Before walking on Court Central Monday evening to play Andy Murray at the Rolex Paris Masters, Gilles Simon felt the same pressure he had before each of his 895 previous tour-level matches.

“I feel the exact same stress that I had on every match, because it is the same logic, the same routine. You have a match to play, you have a tournament and you need to prepare, and this is the only thing I know in the end,” Simon told ATPTour.com. “That’s why it is easier for me to focus on this, because trying to be ready for a match is what I’ve done for 20 years.”

However similar the process was, Simon knew in the bigger picture, it was different. His retirement tournament this week at Bercy turned out to be a memorable farewell as he showed the world why he was one of the trickiest opponents of his generation.

The 14-time ATP Tour titlist put forth a courageous effort in Paris, rallying with the crowd’s support to oust the former World No. 1 Murray, whom he had only defeated twice from 18 previous attempts. His run did not stop there, as Simon upset BNP Paribas Open champion Taylor Fritz in the second round, ending the American’s hopes of qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals.

The Frenchman fell short Thursday against red-hot Canadian Felix Auger-Aliassime, but Simon had produced his final moment of magic.

“I just feel so lucky to have been a tennis player. It’s what I have always wanted to be,” Simon said after the match. “I was a professional tennis player for a long time, and that’s why I was lucky twice and I could stop when I wanted, and so I have been lucky three times.”

^{Photo Credit: Corinne Dubreuil/ATP Tour}
Simon, who finished his career with a 504-394 tour-level record, has long enjoyed a love affair with the sport. Ask any player who has spent time with the Frenchman, and they will tell stories of Simon’s memorable tennis talks. His passion for the sport is unmistakable.

“I just always loved tennis and it’s very interesting for me. It’s a very interesting game. So many things on so many levels. Physically, technically, mentally, everything. It’s a very nice sport, it’s the best sport obviously!” Simon said. “Some tennis players would tell you that they play tennis, but they would have been happy to play something else, but this is not my case.

“I really enjoy the sport so much and I think this is why I am so passionate about it, and this is why I try to know it as good as I can, and it’s also why I was playing it that long. I think all the players who are playing at 35, 36, 37 or 40 years old, for sure they love the sport.”

The Frenchman harnessed his passion into an unparalleled understanding of the sport. Simon was never the strongest or quickest player on the circuit, but he used his mind to outsmart opponents for two decades.

Never afraid to utilise unique tactics, Simon at the 2016 Australian Open encouraged Novak Djokovic into 100 unforced errors in a match (the Serbian needed four hours and 32 minutes to triumph). Simon thrived by driving opponents crazy.

Another Frenchman, Benjamin Bonzi, said Simon is “like a professor on the tennis court. Everything about his strategy, his physical movement and everything. He put something different into tennis. He was not very powerful, he didn’t have a big serve. When he was at his best, his movement was so good and he put the ball in difficult positions.”

Simon admitted he was not sure why his colleagues feel so strongly about his tennis acumen.

“I think it’s because I think a lot about tennis and I try to explain it also with words, when most other players are more maybe sometimes feeling something and working on some of the emotions. I’m not really good with the emotions,” Simon said. “[I rely] more [on] logic, that’s how I am, so maybe because the way I talk about it and try to be precise on everything gives this feeling.

“But when I see other players, I feel there are many more geniuses than myself on the Tour.”

Simon likes that tennis is a “very complete sport” with many components to balance in order to earn success. There is a physical side to the sport, with a wide range of skills required, but there is also a mental side that often proves key to performing on the world’s biggest stages.

“Mentally you have a huge amount of pressure because you are alone. It is not a team sport,” Simon said. “Some days you feel good, and you feel invincible. And some days you are the worst athlete on Earth, and you cannot perform anything.”

The Frenchman added that no matter how a player feels, they must step on court and give it their all. It is them against an opponent, with nobody who can physically help them. For two decades, the Frenchman has thrived under that spotlight.

“You have to be such a good athlete physically, you have to have the skills technically, you have to be strong mentally, and the moment one of these three parts is not there, you’re going to fail,” Simon said. “It adds pressure. It’s a direct contest with your opponent, the ranking is changing every week. This is what I like. I feel it’s a very difficult sport where you have to be honest with yourself if you want to improve and if you want to be the best tennis player you can be.”

A lightning-fast start set the tone for Carlos Alcaraz on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters, where the World No. 1 won nine of the first 10 games en route to a 6-1, 6-3 third-round victory against Grigor Dimitrov.

Alcaraz was dialled-in from the start in his maiden ATP Head2Head meeting with the former World No. 3 Dimitrov. Striking the ball cleanly off both wings from the baseline and deploying his drop shot to good effect throughout, the Spaniard converted five of seven break points against the Bulgarian’s serve to wrap an impressive 72-minute win.

“I started playing pretty well,” said Alcaraz after the match. “[Grigor’s] level is very much not the level you saw today, but I played very well. At the end of the second set, it was tougher for me, he came back, he raised the level and obviously it was tough. He had the chance to go up in the second set, I had to stay calm in that moment and show my best to not allow him to go up.”

In a near-flawless opening, Alcaraz’s all-around game left the former World No. 3 Dimitrov with few chances to counter. The Spaniard dropped just two points behind serve in the first set as he picked up where he had left off in his straight-sets second-round win against Yoshihito Nishioka.

Dimitrov found his feet to reel off three straight games from 0-3 to draw level in the second set before carving out two break point opportunities for a 4-3 lead, but Alcaraz’s relentless consistency proved crucial. He held off the Bulgarian’s charge to advance to the quarter-finals for the first time in Paris, where he will take on seventh seed Andrey Rublev or Holger Rune.

“In that moment you have to stay calm, to think [about] what is happening and after that try to change a little bit,” said Alcaraz, when asked about Dimitrov’s second-set comeback. “I [made] a couple of mistakes at the beginning of the match, but after that I stayed calm.”

Should Alcaraz lift his third Masters 1000 title of the year in Paris, the 19-year-old would be confirmed as the year-end No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings ahead of his debut appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals. He admitted he was enjoying playing in front of his parents in the French capital, where he received the ATP No. 1 trophy presented by Pepperstone during a ceremony on Monday evening.

“It’s such a pleasure,” said Alcaraz. “It’s tough to bring them to tournaments, and to have them in the box during the week is so special. Of course, taking the trophy for No. 1 in front of them was so special for me.”

When it comes to mastering the unique scoring format at next week’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, Dominic Stricker may be able to turn to his love of golf for help.

“I think it’s a good idea,” Stricker recently told ATPTour.com after being asked about the fast-paced first-to-four-games set structure used at the 21-and-under event. “Because you really have to forget what happened maybe five minutes ago. If you don’t forget it, you’ve already lost the next set.

“It’s maybe a bit like golf. If you play one hole really bad, you just have to accept it and go to the next hole because if you don’t, a lot could go wrong.”

As well as the time he has spent on the golf course, the 20-year-old lefty Stricker will hope that the experience of training with ATP Tour legend and countryman Roger Federer can benefit him in tough moments during his upcoming Milan campaign.

“It is lucky,” said Stricker’s coach, Sven Swinnen, who spent two years as Federer’s classmate and daily practice partner at the Swiss national federation when the pair were in their teens. “Roger invited Dominic to Dubai twice already to do some practice, some pre-season stuff, so that was really helpful. Roger knows us now pretty well and we got some really good tips from him.”

“Of course, if you live in Switzerland…My one big idol [had to be] Roger Federer,” added Stricker. “Roger is Swiss and has a pretty similar game to how I would like to play.”

_{^{Stricker in action at Wimbledon qualifying in June. Photo Credit: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images.}}

Much of Federer’s career was defined by his battles with rivals such as Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic, and Stricker is excited at trying to establish himself among a new flock of young stars on the ATP Tour. He cites former Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals champions Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner as inspirations but believes it might not be long before he and this year’s other Milan competitors are also ready to challenge the best in the world.

“[Alcaraz and Sinner] are so young,” said Stricker. “They are playing so good at the moment, it’s good to see that already guys my age, they can make the breakthrough. Holger [Rune] as well… It’s great to see, and then you know that you can maybe also get there in a few years or whenever.

“These guys are doing a great job and I don’t see that there’s a big gap between us, but I just have to keep doing my thing and it will come, I hope.”

The signs are certainly promising for Stricker. After launching his ATP Tour career in 2021 with a stunning straight-sets victory over former World No. 3 Marin Cilic at the beginning of back-to-back quarter-final runs in Geneva and Stuttgart, he has continued his progress this season. Two ATP Challenger Tour titles and a 4-5 record at ATP Tour events have helped him rise to a career-high No. 116 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

The Swiss is also becoming more accustomed to taking on the ATP Tour elite. He notched four Top 40 wins this season, against Aslan Karatsev, Maxime Cressy (twice) and Botic van de Zandschulp, while he also competed well against Stefanos Tsitsipas and Pablo Carreno Busta. His meeting with Tsitsipas on the grass in Stuttgart stands out for Stricker.

“[It was] a great experience,” said the Swiss. “A tough match, but he plays pretty well on grass and he played pretty well. It’s just great to play these guys to see where you stand.

“It was a pretty good match from my side, he played pretty good as well. It was [6-3, 6-4] but it was pretty close, and I had my chances as well. It was 2-2, I had break points, so it’s good to see that it’s not such a big gap.”

_{^{Dominic Stricker and Stefanos Tsitsipas in Stuttgart. Photo Credit: Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images.}}

Stricker’s strong 2022 season has earned him a debut appearance at next week’s Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals. The Swiss is looking forward to competing at the Allianz Cloud in Milan in an event that he has previously only had the chance to admire from afar.

“I watched the highlights of the previous edition, when Carlos won,” said Stricker. “That was pretty impressive… I watched the [2018 edition] when Stefanos [won] too.

“It’s a special tournament, for sure, if you reach it. It’s something great, it means a lot and I think [it means] you’ve had a pretty good year, if you’re in the Top 8 of these young guys. It’s something special for sure.

“The format is something else, you have to be focused from the first point. You also have to be when it’s a longer set but I think if you play these short sets, it’s more important. I think [the format] is good, to have a new challenge.”

Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos are the sixth team to qualify for the Nitto ATP Finals, which will be played from 13-20 November at the Pala Alpitour in Turin. The Spanish-Argentine tandem will make its third consecutive appearance at the season finale.

Granollers and Zeballos advanced to the semi-finals of the year-end championships in 2020 and 2021, falling to the eventual champions on each occasion.

It has been a consistent season for the Spaniard and Argentine, who lifted their seventh ATP Tour trophy as a team in Halle. It is the fourth consecutive year in which they have earned at least one crown at an ATP 500 event or above.

Granollers and Zeballos thrived at the Grand Slam championships this season, reaching the final at Wimbledon and the semi-finals at the Australian Open and Roland Garros.

It is Granollers’ seventh appearance at the year-end championships. In 2012, he won the Nitto ATP Finals with Marc Lopez.

#NextGenATP Italian Lorenzo Musetti earned his first Top 5 win Thursday when he upset World No. 4 Casper Ruud 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 to reach the quarter-finals at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The 20-year-old played with confidence throughout the two-hour, 19-minute clash in the French capital, striking 37 winners as he pulled the Norwegian from corner to corner to reach his maiden ATP Masters 1000 quarter-final.

“I am really happy,” Musetti said. “I think we played a great match until the end. A lot of remarkable shots from his side. He was playing really well and I had to play my best tennis to beat him. I am really happy that all the hard work I am doing keeps improving me. I am really proud of this win.”

Musetti, who entered the match holding a 0-6 record against Top 5 players, will next play sixth-seeded Serbian Novak Djokovic or Karen Khachanov. He is making his second appearance in the French capital, having advanced to the second round last year.

The Italian is currently at a career-high No. 23 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings after soaring to his second tour-level title in Naples last month. Musetti will finish his season next week at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan, where he will be the top seed at the 21-and-under event.

Ruud, who has won three tour-level titles this season, will turn his attention to Turin, where he will make his second consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals.

The ATP and Italian Tennis Federation (FIT) on Thursday announced the new innovations and rules for the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, the 21-and-under season finale to be played from 8-12 November in Milan.

The event, created to spotlight tennis’ rising talents, continues to evolve. Several of this year’s innovations and rule changes are designed to enhance the flow of the game, including a quicker shot clock and one sit-down per set, while other innovations include off-court coaching and in-game analytics for players and coaches.

Look for the following at the Allianz Cloud in Milan in 2022:

Quicker Shot Clock

• The time in-between points will be shortened to 15 seconds (from the standard 25 seconds) if the server hits an ace, a double fault or if the returner misses the return through forced or unforced error.

One Sit-Down Per Set

• Players will change ends and sit down for 90 seconds after the first three games are played and then again at the end of the set. There will be no changeover after the first game.
• Players will change ends without sitting down before the set-deciding tie-break occurs.
• Players will sit down at the end of the set for 90 seconds; reduced from 120 seconds.

Three-Minute Warm-up

• The on-court warm-up will be three minutes. There will be a one-minute walk-on, three-minute warm-up and one minute to get ready before the first point.

Off-Court Coaching

• Coaching will be permitted at the event on the same basis as applied in the coaching trial on Tour with one addition: A player will be allowed to talk to his coach if his opponent takes a medical time-out or toilet break.

Enhanced Analytics:

• The TennisViz system, in partnership with Tennis Data Innovations, will provide that information directly to a tablet device located in the Player Box area for coaches to use during a match.
• Players and coaches will be provided with data and analytics based on in-match data.

Several innovations that have been introduced at the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals have gone on to be used on the main Tour, including:

• Live Electronic Line Calling
• Video Review (ATP Cup)
• Towel Racks
• Shot Clock
• In-Match Coaching

Ross Hutchins, Tournament Director of the Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals, said: “Since its first edition, this event has provided an incredible opportunity to promote the next generation of global icons, while also innovating for the future. We are proud that several innovations first tested in Milan have been implemented on the wider ATP Tour and look forward to continuing the raise the bar for the fans, the players and the sport.”

The ATP Next Gen E-Series will also return in Milan. Learn more about the event and its live finals, which will be played on 12 November and broadcast on Twitch.

To learn more about the 2022 Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals and to buy tickets, click here.

Novak Djokovic has been the Prince Of Paris in recent years, winning 15 of his past 16 matches and taking the title in his past two appearances in 2019 and 2021. But on Thursday at the Rolex Paris Masters the Serb runs into the only player he’s fallen to during that streak: Karen Khachanov.

The 38-time ATP Masters 1000 champion holds a 7-1 Head2Head advantage over his rival, but a straight-sets defeat in the 2018 final in Bercy, where Khachanov claimed his lone Masters 1000 trophy, surely still gives Djokovic some indigestion.

The record holder of 373 weeks as No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is aiming for his fourth victory over Khachanov this season (Dubai, Belgrade, Astana). He is also chasing his fifth title of the year after triumphs at Rome, Wimbledon, Tel Aviv and Astana, the latter two coming in consecutive weeks. The indoor hard-court event in France presents a new challenge, even for the six-time champion.

“The conditions are different,” Djokovic said following his opening match against Maxime Cressy. “From last year, it’s quicker. The balls are fast and they go through the court. It makes it more challenging to break serve.”

Khachanov, World No. 19 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, will rely on his heavy first delivery and firepower from the baseline to try his hand at another upset in the French capital in the fourth match on Court Central.

Earlier on Thursday, World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz will look to back up his strong start in Paris as he faces 2017 Nitto ATP Finals champion Grigor Dimitrov for the first time.

“First round in every tournament is never easy,” Alcaraz said following his opening match. “You have to be really focused, you have to try to get good rhythm, good feeling in the first round. I’m really happy with the performance, the level that I played, and I’m looking forward to getting better in the next round.”

The 19-year-old Spaniard is aiming for his third ATP Masters 1000 crown (Miami & Madrid 2022), which would add to his season-leading five Tour-level titles. He is also looking to tighten his grip on the converted year-end No. 1 Pepperstone ATP Ranking, which will be presented at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.

Holger Rune, 19, has reached at least the final in each of his past three tournaments, including in Stockholm, where he collected the title. After the Dane spoiled Hubert Hurkacz’s hopes of returning to the Nitto ATP Finals, the 19-year-old looks to earn back-to-back wins against Top-10 players when he meets Andrey Rublev, whose qualification for Turin was confirmed Wednesday.

Casper Ruud, who still has an outside shot to finish the year No. 1, kicks off Thursday’s card with a first-time meeting against talented Italian Lorenzo Musetti, who next week will spearhead the eight-man field at the 21-and-under Intesa Sanpaolo Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

Norway’s World No. 4, a two-time Grand Slam finalist this year, is looking to regain form ahead of his second appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, where last year he made the semi-finals. Although just two wins shy of his 50th match win on the year, the 23-year-old came into Paris on a three-match losing streak.

.@CasperRuud98 is known for his forehand, and tonight vs Gasquet it was in full flow

FH Shot Quality context 👇
Tour avg. 7.2
Ruud 52-week avg. 8.5 (one of the best on tour)
Ruud vs Gasquet 9.3 🔥#TennisInsights | @RolexPMasters | #RolexParisMasters pic.twitter.com/GRxJQtMVxO

— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) November 1, 2022

French World No. 64 Corentin Moutet will return to Court Central less than 16 hours after his early-morning win over Cameron Norrie to battle fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas for a place in the quarter-finals. Moutet, 23, closed out a third-set tie-break win over Norrie at 3.04 a.m. Thursday morning.

Tsitsipas, who boasts a 58-21 record on the season, is chasing his second Masters 1000 title of the year (Monte Carlo). He also has an outside shot of pushing for year-end No. 1 honours if Carlos Alcaraz doesn’t have a deep run in Paris and at the Nitto ATP Finals.