Just 20 years old, Alexander Zverev is the youngest qualifier at the Nitto ATP Finals since Juan Martin Del Potro’s appearance at the 2008 season finale. Simon Briggs of The Daily Telegraph looks at the fast rise of a German who has been spoken of as a future No. 1 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. At the start of the year, Alexander Zverev would have been on most people’s lists to qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals, the experimental 21-and-under tournament that was held in Milan last week for the first time. But Zverev himself had other ideas. Sure, it would be good to prove himself the best player in his age-group. But why stop there? With his 130...
Four months after an emotional appearance in his first Wimbledon final, Marin Cilic is back in London after qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals for the third time. As Stuart Fraser of The Times writes, victory for Cilic this week would be a heartening tale. One of the enduring images of this year’s Wimbledon men’s singles final is of Marin Cilic breaking down during a change of ends, with the Croatian sitting on his chair with his head buried under a towel. Those tears came around 45 minutes into the match when Cilic, trailing by a set and 0-3, and with two medics crouched in front of him, was hit by the realisation it wasn’t to be his day. That...
Just days before the Nitto ATP Finals began, Jack Sock didn’t even know he could still qualify for the season finale for the first time. But, as Mark Hodgkinson writes, Sock then went on the most exhilarating ride through the Paris draw to win a first Masters 1000 title, with that victory bringing him across the Channel as the first American singles qualifier at The O2 since 2011. In the information age – a time of big data, rolling television news and alerts sent to your smartphone – ignorance can be a wonderful thing. Take Jack Sock, who just before Halloween rolled up at the ATP World Tour Masters 1000 in Paris – the last opportunity to qualify for the...
Legends can be defined by combining a couple of metrics – the level of their play, and how long they sustain that for. Roger has raised the bar for both: he has played at a higher level than anyone else, and he has kept it up for longer. When I was coaching Pete Sampras, I vividly remember watching courtside when Roger defeated Pete at Wimbledon in 2001, in a fourth-round match that would be their only meeting. Something became clear to me that day; an immense talent was entering the men’s game. And here we are 16 years later. Watching Roger in 2017, there is no longer a question about his longevity. In a remarkable year, Roger has captured a...
As Grigor Dimitrov steps off a Thames Clipper this week, the view will be all too familiar: the glass fibre fabric canopy of The O2 will loom large, as will the sight of 36-foot high imagery of his rivals that provide a welcome to those visiting the Nitto ATP Finals. Three years ago, as an alternate, Dimitrov learned to play a gruelling waiting game: preparing, practising, anxiously awaiting an opportunity, all in anticipation of a call – which never came – to step up following the withdrawal of a competitor. “That was rough, but it did make me stronger and I took the positives out of it,” remembers Dimitrov, who can now afford a smile. “The [Nitto ATP] Finals is...