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      Elena Rybakina, a Wimbledon Winner, Makes Her WTA Finals Debut

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      She’s seeded fourth and is bringing her staggering serve to the event in Cancun, Mexico.Elena Rybakina was mad. She expressed it in the manner most comfortable to her.“Thank you for changing the rules last moment,” Rybakina wrote in an Instagram story last month, alongside a clapping emoji. “Great decisions as always @wta.” She ended with a circus tent and clown-face emojis.Rybakina, who will be making her debut in the season-ending WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, on Sunday, had arrived in Tokyo for a tournament expecting, as the No. 3 seed, to receive a bye. That meant one less match to play and a few days of extra rest.But, because of a rather technical WTA rule, Maria Sakkari and Caroline Garcia, who had just reached the semifinals at a tournament in Guadalajara, Mexico, and had a long distance to travel before the start in Tokyo, were given what’s known as “performance byes.” That meant that Rybakina no longer had a free pass into the second round.Rybakina celebrating after winning a match against Aryna Sabalenka at the China Open earlier this month. Rybakina beat both Sabalenka and Iga Swiatek, the world’s top two players, this season.Wu Hao/EPA, via ShutterstockSo, after the draw was already made, Rybakina withdrew from the tournament. She said, at the time, it was because of a lingering illness that had plagued her since the summer. (Rybakina declined to be interviewed for this article.)It was not the first time that Rybakina found herself drawn into controversy. After her semifinal win over Victoria Azarenka at the Australian Open in January, she defended her longtime coach, Stefano Vukov, when he was criticized for yelling at her midmatch.“He is a passionate coach with a lot of knowledge about tennis,” Rybakina — who lost the Australian final to Aryna Sabalenka in three sets — wrote in an Instagram post, responding to the commentary. “Those who know me well, will know that I would never accept a coach that didn’t respect me and all our hard work.”Then, during a tournament in Montreal in August, Rybakina went on the offensive after a persistent rain delay forced her to begin her quarterfinal match after 11 p.m. Her match against Daria Kasatkina (which she eventually won) didn’t end until almost 3 a.m. She then lost her ensuing semifinal and complained of niggling injuries.This type of grumbling is unusual for Rybakina, 24, who typically goes about her business on court with little indication of what she is thinking or feeling.“Elena is so professional and very focused, and she really controls her emotions,” said her agent, Nicholas Tzekos. “You have to spend quantity time with her to get to the quality. But when she does smile, it’s as if she’s giving a giant hug to the whole audience.”Rybakina’s game is buoyed by her six-foot frame and a staggering serve that has routinely been clocked in the mid-120 m.p.h. range, as well as a forehand that she can redirect into the furthest corners of the court.Rybakina has won two tournaments this year, at Rome and Indian Wells, winning enough ranking points to earn a spot at the WTA Finals this week.Pedro Pardo/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images“Her serve is amazing,” said Billie Jean King, who will welcome Rybakina to the Billie Jean King Cup Finals in Seville, Spain, days after the WTA Finals. “Her forehand gets a little dodgy sometimes, but she’s always going to be a threat because she loves to play and she believes in herself.”Rybakina had her big breakthrough at Wimbledon last year, defeating Ons Jabeur for the title. The Moscow-born Rybakina had been representing Russia, but chose instead to start playing for Kazakhstan in 2018; she won Wimbledon while competing for the Central Asian nation.That year, the tournament had banned Russian and Belarusian players because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The WTA then opted not to award ranking points for Wimbledon, meaning that Rybakina, despite being one of the best players that season, failed to qualify for the 2022 WTA Finals in Fort Worth.This year, Rybakina, ranked No. 4 and seeded 4th at the Finals, has won two tournaments, the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells, where she beat the world’s top two players, Iga Swiatek and Sabalenka, in succession, and the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome. With three wins over Swiatek and one over Sabalenka, she is one of just two WTA players since 2000 to have four wins over world No. 1s in the same season.The other was Serena Williams. More

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      Coco Gauff Won the U.S. Open and Became a Symbol

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      She won the U.S. Open and seized the spotlight as a symbol of her generation.Hours after winning her first United States Open tennis championship, in September, Coco Gauff took her Tiffany trophy for a nighttime swirl around the tournament grounds.Dressed in the summer’s hot color — pink — she lip-synced to the No. 1 single from Nicki Minaj and Ice Spice:“I’m bad like the Barbie/I’m a doll, but I still want to party.”At 19, Gauff met the cultural moment and made it her own.“That’s what great content creators do. They capture the essence of moments,” said Kirby Porter, the founder of New Game Labs, a marketing firm that helps start-ups work with athletes. “First, she embodied that in winning. And then that video? I literally downloaded it, and I was like, ‘Yes, Mood!’ That’s exactly how I feel.”Born into a new generation of athlete creators, Gauff became the M.C. for Gen Z with her unscripted authenticity at this U.S. Open. She not only raised her own profile, but lifted women’s tennis in need of a new celebrity after the retirement of Serena Williams.“To me, it’s been in a lull for a couple of years now, without having any personality,” said Zina Garrison, who at Wimbledon in 1990 became the first Black woman to play a major final since Althea Gibson.“It’s like the Women’s Tennis Association didn’t have an identity, and she’s bringing back the identity,” Garrison said of Gauff.Gauff returning a shot during the 2023 China Open in Beijing this month.Yanshan Zhang/Getty ImagesA relentless defender on the court and a self-assured voice off it, Gauff, who was not available to comment, proved that she is primed to make a long-term impact well beyond sports. Inspired by her grandmother Yvonne Lee Odom, who integrated her Florida high school in 1961, Gauff has used her platform to promote social justice, including Black Lives Matter, gender equity and climate change activism.Now ranked No. 3 in the world, Gauff enters this week’s year-end WTA Finals in Cancun, Mexico, with a more immediate question: Has she recovered from a shoulder injury from a tournament in Beijing this month?After winning 16 straight matches this summer and fall, Gauff lost in the semifinals of the China Open to No. 2-ranked Iga Swiatek. Gauff then withdrew from another tournament in China.Her agent, Alessandro Barel Di Sant Albano of Team8, said in an interview that Gauff had a “minor muscle injury” and that she would be ready for Cancun. “She’s going with the mind-set of, ‘I am going to win this tournament,’ ” he said.Team8 has also been busy fielding calls for her.“There’s been at least 100 brands that have reached out,” Barel Di Sant Albano said, adding that Gauff already had seven partnerships, including New Balance, which created her signature shoe.“We’ve always taken the approach of ‘fewer, bigger, better’ and the idea that it doesn’t come and go away overnight,” he said. “If you focus on what happens on the court, it will become much more off the court down the line.”Gauff taking pictures with fans at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., in March.Mark J. Terrill/Associated PressGauff turned pro in 2018 at age 14. She had her breakthrough the following year at Wimbledon, upsetting Venus Williams in the first round and running to the fourth round in a stunning debut. She also won her first W.T.A. tournament in 2019.Gauff marked that four-year anniversary by posting a video on X, formerly Twitter, of her celebrating the moment with the quote: “I want to hug her.”For Gen Z, the social media scrapbook has the receipts. See: Gauff as a bubbly 8-year-old dancing in the stands at the 2012 U.S. Open to “Call Me Maybe.” Nearly 750,000 people followed her Instagram account in the last three months, a rate of growth that ranks first among female tennis players, according to MVP Index, a valuation and data measurement company that focuses on sponsorships in sports and entertainment.On TikTok, ESPN’s replay of Gauff protesting what she said were her opponent’s delay tactics to the chair umpire in her opening match at the Open went viral, drawing 2.7 million likes.In 2022, viewership on ESPN reached record levels during Serena Williams’s farewell in a third-round loss. How would the Open fill that void?According to ESPN, Gauff’s three-set championship victory against Aryna Sabalenka was ESPN’s most-seen women’s tennis final. It peaked at 3.5 million viewers, according to MVP Index.That far surpassed the peak of the men’s final — 2.7 million — when Novak Djokovic trounced Daniil Medvedev. In a summer of surging interest in women’s sports, including in soccer’s World Cup and the W.N.B.A., Gauff’s championship averaged 2.8 million viewers compared with 2.3 million for the men, MVP Index calculated.She tried to FaceTime her brother Codey after she won. During the trophy presentation, Gauff thanked her parents, poking fun at her father for crying, acknowledged Venus and Serena Williams for inspiring her and thanked the trailblazer Billie Jean King, whom the Open was celebrating for making equal prize money possible for women 50 years ago. Gauff won $3 million.But when Gauff delivered her most memorable message, “the whole tone of her voice changed,” said Garrison, who was doing radio commentary. She went from lighthearted to “I have something to say,” Garrison recalled.That’s when Gauff addressed her critics who thought she would not fulfill her potential. They thought they were throwing water on her fire, but were actually throwing gasoline: “I’m really burning so bright right now,” she said.“We could not have scripted the 2023 U.S. Open any better,” said Stacey Allaster, the tournament director, who credited Gauff for understanding her platform. “And then she leans in and she inspires hundreds and thousands of girls to believe in themselves. Let’s just drop the mic.”Joe Favorito, a sports marketing consultant and a former executive with the W.T.A. and U.S. Tennis Association, wondered why he hadn’t seen more of Gauff in advertisements since the Open.“You have to take advantage of things while the spotlight is on you,” he said. “Those are legacy opportunities.”But Garrison disagreed. “I don’t think you have to push it with Coco,” she said. “She’s not going anywhere. Coco’s here to stay.” More

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      The Present and Future of French Men’s Tennis

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      Men’s tennis in France isn’t what it used to be. But the veteran Adrian Mannarino is still winning, and the teenager Arthur Fils is quickly finding his form.Adrian Mannarino couldn’t stifle his chuckle.He had just been asked what it meant to him to be the top-ranked men’s tennis player from France.“Well,” Mannarino said in a video interview from a tournament in Astana, Kazakhstan, in early October, “this is not a good sign for French tennis.”Mannarino, at 35, is in his 20th year on the ATP Tour. He has never been ranked in the world’s top 20 and has never advanced beyond the round of 16 at a Grand Slam tournament. He did win the championship in Astana, though, his fourth career title and second of the year.The victory propelled Mannarino’s world ranking to No. 24, just two off from his career-high from March 2018. But, as he heads into the Paris Masters for the 13th time, Mannarino is keenly aware of the void of top talent in France.“We all knew that whenever Gaël [Monfils], Richard [Gasquet], Gilles [Simon] and Jo [Wilfried Tsonga] would get old, there would be a time when French tennis would be in trouble,” said Mannarino, of four French players who have all been ranked within the top 10 but are now in their late thirties and have either retired or dropped down significantly in the rankings. (Though Monfils did win his 12th career title in Stockholm last week.)“We’re still waiting for the young players to get to the top. There’s a lot of talent, but it’s taking a little bit of time to get to the top level,” he said.There are now 13 Frenchmen in the top 100, but only four — Arthur Fils, Luca van Assche, Ugo Humbert and Hugo Gaston — are 25 or younger. Fils has shown the most promise.At just 19, Fils, a finalist at the French Open junior championship in 2021, began the season ranked outside the top 250 and playing on the lower-level challenger circuit. He is now ranked No. 38.In February, Fils broke through in his home country, reaching back-to-back semifinals in Montpellier and Marseille, where he beat Stan Wawrinka. He won his first ATP title in Lyon, France, in May, and reached the semifinals in Hamburg, Germany, beating Casper Ruud before falling to the eventual champion, Alexander Zverev. Fils upset Stefanos Tsitsipas en route to the final in Antwerp, Belgium, last week before he went down to Alexander Bublik in the championship match.Arthur Fils, also a French player, after a successful shot in a match that he ultimately lost to Matteo Arnaldi of Italy at the U.S. Open in August.Hiroko Masuike/The New York TimesFils also made his Davis Cup debut for France alongside Mannarino in September and then was chosen by Bjorn Borg, captain of Team Europe, to be one of the team’s six representatives at the Laver Cup. He lost his lone singles match there to Ben Shelton.Fils said he has modeled his game after his countryman Tsonga, a big hitter who was runner-up to Novak Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open and reached five other major semifinals.“Tsonga was one of my idols when I was younger,” Fils said. “He had a big serve, some great forehands and was in amazing physical condition. I’m trying to do the same and play a lot with my forehand and try to serve a lot of aces.”Mannarino’s style of play is nearly the opposite. It is best described as durable and reliable, though he benefits from a left-handed hook serve that draws opponents off court.“I’m not really powerful, so I’m trying to be a little smarter,” said Mannarino. “I’m moving pretty well and adapting to my opponent’s game most of the time. I’m like a counterpuncher; I use the power of my opponent and just try to be as consistent as I can. And if my opponent can miss some shots, I’m always happy.”Though only two years younger than Gasquet and Monfils, both of whom have seen their rankings drop out of the top 50, Mannarino is playing some of the best tennis of his life. Last year, he reached the round of 16 at the Australian Open before losing to the eventual winner, Rafael Nadal. This year, he beat Shelton and Hubert Hurkacz at the Miami Open to reach the round of 16 and has wins over Daniil Medvedev and Taylor Fritz. And yet only once, in 2020, has he reached the third round at the Paris Masters.“I’ve never had great results at Bercy, but I feel like I’m really enjoying my time when I’m playing there,” Mannarino said, referring to the site of the tournament. As a child, he would sit in the top level of the stadium with friends from his local tennis club and cheer on the French players. “It’s always good to have the French crowd supporting you, especially the Parisians, because it’s pretty noisy and a good atmosphere.”Mannarino after winning a point against Daniil Medvedev of Russia in their second-round match at Wimbledon in July.Adam Vaughan/EPA, via ShutterstockFrance has a rich and vast tennis history. Suzanne Lenglen won Wimbledon six times from 1919 to 1925. Yvon Petra won Wimbledon in 1946, and Yannick Noah became the first Frenchman in 37 years to win at Roland Garros in 1983.Mary Pierce won the Australian Open in 1995 and the French Open in 2000. Amélie Mauresmo, a former world No. 1, captured both the Australian Open and Wimbledon in 2006. And Marion Bartoli took the Wimbledon title in 2013.But there are no more revered French players than the Four Musketeers — Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste — who led their nation to the Davis Cup six straight years, from 1927 to 1932.More recently, though, Mannarino and Fils met during a practice session at France’s national tennis center when Fils was just 15.“His fitness coach came to me after and said, ‘Oh, Arthur didn’t like it; it was going too fast for him and he could barely keep up,’” Mannarino said. “And then, a few years later he’s almost beating me. He’s improved so fast, and his tennis is really mature for his age.”Mannarino knows his time left on tour is limited by his age. But, so far, he does not see himself as old.“I don’t feel old because I don’t feel like my tennis level is dropping yet, even my physical condition,” he said. “I just feel like a kid in my head, and I’m trying to enjoy my life on the tour. As long as my legs can still run, I’m going to keep trying my best.” More

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      An Opportunity at Paris Masters After a Taxing Tennis Season

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      Several players have broken through at the Paris Masters recently to win their first top-tier title. A well-rested Novak Djokovic may stifle that trend this year.It should come as no surprise that tennis’s Big Three — Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer — have dominated the Masters 1000 tournaments with nearly the same record-setting thoroughness as they have the Grand Slams. They’ve won a combined 103 of these top-tier tournaments; throw in Andy Murray and the title tally reaches 117.The Big Three won all but one Indian Wells crown from 2004 through 2017 and, with Murray, 12 of 15 Miami Open championships through 2019. Nadal won 10 times in Rome and 11 in Monte Carlo, with Djokovic winning a combined eight times at those two tournaments. The list goes on, with these legends typically filling a final’s other slot in most years, too.But there’s one slight weakness: the Rolex Paris Masters, which begins Monday. Djokovic has won it six times. But Federer, now retired, won it only once. Murray has won once, and Nadal has reached onlyone final.Last year, Holger Rune, then 19, won his first Masters 1000 in Paris, joining a list of surprising winners that since 2010 includes Robin Soderling, David Ferrer, Jack Sock and Karen Khachanov, none of whom ever won other Masters 1000 singles titles. (Three others — Denis Shapovalov, Filip Krajinovic and Jerzy Janowicz — reached their only Masters 1000 finals here.)Novak Djokovic has won the Paris Masters six times.Julian Finney/Getty ImagesSeveral factors make Paris different, including that it’s the last big tournament of the year. “People are tired,” said Brad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst and former pro. “That brings a lot of unpredictability.”Vedran Martic, Khachanov’s coach, noted that Khachanov was just 22 when he won, explaining that it’s easier for younger (and lower-ranked) players to find success after a long, grinding season. They have not been playing as deep into tournaments week after week as top-ranked players have, which gives them fresher legs. (Older players, he added, may also be more likely to have wives and children eager for their brief off-season to begin.)Craig Boynton, who coaches the world No. 11, Hubert Hurkacz, said the court surface in Paris kept the ball from bouncing high, making it tougher for players to set up shots and win quick points. “That is taxing mentally and on the legs,” he said, emphasizing that the fatigue factor in Paris is typically more mental than physical.“Attitude is most important at this time,” Boynton said. “In the locker room, people say, ‘Who’s crispy?’, meaning ‘Who’s burned out?’” Guys can get to Paris super crispy thinking about their vacation and want to get it over with and move on.”Young players feeling good in the fall can gain confidence and get on a roll, as Rune did last year, Gilbert said. “If you get hot, that’s a good tournament to capitalize on.”Martic agreed to an extent, saying that in 2018 Khachanov had just won in Moscow and was in a good groove. But he added, “It’s difficult to point to one reason: He also plays well indoors and likes Paris and the crowds and atmosphere there.”The calendar matters in other ways, too. Federer withdrew from the Paris Masters or skipped it four times in the 2010s, partly because his hometown tournament in Basel, Switzerland, immediately precedes it. He not only won Basel seven times in that decade (and 10 total), reaching the final two other times, but also devoted extra energy to supporting the event.More significant, Boynton said, is that on the heels of Paris is the ATP Finals for the top eight players. That’s even more prestigious than a Masters 1000. Three of those four times Federer bowed out of Paris, he played in the Finals; Nadal played the Finals four times after either skipping Paris or withdrawing mid-tournament because of injury.Gilbert said that if a strong performance at the Paris Masters could send a player into the ATP Finals, however, “that’s a great motivator.” And, he added, money matters, too, pointing to a new wrinkle this year that will reduce crispiness.The ATP will distribute $20 million among the top 30 players with the most rankings points accrued from Masters 1000 tournaments and ATP Finals. “That’s a significant amount of money, and my guess is that everyone close to the bonus pool will be up for a real battle,” he said.However, any opportunity to break through comes with a Novak-size caveat: Djokovic, the most successful of the Big Three at this level, has reached the finals in seven of his past eight visits.This year, he will be well rested. So, despite prior unpredictability and the factors favoring youth, the odds remain strong that an older man will be playing on the last day in Paris. More

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      The Tennis Escape Artists Who Lifted the Trophies

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      Tennis players save match points regularly, but often crash out of a tournament soon after. But sometimes, a great save sets the stage for a big win.Holger Rune should have been out of the Paris Masters in the first round last year.Rune faced Stan Wawrinka in a contentious opening match that didn’t finish until after midnight. After saving three match points, Rune beat Wawrinka, a three-time major champion, 4-6, 7-5, 7-6 (3), and went on to win the whole tournament, his first Masters 1000 crown. Along the way, he upset five top-10 players, including the world No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz and the six-time champion Novak Djokovic in the final. The win placed him into the world’s top 10 for the first time.Match points are saved in tennis with the regularity of a metronome. Most often, a player performs these death-defying acts early in the tournament then falters before the latter rounds. But sometimes, saving a match point can motivate a player for an entire week.In 2021, winning players saved match points in 58 main-draw matches on the WTA Tour. Only four times, though, did someone come back to win the tournament. Naomi Osaka did it at the Australian Open when she rebounded from 3-5 down in the final set to beat Garbiñe Muguruza in the fourth round and then defeated Serena Williams in the semifinals and Jennifer Brady in the final.Ashleigh Barty won the Miami Open over Bianca Andreescu but only after hitting a return winner down the line to save a match point against 149th-ranked Kristina Kucova in the second round.Naomi Osaka saved match points at the 2021 Australian Open when she rebounded from 3-5 down in the final in the fourth round. She later won the tournament.Cameron Spencer/Getty ImagesAt the 2021 Italian Open, Iga Swiatek was down two match points to Barbora Krejcikova in the third round but managed to escape with a 3-6, 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory. She then won the tournament by pummeling Karolina Pliskova, 6-0, 6-0, in the final.Krejcikova got some measure of revenge when she saved a match point against Maria Sakkari in the semifinals of the French Open a few weeks later, ultimately winning, 7-5, 4-6, 9-7, on her own fifth match point. Krejcikova then defeated Anastasia Pavlyuchenkova for her first and only major singles championship.This year alone, eight ATP tournaments have concluded with a champion who saved match points along the way. Six times it was in the final, including Djokovic’s victories over Sebastian Korda in Adelaide, Australia, and Alcaraz in the final in Cincinnati. Hubert Hurkacz also did it twice this year, saving match points on his way to titles in Marseille, France, in February and in Shanghai earlier this month.“It’s like being on the edge of a cliff,” Djokovic said in 2020 after he had saved three consecutive match points against Gaël Monfils in the Dubai semifinals before beating Stefanos Tsitsipas in the final. “You know there is no way back so you have to jump over and try to find a way to survive, I guess, and pray for the best and believe you can make it.”Last year, eight male players — including Rune in Paris — saved match points, though none in the finals, and went on to win the title. Alcaraz did it twice, against Alex de Minaur in the semifinals of Barcelona and against Jannik Sinner in a five-hour-and-15-minute quarterfinal at the U.S. Open that ended at 2:50 a.m. He went on to beat Casper Ruud in the championship match.“Sometimes when you overcome [match points], it’s good because you’re like half out of the tournament so you’re just happy that you’re there and you still have opportunities to play more matches,” said Rune in an interview.“I try to play more aggressive because you think the opponent may be more tight and nervous in these moments,” he said. “But I also don’t want to miss because I don’t want to end the match by mistake. So I try to play safe but aggressive and often I play some very good tennis on the match points.” Rune will try to defend his Paris title when the tournament starts Monday.“People often say that after saving match points or winning matches like that, it frees you up a little bit, but I don’t know if there’s any evidence to support that,” Andy Murray said.Glyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAndy Murray, a former world No. 1 and three-time major champion, typically has strong memories of matches he’s played. But when asked about winning tournaments after saving match points, Murray stumbled then chuckled when reminded that he had saved a match point against Milos Raonic during the semifinals of the 2016 ATP Finals, ultimately winning the match, 5-7, 7-6 (5), 7-6 (9). The victory was particularly significant because Murray went on to beat Djokovic in the final, securing the year-end No. 1 world ranking.“People often say that after saving match points or winning matches like that, it frees you up a little bit, but I don’t know if there’s any evidence to support that,” said Murray, who also saved seven match points in a second-set tiebreaker against Philipp Kohlschreiber in the quarterfinals of Dubai in 2017 before winning the championship over Fernando Verdasco.Murray sees a difference between saving match points in a close contest and coming back from a deep deficit.“It depends a bit on the situation of the match,” Murray said. “If you’re a set and 5-1, 40-0, down it’s different to being 6-6 in the third set and it’s just one match point against you on your serve. You’re still very close to winning that match.”Saving match points in Grand Slam tournaments holds a special place of honor for players. In 2016, Angelique Kerber saved a match point in the first round of the Australian Open against Misaki Doi and went on to win her first of three majors, defeating Serena Williams in three sets in the final.“When I played here the first round I was match point down and playing with one leg on the plane to Germany,” Kerber told the crowd after winning.In 1996, Pete Sampras became physically ill during his U.S. Open quarterfinal against Alex Corretja but still managed to save a match point and win. He then beat Michael Chang for the title. Boris Becker saved two match points, one with a net-cord winner that skipped over Derrick Rostagno’s racket in the second round of the 1989 U.S. Open. He went on to win the championship over Ivan Lendl.Andy Roddick won his only Grand Slam after saving a match point in the semifinal.Nick Laham/Getty ImagesIn 2003, Andy Roddick saved a match point in a U.S. Open semifinal win over David Nalbandian then captured his lone major by beating Juan Carlos Ferrero in the final. Djokovic saved two match points in a classic five-set U.S. Open semifinal over Roger Federer in 2011 then won the title over Rafael Nadal. Djokovic also saved two match points against Federer in the Wimbledon final in 2019.But no player can top Thomas Muster and the year he had in 1995. Muster won 12 ATP tournaments that year, 11 of them on clay, and had a 65-2 record on the surface. In six of those tournaments, he saved match points, including against Becker in a Monte Carlo final in which Becker double-faulted on his first match point and then made a forehand error.In six of the 12 tournaments Thomas Muster won in 1995, he saved match points.Clive Brunskill/Allsport, via Getty Images“Tennis is one of the few games where you can’t take a result and bring it home,” said Muster by phone from his home in Austria. “You have to win the match. It’s always open and can become a different ballgame. You can be down a set and 5-0 and still win. In any other sport, no way.“You need attitude and willpower to keep believing in yourself,” Muster added. “When you’re down match points, you have nothing to lose anymore. In my mind, I’ve already lost it. But once you save that match point you say, ‘Now I’m winning it. Now that I’ve pulled it out, there’s no way somebody can take it from me. You’ve got to beat me, you’ve got to earn it.’”As for Murray, he’ll take his victories however can get them.“I don’t mind whether I’m saving a match point or winning, 6-1, 6-1,” Murray said. “It doesn’t matter to me.” More

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      Vancouver Fought to Host the Laver Cup — and Won

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      Overshadowed by Toronto and Montreal in the world of tennis, the city fought aggressively to bring the tournament to its 17,000-seat arena.To understand how Vancouver — which, as Canada’s third-largest city, has long stood in the tennis shadow of Toronto and Montreal — won the right to host the 2023 Laver Cup, start with the big picture. From 2,500 feet.In April 2019, the morning after Laver Cup officials flew in from New York, the first thing their Vancouver hosts did was pile them into a seaplane.Climbing out of Vancouver Harbour, the pilot circled above skyscrapers and sports arenas before heading north over cedar trees and glacial lakes toward Black Tusk, the region’s volcanic peak. Whistler Mountain beckoned in the distance. After an hour of sightseeing, the plane splashed back down across from the 2010 Olympic Cauldron.It was a powerful reminder of the city’s hosting legacy.Steve Zacks, the chief executive of the Laver Cup, remembers putting a lot of trust in the pilot. “Once you’re up there, it’s just a beautiful perspective of the city and all the surroundings,” he said in an interview.But it was Vancouver’s experience — and its burgeoning grass-roots tennis scene — that convinced him and his team to take the Laver Cup to a city that hadn’t had a big-time tennis event in a half-century.“The appeal of Vancouver is that it’s a modern city, a business center, and plus, they had the infrastructure and experience to host a major sporting event,” he said.The Olympic Cauldron from the 2010 Winter Games in Vancouver. For the Laver Cup, the Cauldron will be lit up in red (for Team World) and blue (for Team Europe).Chang W. Lee/The New York TimesSince the 2010 Winter Games, Vancouver has been the site of the 2015 FIFA Women’s World Cup finals, several Davis Cup and Billie Jean King Cup qualifying matches for Canada’s national tennis squads, Rugby Sevens, and an L.P.G.A. golf tournament. And, in 2026, Vancouver will be a host city for the FIFA Men’s World Cup.In 2025, Vancouver and Whistler will also host the Invictus Games, an international adaptive sports competition for wounded service members.As a professional hockey town, Vancouver’s elite tennis résumé has been thin, with a well-regarded, but second-tier, men’s professional tournament in recent years.The last time Vancouver was a stop on the men’s international circuit was in 1973, and the tournament was sponsored by a cigarette company. Rod Laver himself won the Vancouver tournament in 1970, its first year.Laver, 85, will be a guest at the team event, which Roger Federer cocreated in his honor. For three days starting Friday, the Laver Cup will lay out the signature black court inside Rogers Arena to showcase six of the top players from Europe against six from the rest of the world. Federer, who retired last year, will toss the coin in the final doubles match on Sunday.“There’s no other way to invite the greats of tennis to Vancouver unless they’re playing for their national team,” said Michelle Collens, the senior manager of Sport Hosting Vancouver, and the bid orchestrator. “This is our opportunity to put us on the map.”While Canada has developed recent stars like Felix Auger-Aliassime, Denis Shapovalov, Leylah Fernandez and Bianca Andreescu, they have emerged from Montreal and Toronto. Those cities host premier tournaments before the United States Open every summer.Jonathan Wornell, the executive director of British Columbia’s regional federation, Tennis BC, sees the Laver Cup jump-starting generational change. “I think it will cause that next surge in the sport,” he said.In fact, it has already begun. Every July, Vancouver has one of the largest amateur tennis tournaments in North America. This year, that event — the Stanley Park Open — drew 1,700 participants of all ages, 200 more than in 2022.Since 2019, players in schools and development programs have doubled, to 24,611 in 2022 from 12,260 participants in 2019, according to Tennis BC.Juniors are clamoring for spots, and not just in tournaments. The Laver Cup held tryouts for ball kids that drew 360 competitors for just 24 slots.“The demand for ball kids was insane,” said Sierra Roberts, the manager of the Laver Cup ball crew. “There’s just so much buzz.“For a lot of the juniors who are going pro,” she said, the players in the tournament are “the heroes they never get to watch or be a ball kid for.”Helping youth was where this bid began — at a golf tournament. In September 2018, Collens was at a charity golf event outside Vancouver raising money for local children to play organized sports, when she was paired with Dave Pentland, a shipping executive. He was also an avid tennis player.“I asked him, ‘What do you think about the Laver Cup — is this for real?’” she said. Pentland promised to let her know, as he was leaving the next day for the second iteration of the event, in Chicago. He sent Collens dazzling pictures from the hospitality suites and court; his contacts got Zacks in touch with Collens.As an event manager for the 2010 Winter Games, Collens specialized in hospitality. In 2019, she had designers make an app for Zacks’s scouting team that held a digital itinerary, with the Laver Cup logo on each site on a map. A mixologist made specialty cocktails named for city highlights.Still, Boston won for the 2020 event, which was then moved to 2021 because of Covid. The event alternates between Europe and world sites, and London was chosen for 2022. By then, the Laver Cup had engaged a London-based firm to handle soaring interest from about 60 cities, Zacks said.Vancouver, with its established relationship and international allure, beat out some 20 cities vying to host in 2023 “the Ryder Cup of tennis,” as Zacks calls it. The Laver Cup’s mission, he added, has been to grow the game, bringing it to “new fans and new locations.”The event begins Thursday with a practice session for the community in Rogers Arena, with ticket proceeds going to a local charity. That night, guests and players will attend a black-tie gala in the glass-windowed convention center overlooking the harbor. The Olympic Cauldron, resting in a fountain outside, will be lit up in the colors of red (for Team World, including Canada and the United States) and blue (Team Europe).One wrinkle in the meticulous plan appeared when Coldplay sold out two concerts during the Laver Cup at BC Place, a 55,000-seat venue directly across the street from Rogers Arena, with 17,000 seats for tennis. Prices for hotel rooms skyrocketed, Collens acknowledged.But she reassured Laver Cup officials that they had handled far bigger crowds and simultaneous events, including the Winter Olympics.“‘I invited you to my city,’” Collens said she told them. “‘I’m going to hold your hand and make sure you have a seamless experience setting this up.’” More

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      The Laver Cup Underlines a Generational Shift in Tennis

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      Young players are stepping up as some older ones fade. Even Roger Federer, the event’s father, has retired.Coming into this year’s U.S. Open, Ben Shelton felt that he had something to prove. But it didn’t have anything to do with the final major championship of the year, where he reached the semifinals before falling to the eventual winner, Novak Djokovic.Instead, Shelton thought he had to justify his inclusion on the six-man Team World in the Laver Cup, an elite competition that begins Friday at Rogers Arena in Vancouver, British Columbia.“When the announcement first came out, I saw all these comments on Instagram, like, ‘Why did you take him? Why? Why this guy? There’s so many higher-ranked players,’” said Shelton, who entered the U.S. Open at No. 47 in the world but is now No. 19 because of his semifinal finish in New York. “I wanted to show people that maybe I deserved to be on the team.”The Laver Cup began in Prague in 2017 and trades continents each year between Europe and North America. Team Europe, captained by Bjorn Borg, who won 11 majors, features Andrey Rublev, Casper Ruud, Hubert Hurkacz, Gaël Monfils, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina and Arthur Fils. John McEnroe, who won seven major singles titles, is captain of Team World. His players are Shelton, Taylor Fritz, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Felix Auger-Aliassime and Francisco Cerundolo.Last year’s event in London was noteworthy because it featured Roger Federer’s final match before retirement. His greatest rivals, Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray, all showed up to honor him. His last match, a doubles loss with his teammate Nadal to Tiafoe and Jack Sock, was a tearful tribute to the 20-time major champion.This year’s Laver Cup represents a generational shift in the sport. Federer has retired, and Nadal, 37, has not played an ATP match since the Australian Open in January because of injuries.Murray, at age 36, is not the player he was when he captured the U.S. Open in 2012, Wimbledon in 2013 and 2016, and became world No. 1 in 2016. And Djokovic, who won his 24th major at the U.S. Open less than two weeks ago and is the current No. 1, is focusing on winning another major.“The end of an era heralds the beginning of a new one,” said Rod Laver — the player for whom the competition is named — who was part of his own generation’s rivalries with Ken Rosewall, John Newcombe, Arthur Ashe and Jan Kodes, among others. “Today’s leading younger players are jockeying for pole position, and we’ll get to see them competing in a team setting in Vancouver, which weaves the eras together.”Bjorn Borg, left, is the captain of Team Europe, and John McEnroe leads Team World.Andrew Boyers/Action Images, via ReutersMcEnroe, who had his own spirited rivalries with Borg, Jimmy Connors and Ivan Lendl throughout the 1970s and ’80s, lamented that the Laver Cup had not generated the same appeal among the players as the Ryder Cup, the team event in golf.“The goal was to make it like golf’s Ryder Cup, where everyone was waiting until the last minute to see who was hottest, but everyone was available,” McEnroe said. “It doesn’t seem to be the case now. It’s tougher to get everyone committed.”Carlos Alcaraz, the reigning Wimbledon champ and world No. 2, has declined to play, as has the U.S. Open runner-up and the world No. 3, Daniil Medvedev. But six of the next 11 ranked players are competing this year, and three others, Alexander Zverev, Stefanos Tsitsipas and Alex de Minaur, have played in the past.This year, Team Europe will play without its powerful core of Federer, Nadal, Murray, Djokovic, Alcaraz and Medvedev. Winners in each of the first four years, the Europeans lost on the last day last year when Team World’s Auger-Aliassime beat Djokovic and Tiafoe outlasted Tsitsipas.Paul, who beat Alcaraz in a tournament in Canada this summer but then lost to Shelton at the U.S. Open, said he was keenly aware of the void left by the Big Four.“It’s definitely a big loss for tennis in general, not just Laver Cup,” he said. “It obviously gives us a pretty good opportunity.”Fritz, who last year won his only Laver Cup singles match, acknowledged the generational shift.“I think times are definitely changing,” said Fritz, who is the top-ranked American at No. 8. “It’s going to be a really different Laver Cup this year with how Team Europe is made up.”Tiafoe, who lost in the U.S. Open quarterfinals to Shelton, agreed.“Yeah, it’s generational,” Tiafoe said during the Open. “I think the fans are going to appreciate the new faces. Tennis is at a great place; the level is getting better and better.”“When I was watching on TV, I was thinking, the way they are so excited, it’s not real,” Andrey Rublev said. “But when you get there, you want to win. You get with the team, you start to feel the support, and you don’t want to let them down.”Mike Stobe/Getty ImagesBefore he first played in 2021, Rublev was skeptical of the event, which awards no ATP ranking points.“When I was watching on TV, I was thinking, the way they are so excited, it’s not real,” he said. “But when you get there, you want to win. You get with the team, you start to feel the support, and you don’t want to let them down.”Fritz is also aware of the camaraderie of the team competition that is so rare in tennis. Last year, members of Team Europe watched a doubles practice session between Federer and Nadal and Murray and Djokovic. Both teams sat intently on the sidelines during each match, cheering and giving coaching advice.In tennis, when you win, Fritz said during the U.S. Open, “you don’t really have people to celebrate with and have fun with. Winning last year, I felt like that was one of the top moments of my tennis career because we were able to celebrate with a group of my close friends.”Seismic movements in tennis are nothing new. After Laver and his rivals, and Borg-McEnroe-Connors-Lendl, came Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang. Each time an era ends, there are those who feel that there can never be one as great.Then came Federer, Nadal, Djokovic and Murray. And now Alcaraz has emerged to challenge Djokovic, as have other talented young players.Shelton, who turns 21 next month, is one of them. A former player at the University of Florida, he helped the Gators to the 2021 N.C.A.A. team championship. He then won the N.C.A.A. singles title the next year before leaving school and turning pro last year.At the Open this year, Shelton became the youngest American man to reach the semifinals since Chang did in 1992. For Shelton, the Laver Cup has a special attraction.“I’m pretty pumped to be in the team atmosphere,” he said at the U.S. Open. “First team competition I’ve been part of since I left college. I’m going to be just as amped and emotional in Vancouver as I was here.” More

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      Frances Tiafoe Talks of Family, His Game and Race

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      He rose to the top 10 this year and had a good showing at the U.S. Open. His family, he said, means “everything to me.”Frances Tiafoe was making the rounds. Upstairs, downstairs, inside, outside. Touching all corners of the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, conducting 90-second interviews, shaking hands, trying hard to manage a smile for everyone in his path.It was the eve of the United States Open last month, and Tiafoe, 25, was returning to the scene of his greatest triumph, a semifinal finish at the 2022 Open that included an upset of the four-time champion Rafael Nadal.The Open represented Tiafoe’s coming-out party. Ranked No. 26 entering the tournament last year, he began this year’s Open in the top 10, largely on the strength of winning two ATP titles, in Houston and Stuttgart, Germany, this season. He also reached the semifinals at Indian Wells before losing to Daniil Medvedev.But Tiafoe, whose career began when his parents emigrated from Sierra Leone and his father became head of maintenance at the Junior Tennis Champions Center in College Park, Md., struggled at the majors this year.He lost in the third round at the Australian and French Opens and at Wimbledon. At the U.S. Open, he was defeated in the quarterfinals by a fellow American, Ben Shelton.Tiafoe and Shelton were chosen by John McEnroe, the captain of Team World, to play in the Laver Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia.At last year’s cup, Tiafoe and Jack Sock beat Nadal and Roger Federer in the final match of Federer’s career. Tiafoe then beat Stefanos Tsitsipas to clinch victory for Team World. It was the first time in the five-year history of the event that Team Europe failed to win.The following interview has been edited and condensed.What was it like to play Roger and Rafa in Roger’s last match?Me and Jack were joking, should we go hard, should we not, should we make it a good show? I’m glad we went out there and played hard.The result was so irrelevant. Tennis won that night.What did you say to Roger when you met at the net after the final point?“Thank you for the last 20-plus years. Thank you not only for your on-court play, but for who you are as an individual. What you’ve done will never die.”At last year’s Laver Cup, Tiafoe and Jack Sock beat Rafael Nadal and Roger Federer in the final match of Federer’s career.Kin Cheung/Associated PressThen, in the clinching match, you had to save four match points against Tsitsipas?Man, it felt like I was down 100 match points. It was crazy. I had never experienced something like that before. Incredible shotmaking with legends sitting on the bench. It was an unbelievable atmosphere.When you look back on this year, do you say it’s been a great year, or that you need to kick it up a notch?I think it’s been a great year outside of the Slams. But the Slams are the only thing I really care about, to be fair.You’ve spoken about Arthur Ashe and the privilege of being a man of color in this sport. But Arthur also spoke of the burden he felt. Do you feel the pressure of being in this position and having to motivate others?One hundred percent, because it’s not like basketball or football, which are predominantly sports of color. Not only that you’re one of a few, but you’re doing it at a super high level. There are expectations, but people are looking up to you and wanting to be like you. You’re in a position to change people’s lives. It’s definitely a burden, but at the same time it’s a blessing.You have mentioned that right before you play a match, the most important thing is that your mother tells you how much she loves you. How critical is your family to your success?Family is everything to me. I’d do anything for my family. I play this game at a high level for my family. That’s one of my biggest motivations every day. My family can’t even believe we’re in this position.Is there one life goal that defines you?Probably that when I’m done, both of my parents will be able to kick up their feet. I want to be in a position to help kids in Sierra Leone play the game of tennis. It’s not really about me. More