Someone is guaranteed to win their first ATP World Tour title at the Antalya Open after Yuichi Sugita and Adrian Mannarino prevailed in tough semi-final matches on Friday. Sugita advanced to his first ATP World Tour final after overcoming Marcos Baghdatis. The 28-year-old Japanese player was leading Baghdatis 6-3, 6-7(7), 4-1 when the Cypriot retired due to dehydration after two hours and 18 minutes of play. Baghdatis, who has now recovered, will later today travel to London for The Championships at Wimbledon, which begins on Monday. Having already reached a career-high Emirates ATP Ranking of No. 64 earlier this month, Sugita will move well inside the Top 60 when the new rankings are released on Monday. He has excelled on...
Rafael Nadal has been practising at full throttle in the build up to Wimbledon. The Spaniard has set himself a goal of playing his best tennis at Wimbledon, something he hasn't been able to do in the past five years for various reasons, and was to be found on Thursday morning engaged in a high intensity two-hour practice with Alexander Zverev. "In 2014 I made the fourth round and it was my best year since reaching the final in 2011," said Nadal. "Since then I've had many problems with my knees. In 2012 and 2013 it was really bad and then in 2015, my knees were fine, but I felt bad for many other reasons. Last year unfortunately I broke...
The ATP announced on Friday the continued aggregation and centralisation of broadcast rights on the ATP World Tour, with 12 tournaments across the ATP World Tour 250 category being pooled and sold together in partnership with ATP Media, the broadcast arm of the ATP World Tour. Following the success of the centralisation of rights across the Nitto ATP Finals, the nine ATP World Tour Masters 1000s, and the 13 ATP World Tour 500 tournaments, which has seen viewership more than double over the past 10 years, the ATP is pursuing a similar strategy with continued aggregation and centralisation at the 250-level. “Media rights is one of the biggest growth areas in our sport, and we’ve seen tremendous results both commercially...
Defending champion Andy Murray has been drawn in the same half of the Wimbledon draw as Rafael Nadal and Stan Wawrinka, who, depending on their performances at The Championships, could usurp Murray at No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Novak Djokovic, who is also in contention for a return to the top spot, is in the bottom half of the 128-man draw with Roger Federer and Milos Raonic. Murray could meet Wawrinka, a 2014 and 2015 quarter-finalist, in the last eight, whilst Nadal – seeking a third Roland Garros-Wimbledon title double – may face Marin Cilic, the runner-up at the recent Aegon Championships. Last year’s finalist Raonic could potentially challenge Federer in the quarter-finals, whilst Dominic Thiem is projected...
#NextGenATP player Stefanos Tsitsipas is through to his first main draw at Wimbledon after surviving a marathon final-round qualifying match on Thursday against Joris De Loore of Belgium 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 3-6, 7-5. Three other #NextGenATP players also qualified, including American Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev of Russia and Christian Garin of Chile. “I’ve never felt so happy before in my life. I’m really tired right now, but this happiness is something I can’t describe,” said Tsitsipas. “It’s been my dream since childhood to compete at Wimbledon. I had my family here supporting me the whole match, so it felt like I was playing at home.” The 18 year old, currently No. 190 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, qualified for his...
