The chase is on in the battle for No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings and it’s a fight that Andy Murray hopes will bring out his best tennis in the closing stages of 2016. The Scot narrowed the gap on World No. 1 Novak Djokovic to 1,555 points in the year-to-date standings after winning his fifth tour-level title of the season last week at the China Open in Beijing. The top spot may seem like a long way off, but with tournaments in Shanghai, Vienna, Paris and the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals still to come for Murray, he has 4,000 points to play for. “I feel motivated,” said Murray. “I've got something to play for towards the end...
David Goffin narrowly avoided joining comeback king Juan Martin del Potro’s list of early-round seeded casualties in 2016. The Belgian 11th seed looked on his way to packing his bags after he trailed a set and 2-0 against the wild card Argentine before he turned his fortunes around in a 4-6, 6-3, 7-5 result on Tuesday at the Shanghai Rolex Masters. Having lost the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 final in three sets to Nick Kyrgios on Sunday, the Belgian took time to work his way into his opening match in China. After he broke to level at 2-2 in the second set, Goffin reeled off eight of the next 12 games to hold a 4-2 lead in the...
After compiling another all-time great season, Novak Djokovic returns to the ATP World Tour this week feeling healthy and eager to rediscover his best level. The top seed at this week's Shanghai Rolex Masters will go for his fourth title in the Chinese city – 2012-13, 2015 – and his fifth Masters 1000 title of the season. But Djokovic will look to achieve that success with a different mindset than he possessed earlier in the year. Since completing the career Grand Slam by winning Roland Garros in June, Djokovic said he has struggled to enjoy his time on the court. After winning Roland Garros, he said, “I was obviously very content, but on the other hand I was also very...
Ninth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga cruised into the second round of the Shanghai Rolex Masters on Monday with a 6-3, 6-2 victory over Florian Mayer. The Frenchman made a successful return from the knee injury that saw him retire against Novak Djokovic in the US Open quarter-finals. Tsonga notched his 29th win of the season as he dismissed Mayer in 71 minutes, saving the five break points he faced. [ALSO LIKE] The 31-year-old Tsonga was runner-up at this ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournament last year (l. to Djokovic) and also reached the semi-finals in 2013 (l. to Djokovic). There was more French success on Day Two as Benoit Paire defeated Joao Sousa 6-3, 5-7, 6-1 in one hour and 52...