Fifteen months on from his last victory on the ATP Tour, Stan Wawrinka was delighted to rediscover the winning feeling at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome on Monday.

The former World No. 3 trailed 14th seed Reilly Opelka by a set and 2-4 in the first round at the ATP Masters 1000 event in the Italian capital, but Wawrinka battled hard to turn things around and complete a 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 victory, his first tour-level win since the 2021 Australian Open.

“I think in general I was feeling good on the court,” said Wawrinka after booking a second-round meeting with Laslo Djere. “Physically I was feeling great. For sure when you don’t win a match in more than a year, you start to think about it more than you should and not focus on the right things.

“In general I think it was a great match, great battle. I stayed positive. I started to feel much better with my tennis by the end of the second set, and [in] the third set. I’m really happy with this victory.”

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Wawrinka’s return game was key to securing a maiden win over Opelka, with the 2014 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion maintaining belief even when he was a break down to the big-serving American in the second set.

“You just have to stay positive and try to fight,” said Wawrinka on his approach to returning the Opelka delivery. “If you get a bit lucky, if you show him that you’re going to stay there, you are going to get some chances. I got some chances, I played better, and he started to miss a few.”

The never-say-die approach that took Wawrinka past Opelka on Monday is one that has helped the Swiss deal with his frustrations while recovering from a foot injury over the past year. He hopes the Opelka win is just the first of many rewards for the months of hard work he has put in off the court.

“After two surgeries, at my age I could easily have stopped playing because my career is way better than what I expected when I was young,” said Wawrinka. “But I still have this fire in me. I still believe that I can play great tennis. I still believe that I make some big results, maybe not now, but in a few months.

“There is no shortcut. I needed to do that time on the court and off the court. It was a long time I was out. I gained some weight, it was tough. With foot surgery you can’t do much. I needed a lot of effort to be back, but already in the last few weeks since [Monte Carlo] it is much better.”

Wawrinka returned to competitive action in March at the same ATP Challenger Tour event in Marbella as another former World No. 3, Dominic Thiem. The Austrian had not played since June due to a wrist problem and has lost his first three tour-level matches back, but Wawrinka believes the 2019 Indian Wells champion will also soon be back to winning ways.

“[Thiem and I] practised quite a lot [in Marbella],” said Wawrinka. “I always enjoy practising with him, he’s an amazing player. But I think every injury is completely different. We all have a different mindset to come back.

“The reality is that it takes time. You need to accept it. You need to do the right work. He is a hard-working player. He will come back for sure. But it takes time.

“It’s not only about the fitness side. It’s not only about the tennis game. It’s also about the mental part. You have to connect everything together to be able to play your best tennis again.”

Rafael Nadal’s stellar start to the 2022 season may have been disrupted by a rib injury, but the Spaniard’s six-week layoff has done nothing to dampen his competitive spirit.

“I like what I do, honestly,” said the 35-year-old as he prepares to compete at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia ATP Masters 1000 event in Rome. “I am not playing anymore for things outside of my happiness and for things outside of my personal motivation.

“I am happy doing what I am doing. I still feel [I am] competitive when I am healthy enough.”

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Nadal returned to the ATP Tour for the first time since March at the Mutua Madrid Open last week, reaching the quarter-finals before falling to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz. He acknowledged being unable to compete after picking up his rib injury en route to the final in Indian Wells had been tough, especially after winning his first 20 matches of the year to register his best start to a season. Yet the desire to compete still burns brightly in the legendary Spaniard.

“Of course, at my age, when you start having more problems than what you can manage, of course it is tough,” said Nadal. “Body issues, pains, you can manage that. The problem is when you start to feel that with all the things that’s going through your body, you can’t be competitive enough to fight for the things that really keep exciting you.

“For the moment I am happy. It is true that I went through, again, a tough period of time. But I am here to enjoy and to give myself a chance to play well here in Rome.”

Nadal faces John Isner or Francisco Cerundolo in his opening match at the Foro Italico, where he is the defending champion after outlasting Novak Djokovic in the championship match to clinch a record-extending 10th title at the event in 2021. He believes his week in Madrid, which included victories over Miomir Kecmanovic and David Goffin before a thrilling three-set defeat to Alcaraz, gives him a better chance to make it 11 titles in the Italian capital.

“I need to keep improving…[But] it’s normal that I need some more time in terms of everything,” said Nadal. “In terms of movement, in terms of being more fitter, in terms of reading again the game. In general terms, [it was] not a negative week in Madrid, even if the tournament is probably the most difficult for me, [with] the altitude.

“[I am] excited to be in Rome. It’s a place that I love so much. [I have] amazing memories. I’ll try my best, as I do always. I hope to be ready to play a little bit better than last week. Let’s see.”

The 36-time Masters 1000 champion has enjoyed watching the rapid rise of his countryman Alcaraz, despite the disappointment of losing out in the pair’s quarter-final clash in the Spanish capital. For Nadal, the level the 19-year-old showed to charge to a second Masters 1000 title of the year was not unexpected.

“He [Alcaraz] already won in Miami, won in Barcelona. Honestly it is not a big surprise,” said Nadal. “[I am] happy for him. Everybody knows the amount of confidence he has right now, the level that he can reach. [I am] happy for him and happy because we have an amazing player in our country for a lot of years to come.

“It’s always special to win at home. It has probably been a very special week for him…At the same time I am happy to have somebody like him from my country achieving all the things that he’s achieving.”

Former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka earned his first tour-level win since February 2021 Monday, rallying past American Reilly Opelka 3-6, 7-5, 6-2 to reach the second round at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome.

The Swiss star was competing in just his second ATP Tour match in 14 months but showcased quality and grit throughout, hammering forehands and blasting his trademark backhand with precision to advance after two hours and five minutes.

The 37-year-old looked down and out when he trailed the big-serving American 2-4 in the second set. However, he started to consistently find Opelka’s feet on return and began to close the net more effectively to turn the match around in front of a lively crowd and level his ATP Head2Head series with the World No. 17 at 1-1.

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Wawrinka will next face Laslo Djere or Borna Coric as he looks to work his way back to full fitness after being sidelined since March 2021 with a foot injury. The 16-time tour-level titlist made his ATP Tour return against Alexander Bublik in Monte Carlo in April.

Before his victory over Opelka, Wawrinka had not earned a match win since he defeated Pedro Sousa at the 2021 Australian Open.

Opelka, who reached the semi-finals in Rome last year, captured his first clay-court title in Houston last month.

Carlos Alcaraz continued to rewrite the history books at the Mutua Madrid Open, where he defeated Alexander Zverev on Sunday to earn his ATP Tour-leading fourth title of the season.

It was another accomplishment in a year full of astonishing achievement for the Spanish teen. Alcaraz’s victory at the Caja Magica in front of his home fans might have been his most impressive effort yet.

The 19-year-old defeated World No. 4 Rafael Nadal, World No. 1 Novak Djokovic and World No. 3 Zverev to become the youngest player in the history of the ATP Tour (since 1990) to oust three of the top five players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings at the same event. No other teen had previously done so. The next-youngest player who earned three such victories was 20-year-old Novak Djokovic in 2007 at Montreal, where he upset World No. 3 Andy Roddick, World No. 2 Nadal and World No. 1 Roger Federer to claim the title.

Alcaraz, who also triumphed in Miami, became the second-youngest player to win two ATP Masters 1000 titles. Only Nadal was younger when he accomplished the feat at 18 in 2005. The pupil of former World No. 1 Juan Carlos Ferrero also claimed his fifth tour-level title in Madrid, becoming the youngest to do so since Nadal, also in 2005.

Alcaraz is the youngest champion in the history of three of the four tournaments he has won this year: Rio de Janeiro, Miami and Madrid. His victory in Rio de Janeiro made him the youngest ATP 500 champion in series history (152 events).

One year ago, Alcaraz had still not cracked the Top 100 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. This year, he became the youngest to break into the Top 20 since Andrei Medvedev in 1993 and the youngest to crack the Top 10 since Nadal in 2005. On Monday, Alcaraz will move to a career-high World No. 6.

More Stats To Know:
– The Spaniard in Madrid became the first player to eliminate Nadal and Djokovic at the same clay-court event.

– He became the youngest player to defeat both Nadal and Djokovic. Only 11 other players have done it at the same tournament, and he is just the fifth to accomplish the feat on consecutive days.

– Alcaraz has won seven consecutive matches against Top 10 opponents dating back to the Miami Open presented by Itau, where he earned his maiden Masters 1000 crown.

– The Spaniard now leads the ATP Tour with 28 tour-level wins this year, putting him now victory ahead of Stefanos Tsitsipas. His four titles is also best on Tour, ahead of Nadal and Andrey Rublev, who have three each.

– Alcaraz now has a 61-21 record in his career. Earlier in the year, the Spaniard reached 50 wins in his 70th tour-level match. No player who has reached No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings earned his 50th tour-level victory in fewer matches.

A pair of top ATP Tour stars continue their comebacks after long-term injury at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Monday, with Stan Wawrinka taking on Reilly Opelka and Dominic Thiem facing Fabio Fognini in first-round action at the ATP Masters 1000 event.

View Schedule | View Singles Draw | View Doubles Draw

[14] Reilly Opelka (USA) vs. Stan Wawrinka (SUI)

If their only previous tour-level meeting is anything to go by, Opelka and Wawrinka could well serve up a Monday classic at the Foro Italico. The pair played out a five-set thriller at Wimbledon in 2019, with Opelka taking the fifth set 8-6 on the grass.

The American has emerged as something of a clay-court dark horse in recent times, with his booming serve powering him to a maiden title on the red dirt in Houston in April. The 14th seed also enjoyed a strong run in Rome last year, reaching the semi-finals without dropping a set before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal.

He takes on a former World No. 3 in Wawrinka who is playing just his second ATP Tour event after 13 months away due to a foot injury. Wawrinka has tasted Masters 1000 glory on the clay before, at Monte Carlo in 2014, and also has pedigree in the Italian capital, having reached the final in Rome in 2008.

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Dominic Thiem (AUT) vs. Fabio Fognini (ITA)

Thiem has shown flashes of his brilliant best in his three matches on Tour since returning from a wrist injury, and the Austrian will hope to put together a more complete performance at a tournament where he reached the semi-finals in 2017. Fognini’s 2022 season has been a mixed bag so far, with the 2019 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters champion 11-8 for the year, and he will want to bounce back strongly from a straight-sets loss to Nikoloz Basilashvili in the first round in Madrid.

Thiem leads Fognini 3-1 in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series, but the Italian’s sole victory came in Rome in 2018 and Fognini, one of the biggest showmen on Tour, has a history of upping his level in front of his home fans.

[13] Denis Shapovalov (CAN) vs. Lorenzo Sonego (ITA)

Shapovalov meets home favourite Sonego in a maiden ATP Head2Head meeting as the Canadian seeks to inject some momentum into his season. The 13th seed helped Team Canada to ATP Cup glory and reached the quarter-finals of the Australian Open in January, but is 6-6 since.

Shapovalov was a semi-finalist in Rome in 2020, but his opponent on Monday matched that run a year later with Sonego upsetting Gael Monfils, Thiem and Andrey Rublev on the way to the final four in 2021. The Italian will look to home support for inspiration once again when he takes on Shapovalov in Grand Stand Arena.

Also In Action

A pair of young Italian wild cards take on Top 50 opponents on Monday as 20-year-old Giulio Zeppieri faces Karen Khachanov, with #NextGenATP 19-year-old Flavio Cobolli meeting Jenson Brooksby. Monte Carlo finalist Alejandro Davidovich Fokina looks to kick-start another deep run at Masters 1000 level when he takes on Ilya Ivashka, while Sebastian Korda faces a tough opponent in Munich finalist Botic van de Zandschulp. The man van de Zandschulp ousted in the first round in Madrid, 15th seed Pablo Carreno Busta, opens his campaign against Federico Delbonis.

Red-hot Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz earned his 10th consecutive win Sunday to capture the Mutua Madrid Open title.

The 19-year-old overcame top four stars Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Alexander Zverev en route to his second ATP Masters 1000 crown. Titles in Barcelona and Madrid represent a stunning response from Alcaraz, who, after winning in Miami, faced question marks following his opening-round defeat at the first clay-court ATP Masters 1000 of the season in Monte Carlo.

Alcaraz revealed that he feels his defeat against American Sebastian Korda in the Principality was pivotal, helping him raise his game further.

“I consider myself a player that’s playing very well. As the numbers speak by themselves, I think that I’m doing it quite well on clay right now,” Alcaraz said following his final win in Madrid.

“As I said in Monte-Carlo, you learn a lot from defeats. I think this is a clear example. I lost in the first round of Monte Carlo, and I learned from that defeat and I started to train for Barcelona and Madrid. I consider that I am playing very, very well, and I think that I am a tough opponent for the other players.”

Just 12 months ago, Alcaraz was No. 120 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and won just three games against Nadal in the second round in Madrid. On Monday he will rise to a career-high No. 6 after he became the first player since David Nalbandian in Madrid in 2007 to defeat three top four players at a Masters 1000 event.

However, despite his success, the 2022 Tour-leading four-time titlist is still aiming for further improvement.

“I think that I have to improve everything still. I have always said that you can improve everything. You never reach a limit,” Alcaraz said. “Look at Rafa, Djokovic, [Roger] Federer, all of them improve and they have things to improve. That’s why they are so good, and that’s why they are so much [of the] time up there, because they don’t stop. They keep on working and improving.

“That’s what I want to do. I want to keep on progressing. I have really good shots. I don’t say that I don’t have them, but I know that I can improve them and they can be even better.”

By triumphing on home soil in Madrid, Alcaraz has completed a dream journey from fan to champion, having watched the event as a child. The 19-year-old shed a smile as he reflected on his achievement and personal history with the event.

“I remember the first time when I was playing, when I was small in Murcia, I didn’t imagine at that moment that I was going to be able to reach this level, to be here right now, champion of the Mutua Madrid Open,” Alcaraz said. “I remember that my life was to compete back in the day. I liked to train a lot, and I am still a kid that likes to compete more than to train.

“For me to celebrate this title, which is very special, with my family, with my cousins, uncles, grandparents, all my family in general, it’s very, very special.”

Carlos Alcaraz is a 360-degree player. He comes at you from every possible angle.

Alcaraz defeated Alexander Zverev 6-3, 6-1 in the Mutua Madrid Open final on Sunday by bamboozling the German with a scintillating array of Spanish shotmaking. Alcaraz comes at you with a laser forehand. Or a crushing backhand. Or a devilish drop shot. Or serving and volleying. He comes at you so many ways, you don’t know which way is up.

Alcaraz hit six drop shots in the final and won the point on all of them. Four came from a forehand groundstroke while two came from a forehand drop volley. The 19-year-old Spaniard also served and volleyed five times in the final and won them all. The skill level that exists across the entire spectrum of strategy is simply off the charts. Watching Alcaraz is like watching something for the very first time, even though you have watched the sport for decades.

Alcaraz Forehands & Backhands
Overall, Alcaraz hit 60 per cent (50/84) forehand groundstrokes for the match, which excludes returns, volleys and overheads. Thirty-six of them were regular forehands standing in the Deuce court and 14 were run-around forehands standing in the Ad court.

The following breakdown includes Alcaraz’s forehand and backhand winners and errors as well as errors that were also extracted from Zverev from that particular shot.

Regular Forehands
– 36 hit
– 2 winners
– 6 errors
– 5 errors extracted from Zverev

Run-Around Forehands
– 14 hit
– 5 winners
– 2 errors
– 3 errors extracted from Zverev

Backhands
– 34 hit
– 2 winners
– 5 errors
– 9 errors extracted from Zverev

Alcaraz’s forehand is a formidable weapon, with his run-around forehand especially so. Of the 14 times he struck this shot standing in the deuce court, he immediately won the point eight times from a winner or forcing an error. It’s a prolific strike-rate, especially when you consider he only yielded two errors in the process.

What’s fascinating is that Alcaraz’s backhand immediately produced more errors on the other side of the court from Zverev than his forehand did. Alcaraz extracted nine errors from his backhand wing and eight errors from his forehand. This is a key to the teenager’s success. There simply is no weaker wing for opponents to prey on.

Alcaraz only yielded five groundstroke errors (two forehand/three backhand) in the opening set, which set the tone for the one-sided final. Throw in two drop-shot points won and three serve-and-volley points won and Zverev had no discernible strategy to claw his way back into set two. To end the opening set, Alcaraz committed only one error from his last 16 backhands. It must have been a torturous time for Zverev, who regularly relies on his backhand to break down his opponent’s backhand. Not this time. Not even close.

The analytics of Alcaraz’s matches uncover a player who is solid as a rock and can do everything under the sun.