The Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan will witness the best young talent the game has to offer in this new, exciting tournament. ATP World Tour Uncovered presented by Peugeot takes a look at the stars in contention to qualify.
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...
A slew of American #NextGenATP stars have successfully advanced into the main draw of the Australian Open, with Frances Tiafoe, Noah Rubin, Reilly Opelka and Ernesto Escobedo taking their spot among the 16 final-round qualifying winners on Saturday. Second seed Tiafoe survived a marathon 3-6, 6-0, 7-5 match against fellow American Tim Smyczek. Both players held serve throughout the final set until Tiafoe finally broke Smyczek in the last game to wrap up the win. This is the first time that the 18-year-old has come through qualifying at a Grand Slam. In an all-teen battle, Opelka came through 7-6(4) 6-3 against Norwegian Casper Ruud to secure his first Grand Slam main draw appearance. The American reached his first ATP World...
Qualifying veterans and #NextGenATP stars both started making their way to the main draw of the Australian Open on Wednesday as qualifying matches got underway in Melbourne. Top seed Radek Stepanek took his opening qualifying match 6-3, 6-7(2), 6-2 against American Sekou Bangoura. Stepanek, 38, is trying to reach his 15th Australian Open singles main draw. The right-handed Czech will face Slovenian Blaz Kavcic next. Second seed Frances Tiafoe, a member of the ATP World Tour's Next Generation, also advanced in three sets. The 18-year-old American won 75 per cent of his first-serve points to beat Italian Marco Cecchinato 6-3, 5-7, 7-5 in two hours and 14 minutes. Tiafoe is attempting to reach his first Australian Open main draw. [ALSO...