Fear does not come into the equation for Rafael Nadal. Having arrived in London for the Nitto ATP Finals, the Spaniard admitted he would not even allow a resurgent Roger Federer, nipping at his heels for a return to No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, to play on his mind in the latter part of 2017. Having achieved so much already, reassuming top spot was a bonus, an unexpected reward for a season that has bagged titles in Monte-Carlo, Barcelona, Madrid, Roland Garros, Flushing Meadows and Beijing. The Spaniard begins his season-ending campaign with one less pressure hanging over his head. Federer can nip at his heels all he wants. The year-end Emirates ATP No. 1 Ranking belongs to...
Jack Sock might be the only non-European at the Nitto ATP Finals this year, but he certainly isn’t out of place. Having earned his place at the prestigious year-end event in London on the back of a surprising title run at the Rolex Paris Masters, Sock is flying the American flag amidst a field of Europeans. Although they might not share the same continent, they’ll share the same court over the next week of exciting matchups at The O2 arena in Britain’s capital. Not since 2011 has an American qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals, when Mardy Fish capped off a sensational season with three tight matches at the round robin stage, and Sock’s victory in Paris, which halted a...
Hyeon Chung was unstoppable. That was until he wasn’t. The South Korean dominated round-robin competition, winning all three of his matches. And after winning the first two sets easily and going up a break in the third set of Friday’s semi-final at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals against Daniil Medvedev, it looked like he would cruise right into the final against Andrey Rublev, who he crushed in group play. But then Medvedev dug into the match. The Russian found his rhythm and with it enough momentum to carry the encounter to a deciding fifth set. Chung looked vulnerable. Not so fast. Chung impressively enough found perhaps his best tennis of the week when he needed it the most, putting...
Hyeon Chung was unstoppable. That was until he wasn’t. The South Korean dominated round-robin competition, winning all three of his matches. And after winning the first two sets easily and going up a break in the third set of Friday’s semi-final at the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals against Daniil Medvedev, it looked like he would cruise right into the final against Andrey Rublev, who he crushed in group play. But then Medvedev dug into the match. Medvedev found his rhythm and with it enough momentum to carry the encounter to a deciding fifth set. Chung looked vulnerable. Not so fast. Chung impressively enough found perhaps his best tennis of the week when he needed it the most, putting on...