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      It’s Been a Long Season on the ATP Tour

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      With injuries and fatigue, it has taken its toll on the players, who say they will work through the challenges during these finals.Winning on the ATP Tour means surviving perpetual battles of endurance inside a war of attrition. Relentless baseline rallies lead to longer, more draining matches in a season that runs nearly year-round.There was additional concern that after the pandemic-shortened 2020 season, this year’s schedule might take an even greater toll as players get back into shape.“Our season is too long given the physicality of today’s tennis,” the third-ranked Alexander Zverev said in late October. “We don’t really have time to let our injuries heal.”Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Dominic Thiem were sidelined by injuries this year, and at the Paris Masters last week, the fourth-ranked Stefanos Tsitsipas retired with a nagging arm injury. Tsitsipas said he dropped out to preserve his shot at an even bigger prize, the year-end Nitto ATP Finals.The finals, which moves this year to Turin, Italy, from London, is what the game’s elite have been grinding to reach. The tournament has the game’s top eight players split into two groups of four that confront each other in a round-robin format before two from each half advance to the semifinals.Stefanos Tsitsipas retired from his Paris Masters match with an arm injury.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesBrad Gilbert, an ESPN analyst, said the move to Turin should not impact the style of play because, like London’s O2 Arena where the event was played last year, it is indoors with a hard court made by GreenSet, which has produced relatively slow, low-bouncing surfaces.“So we could have more long rallies,” he said. He said that the week off between the Paris Masters and the ATP Finals should benefit the players if there were long points. (This final does not even end the season, with the Davis Cup Finals coming a few days later.)Paul Annacone, who coached Pete Sampras and Federer and is a Tennis Channel analyst, said the players who made it to the ATP Finals feel a sense of accomplishment. “They understand the magnitude of this event, featuring the best of best, so they’ll do whatever they can to win.”The players said that they would indeed play through their fatigue after a grueling season. Zverev, Tsitsipas and Andrey Rublev also said they would not change tactics with bigger serves or ground strokes, more drop shots or a race to get to the net — just for the sake of ending points quickly.“I’ll play the way I play,” Zverev said, who at the United States Open semifinal against Novak Djokovic won a 53-shot rally in a game where the other five points averaged nearly 20 shots each.Novak Djokovic is ranked No. 1 and will be favored to win the ATP Finals.Sarah Stier/Getty ImagesTsitsipas said his game had not changed just because of the time of year, so the players strategies would not budge much either. “If there’s some sort of difference it will be very small.”Rublev said that Tsitsipas, who had the ability to charge the net and the finesse to win on drop shots, was perhaps best suited to change his game if the match demanded it, whereas he was set in his ways. “I’m an aggressive player, and I like to be the one to lead the rally, to dictate the point,” Rublev said. “This is the goal for all the matches.”The home crowd should give an advantage to Matteo Berrettini, ranked No. 7 in the world, the only Italian in the final.“Berrettini has a huge serve and a huge forehand, so he can keep points short,” Annacone said. “And this is a new event for Italy, featuring one of their top young superstars, so I expect the crowd to sound like a concert of Italian fanatics. Berrettini could be right there with the top players.”Annacone said Daniil Medvedev and Zverev had a strong shot at winning because they had proved their stamina, playing excellent tennis since the summer, adding that they had big serves and first strikes so they could shorten points without changing tactics.And Zverev proved his staying power in those long U.S. Open rallies, while Medvedev thrived on counterpunching and could wear tired opponents down, Annacone said. By contrast, Tsitsipas and Rublev have faltered in the second half of the season, making them less likely to survive this gantlet.Still, Djokovic, the world No. 1, remains the favorite. While second-ranked Medvedev beat him in the finals of the U.S. Open on a hard court, and indoors in last year’s ATP Finals, Djokovic has not lost an ATP match in the last two years to any of the other competitors. (Zverev beat him in the Olympics.)Djokovic also took time off after the U.S. Open, meaning he may be fresher than his rivals, which Annacone said could prove crucial.“It will come down to who is freshest and healthiest,” he said, “and can find their form that week.” More

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      Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, the Winning Couple of Tennis

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      They are ranked No. 1 in doubles and took the gold medal at this year’s Olympics.In tennis, doubles pairings are like marriages. A good one requires constant communication, flexibility, understanding and an ability to operate under pressure. When it works, magic occurs.Such is the case for the Croatians Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic who teamed up for the first time this year and are ending 2021 ranked No. 1 in the world. Together they won nine titles this year, including Wimbledon and a gold medal at the Tokyo Olympics, and will be playing at the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin, Italy, which starts on Sunday.Mektic, 32, and Pavic, 28, have had great success with other partners. Mektic has won 17 ATP doubles titles with seven different partners, including six Masters 1000s and last year’s ATP Finals with Wesley Koolhof. Pavic has won 26 tournaments with seven partners. In 2018, he won the Australian Open with Oliver Marach and in 2020 he and Bruno Soares captured the United States Open. Pavic, left, and Mektic and won the gold medal in men’s doubles for Croatia at the Tokyo Olympics in July.Edgar Su/ReutersSometimes teams play together for years, enacting great success. And sometimes, despite the best efforts of both participants, partnerships, like marriages, simply run their course.At the end of 2020, Pavic and Soares were ranked No. 1 as a team. He was also No. 1 alongside Marach in 2018.Mektic also had a solid 2020, winning the year-end ATP Finals with Koolhof, reaching the finals of the U.S. Open and the semifinals of the French Open.But while they were still in London for the ATP Finals last November, Pavic approached Mektic, told him that he was breaking up with Soares and asked if he wanted to team up in 2021. Soares has since teamed up with Jamie Murray and they, too, have qualified for the ATP Finals.“I was the one that stopped playing with my ex-partner, even though we finished as No. 1,” said Pavic by video. “We were just thinking differently about some things, like the tournament schedule. I was 27, he was 38 then. We were at a different stage of our careers. But we finished No. 1, so there was no reason to think we would not continue playing together.”Mektic, who began to focus on doubles five years ago, was also surprised.“I still feel bad when I talk about it because I had a great partnership with Wesley, and I would have continued to play with him,” Mektic said. “But when [Pavic] asked me, it was just one of those things I couldn’t say no to. He’s the best player in the world and I thought this partnership could be the best team in the world. And I was kind of right looking at what we’ve seen this far.”Mektic and Pavic won their first 12 matches together before being stopped in the semifinals of the Australian Open. They then notched an 18-match win streak from June to August.According to both players, there is a fine art to playing doubles.“It’s a completely different sport,” Pavic said. “The singles guys are obviously better tennis players. They hit the ball better. But their understanding of the game, positioning, being in the right place at the right time on the court, it’s just not the same in doubles.”“It’s not all about forehands and backhands,” Mektic said. “Tennis-wise and personality-wise some guys are very individual, and they have problems working together with someone. Having good communication with your partner definitely helps.”Mektic and Pavic are aware that top singles players earn more prize money, get prime-time court exposure and receive greater sponsorship perks. But in some ways being No. 1 in doubles is better than being Novak Djokovic, who is ending 2021 ranked No. 1 in singles for a record seventh year.“It’s a different kind of life that Novak and the other guys have, and I can’t even imagine how it is,” Mektic said. “For us, you reach the top of your sport, but you still remain the same person and you’re not that popular. People are not going to stop you on the street and make you uncomfortable. In that sense, I like it this way. I like that I can just live a normal life.” More

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      The Future of French Tennis Is About to Pass to the Next Generation

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      Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon have dominated the sport for France, but new players are arriving.The history of French tennis begins with Suzanne Lenglen and the Four Musketeers — Jean Borotra, Jacques Brugnon, Henri Cochet and René Lacoste — all of whom dominated the sport in the 1920s and ’30s.For the last 20 years, the game in France has been ruled by four men who could easily be called the New Musketeers. Gaël Monfils, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet and Gilles Simon may have not achieved the success of their predecessors, but they are celebrated for their longevity, camaraderie and talent.They have grown up and competed against each other since they were juniors. Now in their mid-30s with their careers winding down, both they, and French tennis, are realizing just how valuable they have been to the game and just how perilous the future might be when they are gone.“Those guys have been huge for French tennis,” Sebastien Grosjean, the French Davis Cup captain, said by phone. “They all ranked in the Top 10 and played on every big stage for 20 years. Sometimes they were criticized for not winning a slam, but they happened to come along when three guys [Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic] won 20 slams and one [Pete Sampras] won 14. It’s hard to compete with that. But what they did do is amazing.”Jo-Wilfried Tsonga in 2019. Now 36 years old, he has 18 career ATP titles.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesFrench tennis has a storied past. Lenglen, the first world No. 1 and a six-time Wimbledon singles champion from 1919 to 1925, won 83 singles titles during her short career.Between them, the Four Musketeers captured 20 major singles titles, including the French championships 10 times from 1922 to ’32. Together they won the Davis Cup six straight years, from 1927 to ’32.Since then, only two Frenchmen, Yvon Petra and Yannick Noah, have won major championships. Petra won Wimbledon in 1946 and Noah captivated the nation during his run to the French Open title in 1983.Gaël Monfils returning a shot to Jannik Sinner of Italy during the third round of the United States Open in September.Seth Wenig/Associated PressMonfils, Tsonga, Gasquet and Simon have not risen to that level, and time is running out.Tsonga and Simon are both 36 (Simon turns 37 in December), and Monfils and Gasquet are 35. They met as top junior players and often trained and traveled together.“I’ve known these guys since I was 11 or 12 years old,” Tsonga said by phone from his home in Switzerland. “We grew up together. We shared hotel rooms, school, training at the federation center. I remember playing Gilles in an under-12 tournament. What I remember most was that he was half my size and older than me. And I still think that I lost love and love.”All four were, at one time, ranked within the world’s Top 10 on the ATP Tour. Tsonga reached a career-high No. 5 in 2012 and was runner-up to Djokovic at the 2008 Australian Open. He also reached the semifinals there in 2010, as well as the semifinals twice at Wimbledon and twice at the French Open. He has 18 career ATP titles. Hindered by illness and injuries, including a fight with sickle cell anemia that saps his energy, Tsonga has limited his play this year.Monfils continues to entertain crowds with his acrobatic play, which features leaps into the air, balls hit through his legs and a smile that radiates across stadiums. A two-time runner-up at the Paris Masters, Monfils was ranked No. 6 in 2016. He has reached the final of an ATP tournament in each of the last 17 years. For him, being the best athlete was not always enough.“Maybe I’m stronger physically, but tennis is so much more,” Monfils said. “Mentally it’s tougher. I’ve been No. 6 in the world. Those five guys in front of me were stronger than me mentally, but I’ve been stronger than millions of other people.”Simon hit a career-high No. 6 in 2009, but is currently ranked just outside the Top 100. He reached the quarterfinals in Moscow two weeks ago and has played in the Paris Masters every year since 2006 and reached the semifinals in 2012.A former semifinalist at Wimbledon and the United States Open, Gasquet has ended the year in the world’s Top 10 four times. Once ranked No. 7, he reached the semis at the Paris Masters in 2007.Gasquet and Simon first met at a tournament for 10-year-olds. Gasquet was 8 and Simon was 9. They battled for three hours, and when Gasquet finally won he was so exhausted that he could not move and lost his next match. A few years later, he teamed up with Tsonga.“Jo was a little younger, and I was really winning everything at the time,” Gasquet said by phone. “Jo wanted to emulate me. Then we played doubles together in Davis Cup, and it was so much fun. I have so many great memories of the four of us. We always pushed each other to be better.”Ugo Humbert lunged for a return to Nick Kyrgios during their first-round match at Wimbledon in June.Glyn Kirk/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesAll four men lament that they never won a major, even though they came close and each has amassed more than $15 million in career prize money. They all point to Noah, the last Frenchman to win a major, as a catalyst.“Yannick is a big name in French tennis, and an inspiration to all of us,” Monfils said. “To see that he made it, how he made it, how he fought through his career, that is very important.”In ways, the historical greatness has resulted in unfair expectations from French fans.“I never liked the comparison of these guys to the Four Musketeers because it just creates more pressure,” Grosjean said. “When you’re an athlete, you have to deal with pressure; that’s the way it is. We are a nation with a slam. There are only four of them. But to have a full stadium behind you is better than to have them against you.”Hugo Gaston in action in the French Open in June versus Richard Gasquet, a fellow Frenchman.Benoit Tessier/ReutersRegardless of when these four players retire, there is some hope for the next generation.Ugo Humbert, 23, is ranked in the Top 30 and has had wins over Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas. He won a title in Halle, Germany, in June, beating Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev. Hugo Gaston, 21, sits just outside the Top 100. And there are six French junior boys ranked in the top 20 by the International Tennis Federation. Luca Van Assche, 17, won the French Open junior title this year, beating Arthur Fils, 17, in the final.“There was a gap between generations after the Four Musketeers, and there may be a gap after these guys leave,” Grosjean said. “We have some young players with potential, but it takes time to transition from the juniors to the seniors.”Tsonga knows that you can never predict the future.“I’ve been around too many years to know that you never know what will happen,” he said. “No one thought that we would be that good. But I’m proud of what we did as players, of the passion that we had playing for the same flag and the special friendship that we all shared. It has been a privilege to play for France.” More

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      Pandemic Speeds Adoption of Automated Line-Calling Systems

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      The accuracy of Hawk-Eye and Foxtenn are allowing tournaments to reduce the number of officials on the court.The ball streaks through the air toward the base line, topspin yanking it down right near the line. “Out,” shouts the line judge.For 15 years, a player who disagreed could protest with a challenge, and fans at the Rolex Paris Masters, and every other major tournament, would then look to the video screens, often clapping rhythmically, building toward when the Hawk-Eye line-calling system would provide true justice.The pandemic has changed the game. For safety, the hardcourt Masters 1000 tournaments this year, as well as the Australian and United States Opens, replaced line judges (backed up by Hawk-Eye for challenges) with a fully automated system, Hawk-Eye Live.Novak Djokovic said he supported the use of the review technology. David Aliaga/MB Media/Getty ImagesThis system, which the ATP debuted in 2017 at its Next Gen Finals, makes instantaneous calls. Automated line calling has increased confidence in accuracy, while raising questions about the game’s human element.A tour ruled by machines is still far in the future, but this temporary fix provides a sense of where line-calling may be headed.To retain some human element with Hawk-Eye Live, tournaments use recorded voices instead of beeps and boops. “It would feel wrong for tennis to become too robotic,” said Ross Hutchins, ATP’s chief tour officer. (One Hawk-Eye executive publicly floated the idea of using sponsor names, so instead of “Out” you might hear “Ralph Lauren.”)The challenge system demonstrated that line judges were right more often than players, but the machines are more accurate still. “Being the most accurate is the most important thing,” Hutchins said. Eliminating challenges also speeds up the game.Novak Djokovic, the top-ranked men’s player, said he liked the system.“I don’t see a reason why we need the line umpires if we have the technology,” Djokovic told ESPN this year. “I support technology. It’s inevitable for the future of tennis.”Removing people provides more space behind the baseline for players, said Pam Shriver, an ESPN analyst and a former professional player, while automated reliability produces fewer distractions for players and thus better tennis: “It gives the players one less thing to worry about.”But Hawk-Eye Live does not actually mark the spot — it uses its cameras and data to project an estimation of where the ball will bounce. Shriver finds the idea of projected estimates disconcerting, given potential distortions like wind gusts. “It sounds like guessing,” she said. “People think what was caught was the physical bounce as it was happening.”An example of the Hawk-Eye technology in use during a match between Roger Federer and Juan Martin Del Potro.Mike Egerton/PA Images, via Getty ImagesRepresentatives from Hawk-Eye claim accuracy within 3.6 millimeters and self-reported 14 mistakes in 225,000 calls at the U.S. Open in 2020.A rival company, Foxtenn, uses cameras to capture the ball’s actual movement.“Our accuracy is perfect, and one thing that makes us credible is that the player sees the real ball bouncing in the replay, not a drawing,” said Félix Mantilla, director of sales and a former player. “I think only one technology will survive in 10 years.”For now, Hawk-Eye remains the dominant player.“We’re continuously innovating our technologies, while delivering the highest accuracy possible,” the company said in a statement.The tour has confidence in both systems, Hutchins said, adding that there was “absolutely” room for two. Yet it took Covid — and the need to limit the number of people on the courts — to push toward live line calling. And plans are to have Hawk-Eye Live as an option on the ATP Tour through only the first quarter of 2022.“This is not close to permanent,” Hutchins said. “We still want to understand the system’s impact more.”Feedback from fans has been mixed, and there are issues about the impact of developing future chair umpires. Hutchins said the cost of Hawk-Eye Live would be difficult for the hundreds of junior, future and challenger tournaments to pay for, meaning line judges will remain. “There will still be a pathway for chair umpires for a very long time.”Mantilla said that while Americans loved advanced technology and embraced these changes, Europeans were more traditional. “I don’t know if it will take 10 or 20 years for there to be no lines people left in major tournaments, but it will take time.” More

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      Alexander Zverev Under ATP Investigation Into Domestic Abuse Allegations

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      The German tennis star has denied he abused Olya Sharypova during a series of physical altercations she says took place in 2019.After months of delay and complaints from players and tennis officials, the men’s professional tennis tour announced Monday that it would investigate Alexander Zverev after accusations of domestic abuse made by a former girlfriend.Zverev, 24, a rising star from Germany ranked fourth in the world in men’s singles, has strongly denied accusations that he was violent with Olya Sharypova during a series of physical altercations, and did so again in a statement on Monday. Sharypova, a Russian national, has not filed any criminal charges over the incidents, which, she said, took place in 2019. The two began dating when they were teenagers, but the relationship ended more than a year ago.Ahead of the U.S. Open, Zverev sought an injunction in court in Germany to prevent further reporting on the allegations by Slate, which had published a lengthy article on them by Ben Rothenberg, a freelance tennis writer who sometimes writes for The New York Times. The court granted the injunction, and Zverev pointed to it as a confirmation of his innocence.While the court stopped short of that, it agreed with his argument that the evidence presented in the article was not sufficient under German law to justify the impact on him. The decision stated that such an article needed to have enough balance so that it did not leave the impression that Zverev was guilty of the acts Sharypova accused him of committing. Slate has continued to stand by the reporting in the story and has not removed it from its site.Multiple players have said the ATP needs to address the Zverev situation directly and change its policies about domestic violence allegations.In his statement on Monday, Zverev said: “I have always been in full support of the creation of an ATP domestic violence policy. Moreover, I welcome the ATP investigation in the matter and have been asking the ATP to initiate an independent investigation for months.”Andy Murray, a former world No. 1, has complained several times this year about how he felt the ATP was dragging its feet on the issue, long after several North American sports leagues changed their policies to allow players who are the subject of domestic violence allegations to be suspended.“Obviously it was something that needed to change in terms of how some of the situations have been handled, I think, this year,” Murray said after the ATP said it would consider changing its policy. “I just didn’t really feel like the sport had much of a sort of stance on it, really.”On Monday, the ATP said it fully condemned any form of violence or abuse and would investigate such allegations related to conduct at an ATP member tournament.Massimo Calvelli, chief executive of the ATP, called the allegations against Zverev “serious.”“We have a responsibility to address them,” Calvelli said in a statement. “We hope our investigation will allow us to establish the facts and determine appropriate follow-up action.”The ATP announced in August that an independent panel would review and make recommendations for changes to its policies regarding player conduct, including those players who are the subject of abuse allegations.Zverev has suggested he will cooperate with an investigation, but it is not clear what form that cooperation will take. The ATP has until now not had any clear rules for investigating and taking action against players who are the subject of domestic abuse allegations before the matters are adjudicated in a court of law.Sharypova has said she has no intentions of filing charges or a suit against Zverev for the altercations, which allegedly took place in the United States, China and Switzerland while Zverev was competing.Zverev is scheduled to play at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, Calif., this week and is planning to play at the ATP Tour Finals in Italy next month.Since the allegations, Zverev has parted ways with his agents at Team8, the agency founded by Roger Federer and his agent Tony Godsick, though he did participate last month in Federer’s tournament, the Laver Cup. Zverev’s main sponsors include Adidas and Rolex, which so far have stuck by him despite the allegations. More

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      Pro Tennis Finds New Cities to Play In, but Will It Return?

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      The pandemic caused many tennis events to be canceled or rescheduled. It also created opportunities for U.S. cities to throw one together.SAN DIEGO — The small tennis stadium was packed and in full roar as Daniel Vallverdú watched Casper Ruud and Grigor Dimitrov trade blows and breaks of serve on Saturday.“Five weeks, we did it all in five weeks,” said Vallverdú, the managing director of the inaugural, and perhaps final, San Diego Open.Despite the planes that droned overhead, the new tournament did not have much runway: about a month to secure temporary stands and sponsors and then stage an ATP 250 event. These remain extraordinary times for sports and those who attempt to organize them.The coronavirus pandemic has created upheaval on the tennis tour, canceling tournaments like Wimbledon in 2020 and forcing many events to be rescheduled. But the situation has also generated unexpected opportunity for American cities that would normally have been unable to find a slot on a packed international calendar.Chicago, once a regular stop on the women’s tour, has staged two new WTA events since August. San Diego, a city with a rich tennis culture, made its debut on the ATP Tour.“It was one of those things where we were in the right place at the right time,” said Bill Kellogg, one of the San Diego Open’s organizers. “We happened to be in a spot where we could say yes when they asked if we could do it with the China circuit caving in. I know guys that had been trying to get ATP tournaments for years and years and had no luck whatsoever.”When 2021 tournaments in Asia were canceled because of the pandemic, the men’s tour had vacant space to fill ahead of the BNP Paribas Open tournament in Indian Wells, Calif., a prestigious 12-day event that had been moved from March to October because of the pandemic.Vallverdú, a former player who has coached top players like Andy Murray and Dimitrov, knew there might be an opportunity in nearby San Diego with its nearly perfect weather and no tour-level event.Most ATP tournaments hold “sanctions” that guarantee their spot on the tour and that can be sold, just as N.F.L. franchises can be sold. But the ATP Tour has been offering one-year licenses during the pandemic to make up for lost playing opportunities. Thirteen tournaments have operated on these one-year licenses in 2020 and 2021.Vallverdú contacted his friend Ryan Redondo, the new executive director at the Barnes Tennis Center, a public facility with 25 outdoor courts that is a hub for the junior game.Redondo, once an all-American tennis player at San Diego State, knew the power of big events firsthand. At age 5, when he attended a 1989 Davis Cup match between France and the United States in San Diego, the playful French star Henri Leconte brought Redondo onto the court for a hit when John McEnroe took a bathroom break.“Part of my strategic plan and vision was we should have every level of tournament possible here at the Barnes Center, from red ball events for 3-year-olds to ATP and WTA events,” Redondo said. “We need all of that to inspire the kids.”He spoke with two potential benefactors, Kellogg and Jack McGrory, who thought Redondo had to be talking about 2022, not 2021. But they quickly agreed to become the still-notional tournament’s co-sponsors.“We said yes in 24 hours, and we had no idea what we were getting into,” McGrory said. “It was much more complicated than we expected.”McGrory said they got the initial funding for the tournament with a $100,000 grant and $200,000 loan from the Southern California Tennis Association Foundation, of which Kellogg is president. McGrory said they were able to raise $850,000 in sponsorships and contributions and another $800,000 from tickets and concessions. The ATP contributed the prize money of more than $600,000.“We’re going to be able to pay off the loan and put some money back into the Barnes Center,” McGrory said.The tournament, with its modest stadium court expanded to 2,000 seats, was sold out for its last four days. Above all, there was a fine field with Murray, a former No. 1, and eight top-20 players: a lineup worthy of a higher-level event than an ATP 250. The proximity to Indian Wells was a big factor in the elite players’ participation, and the winner turned out to be the 10th-ranked Ruud, a Norwegian who has won five titles in his breakout season.But it remains uncertain, even unlikely, that Ruud will be able to defend his title in San Diego. A one-year license provides no guarantee that the tournament will return to the city. What it does provide is a chance to showcase a new venue.“I have a lot of titles to defend next year, and I know four of them will be played next year and for this one we will have to see,” Ruud said on Sunday as he cooled down on an exercise bike after his 6-0, 6-2 demolition of Cameron Norrie in the final. “It’s obviously tough. The ATP is hosting over 60 events a year and all over the planet, so it’s not easy to find a week to fit in. This year, San Diego was able to do this in five weeks, so I see no reason why they couldn’t do it again, and I hope they will do it again not just because I won but it was a great city and great weather. These are perfect conditions for us to play in. It’s not too hot, not too humid and great atmosphere.”San Diego has produced some fine tennis players. Maureen Connolly, who was known as Little Mo, dominated the women’s game in the early 1950s, achieving a Grand Slam by winning all four major singles titles in 1953. Karen Susman won the Wimbledon women’s singles title in 1962. Kelly Jones was ranked No. 1 in the world in men’s doubles in 1992. Recently, CoCo Vandeweghe broke into the women’s top 10 in 2018 and Taylor Fritz reached No. 24 in the ATP singles rankings last year, becoming the top-ranked American man. Brandon Nakashima, ranked 79th at age 20, is one of the most promising American men’s prospects.But there has never been a main ATP Tour event in San Diego until now, and there has been no tour-level event in San Diego County since the women’s tournament in Carlsbad moved to China in 2014.The United States, once the mainstay of the men’s and women’s tours, has steadily lost tournaments to Asia and Europe. In recent years, the Indian Wells event has been the only ATP event in California, and none of the biggest West Coast cities have had a regular men’s tour event.The decline of American tennis has played a role, particularly the decline of American men’s tennis, but the shift also reflects the more global nature of the sport and the new economic strength of Asia.The pandemic, however, has canceled most Asian events for the last two years, a particularly big blow to the women’s tour, which had moved its year-end championships and much of its late-season lineup to China. The Shanghai Open, one of the top events on the men’s tour, also was canceled in 2020 and 2021.It remains unclear what approach China will take going forward, just as it remains unclear whether the San Diego Open was a one-off or the first chapter of a long-running tennis story.But the tournament certainly got the ATP’s attention. Ross Hutchins, the ATP’s chief tour officer, was initially intending to travel straight to Indian Wells from Europe. Instead, after hearing about the buzz at the Barnes Center, he moved up his travel plans and came to San Diego to observe and meet with the tournament’s team.“It’s a huge credit to them and the tournament how they not only embraced the concept but how they delivered,” Hutchins said Sunday. “And to do it in five weeks and to have the outcome they delivered is phenomenal.”Potential options for San Diego include buying another tournament’s sanction, persuading the ATP to break longstanding policy and create a new sanction, or negotiating another one-year license.Nothing is guaranteed, but McGrory sounded confident at Sunday’s awards ceremony as he turned to the finalists.“This is not going to be their last time here,” he said. More

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      The Special Role of Laver Cup Captains

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      John McEnroe and Bjorn Borg have filled the job since the tournament began, and it’s more than ceremonial.In the first three Laver Cups, the biggest names were the most famous players in tennis: Roger Federer (who helped create the tournament) played each year, Rafael Nadal played twice and Novak Djokovic played once.All are absent this year at the event in Boston, so while six Top 10 players are on board, the biggest names will be the most famous players in tennis circa 1980: the Team World captain, John McEnroe, and the Team Europe captain, Bjorn Borg, both returning for their fourth time.The Laver Cup brings a team sport format to tennis, and the captains have a role unlike almost any other in tennis.Captains recruit and select a team, build team spirit during practices, pick lineups according to the event’s quirky rules and provide in-match coaching.“There’s a lot to consider and a lot of tactics when making out the lineups, so in that sense the captain’s role is pretty important,” said Thomas Enqvist, vice captain of Team Europe.McEnroe takes his job seriously, but he downplays its importance. “It’s not the toughest job in the world,” he said with a laugh. “I show up at some cocktail parties and pick up balls at practiceThere is more to the job than that. Captains must persuade the top-ranked players, who are invited to the tournament based on their rankings, to participate. They also choose three lower-ranked players, called captain’s picks.“Before the first year, I had to call the players and explain the tournament,” Borg said, although having Federer’s backing made his job easier. For the captain’s picks, he added, “I’m watching so much tennis all year to see who fits the team, who may be in the best shape.”Federer, left, of Team Europe, with Borg, the team captain, at the 2018 Laver Cup.Clive Brunskill/Getty ImagesTeam Europe has had a huge edge in singles with its top players, so in past years McEnroe has built his roster around winning the doubles matches, relying heavily on Jack Sock, who is 7-2 in Laver Cup doubles.But without the big three playing for Team Europe, Patrick McEnroe, a vice captain and brother of John McEnroe, said, “we’re not as big an underdog in the singles as we were.”For instance, Denis Shapovalov has a career record of 10-8 against the six Team Europe players. So John McEnroe is aiming for more singles wins, choosing players like Reilly Opelka, who is approaching the Top 20, over Sock, who is an alternate for 2021.Opelka fits the model of McEnroe’s other captain’s picks, John Isner and Nick Kyrgios. “I’m bringing guys in to try and take the racket out of their opponent’s hands,” McEnroe said, referring to players with powerful serves.The week of practice leading up to the tournament serves several purposes for the teams’ leaders. “You need to figure out the doubles partners,” Enqvist said, “so you talk to the guys and try a couple of combinations. It’s important to have good chemistry.”When asked if he could have played doubles alongside Jimmy Connors had the Laver Cup existed in 1980, John McEnroe shrugged. “That would have been iffy,” he said. “I would like to think so, but one year we played Davis Cup together and didn’t talk the whole time.”Patrick McEnroe was amused by the notion. “It would definitely have been worth the price of admission,” he said, “but you’d have to be one strong captain to pull that off.”Reilly Opelka, an American player, in action at the United States Open this month. He will play for Team World at the Laver Cup.Geoff Burke/USA Today Sports, via ReutersThat chemistry goes beyond just doubles partners, Borg said.“We have at least two dinners together to build team spirit,” he said. As for potential conflicts arising from Alexander Zverev’s chastising of Stefanos Tsitsipas for bathroom breaks that he said were too long, Borg said he would be hands off and leave it to his players to work through it.Practical coaching is minimal, John McEnroe said: “The players’ coaches get very protective and call me all the time asking what I am going to do.”Still, he does try, because helping a player make even a slight improvement can make a difference. “I like to help players maximize their potential, and this is one way where they can get feedback from me,” he said. “And it’s not costing them anything.”Both captains submit lineup cards blindly (not knowing who the opponent will be) for the first day, then each gets a turn seeing the other’s lineup first for the next two days. Captains must also weigh the scoring rules: Matches are worth one point the first day, two on the next day and three on the final day.“You want to start strong on Friday, but you might want to save stronger players for Saturday because those are two-point matches,” Enqvist said.Unlike ATP Tour matches, the captains (and the team) are right there on the sideline. “I’m providing a combination of team building, tactics and psychological boosts,” John McEnroe said, though tactics take a back seat. “It’s hard to figure out something that drastic. It’s often basic reminders, but it’s not like I have to tell John Isner, ‘Serve big.’”Mostly it is an enhanced cheerleader’s role. “I give positive vibes,” Borg said.“These players are the best in the world and have played the other guys, so they know what to do and what not to do,” he said. “But if they’re not playing well, I can push them in a positive way.”With the big three replaced by newcomers like Caspar Ruud and Matteo Berrettini, Borg said, “I may be more hands-on and say a few more things this year.”McEnroe said his and Borg’s statures and personas did have an impact.“Even for Roger or Rafa, looking over and seeing Bjorn, they’ll say, ‘I want to make sure I do my thing,’ because Bjorn has an aura around him,” McEnroe said. “I hopefully bring an energy to our side.”Team Europe may be the favorite, but McEnroe has a solution: “I was suggesting that when I grew up, Russia wasn’t considered part of Europe, so we should get [Daniil] Medvedev and [Andrey] Rublev and that would level the playing field.” Medvedev won the United States Open on Sept. 12.In reality, Russia is in Europe and Asia, but the players hail from the European part.“John,” Borg said with a chuckle, “would want all the players.” More

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      Young Italian Men Are Taking Over the French Open. They Have No Idea Why.

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      Italy has 10 players in the top 100, the most ever, and two 19-year-olds who look like major stars in the making. Just don’t ask them what’s going on.PARIS — The Grand Slam event currently underway may be called the French Open. The overwhelming favorite in men’s singles is from Spain. But this tournament, and perhaps even the future of men’s tennis, suddenly feels very Italian.That may sound strange, especially to the Italians, who have never produced a world No. 1. But on Thursday, a pair of 19-year-olds, Jannik Sinner, the surprise quarterfinalist at Roland Garros last year, and Lorenzo Musetti, who is playing in his first Grand Slam tournament, stormed into the final 32. So did Matteo Berrettini, 25, who is seeded ninth. They joined the 34-year-old veteran Fabio Fognini, the No. 27 seed, who has crushed his first two opponents and serves as the spiritual leader for the younger set driving this unprecedented Italian charge.“It’s something we are not used to,” Berrettini said after pummeling Federico Coria of Argentina, 6-3, 6-3, 6-2, Thursday. “Nobody is used to it.”Tennis may be the ultimate individual sport, but countries sometimes produce waves of top players. Germans (Boris Becker, Steffi Graf) had their day in the late 1980s. Americans (Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, Michael Chang) were mainstays of the top 10 in the 1990s. A decade ago, Spain was tennis royalty, winning the Davis Cup, the sport’s leading national competition, four times in eight years, with Rafael Nadal leading the way.If a country produces a generational star, it stands to reason more will follow. But as many times as not, countries produce a champion, and then the tennis cupboard is largely empty. There are no hot young Swiss players in the top 100 ready to fill Roger Federer’s shoes. Spain’s youngest player in the top 40, Pablo Carreño Busta, is 29.“You think the more good players you have from a nation they can groom the next generation, but then the chain breaks,” said Andrea Gaudenzi of Italy, a top 20 player in the 1990s who now leads the ATP Tour.Jannik Sinner made the quarterfinals of last year’s French Open and beat a fellow Italian, Gianluca Mager, to advance to the third round this year.Christophe Archambault/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesSo what has made Italy so good at this moment in men’s tennis history? Asking that is a bit like asking for directions in Rome — plenty of possible answers, none seemingly any better than the rest.Even the smartest tennis minds do not really know how to develop a phenomenal tennis player, much less several of them simultaneously. At its highest level, the game requires the mettle of boxing, the athleticism of basketball and the touch of billiards. Try manufacturing that.Italy began holding significantly more lower-level tournaments during the past decade. That allowed Sinner and Musetti easier access to pro tournaments to cut their teeth. And yet, there are other countries that have plentiful schedules of low-level pro tournaments but do not have a group similar to Italy’s. For instance, the United States, which is more than five times as large as Italy and has lots of low level tournaments, does not have a man in the top 30.Andreas Seppi, the 37-year-old Italian journeyman who notched a first-round upset at Roland Garros, credited the proliferation of top players to Italian coaches, who are more seasoned than they were when he was early in his career. Seppi said his coach, Massimo Sartori, essentially learned the trade with him.“I was my coach’s first player,” Seppi said. “Now all these coaches know what they have to do and how the tour works.”The 37-year-old veteran Andrea Seppi said Italian coaches were more seasoned now than they were as he rose up the ranks..Martin Bureau/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesIndeed, Sinner’s coach, Riccardo Piatti, previously worked with a young Novak Djokovic, and top pros like Richard Gasquet of France and Milos Raonic of Canada.Then again, Musetti’s coach, Simone Tartarini, who has been working with him since he was 7 years old, has coached largely national junior players in the past. The two sometimes share hotel rooms on the road.Sinner and Musetti’s disparate upbringings also offer no clues to success.Sinner, the son of a chef and a restaurant hostess, was a junior skiing champion and did not specialize in tennis until he began training at an academy in his early teens. At first, he struggled emotionally and physically with the daily grind of so many hours on the court, he said earlier this year.Musetti began playing tennis at the age of 4. Other than kicking a soccer ball occasionally with his friends, he never pursued another sport. By age 12, he was among Italy’s standout juniors.So if this golden generation of Italian players proves anything about tennis, it might be the random nature of development and how many different ways there are to play the game.“Some people might say we complain a lot inside the court,” Musetti joked the other day. “I used to, but now I have grown up a little bit.”Blame Fognini for that rap. Fognini, who played doubles with Musetti this spring, regularly offers tips about opponents and tactical advice to his young countrymen. He won’t hesitate to question a line call or hold an umpire, or even an opponent, accountable for the management of a match.He was easily handling Marton Fucsovics of Hungary on Wednesday when a fan in the rowdy crowd screamed after one of his serves, interrupting play. He made sure the chair umpire knew he was not pleased. Up two sets and two breaks, he was still taking long stares at ball marks. However in the third round on Friday, Fognini ran out of steam, losing 6-4, 6-1, 6-3, to Federico Delbonis of Argentina.On the other hand, Musetti, Sinner, Berrettini, and the 26-year-old Lorenzo Sonego — who was seeded 26th here but lost in straight sets in the first round — are mostly all-business on the court.They do not play much like Fognini either. Fognini is a classic counterpuncher. He saunters around the court, taking his time before serving, or returning. He will slice, bash and flick his forehand all during the same point, wait for the slightest opening and then pounce.On Thursday, Sinner played as he always does. All afternoon he attacked another Italian, the 87th-ranked Gianluca Mager, from the back half of the court with darts to the sidelines.Berrettini, who is 6-foot-5, leads with his booming serve, which has been clocked at 146 miles per hour. He powers his way into the court and finishes plenty of points at the net. He also has a highly effective backhand drop shot.Musetti is strong nearly everywhere on the court, with a museum quality one-hand backhand, a beautiful, low-to-high stroke that sends the ball flying off his racket. Opponents have seemingly won a point after pinning him deep on his backhand side, then end up watching a laser dive into the corner.“He’s got a lot of shots,” Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece, the world’s fifth-ranked player, said of Musetti after beating him in Mexico in March. “He just has to work a bit on his serve.”Musetti said he spent much of the spring doing that, trying to make it less predictable.The work appears to be paying off. Musetti has yet to lose a set here. By the third set Thursday, his opponent, Yoshihito Nishioka of Japan, older by six years, was kicking his racket across the clay and tossing his cap.“I’m not trying to explain this,” Musetti said after the win. He faces, who else, another Italian, the 83rd-ranked Marco Cecchinato, in the third round.Musetti now has a 20-11 record on the ATP Tour, as good a start as any current player who has finished a season ranked in the top 10, according to Greg Sharko, the tour’s statistics whiz.The teenager from Tuscany is trying to treat these Grand Slam matches like any other, even though he knows that is impossible.“You think ‘racket, ball, opponent,’” Musetti said the other day. “But every tournament is different, especially in the Grand Slam.” More