Tennis News

Sinner Moves Past Korda In Washington

In a battle of two #NextGenATP stars, it was Jannik Sinner who came out on top on Thursday at the Citi Open in Washington. The fifth-seeded Italian overcame American Sebastian Korda 7-6(3), 7-6(3) to reach the quarter-finals.

“Obviously it was a tough match, because we never practised together. We never played [a singles] match, so it was kind of new for both of us,” Sinner said. “[We have a] very similar game style, so… [I was] trying to stick to my game plan, trying to serve well in the important moments, trying to have a good balance on court.”

The 19-year-old snapped a four-match losing streak in his opening-round victory against Emil Ruusuvuori and backed it up against Korda, who Sinner will partner in the doubles quarter-finals later on Thursday as they team for the first time this week. The Italian served well and batted from 2-5 down in the second set to advance in one hour and 56 minutes.

Sinner is currently first in the ATP Race To Milan, two spots ahead of Korda in third. The Italian was victorious at the Great Ocean Road Open in Melbourne earlier this year and became just the fourth teenager to reach the final at the Miami Open presented by Itau in March.

The World No. 24 is making his debut at the ATP 500 hard-court event and will next face Steve Johnson after the American beat Ricardas Berankis 6-2, 6-1.

Both Sinner and Korda struck the ball with great depth in the first set as they looked to dictate from the baseline. After Sinner broke to lead 5-4, he was unable to serve the set out, as Korda found good angles on return to move the 19-year-old around. However, the Italian regained focus and raised his level to come through the tie-break to move ahead.

After receiving treatment at the end of the first set, Korda began to have more joy on return in the second set. He stepped inside the baseline to attack Sinner’s serve with his variety of shot, racing 5-2 ahead. However, with the match looking set for a decider, Sinner began to disrupt Korda’s rhythm to gain both breaks back and level at 5-5. Sinner then played aggressively in the tie-break to seal his victory.

“Everyone thinks it’s easy, but it’s not that easy to close it out,” Sinner said. “There is a little bit of pressure. When I made the break, for me it was important to [make] him serve out [at] 5-4.”

Korda won his first ATP Tour title at the Emilia-Romagna Open in Parma in May and broke into the top 50 of the FedEx ATP Rankings for the first time following this triumph. The American was also making his debut in Washington.

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NHL Star Lars Eller Presents Rafael Nadal With Washington Capitals Jersey

Rafael Nadal scored in more ways than one Wednesday evening.

After the legendary Spaniard battled past American Jack Sock in a final-set tie-break in the second round of the Citi Open, the top seed received a special gift. NHL star Lars Eller, who won the Stanley Cup in 2018 with the Washington Capitals, presented Nadal with a customised “Nadal” Capitals jersey.

When ? meets ? @Capitals center @lellerofficial presented @RafaelNadal with his own custom jersey ?#CitiOpen pic.twitter.com/f204c37LhA

— ATP Tour (@atptour) August 5, 2021

“It’s a sport I very much enjoy playing in my free time and also watching,” Eller said. “Especially having Nadal and this level of talent here, it’s a blessing to the city if you’re a tennis fan. We’ve got a Capitals jersey for him that I’m happy to hand over to him.”

Eller scored the game-winning goal in the Capitals’ Stanley Cup-clinching victory against the Las Vegas Golden Knights in 2018.

Nadal, who is making his debut in Washington, will play South African Lloyd Harris in the third round on Thursday evening. The Spaniard is chasing his third ATP Tour title of the season after lifting the trophy in Barcelona and Rome.

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Federer Withdraws From Toronto & Cincinnati Due To Injury

Former World No. 1 Roger Federer has withdrawn from the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto and the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati due to a knee injury, the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments announced Thursday.

The 39-year-old underwent two right knee surgeries in 2020 after the Australian Open before returning to the Tour in Doha this March. Federer has competed in five tournaments this year, recently missing the Tokyo Olympics due to injury.

When he announced his withdrawal from the Olympics, Federer tweeted: “During the grass-court season, I unfortunately experienced a setback with my knee.”

The World No. 9’s best result this season was a run to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. The 28-time Masters 1000 champion also competed at Roland Garros, where he reached the fourth round before withdrawing. Federer has enjoyed success in Canada, winning two titles in Toronto, and is a record-holding seven-time champion in Cincinnati.

It was also announced Thursday that Tokyo Olympics singles gold medallist Alexander Zverev will not compete in Toronto.

“I regret to inform you that, unfortunately, I have to withdraw from the National Bank Open in Toronto,” Zverev said in a statement. “Due to the intense past couple of weeks and my incredible experience at the Olympics, I need to recover so that I can hopefully be at my best for the remainder of the U.S. summer swing. It was a difficult decision for me as I have had great memories from Canada and I can’t wait to be back next year!”

Italian Matteo Berrettini, Canadian Milos Raonic and Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta have also withdrawn from Toronto.

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Kyrgios/Tiafoe Begin Washington Campaign

Wild cards Nick Kyrgios and Frances Tiafoe opened their Citi Open doubles campaign with a hard-fought win over third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Ivan Dodig 7-5, 1-6, 11-9 on Wednesday in Toronto.

The Australian-American tandem, who are teaming for the first time this year, won 75 per cent (36/48) of their first-service points to set up a meeting with #NextGenATP stars Sebastian Korda and Jannik Sinner.

Neal Skupski and Michael Venus also advanced to the quarter-finals as the second seeds overcame French-Australian pair Fabrice Martin and Max Purcell 7-5, 6-3 in 67 minutes. The British-New Zealand duo next face Cameron Norrie and Luke Saville.

Alex de Minuar and John Millman sprung a surprise as the Australians upset top seeds John Peers and Filip Polasek 7-6(4), 5-7, 10-7. De Minuar and Millman will next play Marcus Daniell and Marcelo Melo after the Brazilian-New Zealand team took down Marcelo Arevalo and Matwe Middelkoop 7-6(8), 6-2.

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Nadal: It Is ‘About Winning These Kind of Matches’

Following a gruelling three-hour, five-minute encounter to hold off a free-swinging Jack Sock, Rafael Nadal admits it is all about maximising recovery time in his first ATP Tour tournament back from a foot injury. The top seed saw off the former World No. 8 before an electric packed Stadium Court at the Citi Open, his first match since he fell to eventual champion Novak Djokovic in a physically brutal showdown in the Roland Garros semi-finals.

It was that four-set defeat to the World No. 1 in Paris that ultimately led to the Spaniard’s withdrawal from the entire grass-court swing to recuperate the troublesome left foot. Still, in his Washington debut before 7500 fans, there was enough in his play to suggest he had taken a gutsy first step back to regaining form.

“You need matches like this to be fitter after a month without competing. But that’s part of the process, and I know the process,” Nadal said. “I went through all this stuff many times on my career. So it’s something I am not worried about.

“So is about winning these kind of matches. That helps you to be better. Then, if I’m able to improve with my foot, I think the rest of the things [are] going to come step by step.”

Sock knew all too well the struggles of injury, having worked his way back through ATP Challenger Tour events in the first half of 2021 just to return to the Top 200 in the FedEx ATP Rankings on Monday. He had his chances to secure a first ATP Head2Head victory in six meetings with the Spaniard but failed to capitalise on a 3-1 third-set lead.

As impressed as Nadal was at the former World No. 8’s level, he offered a sage warning based on his own experiences in recent seasons. The younger brigade was hungry.

“[It] is true that he went through a couple of important injuries, something that is always difficult,” Nadal said. “And it is true that today, a lot of young guys [are] there. It’s not easy to fight with all of them. They are younger, they are good. They are ready to play as many weeks as they need.

“Well, I think I saw him playing better than what he did the last couple of years, without a doubt. I’m happy for him. I wish him all the very best.”

Nadal meets 14^th-seeded South African Lloyd Harris next for a place in the quarterfinals. Despite having admitted to some pain in the left foot during the match, he was prepared to forge ahead.

“I have been resting enough. Maybe [it] is not about resting, but is the moment to just keep going,” Nadal said. “[It] is the moment to not practise much because I played a three-hour match, so I need to be ready for tomorrow.

“[I will] have a short warm-up tomorrow, try to be ready for the match. I’m going to have a tough opponent in front. Let’s see. Tomorrow’s another day, another opportunity to play in front of this amazing crowd. I want to enjoy the experience again.”

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Nadal Sinks Sock In Washington Thriller

Rafael Nadal survived a Jack Sock onslaught on Wednesday night as he overcame a stern three-set test in the opening match of his Citi Open debut. The top seed saw off the resurgent former World No. 8 before a packed Stadium Court crowd, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6(1).

In a battle between two of the heaviest top-spun forehands, Nadal was forced to work overtime to dig himself back from a break down in the third set as he prevailed after three hours and five minutes. Nadal had not played since a gruelling Roland Garros semi-final defeat to Novak Djokovic in June and not on hard court since he fell to Stefanos Tsitsipas in five sets in the Australian Open quarter-finals in February.

Between 2015 and 2017, Nadal and Sock had squared off five times and while the American had taken sets in three of those encounters – including the fourth round at Roland Garros 2015 – this match ultimately went the way of all their previous ATP Head2Head encounters. Victory set a showdown with South African Lloyd Harris for a place in the quarter-finals.

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Sinner Sails Through In Washington Debut

Fifth seed Jannik Sinner is up and running at the Citi Open, snapping a four-match losing streak as he defeated Emil Ruusuvuori 6-2, 6-4 in his tournament debut on Wednesday. 

The 19-year-old Italian shook off an opening-round defeat last week at the Truist Atlanta Open (l. to O’Connell), and bounced back by winning the doubles title with Reilly Opelka. The extra hard-court matches paid off in Washington, D.C., where he fired winners off both wings including three aces en route to victory in an hour and 18 minutes.

“It was not easy. We’ve had some great battles already, this time was the third [time I faced him],” Sinner said in an on-court interview. “He’s a very, very good player and a young guy. I’m happy about my performance today. 

“I was trying to play my game. I think we both have similar styles, we both play quite flat. I was trying to change direction [of the ball] earlier than him, and that worked well for me today.” 

Sinner did not face a break point against Ruusuvuori, who reached the semi-finals last week in Atlanta. The Italian was strong behind his first serve, winning 85 per cent (17/20) of those points. Sinner improved to 2-0 in his ATP Head2Head against Ruusuvuori, and 2-1 overall. 

Sinner booked a third-round clash with fellow #NextGenATP Sebastian Korda, after the 12th-seeded American defeated Vasek Pospisil 7-5, 6-4 on Tuesday. 

Fourth seed Grigor Dimitrov also suffered an upset on Wednesday as Ilya Ivashka scored a 6-2, 7-6(4) victory to reach the third round. Dimitrov was contesting his first match since Wimbledon, and the rust showed in his 40 unforced errors to 24 winners as Ivashka broke serve three times from nine opportunities. The Belarusian awaits the winner of 13th seed Benoit Paire and Mackenzie McDonald.

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The Nakashima Train Continues To Roll In Washington

The Brandon Nakashima train keeps rolling, and the 20-year-old put that on full display Wednesday at the Citi Open in a 7-6(1), 6-0 victory against sixth seed Daniel Evans.

The #NextGenATP American has now won 10 of his past 12 tour-level matches dating back to the start of his run at the Mifel Open in Los Cabos. Before that, he had not earned a victory at this level since last year’s US Open.

Nakashima made back-to-back finals in Los Cabos and Atlanta — marking his first two championship matches on the ATP Tour — and his confidence is showing in Washington. The Californian has not lost a set through two matches at the ATP 500, and he converted four of his five break points against Evans.

“It definitely feels great right now. Having all this confidence from playing all these matches, going deep in tournaments has been good for me,” Nakashima said. “I’m sure every player would want to have this feeling right now of playing well and winning all these matches. I’m just trying to embrace it as much as possible.”

Evans is a gritty competitor, who reached a career-high No. 25 in the FedEx ATP Rankings in June. The 31-year-old trailed by a break late in the first set and saved a set point en route to a tie-break. But in the critical moments, Nakashima hit back-to-back screaming passing shots to seize control. The former University of Virginia player then took the opener and never looked back.

“I think he’s got obviously a very big future. He seems very calm and levelheaded, which is a good thing. He played good today. He put me away pretty convincingly in the end,” said Evans, who missed the Tokyo Olympics due to COVID-19. “He’s going to be a good player.”

Nakashima will next play countryman Denis Kudla, who is from the area. The World No. 103 upset 10th seed Taylor Fritz 6-4, 6-2 behind five service breaks.

Did You Know?
Nakashima celebrated his 20th birthday Tuesday with a 6-3, 6-3 victory against Australian Alexei Popyrin.

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Cincinnati Marks Beginning Of 'Return To Normal' For FedEx ATP Rankings Logic

For the first time since the ATP Tour resumed from its pandemic suspension in August 2020, FedEx ATP Rankings points will be added and dropped per traditional methodology beginning 23 August (the rankings after the 2021 Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati).

A player’s current Western & Southern Open ATP Ranking points will drop 23 August, 2021 and be replaced with points earned by the player at this year’s Western & Southern Open (played 15-22 August). Those new points will stay on a player’s breakdown for 52 weeks, dropping 22 August, 2022. As well, players who currently have Western & Southern Open points in their breakdown and do not compete in this year’s event will also have their existing Cincinnati ranking points drop on 23 August.

Points earned at all events after Cincinnati will be treated in the same manner.

In contrast, results from tournaments held up to and including the National Bank Open Presented by Rogers in Toronto (9-15 August), remain subject to the pandemic-related ‘Best Of’ logic (outlined in detail below).

As of 15 August, 2022, all pandemic-related adjustments will cease and the traditional 52-week rolling ranking methodology will be fully restored.

“Best Of” Logic
The FedEx ATP Rankings are in a “Best Of” system that extends through and including the week of 9 August, 2021. The “Best Of” ranking system adds events as per normal, except for when a player has two scores from the same tour-level event. In this situation, the player will only count the better of his two results in his rankings breakdown.

Events that occurred between 4 March, 2019 and 12 August, 2019 were extended for a further 52 weeks, or until the event is played in 2022 (max 156 weeks) and weighted at 50 per cent for the final 52 weeks. As exceptions, 2019 events in Rome, at Roland Garros, Kitzbühel and Hamburg are not extended an additional 52 weeks as the 2020 editions were played. Because of this, the 2020 scores from these events are to be extended for an additional 52 weeks, or until the event is played in 2022, and weighted at 50 per cent.

Visit FedEx ATP Rankings FAQ page

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The Nomadic Life With… Alexander Bublik

Alexander Bublik is one of the most entertaining players on the ATP Tour, from his shotmaking ability to his underarm serves. Although fans might remember the Kazakhstani’s trickery most, he has more aces than anyone so far with 576 entering this week’s Citi Open.

“It’s a cool stat. Leading in aces after almost eight months is great,” Bublik said. “It means I can serve. It means I can hit dingers.”

Before the ninth seed begins his run in Washington, ATPTour.com caught up with Bublik about what his life is like on Tour, his favourite vacation spots, and why he tries to focus on anything but tennis once off the court.

What are two essential non-tennis items you always pack for trips?
It’s my wedding ring and my watch. I buy and sell. I bought my first [watch] in 2017. Since then I’ve had many. I’m a big watch enthusiast. I love watches, I love buying them and selling them. I love all these kinds of things. At the moment I have maybe four or five watches, but I’ve had many more. 

Do you enjoy travelling the world or consider it just something that needs to be done to be a pro tennis player? If you do enjoy it, what do you enjoy about travelling?
I don’t like travelling at all to be honest with you. I’m not a big fan of packing, flying and changing time zones, but I treat it like a part of work. I don’t like it. I was happy to stay home for six months. I was very happy, it was really good for me. I would stay another six months at home if that would be necessary. For me travelling is just a part of my job to make a living.

How do you try to overcome jetlag and acclimate to the local time zone?
It’s not tough for me. I do well for the time zones, but I just don’t like travelling. I would be happy to travel from my home to the Alps and back with the car, five or six hours. I’m not a guy who would go to the Maldives, a 15-hour-trip to lay under the sun for 15 days.

In that case, where is your favourite vacation destination?
The French Alps, Swiss Alps, ski resorts. Something that is not mainstream and you don’t see hundreds of tennis players and athletes there. Something that is a bit interesting to walk around, see nature.

I go to the mountains, I enjoy nature. Of course there is a great hotel, but [I like] walking around. I can’t ski or snowboard unfortunately, but I love nature. It’s great to recharge, put away your phone. I think for me the best places are these cold resorts with skiing or in the Swiss Alps.

Watch Bublik Tour The Newport Grounds:

What is your favourite tournament city to visit and why?
The ATP hosts the tournaments in very good locations, so usually it’s always in good cities. There are some cities I don’t like [because of] the weather or conditions or other things, but overall 95 per cent of tournaments held by the ATP are held in great spots. We have great hotels [too].

As a tennis player, maintaining your body is of the utmost importance, so how do you take care of it during long trips?
Sleep well, and a couple of glasses of wine never hurt. I try not to stick to the tennis player thing, always taking care of yourself, taking care of your body, taking care of your tennis. When you travel, you should try to be a normal person and do whatever a normal person would do on a 14-hour flight.

Are there any routines or activities you do to create a sense of ‘home on the road’ to feel more comfortable?
I travel with my wife, my coach — who is my good friend — and a fitness trainer and we try not to talk about tennis. We try not to think about tennis at all when we are outside the tennis courts. Just live a normal life.

I don’t treat myself as a tennis player when I am outside. I probably should in order to perform better as they say. But for me, the most important thing is to feel happy and feel comfortable on the Tour. I try to put aside the tennis life when I am away from the tennis courts.

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