American Ryan Harrison reflects on taking the title at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Dallas, USA. Interview courtesy of RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas.
The first week of February has continued to bring good fortune to Australian Blake Mott. It was exactly 12 months ago that the rising Aussie, ranked No. 721 in the Emirates ATP Rankings at the time, came out of nowhere to win his first ATP Challenger Tour at the $75,000 event in Launceston, Australia. The victory also made him the fifth lowest-ranked Challenger winner since 2000. [ALSO LIKE] This week, he’s into the second Challenger final of his career and it once again comes on home soil. Competing at the $75,000 event in Burnie, Mott defeated fourth seed Mohamed Safwat of Egypt and eighth seed Akira Santillan of Japan on his way to another championship clash against fellow Aussie Omar...
Next Gen ATP star Quentin Halys produced breakout results in 2016, but is looking to take his game to an even higher level this season. The 20-year-old Frenchman is off to a promising start in achieving that goal. He's delighted the home crowd at this week’s $50,000 event in Quimper, powering through Miljan Zekic of Serbia and Teymuraz Gabashvili of Russia to reach the quarter-finals. Halys will now play another Russian in qualifier Aslan Karatsev for a place in the final four. “Quimper has made some good improvements since last year,” said Halys. “There’s a new area on-site with three courts, a very nice centre court and everything you need is right here. It’s now on the same level as...
They say everything is bigger in Texas. The tennis is no different and NBA legend Dirk Nowitzki and NFL star Ty Montgomery have taken notice. The sports stars visited the RBC Tennis Championships of Dallas, a prestigious $125,000 event on the ATP Challenger Tour, this week. Attending his first tennis event at any level, Montgomery was immediately hooked. The star running back of the American football juggernaut Green Bay Packers was made an instant fan of #NextGenATP stars Reilly Opelka, Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, visiting the T Bar M Racquet Club on both Tuesday and Wednesday. "Ty was really cool," Opelka told ATPWorldTour.com. "Today was his first time watching tennis live and it seemed like he enjoyed it. It's...