Frances Tiafoe dipped his toes in the basketball world Friday when he competed in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game. On Saturday, a six-time NBA All Star visited the tennis world in Buenos Aires.

Miami Heat star Jimmy Butler watched Carlos Alcaraz’s semi-final win against Bernabe Zapata Miralles at the Argentina Open. Alcaraz knew who Butler was, but this was their first meeting.

“I have seen him play several times. I have a lot of respect for him, after all he is a legend of his sport, a star and to have him come to see me is a privilege.” Alcaraz said. “I thanked him and invited him to the final.”

¿Querían saber cómo tira Carlos?👀🏀

📞 @MiamiHEAT @NBALatam pic.twitter.com/iP1YQldVE3

— Argentina Open (@ArgentinaOpen) February 18, 2023

The World No. 2 enjoys basketball and tries to keep up depending where he is in the world.

“Sometimes with the time in Spain it is complicated but yes. Miami, the Lakers, some others, there are several teams that I like a lot,” Alcaraz said. “I also like to play it and I’m not bad at it.”

^{Photo Credit: Argentina Open/Sergio Llamera}
The 19-year-old did not know Butler was coming until the last moment, when the management agency they share let him know. The pair shot hoops after the Spaniard’s victory.

“For me it’s something new to meet personalities like that,” Alcaraz said. “I don’t see myself at that level and for me it [was], ‘Look, there’s Jimmy Butler!’”

Carlos Alcaraz missed four months due to injury, but he has picked up where he left off.

The Spaniard advanced to the Argentina Open final on Saturday when he cruised past countryman Bernabe Zapata Miralles 6-2, 6-2 in 77 minutes. The top seed will try to secure his first title of 2023 in his first tournament since last year’s Rolex Paris Masters.

“It’s a really special moment for me,” Alcaraz said. “I was a little bit down after the injury, so I had to recover in those four months the confidence and the rhythm. Coming back for my first tournament of 2023 and making the final is so special for me.”

The 19-year-old knows he will face a tough challenger in the championship clash against second seed Cameron Norrie. The Spaniard leads their ATP Head2Head series 3-1, but Norrie claimed their most recent meeting last year in Cincinnati.

“I played a couple of times against him. [He is] a really, really tough player,” Alcaraz said. “I know that I have to give everything I have in the final. I’m going to say it’s going to be a really tough final, but at the same time a beautiful one.”

Despite losing a set in his first match of the tournament against Laslo Djere, Alcaraz has gained momentum on the Argentina clay. A winner in Rio de Janeiro last year, Alcaraz will try to add another South American crown to his trophy case. 

After one point early in the second set, Alcaraz hit an open-stance backhand winner up the line on the full stretch. Zapata Miralles threw his hands up in disbelief, knowing his opponent was finding an answer for all the questions he was asking with his own game.

Alcaraz was relentless with his pressure from the baseline, punishing every ball that did not drive him back. He won 55 per cent of his return points and broke serve five times.

^{Photo Credit: Argentina Open/Sergio Llamera}
Norrie is also finding his clay-court footing in Buenos Aires. The second seed advanced to the final with a 7-6(5), 6-4 victory against Peruvian Juan Pablo Varillas.

“It’s going to be a tough one for sure regardless of who I play,” Norrie said before knowing Alcaraz will be his opponent. “I lost a tough final in Auckland, so hopefully I can get some good feelings back tomorrow in the final.”

Norrie needed three sets to battle through his first two matches of the week at the ATP 250. However, the lefty raised his level in the semi-finals against a gritty foe in Varillas, who reached a career-high No. 94 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings in January.

The Peruvian rallied the crowd to his side and clawed back deficits throughout the match, saving two set points when serving at 4-5 in the opening set and another at 5-6. But Norrie, who has team members from Argentina, never let slip his focus. He saved two break points in the final game to triumph after one hour and 54 minutes. 

Miomir Kecmanovic was made to work at the Delray Beach Open on Saturday to reach his third ATP Tour final. But work the Serbian did, rallying past 2019 champion Radu Albot 7-6(8), 3-6, 6-2.

“I was a little bit nervous throughout the match,” Kecmanovic said. “But luckily I was able to stay calm when it mattered, play good and I’m happy I was able to come through.”

Kecmanovic and Albot were both seeking their 100th tour-level victory in the semi-final. Despite trailing by a break in the third set, it was Kecmanovic who was steadier in the crucial moments to triumph after two hours and 28 minutes.

“It feels awesome,” the 23-year-old Kecmanovic said of reaching 100 wins. “It’s crazy that I’ve been able to do that relatively quickly, so I’m pretty happy about that, proud. Hopefully I’ll have a few more.”

The fourth seed will be fully focussed on securing win No. 101 on Sunday against top seed Taylor Fritz or Mackenzie McDonald. Kecmanovic secured his first ATP Tour title three years ago in Kitzbühel and reached another final in 2019 in Antalya.

Jannik Sinner delivered a flawless serving performance on Saturday to defeat home wild card Tallon Griekspoor and reach the championship match at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.

The Italian did not face a break point in his 7-5, 7-6(5) semi-final victory against the World No. 61 at the indoor ATP 500 event. Although Griekspoor competed fiercely in a richly entertaining encounter packed with clean baseline hitting and some deft volleying, Sinner’s ability to take his chances ultimately proved decisive.

“I felt a lot of pressure today,” acknowledged Sinner, when asked about how it felt taking on home favourite Griekspoor. “I’m very happy with how I handled it, it was not easy from my side. I tried to play aggressive tennis. Sometimes I managed to do it, sometimes not, but this is part of the game.

“I’m very happy with how I played the tie-break also… [I’m] very happy to be again in a final, and tomorrow is obviously going to be a tough, tough challenge.”

The World No. 14, who has only been broken three times across his four matches this week at the Rotterdam Ahoy, converted the only break point of the match in the 12th game to claim the opening set and then held his nerve to claim a high-quality second-set tie-break. It was a seventh tour-level victory in a row for Sinner, who last week in Montpellier claimed his seventh ATP Tour title.

For the 21-year-old to extend his winning streak to eight matches, he will have to beat Daniil Medvedev for the first time in Sunday’s championship match in the Netherlands. The sixth-seeded Medvedev, who leads Sinner 4-0 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, earlier eased past Grigor Dimitrov 6-1, 6-2 to reach his 28th tour-level final.

“He is very solid, he serves well,” said Sinner, when asked about the challenge of taking on Medvedev. “To break him is very tough, and I need to serve very carefully and very bravely. I will have a chat with my team, and hopefully I can improve on the past meetings.”

Griekspoor had beaten eighth seed Alexander Zverev en route to his maiden ATP 500 semi-final in Rotterdam, a run that had home fans wondering if the 25-year wait for a Dutch champion might be about to end.

Although the 26-year-old was unable to find a way past Sinner on Saturday, he is nonetheless up 21 spots to No. 40 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings as a result of his exploits in his homeland.

A decade ago, Simone Bolelli and Fabio Fognini lifted the Argentina Open trophy for the first time. On Sunday, the Italians will have a chance to do so again.

The third seeds advanced to the Buenos Aires final on Saturday when they eliminated Brazilian Marcelo Demoliner and Andrea Vavassori 6-3, 7-5. They will face Nicolas Barrientos and Ariel Behar for the trophy.

Bolelli and Fognini have not lost a set en route to the championship clash. In the semi-finals they won 88 per cent of their first-serve points and broke serve four times.

If the Italians triumph in the final, it will not be the first time they lift the trophy at a tournament at least 10 years apart. They also won in Umag 11 years apart, in 2011 and 2022.

Bopanna/Ebden Into Rotterdam Final
Rohan Bopanna and Matthew Ebden lost their first two matches together this season, but the Indian-Australian duo has found form this week in Rotterdam. On Saturday they defeated Germans Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz 6-4, 6-4 to reach the ABN AMRO Open final.

Bopanna and Ebden were pushed to a Match Tie-break by Australian Open finalists Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski in the first round. Since, they have earned straight-sets victories against fourth seeds Lloyd Glasspool/Harri Heliovaara and now Krawietz/Puetz.

Arevalo/Rojer Battle Into Delray Beach Championship Clash
Reigning Roland Garros champions Marcelo Arevalo and Jean-Julien Rojer advanced to the Delray Beach Open final on Saturday with a 6-3, 5-7, 10-6 win against Robert Galloway and John-Patrick Smith.

Two years ago, Arevalo and Rojer made their team debut in Delray Beach. In 2022, they claimed their first Grand Slam title together and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals.

Dialled-in defence and and a cool head at key moments have been the basis of Daniil Medvedev’s run at the ABN AMRO Open this week. Saturday’s semi-final clash against Grigor Dimitrov proved to be no exception.

The sixth seed delivered a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 victory in 82 minutes against the Bulgarian to reach the final at the indoor hard-court tournament in Rotterdam for the first time. Medvedev was typically relentless from the baseline and converted six of 13 break points to reach his first tour-level championship match since he claimed the title in Vienna last October.

A match featuring several marathon exchanges threatened to become more complicated for Medvedev when Dimitrov recovered from 0-2 in the second set to earn three break points at 2-2, 0/40. The World No. 11 shut any potential comeback down in style, however, dropping just four more points in the match en route to increasing his ATP Head2Head series lead against Dimitrov to 5-2.

Court, covered 🫡

These two are getting the steps in today…
⁰@abnamroopen | #abnamroopen pic.twitter.com/6mI6WtOtx5

— ATP Tour (@atptour) February 18, 2023

“It was an amazing match,” said Medvedev afterwards. “The score [looks] easy, but the match was not. I felt physically like I was playing five sets. [There were] some amazing rallies. It was 2-2, 0/40 for him in the second [set], so [I am happy] to manage to win it 6-2, just raise my level a little bit on serve and manage to keep consistent… He made a few more errors than he needed to make, and I’m happy with my level.”

The win lifted Medvedev one spot to No. 10 in the Pepperstone ATP Live Rankings. He could rise one place further to No. 9 with victory in his 28th tour-level championship match on Sunday against Jannik Sinner or home wild card Tallon Griekspoor.

“It would be amazing [to win here],” said the former World No. 1 and 15-time tour-level titlist. “Every time I come here, and I think it is my fifth time here, everywhere there are photos of the winners and their names.

“I don’t remember who won it first time, but then Arthur Ashe won it [twice]. Then [others including] McEnroe, Borg, Edberg, and I’m like ‘Well, that tournament has a history for sure’. To add my name there would be amazing, but for this I need to play well in the final.”

Have you ever wondered how ATP players think the season will unfold and which of their peers they believe is due for a standout year or to crack the Top 10?

Last week we learned that Rafael Nadal, Jack Draper, and Thanasi Kokkinakis believe that Jannik Sinner will claim his first ATP Masters 1000 title this season. What will other say in part two of the fun 2023 predictions series? ATP sat down with Cameron Norrie, Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Diego Schwartzman, Ben Shelton, Frances Tiafoe and Alexander Zverev to get their thoughts.

Norrie cracked a smile when he said, “I want to make some decent predictions and not just wing it!” when asked who will make their Top 10 debut this year.

According to the Briton and Diego Schwartzman, Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who is No. 20 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, is due to climb even higher. Frances Tiafoe, World No. 15, was also a popular choice among players.

Norrie and the Argentine Schwartzman must think alike as they again agreed that Rublev will win his maiden ATP Masters 1000 crown this season. With a big smile across his face, Rublev shared, “I’ve never won a Masters 1000 yet, but hopefully I can win at least one some day, some year, some life!”

When players were asked who will triumph at this year’s Grand Slam events, last year’s US Open semi-finalist Tiafoe said, “I feel like I’ve got some unfinished business!” as he predicted himself to lift the trophy at Flushing Meadows.

Watch the full video to hear all the players’ predictions for the year, and share your predictions with us on the ATP Tour’s social media channels.

Frances Tiafoe’s home will always be the tennis court, but the American star had a blast on the basketball court Friday evening in the NBA All-Star Celebrity Game.

Tiafoe, the No. 15 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, made two shots to help NBA legend Dwyane Wade’s team to victory. 

 

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Tiafoe made a teardrop shot from close range in the early going to settle the nerves and early in the third quarter, he knocked down a midrange jumpshot over 2016 NBA champion Richard Jefferson. That bucket thrilled Team Dwyane coach Giannis Antetokounmpo, a two-time NBA Most Valuable Player.

It was not just about the basketball, though. Tiafoe met several superstars, from current NBA players like Pascal Siakam to other players in the game such as teammates DK Metcalf and Janelle Monae.

Tiafoe worked hard on his game leading up to his big moment, spending “a couple of hours a day” on the court. 

“I think [I will] just go out there and have fun. I mean I don’t want to look dumb, that’s why I’ve been training the past couple weeks,” Tiafoe said. “But [it is about] just having fun and obviously All Star [Weekend] everyone is there, you meet so many cool people and people that I’ve been fans of forever.”