The crowd didn't want it to end. Fifth seed Roberto Bautista Agut and Dutchman Robin Haase fought for two hours and 52 minutes at the ASB Classic in Auckland on Friday. There were frequent momentum swings and plenty of “Are you kidding me?” hot shots. [ALSO LIKE] The semi-final had it all, including an epic match point, when Bautista Agut floated a backhand lob that touched the baseline to clinch his 6-7(7), 7-6(3), 7-6(5) victory. “When I saw the ball in, I went crazy,” said Bautista Agut, who fell to a knee in celebration. “I'm so happy that I won... It was an unbelievable battle on the court.” "The end was unbelievable, no?" Yes, it was. #ASBClassic pic.twitter.com/dMlqI7lhA3 — Tennis...
You are left-handed. You are serving at 30/40, and naturally opt for the slider out wide in the Ad court to give yourself the highest percentage chance to save break point. Not so fast… An Infosys Serve & Return Tracker analysis of the eight left-handed players currently in the Top 50 of the ATP Rankings identifies that, from the Ad court, serving wide and serving down the T deliver the same winning percentage, at 78 per cent. The eight left-handed players primarily served wide on break point with their first serves, but not at the volume our instincts would suspect. The data set comes from 2017 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 events and the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. [ALSO LIKE]...
“Come on, Jimbo!” Those were the words of encouragement from Rafael Nadal, who showed up in the stands of Court 14 on the Australian Open grounds, to the surprise of Jaume Munar. The young Spaniard was playing his first round Australian Open qualifying match. “Jimbo” ultimately prevailed against Andrea Arnaboldi, 6-2, 6-4, and moved on to the second round of qualifying. “Having the support of Rafa is very special to me,” Munar told ATPWorldTour.com after the victory. “It wasn't like I was expecting him to come see me play. I know it isn't easy for him to get to a match with all the attention he draws, and despite all that he still managed to get up close to the...
The Miami Open presented by Itau has a new tournament director, and he's a familiar face for tennis fans across the world. Ten-time ATP World Tour titlist and former World No. 4 James Blake has been named to the role and will focus on player relations, media, broadcast, as well as tournament improvements and innovations, the tournament stated in a release on Thursday. “I am grateful for the opportunity to lead the Miami Open team that has been putting on one of the best tennis events for more than 30 years,” said Blake. “As a player, I always loved playing in Miami and I am excited for the opportunity to take the tournament experience to a higher level for the...
Germany’s Dustin Brown received a standing ovation after he saved four match points on Thursday to reach the qualifying round at the Australian Open after a 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(16) victory over World No. 248 Di Wu of China. “I’ve only played a long tiebreak like that once in a final set. It was just a very difficult match. He started off so well and I realised I just had to get loose and swing,” said Brown, who led 4/1 in the tie-break. “I tried to make him think. He played unbelievable shots on my match points in the tie-break.” Brown now plays 18-year-old American Stefan Kozlov, who beat Yannick Hanfmann of Germany 4-6, 7-6(2), 6-4. Watch Live Streaming Of Qualifying...
