Even though he’s had an outstanding year on the doubles court, Ivan Dodig still has plenty of motivation for big results in singles. The 31-year-old Croatian is competing at this week’s $125,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. Dodig was a late entry into the tournament and played through the qualifying draw as a result. After advancing into the main draw, he won his first-round match on Monday over Aldin Setkic of Bosnia. “I’m coming back from a back injury and feeling better now,” said Dodig. “I decided to come and play here at the last minute, but I think it was a good decision.” Currently ranked No. 92 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, Dodig had a solid start...
There are so many firsts for you here, but more importantly for me, this is the first time in your career that you’ve had four straight-sets win. What does that say about your focus this week? Finally, I’m not having to squeak matches out like I have been. Like I said in Cary, I still wasn’t fully there mentally. I really buckled down this week after seeing my friend Darian King win the title in Tiburon, thinking I really could have won that. That got me locked in here and I was very business-like this week. This was a really good mental week for me. I dug in deep and took it to all my opponents. What does reaching the...
A LOOK BACK Stockton ATP Challenger (Stockton, California): In a battle of American #NextGen stars, third seed Frances Tiafoe picked up his second ATP Challenger Tour title of 2016 by defeating Noah Rubin, 6-4, 6-2. This was the fifth all-#NextGen final of the year, four of which involved Tiafoe. The Maryland native will make his debut in the Top 100 of the Emirates ATP Rankings on Monday, joining World No. 71 Taylor Fritz as the second 18-year-old American. At 18 years and eight months, No. 100 Tiafoe overtakes his countryman as the leader for the ATP Star of Tomorrow Award presented by Emirates. The youngest player in the year-end Top 100 will receive the special honour during the Barclays ATP...
Some players discuss an injury layoff as a blessing in disguise, a chance to spend time at home with friends and family while working to become stronger than ever. #NextGen star Noah Rubin doesn’t quite have those same views. “It was a pain,” he laughed. “I hurt my ankle training in Florida, flew to Florida for the grass-court season thinking it would be okay and then it wasn’t. Two-and-a-half months later, I played a Challenger and couldn’t really move, so I had to take another few weeks off. I’ve played a couple of tournaments now, so this is basically my start back and trying to get my [Emirates] ATP Ranking up to where it was.” After a largely frustrating summer,...
Some players struggle to find real world success straight out of college, but that hasn’t been the case for reigning NCAA champion Mackenzie McDonald. Since turning pro in June after completing his junior year at UCLA, the 21-year-old American has found his footing on the ATP Challenger Tour and is now producing big results in his home state of California. McDonald reached the semi-finals last week at the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event in Tiburon, matching his result there last year. At this week’s $100,000 Challenger in Stockton, McDonald ousted second seed and fellow American Tim Smyczek in the second round, an identical result to the win he produced at last year’s $100,000 Challenger in Sacramento. He’s quickly learned that...