“It was incredible, it is kind of tough to put it into words,” Chris Eubanks said after winning his maiden ATP Challenger Tour title in Leon. But, to understand the 21-year-old’s recent ATP Challenger Tour success in Mexico, you first have to acknowledge the process. For Eubanks, that means revisiting his college roots at Georgia Tech. Eubanks spent three years building his game at the Atlanta-based university before turning pro just five months ago. “[College] instilled the game style I have now,” said Eubanks. “Playing a big game and being committed to it has probably been the biggest [factor].” Dividing attention between studies and court time may have led to an unwanted dilemma for many, but, after recent successes, the...
17 October 2002. That date will always be etched into my mind. I close my eyes and I can still put myself there. The memory of my first Mutua Madrid Open back in the Rocódromo in Casa de Campo has not gone away, and I don’t think it ever will. I was just 21 years old and in only my second ATP World Tour Masters 1000 event. But I was digging deep against one of the best players in the sport: Andre Agassi. Although I didn't manage to win the three-setter, it was a magical defeat and one of the most special days of my career. The atmosphere was unbeatable and the emotions incomparable. That day, I knew that I...
Marco Cecchinato clinched his first ATP World Tour title on Sunday, beating fellow first-time ATP World Tour finalist John Millman 7-5, 6-4 at the Gazprom Hungarian Open. The victory sees the 25-year-old Italian rise inside the Top 60 of the ATP Rankings for the first time and he becomes the first lucky loser to win an ATP World Tour title since Leonardo Mayer in Hamburg last year. Afterwards, Cecchinato spoke to ATPWorldTour.com: How does it feel to be holding your first ATP World Tour trophy? It is amazing because the first title in my career is not possible to forget in my life. I am very happy because I lost last Sunday [in qualifying] and now I won the tournament....
Not a lot has gone wrong for #NextGenATP Stefanos Tsitsipas at this week’s Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell — except for losing his shoe in the middle of a point. The 19-year-old was leading 3-0 in the opening set against Pablo Carreno Busta on Saturday and held a 15/30 advantage on the Spaniard’s serve. But when Tsitsipas slid to his right to whip a heavy forehand high over the net, his left shoe slipped off. While his shot landed in, the teenager was unable to win the point. “Not sure I’ve ever seen that, especially on a clay court,” former World No. 4 James Blake said with a chuckle while commentating on the match on Tennis Channel. “He might need to...
Rafael Nadal has become the fourth player in ATP World Tour history (since 1973) to record 400 clay-court match wins after his semi-final victory over David Goffin on Saturday at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell. While Argentina’s Guillermo Vilas (659), Spain’s Manuel Orantes (502) and Austria’s Thomas Muster (422) have all won more matches on the red dirt, no player has achieved a better winning percentage on the surface than Nadal, according to the FedEx ATP Performance Zone. Over the past 15 seasons, ever since his first tour-level clay-court victory over Karel Kucera of Slovakia in the 2003 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters first round, Nadal has compiled a 400-35 match record on terre battue – a winning percentage of 91.9 – and...
