No. 1 Roger Federer, +1 Roger Federer has today returned to No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the 309th week of his career, after Rafael Nadal was beaten in last week’s Mutua Madrid Open quarter-finals. The Swiss begins his fifth stint at the summit of men’s professional tennis at the age of 36 years, nine months. Federer first became No. 1 at the age of 22 on 2 February 2004, spending 237 consecutive weeks there until 17 August 2008. He returned to the top spot for 48 weeks from 6 July 2009 to 6 June 2010, then 17 weeks between 9 July 2012 and 4 November 2012 and most recently from 19 February this year, for six weeks. Federer,...
A LOOK BACK Open du Pays d'Aix (Aix-en-Provence, France): John Millman is a man on a mission in 2018. The Aussie secured his second ATP Challenger Tour title of the year on Sunday, defeating countryman Bernard Tomic 6-1, 6-2 at the prestigious tournament in southern France. At the age of 28, he rises to a career-high No. 58 in the ATP Rankings. Just two weeks after reaching his first ATP World Tour final in Budapest, Millman continued his strong form on the dirt with his first clay-court title. Entering Budapest, the Tecnifibre player had not won a match on the surface since 2015, as he worked his way back from a series of injuries, including shoulder and groin. Now, playing...
Just 13 months ago, Yoshihito Nishioka was lying in a hospital bed, beginning his slow and arduous journey back from leg surgery. The 22-year-old Japanese had torn his anterior cruciate ligament (ACL), an injury that kept him on the sidelines for the remainder of the 2017 season. What a difference a year makes. Nishioka returned to the winners' circle on Sunday in Gimcheon, Korea, securing a bittersweet first ATP Challenger Tour crown in his comeback. He would claim seven wins in eight days as a qualifier, capped by a 6-4, 7-5 victory over Vasek Pospisil in the final. After battling through a pair of three-set encounters in qualifying, Nishioka would breeze through the main draw without dropping a set, scoring...
1. Zverev Feeling Comfortable On Clay Again So much for feeling the pressure to repeat. German Alexander Zverev reached two ATP World Tour Masters 1000 finals in 2017 (Rome, d. Djokovic; Montreal, d. Federer), his breakout season on Tour. Already this year, however, Zverev has matched his Masters 1000 finals appearances, making the Miami Open presented by Itau title final (l. to Isner) and the Mutua Madrid Open title match on Sunday (d. Thiem). The 21-year-old also has more Masters 1000 titles than any active player outside the “Big Four” of Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Andy Murray. Zverev, the defending Rome champion, might also run into Federer in the near future in the ATP Race To London....
