ATP 500 Washington

Nick Kyrgios. A name that incites either a roll of the eyes, a smile or possibly both from casual and dedicated tennis fans alike. Throughout his short professional career, Kyrgios and controversy have gone together like bangers and mash, with headlines in mainstream sports pages usually detailing not the results of his matches, but whatever antic or altercation has occurred between him and the officials.

Thus, Kyrgios’ showcasing triumph in Washington has a cathartic element, both for himself and the tennis community. When asked what he was most pleased about during the week, Kyrgios immediately replied “my professionalism”; an intriguing response considering his only other noteworthy success this year (victory in Acapulco) ran synonymously with late-night boozing and early-morning jet skiing. Yet certain occasions betrayed just how badly Kyrgios wanted the win this week; how he regained his composure after an all-too-familiar second-set meltdown against  Tsitsipas, as well as fighting off back spasms in the final to win a crucial first-set tiebreak against Medvedev.

For Kyrgios, this week is a prime example of how he can still stay true to himself by playing his natural game on the court whilst attaining significant success. He said as much in his post-final press conference, stating “I’ve beaten every single of the best tennis players in the world doing it my way, I’m never going to stop doing that”. First and foremost, Kyrgios is an entertainer. The Washington crowd were treated to the standard program (underarm serves, hotdogs etc), as well as slightly unique instances; for example, Kyrgios asking a member of the crowd where he should serve for each of his quarter-final, semi-final and final (Yes, really) match-points. Whether it is this, or something so inconsequential as not taking part in the pre-match coin toss, Kyrgios revels in being different, and in a sport where each and every player is single-mindedly gunning for the same end, this is no bad thing. However, this week clearly shows Kyrgios will continue to strive and achieve similar objectives to his fellow professionals.

It would be easy to completely zero in on Kyrgios but others contributed their fair share of drama and high-quality tennis this week. Daniil Medvedev continues to go from strength to strength in reaching his third final of 2019, often resembling a rotating wall from the back of the court as he ground his opponents into submission. Special mention must go to Peter Gojowczyk, a German lucky loser who started the week outside the top 100 with just 6 tour wins to his name all season, not only for making the semi-finals, but for defeating top quality opponents such as De Minaur, Raonic and Edmund on the way. He would be characterised as a streaky player, but displayed the extent of what he can produce when his game clicks into place. Finally, anyone watching Washington through the week could not fail to notice “shoegate” – a seemingly random and yet reoccurring phenomena of Stefanos Tsitsipas’s shoelaces breaking during his matches. Tsitsipas, who was a decent way off his best, might be glad that his notoriety stemmed from footwear issues as opposed to the level he was at, but these incidents incited irritation from his 3rd round opponent Thompson, anger from his quarter-final foe Paire, and from Kyrgios… nothing but a smile and a joke. Perhaps this is evidence of his ameliorating professionalism. For next week though, Tsitsipas might want to switch to Velcro.

Laver Cup Geneva 2019

Laver Cup Piece

It says something about the rapid hold the Laver Cup has taken on the ATP Calendar that when the French Tennis Federation unilaterally switched the dates of the 2020 French Open to September 20-October 4th, one of the first points of concern was that it clashed with this competition. The expectation on the eve of the inaugural edition in 2017 was that it would be an entertaining but ultimately exhibition-type event designed primarily to honour one of the sport’s greatest ever players in Rod Laver. Two years later, this could not have been less the case; 2017 and 2018 in Prague and Chicago respectively saw hearts broken, tears shed and roars of triumph – and this was just from the players.

Before going any further, the exact nature of competition is as follows: six European players (Team Europe) match up against six players from the rest of the world (Team World) over a three-day period. Each day has four matches; three singles and one doubles rubber, and regarding player participation, the only explicit rules are that every player has to play one singles match and no player can more than two singles (or play the same player twice). The added nuance and uniqueness to the competition is that there is more to play for each day; every win on Day 1 is one point, but counts for two on Day 2 and three on Day 3. Europe had triumphed the previous two years and look exceedingly likely to do so in 2019, boasting a formidable line-up comprising Federer and Nadal, two of the greatest ever to play the game, as well as a host of young talent in Dominic Thiem, Alexander Zverev and Stefanos Tsitsipas and the mercurial Italian Fabio Fognini, who was enjoying a career-best season on the tour. By contrast, Team World appeared thin on paper; three of their team members (John Isner, Milos Raonic and Jack Sock) had spent large parts of the season out through injury and the remaining players (Nick Kyrgios, Denis Shapovalov and Taylor Fritz) weren’t exactly lighting up the season form-wise. But the fact that the 2019 Laver Cup managed to go down to the final match before Team Europe sealed a hattrick of victories shows the beauty of the competition: form and results go out the window and it becomes about who can handle the pressure and rise to the occasion – a situation which more often than not favours the underdogs.

  • Day 1 – Geneva played host for this year’s event and the guttural roar from the crowd when hometown hero Roger Federer came out for the players’ introduction was deafening – I honestly hadn’t experienced an atmosphere like it. Because of the point system, the first day is usually when the weaker players from both teams contest the singles matches, and the first two definitely took a while to warm up. Dominic Thiem edged Denis Shapovalov in a scrappy affair that came down to which player was the more solid – it could’ve gone either way but Thiem eventually squeezed through 13-11 in the match tiebreak. The next match proved the biggest shock of the entire weekend, with Jack Sock ousting Fabio Fognini in straight sets. Sock won nine singles matches throughout the entire course of the 2018 season, prompting a plunge down the rankings from the Top 10 to well outside the top 100, and, despite his unquestionable doubles prowess and skills as a team player, his call-up to Team World was a surprise to say the least. Yet Captain McEnroe’s faith was repaid – Sock was lucky that Fognini more resembled your local club player than a member of the top 10; spraying errors all over the place, especially in the first set. Despite getting it together a bit more for the second set, he couldn’t raise his level sufficiently to topple the American, and Sock managed to level the scores at one apiece. After an interval, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Taylor Fritz contested what was by far the best singles tie of the day: similar to the first in its pendulum-like nature, with Tsitsipas taking the first set 6-2, before Fritz hit back to romp the second 6-1. The Greek’s superior belief and big-match experience may have proved the difference, as Fritz blinked with a double fault at 7-7 in the match tiebreak, ultimately costing him the match. The final doubles match was another case of close but no cigar for Team World – the condemning stat for them being 1/16 break points converted, showing how taking opportunities as opposed to creating them was the major issue in this clash. Europe chose this fixture to deploy Roger Federer for the first time, and the Swiss maestro didn’t disappoint: clearly the MVP out of the four and showed good player management in getting his partner Zverev through some evident early nerves so he could some of his best tennis towards the end of the match as well. A successful Friday for Team Europe, ending Day 1 three points to one ahead.
  • Day 2 – Day 2 was kicked off with an intriguing matchup between World’s John Isner and Europe’s Alexander Zverev. Twelve months prior in Chicago, Zverev narrowly claimed the victory in a tight super-tiebreak, and at a set and 4-3 up looked to be heading for the same fate. But this format suits the giant American, largely due to his capability of executing 25-30 minutes of completely lights-out tennis during spells in matches. A significant raise in level from Isner alongside some fortune at times was too much for Zverev, blowing the German away 10-1 in the deciding breaker to bring the situation to parity at 3-3. Then came the turn of the marque clash, and it didn’t disappoint. It was the third instalment in the Roger Federer-Nick Kyrgios Laver Cup story – Part 1 was an absolute thriller, with Federer’s win sealing Europe’s first Laver Cup in Prague, while Part 2 was very much a damp squib; Federer brushing Kyrgios aside 6-3 6-2. This chapter was much more of the 2017 mould – both players weren’t at their best but there were some excellent and intricate rallies and actually it looked for a large part of the match that Kyrgios was more likely to nick the two points; he exerted much greater pressure on return. Once Federer stole the second set 7-5 the outcome seemed somewhat inevitable, and after obtaining the early advantage in the 10-point tiebreak he didn’t relinquish anything on serve. Rafael Nadal followed suit in the next match against Canadian Milos Raonic; again like his fellow legend he didn’t look fully convincing at times and the 6-3 first set scoreline could easily have been reversed, considering Raonic had 8 unconverted break points in the first set. But he was clinical when his opportunities came and played a supreme tiebreak in the second set to avoid the match going into a decider, giving Europe a commanding 7-3 lead going into the final match. Yet, aside from Federer, the only other undefeated entity in Laver Cup’s history was the doubles combo of Kyrgios/Sock, and this feat continued, with the brash and energetic pairing making use of their chemistry and greater experience to overcome Nadal/Tsitsipas in an engaging three-set battle. Day 3 still had all to play for
  • Day 3 – The final day of the Laver Cup contained everything one could have possibly hoped for from the outset – drama, great tennis, knife-edge matches and more than a little uncertainty. As is the norm for the Laver Cup, it started with the final doubles match – the previous two European pairings splicing to create Federer/Tsitsipas who took on Sock (who else) – this time partnered by John Isner. Once again, it took a sharply contested match tiebreak to split the two teams, but the difference was World’s highlight-reel moments; a couple of magic returns from both Isner and Sock was enough to claim victory, and put World 8-7 ahead – exactly the same position they had been in on home turf last September. Then came both the drama and uncertainty. The schedule stated the next match would be Nadal vs Kyrgios; an absolute mouth-watering clash considering the developing rivalry that had been brewing throughout 2019, but before the day’s play had begun, there were rumours flying around questioning the fitness of both men. The ambiguity of the situation was only heightened when, having been asked whether Nick was “ready to go”, McEnroe flatly replied “No, he’s not. We need to have a conference”. However, those watching on TV would have been privy to the inside information: at a changeover the court microphones could clearly pick up Isner saying “especially because Fritz is playing next match”. The eventual outcome was the young American taking on Austrian Dominic Thiem, presenting a wonderful opportunity for both players to become a Laver Cup hero. The match was played at a consistently high-level but had a very cagey atmosphere to it; compared to other matches there were many more longer rallies and at times neither one looked comfortable taking the initiative and being aggressive. Both sets were won by the player who had actually looked less assured throughout the set, as Fritz utilised scoreboard pressure to steal the first set from under Thiem, who hit back to play a brilliant second-set tiebreak having been under significantly more pressure over the course of the set. To Fritz’s credit, he didn’t let his head drop, even when he went down a very early minibreak in the super tie-break, but once he reversed the deficit to go 3-2 up, he steamrolled past the Austrian, who couldn’t answer to his pinpoint serving and potent forehands. Without question, it was the biggest win of the 21-year-old’s fledgling career and gave World an unprecedently sizeable lead at 11 points to 7. At this stage, one match was all World needed, but in the short-term that would require Isner to do what he had marginally failed to do last year: beat Roger Federer. The Swiss maestro played at a sub-par level for most of that match, but unfortunately for Isner there was no repeat of this. Pretty much from the first point to the last prime Federer was on show, particularly impressive in how easy he made it look to return one of the game’s greatest serves. Isner forced a tiebreak in the second but never looked remotely like threatening Federer in the same manner as Chicago. Again, the passion and emotion displayed by Federer was remarkable; more understandable here considering the must-win nature of the match for Team Europe. Thus, the entire three days came down to a one-match shootout. At 11-10 to World, there was no possibility of the scores being tied (as they nearly were in Prague two years ago, which would’ve led to a deciding doubles clash). Alexander Zverev was to take on Milos Raonic – both players having lost their first singles match the previous day. In all honesty, this showed over the entire course of the match; level-wise, the match was far from captivating and proved a relatively limp finale to what had been an excellent long weekend of tennis. Aside from the quality, another interesting point from this match-up is that both Zverev and Raonic are quite individualist players, in that they don’t feel as comfortable or are responsive to a team environment as the rest of the players on their teams, which downplayed the atmosphere on court to an extent. After a lacklustre opening set, Raonic hit back to bring the match to one set apiece. An unforgettable moment was Roger and Rafa’s pep-talk/lecture to Zverev during the second set break – disclosing the full nature of the conversation would entail using profanities but the general jist of the message was positive body-language only and pull yourself together. This did the trick – Zverev simply played a much better match-tiebreak than his opponent, and really succeeded at getting the crowd on side. The deal was sealed with a forehand cross-pass, with Zverev collapsing to the floor for the obligatory team pile-on. What was evident in Europe’s celebrations on-court after their triumph ins that they are certainly not getting tired of winning this competition.

Santiago 2020

Scheduling an inaugural ATP event is always a difficult feat on its own – simply due to the added pressure over the lack of precedent and uncertainty as to whether the event can solidify itself as a mainstay on the ATP Tour. For tournament director Catalina Fillol and the rest of the organisers at the 2020 Chile Open, the exodus of players from the original entry list didn’t make this task any easier, with names such as Schwartzman, Pella, Coric and Verdasco (all significant crowd-drawers) falling out of the picture due to various injuries. Despite all of these setbacks, this week’s tennis in Santiago definitely proved to be a success; with a consistently high level of play throughout and a crowd that more than played their part in living up to the stereotype of vociferous, exuberant South American tennis fans. Like so many other weeks in the Golden Swing, this event marked a substantial breakthrough for a previously little-heard of player – the difference here, though, is that the ceiling of potential for such a player has never been so high.

Thiago Seyboth Wild plays with a swagger and self-assured confidence that is not evident in most other players on the ATP Tour. A large part of this is his age, just 19 years young, but some of the tennis that he displayed on the way to his first tour title (incidentally, the first man born in this century to win an ATP event) suggests that this confidence is by no means misplaced. There’s a raw brutality in his ball-striking that you simply can’t teach – his forehand especially already looks a thing of beauty, capable of hitting a winner from just about anywhere on the court. What was equally impressive was his unerringly aggressive mindset; he would go through rough patches in matches where his winners were dwarfed by his error count but he never allowed that to change his approach, with the outcome of the week showing how this bravery was vindicated. The scary thing for the other young pretenders coming up is that Seyboth has so many areas in which he could improve; notably consistency on the backhand side and his returning. Similar to Cristian Garin’s  2019 Golden Swing, Seyboth Wild’s run was informed by an impressive showing in the South American clay-court challengers that take place at the end of the season. Garin won a hattrick of events in the fall of 2018 (Campinas, Santo Domingo and Lima) and while Seyboth didn’t quite replicate this domination, a maiden Challenger victory in Guayaquil immediately followed by a semi-final showing in Montevideo the week after was an early indication of how his precocious talent could be converted into tangible results. Naturally there was an element of fortune this week in how the draw opened up for him so neatly – only needing one set to progress past a clearly jaded Garin in the quarters and then facing world number 297 Renzo Olivo in the semi-finals.  However, there was nothing fortunate about the manner in which he closed out the final set in the title decider against Casper Ruud. He took his serving to another stratosphere, hitting 8 aces and only dropping 3 points on serve in the whole set, and what was particularly telling was how he served for the match. The glimmer of a first ATP title on the horizon would understandably have been cause for some nerves from the young Brazilian, but Seyboth’s first three points in this game were ace, ace, and scorching forehand winner. Simply enough he plays without fear, and this combined with his considerable natural ability already makes him a seriously eye-catching player to watch.

Ever since the retirements of Fernando Gonzalez and Nicolas Massu, Chilean tennis has struggled to find a player that can take up the mantle and legacy that they left behind. Obviously the last few weeks have proven that newly established top 20 member and Cristian Garin is the man for this task, and it would’ve been a significant relief for both the event organisers and the Santiago faithful that their local hero honoured his commitment to head up the field this week. This is especially the case in the context of fellow Chilean Nicolas Jarry’s suspension after he tested positive for a banned substance, capping off a miserable twelve months for him after a poor 2019 season. Unfortunately for Garin, he was not anywhere near peak physical condition when he stepped out onto court; fresh after a gruelling week in Rio where three out of his five matches went the distance, as well as having to finish his semi-final and final matches on the same day. It is testament to his heart and fighting spirit that he managed to scrape past Alejandro Davidovich Fokina in his first match despite being well short of his best, but there was an element of inevitability when he eventually retired after dropping the first set in his quarter-final against Seyboth Wild, citing a lower back issue. One feels that Garin would not have exerted himself this week had the tournament not been his hometown event. More encouragingly, the two Chilean wildcard entries both showed glimpses of their ability with respective first round wins; Alejandro Tabilo getting past the wily Italian veteran Paolo Lorenzi, while Marcelo Tomas Barrios Vera made an impressive comeback to defeat Spanish qualifier Carlos Taberner. Both 22 years old, there is no question that both players will hugely benefit from the opportunities of having an ATP 250 event in their own country, and there is nothing in their games to suggest they can’t make a career-defining run in a similar vain to Seyboth Wild.

Three winners and three losers from the 2020 Golden Swing

Winners

  • Cristian Garin – Unfortunate ending in Santiago shouldn’t take the gloss off a memorable month in Latin America for the youngster – two titles in Cordoba and Rio: one of which at ATP 500 level. Didn’t showcase his best consistently at either event but did display an unquestionable ability to grind matches out and bring his strongest level during important stages of matches – good precedent to follow
  • Casper Ruud – 8-2 record this month for the Norwegian – including a first tour title in Buenos Aires and a runner-up showing in Santiago. Blew the field away in the Argentinian capital and should feel no shame in losing a tight three setter to Seyboth Wild – excited to see what he can produce during the European clay court swing
  • Thiago Seyboth Wild – Thoroughly deserved his maiden title victory in Santiago – played at an excellent level throughout the week. Not just for this success though: played some very good stuff in Rio as well and came within a hair’s breadth of making the quarter-finals

Losers

  • Marco Cecchinato – 4 losses in a row for the Italian is quite a fall from grace considering his triumph in Buenos Aires twelve months previously. A couple of tough draws in Londero and Lajovic but defeats to Carballes Baena and Dellien are indicative of his poor form; peak level Cecchinato would easily sweep aside these two. 0-4 run means he’s fallen outside the top 100
  • Leonardo Mayer – Like Cecchinato, went 0-4 over the course of the month. Not as much of a surprise considering his ranking dip forced him into Challengers towards the end of last year. Always been a mercurial player, but the streaky side of his game was evident more often than not through these four events. Marriage at the end of last year an early sign that he may have one eye on life after tennis
  • Hugo Dellien – Lost his first 3 matches, including a serious contender for worst performance of the whole swing in his 6-1 6-1 loss to Argentine wildcard Pedro Cachin in Cordoba. Though he made the quarter-finals in Santiago, he missed a massive opportunity to go further – succumbing to world number 297 Olivo after twice squandering chances to serve out the match.

Rio Open 2020

Given its six-year status on the ATP Tour, the 500 series tournament in Rio de Janeiro is still in its relative infancy, perhaps explaining why no player has won there more than once. Dominic Thiem entered the field this week hoping to put an end to this pattern, having triumphed in the Brazilian capital in 2017. On paper, the Austrian was the overwhelming favourite even considering this would be his first clay court event of the season, and first time back on the match court since his agonising Australian Open final defeat to Novak Djokovic. His cause was also seemingly helped by the withdrawal of the previous two Rio champions; Diego Schwartzman and Laslo Djere, with the former being the only other potential competitor inside the top 20.

Before the tournament even started, there was debate as to the astuteness of Thiem’s decision to come to South America just for one week. Notwithstanding his loyalty to the event (he had played in every edition bar the first two), Thiem’s 2019 and subsequent Grand Slam final debut in Melbourne has arguably made him a bona fide member of the top 4 – and big name players don’t normally intersperse their schedule with a random clay court event. Perhaps it is easier to question Thiem’s decision-making given how the week panned out for him: dumped out in the quarter-finals after two unconvincing early round performances, where he dropped a set on each occasion (in the first round to Felipe Meligeni, a Brazilian wildcard outside the world’s top 350). As I will get onto later, it wasn’t just a case of Thiem playing at a subpar level but he did look well short of his best throughout the week and it will be interesting to see whether he will be come back to the jewel of the Golden Swing crown in future years.

An old cliché on the ATP Tour is that drawing a qualifier in the first round is never an easy match no matter the ranking, as they have the confidence of two match wins under their belts and are already accustomed to the playing conditions at that particular event. Nowhere was this adage more true than this week, as three of the four qualifiers reached the quarter-finals or further (on top of one lucky loser from the qualifying draw). Yet out of this group, no player took his opportunity more than Italian world number 127 Gianluca Mager, who made a shock run to the final. Mager fully deserved the 300-point privilege of this breakthrough berth, primarily due to the scope of his wins through the week; taking out last week’s Buenos Aires champion Casper Ruud in the first round, before claiming the prodigious scalp of none other than Thiem in the quarter-finals. Ironically, this was actually Thiem’s best match in terms of level through the week, but the Italian number 11 at times looked equivalent to the world number 11 in the way he executed his plan – rushing Thiem with his relentlessly aggressive gamestyle exemplified by his forehand, which was equally effective either flattened out into Thiem’s backhand corner or using the angles and width cross-court. However, arguably the most impressive aspect of Mager’s game this week was his mental strength: in how he immediately recovered to close out the match against Thiem (what would’ve been by far the biggest win of his career) after being broken serving for it at 5-4, or how he came back from 2-4 0-30 down in the deciding set of his semi-final match against Hungarian lucky loser Attila Balazs. His feat this week rockets him into the top 80 in the world rankings, which will hopefully give him multiple opportunities and the exposure to prove himself a mainstay on the ATP Tour.

Since this tournament was so dominated by qualifiers, it would not be fair to single out one player without mentioning the others. Challenger regulars Federico Coria and Pedro Martinez both enjoyed great weeks in reaching the quarter-finals, though if you had followed these players somewhat over the last six months, their respective successes would not be as surprising as they appear on paper. Coria (younger brother of Guillermo) started 2019 ranked 284 and his placement just outside the top 100 by the end of it is testament to his meteoric season on the Challenger Tour. Martinez had shown an impressive recent run of form, in qualifying for his last three events (the Australian Open, Cordoba and Buenos Aires) as well as winning a round in each, and was able to carry this forward with wins over fellow dirt aficionados Hugo Dellien and Pablo Andujar. Another interesting story to emerge this week was that of Attila Balazs. Pedro Sousa displayed last week in Buenos Aires how to maximise the fortune of a lucky loser spot, and Balazs followed his lead this week in reaching the semi-finals. Unlike the other two, Balazs’ form this week was a little more random – having not pulled up many trees since his first major breakthrough to the final of Umag last summer. Similar to the Cordoba champion Cristian Garin, Balazs twice recovered from poor starts to tough matches out; one of these being an impressive, crowd-silencing win over local favourite Thiago Monteiro on the Guga Kuerten centre court. Just as it was last year, the Rio Open seems to have established itself as an event where players can have career-defining weeks that take them on a steep trajectory up the rankings and out of the doldrums of the Challenger Tour.

Despite the number of shock runs this week, the eventual outcome was not particularly surprising. The look of childlike admiration on Cristian Garin’s face as he was hugged and presented the trophy by South American tennis legend Gustavo Kuerten was a great example of visceral emotion from a player, who, as one of the commentators aptly put it, sometimes resembles “a teenager who’s just been grounded by his parents” on the court. Similar to his triumph in Cordoba, Garin did not take the easy route to the finish line, but that falls in line with the week in general, with the tournament being severely hampered by rain to the extent that both semi-finals had to finished be off on Sunday. Notwithstanding the number of precarious situations Garin found himself in this week (taken to final sets in both his first round and quarter-final, as well as facing some explosive tennis in the final from Mager), his surge to the title never really seemed in doubt, especially upon Thiem’s exit from the draw. Already in his young career he has shown that he can stretch a run of form over multiple weeks; firstly in 2018 when he won three Challengers in a row across South America, before winning his first two ATP titles in 2019 within three weeks of each other in Houston and Munich. At times he was outclassed on the court, none more so than in the final against Mager, where the Italian brought out some of the most clean and crisp ball-striking and aggression in this Golden Swing, but Garin showed that heart and a strong mentality are the most powerful tools a player can have at their disposal. Comparisons to the great Brazilian are definitely far-fetched at this stage, but there is already a sense that Garin will be the leader of the next generation of young South American tennis stars.

Buenos Aires

Every 10-15 minutes when watching a match on the Guillermo Vilas centre court in Buenos Aires, you can hear the faint rattle of an overground train passing just above the top of the stand. It’s an oddly aesthetic and contrasting sight to the tennis that takes place below. The ATP 250 tournament in Buenos Aires is an event steeped in esteemed champions: Carlos Moya, Juan Carlos Ferrero, David Ferrer (and also some bloke called Rafael Nadal) to name a few. Due to the withdrawal of top 10 players Dominic Thiem and Matteo Berrettini, Diego Schwartzman again headed up this week’s field and took up the mantle of Argentina’s best hope in ending a thirteen-year drought of home-nation champions in the capital, having fallen just short in the final last year.

One of the most interesting nuances to emerge from this week’s action is the challenges of defeating an injured player, especially when that injury is picked up at some point during the match. It’s akin to playing a football team that have just gone down to ten men – in that all the pressure and expectation is centralised on one of the competitors, and handling that pressure is not as simple as it should be. In both quarter-finals in the top half of the draw, Pablo Cuevas and Thiago Monteiro both were not up the task, falling to Diego Schwartzman and Pedro Sousa respectively, with both victors virtually on one leg at the match’s end. The circumstances surrounding both injuries were different; Cuevas and Schwartzman had been battling it out for over three hours before Schwartzman tore his left adductor when stretching for a backhand deep into the third set. The point following the incident (after Schwartzman received a somewhat hasty medial timeout during the game) showed the extent to which he was physically hampered; barely being able to move out towards his left hand side. For Cuevas, the tactical blueprint was visually presented before him: hit as much as possible to Schwartzman’s backhand and try using short angles on both sides to get him running. Yet, a tennis player’s brain is a complicated mechanism, and the fact that Schwartzman walked off the court having won 7-5 in the third shows us that Cuevas’ had developed some faults in the preceding 20 minutes. It definitely hadn’t helped that he had squandered four match points (including two on his own serve) in the second set tiebreak and played each one with a noticeable lack of conviction and belief. The general cliché within tennis is that you have to try as much as possible to play the opponent as if he wasn’t injured, but Cuevas’ passivity and general one-dimensional approach in just making the ball and hoping Schwartzman would miss is evidence to his inability to overcome this mental barrier. In fairness to the Uruguayan, Schwartzman completely loosened up and was in the position where he could go for broke on pretty much every shot that was in his wheelhouse. While the term “choke” is overused in describing how a player was able to lose from a seemingly favourable position, it wouldn’t be overly harsh to apply this word to Cuevas considering the circumstances.

In regards to the Sousa-Monteiro match, it was much less straightforward. Sousa had benefited from a loose opening few games from the Brazilian to establish an early lead, before appearing to feel something in his left calf as early as 3-2 in the first set. This is arguably the trickiest “injured player” situation, as Monteiro was forced to rethink and possibly alter his gameplan after only a very short period in the match, without himself having too much baseline rhythm. Even now, analysing how this quarter-final unfolded doesn’t provide clear answers to explain its outcome; Monteiro at times struggled to put the ball in court and simply cracked under the aforementioned pressure (it is possible both players would have been privy to Schwartzman’s injury and its seriousness, transcending their match into a virtual semi-final).

In regards to performance level this week, there was one player who was relatively unmatched in his progression through the draw. Casper Ruud had his first breakout week around this time three years ago, coming from nowhere to make the semi-finals in Rio. The resulting year and eight months after saw a frustratingly limited amount of progression considering his clear talents on the court, but 2019 was his real breakthrough: making his first ATP Tour final in Houston and putting together a generally consistent year to qualify for the season-ending Next Gen Finals in Milan. He had already started 2020 off impressively with two top-20 wins over John Isner and Fabio Fognini in the ATP Cup, and seems to be relishing the opportunity of leading Norwegian tennis into a new age, following in the footsteps of his father Christian (whose career-high he ironically superseded by winning the title this week). He brushed aside Spanish clay-court specialists Pablo Andujar and Roberto Carballes Baena for the loss of only six games combined in the first two rounds, and was only fully troubled by Juan Ignacio Londero in the semi-finals. Quality-wise, this was probably the best match of the tournament – both players looking to take the attack to the other at any opportunity with their booming forehands, and for the majority of the match Ruud seemed overwhelmed by Londero’s direct approach and pinpoint accuracy in consistently finding the Norwegian’s significantly weaker backhand wing. A combination of a very tight game from Londero serving it out and some smart tennis at the business end of the set allowed Ruud to escape from his stronghold, and the Argentine never fully recovered to pose a substantial threat in the third. Ruud’s distinctive features from other generic clay-court players are primarily his serve (hit 23 aces through the week and averaged 77% first serve points won – a number that most other players won’t come close to matching) and his forehand, which is a different beast in both its power, length and ability to kick up and force players onto the defensive.

A special mention should be given to this week’s finalist Pedro Sousa. Anyone who avidly follows the ATP Challenger Tour knows the entertainment and level that this guy can bring to a tennis court on his day, and with a decent slice of luck, he was able to display glimpses of that on the main tour. Entering the draw as a lucky loser, he managed to make it past the lowest ranked Argentinian wildcard Facundo Diaz Acosta, before an impressive performance saw him squeeze past tricky Slovak Jozef Kovalik to make the quarter-finals. The fact that from here his path to the final was less than salubrious (the strange quarter-final against Monteiro, then a walkover against Schwartzman) shouldn’t detract from the special nature of the week for the 31-year-old Portuguese, who had never made an ATP Tour quarter-final before this week. His relaxed, smooth style of play is a refreshing variation from the gritty intensity of so many of the clay-court grinders who populate the Golden Swing, and his capacity to play lights out for six games then horrifically for the next six just adds to his commercial value. It was unfortunate for him that he could not fully shrug off the injury he sustained during the quarter-final before the biggest match of his career – from the moment Ruud got his opening service break the 6-1 6-4 outcome seemed somewhat inevitable. Sousa’s story perfectly encapsulated the strange yet fascinating nature of this week’s event, and the general unpredictability of clay court tennis.

Cordoba

Generally, there are two ways that the narrative of an ATP Tour event, especially one at 250 level, will unfold. Either there will be one frontrunner who has a linear progression through the draw and looks a very good bet for the title from the early stages, or there will be a few players who have made it to the business end of the tournament playing patches of excellent tennis interspersed with some more average form. This contrast was perfectly exemplified by the two editions of the Cordoba Open; Juan Ignacio Londero storming his way to victory in the 2019 inaugural edition, before Cristian Garin thrice recovered from a set down to clinch this week’s crown at the expense of local favourite Diego Schwartzman.

The Cordoba Open marks the start of the four-week Golden Swing; a series of clay-court tournaments played across Latin America. After a few teething problems (such as a questionable playing surface and meagre crowd numbers) last year, this week seems to have vindicated the decision to move the opening event here from the altitude of Quito in 2019. First and foremost, the quality of tennis on display was fairly impressive, especially considering the large majority of the competitors hadn’t yet struck a ball in anger on clay this season. All but two of the quarter-finalists were made up by the top eight-ranked players, with southpaws Fernando Verdasco and Guido Pella the only seeded casualties. Verdasco, a player looking increasingly devoid of both motivation and physical longevity, was dumped out by world number 178 Carlos Taberner in the first round, while Pella, finalist twelve months ago, was also short of his best – outlasted in a two and a half battle by the entertaining young Frenchman Corentin Moutet.

While there were multiple intricate three-set battles, the clear match of the tournament was the night-match quarter-final between Laslo Djere and defending champion Juan Ignacio Londero. Aptly named Estadio Mario Kempas after the legendary Argentinian forward, the arena had the feel of a baying football crowd as the match wore on; every point for Londero instigating raucous cheers from the local faithful; each Djere missed first serve instead bringing hisses and whistles. Whilst there could be concerns over the extent to which a player can be affected and the spirit of the game is violated in the face of such crowd opposition, it never became unpleasant or nasty and added a dramatic edge to an already great match. Both players possessed weapons making them capable of consistently dominating points – Londero with his aggressive and penetrative groundstrokes, and Djere’s accurate first serve which allowed him to control the points with his forehand. However it felt like the match was always being played on the Argentine’s terms: he elevated his level to nick the first set in a tiebreak, before falling off a cliff to gift Djere a 4-0 advantage at the start of the second. Anyone who has watched Londero in the last year knows that he’s a passionate competitor on court, and while this was displayed primarily in ranting tirades towards his box for the first half of the set, he channelled his energy positively in nearly recovering both breaks. Djere fought through, bringing the match to parity, and about 45 minutes later the match was approaching what it deserved in a final set tiebreak. Credit must go to the Serb, not only for his superior execution (backhand line was his key shot at this stage) but also his mental strength in showing the same collected calmness that was evident in his breakout triumph in Rio nearly 12 months ago. It was an impressive match, and an even more impressive victory given the circumstances.

In fact, the disappointment of the home crowd was to become a theme that repeated itself on Sunday evening. Upon entering the final, both Diego Schwartzman and Cristian Garin’s matches had taken on a distinct pattern that was polar opposite to each other. As shown by first set scorelines of 6-1, 6-0, and 6-1 in his first three matches, Schwartzman had been making lightning fast starts, playing at a level more than worthy of his number 1 status in the draw, before seeing a slight dip in his level (this was more stark in his semi-final against Djere, where the 6-1 first set scoreline was reversed in the second). By contrast, Garin had dropped the first set badly in both his quarter-final and semi-final clashes and often cut a lethargic and flat character out on court. Naturally, this state of affairs repeated themselves in the final; Schwartzman, basking in the love of a Davis-Cup style crowd, dominated the opener 6-2 with his deceptively sharp and powerful groundstrokes. The second was consistently played on a knife-edge and both players had their chances. Schwartzman looked to have stolen the momentum back when he broke Garin at 5-3 when the Chilean was serving for it, but Garin played a blinding game to steal the set from under the diminutive Argentine’s nose, which was to be an unfortunate omen for him for the rest of the match. The last ATP Tour final to have a 6-0 deciding set was nearly four years ago, but Schwartzman was clearly very rattled by the way he lost the second set and never really recovered. Take nothing away from Garin – by the end of the match he was creaming forehands and backhands in a manner unforeseen for the whole tournament, and it was fitting that the match was sealed with a forehand return winner. It marked his first title in South America, and considering he is only 23 years of age, it is likely that it won’t be his last.

Why I love the Golden Swing

For many, February brings only the mundane monotony of short, cold days and longer, colder nights. However, to eager tennis fans around the world, this month marks the beginning of the period known as “the Golden Swing”, a four-week stretch of tournaments across Latin America, located in Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro and Santiago. While there is certainly an abundance of clay-court events throughout the year, this period seems to have a particular spark that makes it so distinctive. Whether this is the sun-soaked setting, which, juxtaposed against the somewhat parky English winter, makes it seem even more auspicious; the crowd, who take on an especially hostile and baying form when watching fellow home-nation players, or simply the competitors themselves, who, despite the variation in ages and sizes, are all well-seasoned clay connoisseurs, the vast majority of whom would certainly identify the red dirt as their favourite surface. Hopefully, this details my interest and intention in expressing how this colourful section of the year progresses, and the extent to which players’ seasons are altered by this four-week period.

2020 Australian Open

In some ways, the 2020 Australian Open men’s singles was no different to events of years’ past. After two weeks of brutally hot day sessions, enthralling night-matches on Rod Laver Arena and five-set thrillers, Novak Djokovic finished the second Sunday holding the Norman Brookes Challenge Cup aloft for the eighth time, taking his tally of Grand Slam titles to 17. Yet, as both he and runner-up Dominic Thiem addressed in their post-match speeches, there was a distinctive element to this year’s tournament. Thiem phrased it aptly in saying that the Australian Open was a “great distraction” from the bushfire tragedies that ravaged Australia through late December and into the New Year. It has been uplifting to see how the wider tennis community united together in a meaningful attempt to contribute to repairing the overwhelming damage caused to homes and lives across Australia. It all kickstarted with Nick Kyrgios’ pledge to donate $250 Australian dollars for every ace he hit in the Australian summer (through a variety of means Kyrgios alone raised over $90,000), and the majority of players across the ATP Tour jumped on this bandwagon in some degree. Notably, there was also the Rally for Relief event before the tournament began, which raised a staggering $5 million, as well as some individuals who raised the bar to new heights – primarily Alexander Zverev, who donated $100,000 for every match he won and pledged to donate the entirety of his prize money had he won the event (he lost in the semi-finals). The phrase “it’s more important than tennis” became a well-used one throughout the Australian summer, showing how this year’s Australian Open possessed a scope and significance that was undoubtably unprecedented.

Thus, it was to the tournament’s immense credit that it acquired a tangible and separate identity for the quality and drama of the tennis on display as well as the external factors taking place. There were no major shocks in the first few rounds but a trio of young Next-Gen stars: Denis Shapovalov, Matteo Berrettini and Stefanos Tsitsipas, all fell before the second week – somewhat surprisingly considering each had finished the 2019 season so strongly. The third round battles between Roger Federer and John Millman, as well as Nick Kyrgios versus Karen Khachanov, demonstrated the dramatic potential of the final set “super-tiebreak”. Federer recovered from an 8-4 deficit to storm back and win six points in a row for the match, while Kyrgios showed admirable mental strength to banish any demons caused by squandered match points in both the third and fourth set tiebreaks to haul himself over the finish line by the same scoreline (Kyrgios’ on-court interview in the immediate aftermath is worth a watch). Federer followed up his comeback against Millman with another Houdini act; somehow saving seven match points against unseeded American Tennys Sandgren in the quarter-finals. These victories may provide moments of sweet elation for Federer fans but they betray an unfortunate truth; at his age, if he is to continue to challenge for major titles, he can’t afford to expend so much energy and court-time in the early rounds. Before facing Novak Djokovic in the semis, Federer had spent nearly 12 hours on court, subsequently saying he felt he only had a “3% chance” of winning the match. This seems slightly hyperbolic, as he was able to race into a 4-1 40-0 lead simply by taking shots early with little to no arduous movement, yet the point stands that if he had the physical capacity to trade with Djokovic at points in the match; that combined with his supreme ball-striking would’ve given him a significant chance of executing his game-plan in a manner similar to last year’s Wimbledon final.

The tournament also heralded breakthroughs for two potential challengers of the Big Three’s dominance, in Dominic Thiem and Alexander Zverev. Apart from his consistency at Roland Garros, it is fair to say Thiem has flattered to deceive when it comes to results at Grand Slams, only making one other quarter-final at the 2018 US Open. Despite this continuing to be the case in 2019, last year became a breakout season for the Austrian in terms of his hard court game, where he captured three out of his five titles (including his biggest one yet in Indian Wells) and came agonisingly close to winning the ATP Tour Finals in London. This stark improvement has coincided with the appointment of Nicolas Massu as Thiem’s head coach, who has managed to bring together his power, ball-striking ability and athleticism into developing a fully-fledged game-style that can bring Thiem the same level of success on hard that he has had so far on the clay. His quarter-final clash with Rafael Nadal – a match that had always been on the cards from the moment of the draw’s release – proved to be one of the highest quality matches of the tournament. The first set initially appeared to follow typical Thiem-Nadal grand-slam narrative: a tense, even start before a loose game from Thiem seemed to gift Nadal the first set. Thiem’s immediate break-back and subsequent winning of the opening set on a tiebreak was crucial when considering Nadal’s renowned excellence as a frontrunner in matches. The three tiebreaks Thiem won exemplifies how he was able to raise his level in moments of high pressure and intensity – a theme that was reoccurring in his semi-final victory over the aforementioned Zverev.

I came across a particularly good tweet saying if someone had posited on the eve of the tournament that Zverev would be in the final four, they would have been chased around the room with a butterfly net. This tells you everything about the German’s circumstances going into the first major of the year – having just endured a chastening ATP Cup to say the least. Zverev though, when reflecting on his run in press after his loss to Thiem, argued the clear lack of expectations was one of the most significant factors in making the semi-finals. His assessment is a fair one – “the first two matches I struggled but because I had no pressure, I was able to take it match by match, which maybe I haven’t done in other tournaments.” Zverev’s well-documented problem at Slams is his inability to make efficient progress through the early rounds, meaning that, similar to Federer in this tournament, he has no capacity to produce his best tennis in second weeks of major tournaments. Notwithstanding expectations, anyone who has followed Zverev over the past year knows how integral his first serve is within the mechanisms of his game – and how the whole machine can completely combust if this component misfires. Zverev averaged 78% first serves across the entire tournament – an astonishing number when considering 60-65% is perceived as a good showing. This element proved the difference for Zverev; a good example being his quarter-final against Stan Wawrinka, where he was steamrolled 6-1 in the first set but his ironclad grip on serve placed immense pressure on the Swiss, forcing continuous errors and a breakdown in confidence on his backhand side. The semi-final he contested with Thiem was a scrappy, nerve-filled affair, yet Zverev had his chances and will rue giving Thiem 3-0 headstarts in both the third and fourth set tiebreaks. Even with the serve in place, there are still weaknesses within the Zverev game – notably his passivity on big points and seeming inability/reluctance to consistently inject pace off his forehand wing, but this showing will give him a confidence and conviction that has been sorely lacking from his tennis in the last 12 months.

When it comes to Novak Djokovic and Melbourne Park, there isn’t much that hasn’t already been said. Irrespective of the fact there was a two next to his same, he entered this event as the overwhelming favourite – affirmed by his 5-0 showing in Serbia’s inaugural ATP Cup triumph. Ironically his toughest challenge before the final was the potential banana-skin of Jan Lennard Struff in the first round – who handed Djokovic his only set loss prior to his title challenge against Thiem. In the final, however, Djokovic displayed a kaleidoscope of moods and form that ran very contrary to the unwavering consistency he had modelled throughout the tournament. The first set was typical Djokovic – quality returning with a specific focus on being the aggressor and not letting Thiem dictate the rallies. The second set saw a slight drop off from both, but it all came to a head at 4-4. Djokovic was twice time-violated for going over the 25-second-shot-clock (the second time at 15-40, which resulted in a loss of his first serve); instigating an emotional hangover that carried on well into the third set, both physically and emotionally. At this stage in the match, Djokovic looked finished – taking on a haggard figure who looked short of ideas and a shadow of the 16-time major champion we have been used to watching dominate the world stage for so many years. Credit should be not be taken away from Thiem – who responded very strongly to his own mental fragilities in gifting Djokovic the first set with a double fault. The key moment of the match was Thiem’s break point opportunity at 2-2 in the fourth set, but saving this seemed to ignite an inner strength within Djokovic and both the fourth and fifth set took on a cruel type of inevitability for Thiem. The scoreboard pressure told at 4-3 and the 16 unforced errors committed in the fifth set suggests that Thiem finally may have exceeded his physical limit, having been on the court six whole hours longer than his opponent. Similarly to Medvedev in the US Open final, Thiem refused to go without a fight, fighting off four break points to keep the score to one break, but it was a case of nearly but not quite for the likeable Austrian. I may be biased, but there is no doubting that his moment of Grand Slam glory will come – it’s seems only a matter of time.

Inaugural ATP Cup

It is fair to say that there was more than a little scepticism amongst hardcore tennis fans when it was announced that the traditional start of the 2020 ATP Tour season was going to be restructured in favour of a large-scale, brand-new event that was the ATP Cup, which would attempt to balance the individuality of ranking points and the collaborative nature of national team competitions together. There were arguments on both sides; those who took the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” standpoint as well as the justifiable complaint about the loss of the Hopman Cup from the tour calendar, against the claim that the start of the season has little purpose beyond being a dress rehearsal for the first major tournament of the year: the Australian Open.

Having witnessed the spectacle that was the ATP Cup this week, it is clear that it is going to be a mainstay for years to come. First and foremost, the quality of tennis and the passion on display from all the players massively superseded my expectations; you should look no further than the tears Novak Djokovic shed upon clinching the title-decided doubles rubber for Team Serbia. He described it in his post-match interview as “one of the nicest moments in my career” and from someone who has won 16 Grand Slams titles, that is saying something.

The ATP Cup took on a very similar model to the recently revamped Davis Cup: six groups where each group winner along with the two best second place nations progress into the knockout stages.  Notable group stage matches included a fierce battle between (Australia’s) Alex de Minaur and (Canada’s) Denis Shapovalov: a high-level encounter that was elevated by both players’ engagement with the vocal Aussie crowd (both positively and negatively). Both of these players ended up pushing Nadal and Djokovic respectively in tight three-set matches, showing just how well they have carried over their tail-end form to the start of this year. Without doubt, the tie of the tournament was the quarter-final between Great Britain and Australia: a sporting matchup that has historically always provided its fair share of theatre and entertainment. It was no different on this occasion, with Dan Evans and de Minaur again playing out a brutal three-hour lung-buster which just went the former’s way, before the Aussie doubles pairing of de Minaur and Nick Kyrgios saved 4 match points (one of which a glaring backhand miss on top of the net from Jamie Murray) before triumphing 18-16 in the match tiebreak.

A clear distinction of the ATP Cup is how it transformed the interactive, team environment of the Davis Cup. One of the major new innovations was the Team Zone; where players from each nation had a team captain, their teammates and sometimes even their own coach to communicate with both during the games and at the changeover. While I feel that on-court coaching is largely a threat to the unique and individual nature of tennis, it was very interesting to see how much of a positive effect these zones had on certain players. The clearest example is Benoit Paire, who threatened to implode after failing to close out the second set against Dusan Lajovic, and most likely would have done if his fellow French players and team captain Gilles Simon hadn’t been courtside to absorb his frustrations and channel them positively (Paire went on to clinch the third set 6-4). The proximity of the Team Zones to the court was another unprecedented feature; moments such as the sharp but good-natured banter between Dan Evans and Australian Team Captain Lleyton Hewitt would not have been possible had they not been set up in such a way. The course of the week definitely showed that in relation to team events, the innovations boosted the entertainment value and should be considered for this year’s Davis Cup.

The natural reaction to seeing Serbia as champions alongside Djokovic’s unbeaten 6-0 record would be that he shouldered the burden and responsibility of carrying his nation to victory. However, the contribution of Serbia’s number two player Dusan Lajovic was that of an unsung hero, winning four of his six singles matches, including two classy and dominant wins against top 20 players Felix Auger-Aliassime and Karen Khachanov. For a player who is more comfortable on red clay, he played a major role in giving Djokovic the comfort blanket of being a rubber up going into his match in both the quarter-final and semi-final. In relation to these matches, Djokovic by no means had it his own way, with precocious talent Shapovalov pushing him all the way to a third-set tiebreak in the last eight. His semi-final war (the only adequate way to describe what unfolded) with Daniil Medvedev was a different matter altogether; already a shoo-in for one of the matches of season, including one point (5-4 in the third set, advantage Medvedev) that has to be seen to be believed.

For Djokovic, it is obvious that the most gratifying aspect of this week was Serbia’s victory, especially considering their heartache in the Davis Cup quarter-final against Russia. Yet, there was a special significance here; in his final match against Rafael Nadal (where the Spaniard was swept aside with frightening ease) Djokovic became a figure of mass adoration due to the overwhelming majority of Serbian fans inside Ken Rosewall Arena. Throughout his career, particularly in comparison to the other two current greats of our sport, there has always been a suspicion within Djokovic that he is respected and admired but not truly loved by mainstream tennis audiences. Whatever the extent to which this is true, you could feel him soaking up every ounce of crowd energy that came his way this week; unquestionably the perfect preparation for his title defence at Melbourne Park in seven days’ time.

Three winners and three losers from the ATP Cup

Winners

  • Novak Djokovic – Unbeaten through the week. First sets of 6-1 against Medvedev and 6-2 against Nadal confirmation that he is playing close to his best tennis
  • Alex de Minaur – Excellent comeback wins in the group stage against Zverev and Shapovalov. His loss to Dan Evans could easily have gone the other way, and followed it up with the best performance of his career to go within two games of toppling Nadal in the semi-finals.
  • Hubert Hurkacz – Despite Poland not progressing past the group stage, Hurkacz was 3-0 in the group, made more impressive by the fact all his wins were against Top 25 opposition (Diego Schwartzman, Borna Coric and Dominic Thiem).

Losers

  • Alexander Zverev – 31 double faults in three matches tells you all you need to know. Not just his 0-3 record but the manner of his losses; a mental capitulation against de Minaur when he should have wrapped the match up and a meek 6-2 6-2 thrashing against Shapovalov. Suggests that he hasn’t shaken the demons that hampered him in the middle of last season.
  • Felix Auger-Aliassime – Only recorded win was against the world number 483, and similarly to Zverev it was the manner of his three straight sets defeats (all to players outside the top 30) that are cause for concern. Particularly against Millman and Lajovic, a combined total of 73 unforced errors in these two matches shows that he may be struggling to handle the pressure on his young 18-year-old shoulders.
  • John Isner – After a difficult 2019 plagued by injuries, an 0-3 start at the ATP Cup is not how he would’ve wanted to start the season. Broken five times through the week, and his issues in protecting his serve exacerbated by only averaging 1/5 points on return. These stats aren’t a strong recipe for success, and this week will only increase the questions as to whether he can get back to his best level.