur and his teammates throughout the course of the season, which is a wonderful thing. I think he’s someone that will benefit greatly from it.”

Fery will next aim for his first Top 100 win against World No. 95 Dominik Koepfer in the second round of the Nottingham Challenger on Wednesday.