Take a closer look at the ATP Rankings as of 13 February 2018, after the Open Sud de France in Montpellier, the Ecuador Open in Quito and the Diema Xtra Sofia Open.
After last year's US Open, Sam Groth had every intention to gear up for a strong finish to 2017 and start 2018 on the best note possible in Australia. But something changed inside Groth. The 6'4” Aussie, who possessed one of the biggest serves on the ATP World Tour, lacked the same desire to improve as he had shown throughout his career. So after talking with Lleyton Hewitt and others close to him, Groth decided that he would retire in 2018, and he'd do it at home, at the Australian Open. “I just don't think my heart was in it to keep going,” Groth said. “I wanted to be able to go out at home as well.” The 30-year-old partnered...
You can pick and choose your favourite Roger Federer number – 20 Grand Slam titles, six Australian Open crowns, 36 years old – but they're all reaching the stage of indescribable. Another example: 53, his tally of “Big Titles” after earning back-to-back Australian Open crowns on Sunday for only the second time in his career (2006-07). In addition to his 20 Grand Slams, Federer's Hall-of-Fame career has also featured six Nitto ATP Finals titles and 27 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 crowns. [ALSO LIKE] But his 20th major title was especially sweet, Federer admitted after beating Croatia's Marin Cilic 6-2, 6-7(5), 6-3, 3-6, 6-1 to improve to 9-1 in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series. “Getting to 20 is obviously very,...