ATP news

Watch as Akira Santillan soars for a stunning dive volley at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Kobe, Japan.

Watch as Dominic Thiem shares his thoughts after notching his first Group Lleyton Hewitt win at the Nitto ATP Finals with a place in the semi-finals still hanging in the balance. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

For the eight players competing at the Nitto ATP Finals, this week represents the culmination of their journey towards the top of the sport. But for 26 players who participated at ATP University in London this week, the journey is just beginning.

Those 26 players graduated in this year’s London sessions across the river at the Marriott County Hall, adding to the total number of rising stars who have gone through the tutorial on life on the ATP World Tour, which surpassed 1,000 graduates last year.

World No. 1 and five-time Nitto ATP Finals Champion Ivan Lendl spoke to the group on Tuesday morning and offered advice based on his own journey. The players also listened and participated in presentations during the week covering: Overview of the ATP, Rules and Officiating, Savings and Investments, Communicated Threats, ATP Marketing & Social Media, Medical Services, ATP Communications, Media Relations, Anti-Doping, Anti-Corruption and Player Relations.

Outside of the classroom, the players enjoyed group dinners and a trip to the Nitto ATP Finals on Tuesday evening and, of course, a fun night of miniature golf.

“I’ve had a good time in London. In my opinion, ATP is doing a very good job with the University. It’s important for us to understand how everything is working from behind and get advice about some of the most important subjects we have on Tour,” said Jaume Munar, who competed at the Next Gen ATP Finals last week in Milan. “Most of the information will be useful and helpful for us in the future. And the activities were fantastic, it’s always nice to share moments with guys who normally are opponents and be together for a couple of days, away from tennis.”

At the end of the three days of sessions, the ATP IQ test was won by 29-year-old German Yannick Maden, who claimed the coveted GoPro 7 prize.

It was an exciting week for Next Gen ATP Finals runner-up Alex de Minaur, who honoured on Centre Court Tuesday at The O2 as the Newcomer of the Year in the 2018 ATP World Tour Awards Presented By Moët & Chandon. But the Aussie also got a lot out of ATP University’s presentations.

“It was definitely better than I expected with a couple of very interesting lectures that I learned a lot from, especially the one having to do with social media and how to better manage that, and how to be able to engage with all your fans and followers,” De Minaur said. “The investment one was also very interesting, learning how to use your money, the smart things to do with it... I really enjoyed myself and thank you for everything.”

The London 2018 graduates included Sander Arends, Matteo Berrettini, Alex De Minaur, Egor Gerasimov, Antoine Hoang, Miomir Kecmanovic, Evan King, Yannick Maden, Pedro Martinez, Ben McLachlan, Andreas Mies, Mats Moraing, Bradley Mousley, Corentin Moutet, Jaume Munar, Ricardo Ojeda Lara, Jonny O'Mara, Oscar Otte, Hsien-Yin Peng, Alexei Popyrin, Ramkumar Ramanathan, Christopher Rungkat, Nino Serdarusic, Aldin Setkic, Lorenzo Sonego and Alexey Vatutin.

Watch highlights as Dominic Thiem defeats Kei Nishikori in straight sets to earn his first Group Lleyton Hewitt victory at the Nitto ATP Finals. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com. Photo credit: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour.

Watch Hot Shot as Kei Nishikori is rewarded for coming forward behind his serve, saving break point with a series of volleys against Dominic Thiem at the Nitto ATP Finals. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

Go behind the scenes with ATP University's London Class Of 2018 as the players learn valuable lessons about life on the ATP World Tour, and even get to hear from former World No. 1 Ivan Lendl as he discusses his experiences.

Coming into his final Group Lleyton Hewitt match, Dominic Thiem knew anything other than a straight-sets win over Kei Nishikori would bring an end to his ambitions of reaching the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals.

On Thursday, the sixth seed delivered that result, beating the Japanese star 6-1, 6-4 to remain in the hunt for a place in Saturday's semi-final line-up. Thiem saved all four break points he faced to record his 54th win in 74 match tour-level matches this season after 84 minutes.

"I didn't come into the match with too much pressure," said Thiem in his on-court interview. "I just wanted to show to myself and all the spectators the real Dominic Thiem."

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Roger Federer's straight-sets win over Kevin Anderson on Thursday night confirmed the Swiss will top Group Lleyton Hewitt with a 2-1 record. Anderson, who qualified as a result of Thiem's victory, also advances with two wins from three round-robin encounters.

Thiem started well, racing out to a 3-0 lead after breaking serve in the second game of the match. The Austrian stood back in the court, hitting with depth on his backhand side and conviction on his forehand to unsettle Nishikori and extract errors.

After surviving a tight fourth game, the Japanese No. 1 quickly found his feet and soon threatened to retrieve the break of serve. But Thiem found his best level when it mattered, serving himself out of trouble and firing backhands at full pace to save three break points. A second service break for Thiem soon followed, before the World No. 8 served out the set after 41 minutes.

After failing to convert a break-point opportunity at 2-2, back-to-back errors from Nishikori gifted Thiem a second chance just two games later. The Roland Garros runner-up seized his opportunity, pushing Nishikori into his backhand corner before unleashing a backhand up the line to secure a crucial break. Three games later, Thiem served out the match to love to earn his first win of the week.

"I just went into that match and wanted to show my real self again basically because two days ago was really bad," said Thiem. "I wanted to have a much better game again today. That's what I did.

"I made some adjustments. I tried to have a higher first-serve percentage. Some things definitely paid off. Of course, I'm happy that I got the win."

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Nishikori was hoping to advance to the semi-finals for the third time in four appearances at The O2. The seventh seed, who owns a 20-8 record since the start of the US Open, has reached three tour-level championship matches this season after making his comeback from a right wrist injury on the ATP Challenger Tour in January.

"There were too many unforced errors for me," said Nishikori. "I think I made it really easy today. He was also playing well.

"But I think I gave him too many free points... He was playing solid, too. There were not too many chances for me today."

Did You Know?
This is the first time Thiem has won his final round-robin match at the Nitto ATP Finals. In his previous two appearances at The O2, the Austrian ended the group stage with losses to Milos Raonic (2016) and David Goffin (2017).

Chris Kermode, the ATP Executive Chairman and President, discusses the concept of the ATP Cup, a team competition to begin in 2020. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

Jamie Murray and Bruno Soares ended Group Llodra/Santoro with a 3-0 record on Thursday, beating Henri Kontinen and John Peers 3-6, 7-6(3), 10-3 at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Murray and Soares, who pick up their third win in nine FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings against the alternate pairing, won 74 per cent of service points to claim the win after 87 minutes. The fourth seeds improve to 8-3 at The 02 and will aim to reach their first championship match at the event on Saturday. Murray and Soares will be appearing in their third straight semi-final at the season finale.

“It was a great effort for to us win the match because we obviously were hanging in a lot of the time,” said Murray. “We never find it easy to play those guys because they serve so well, they’ve got a lot of firepower. They make it stressful for you. But we hung in. We played our best at the end, which is really what matters in doubles.”

Murray and Soares have now won 40 tour-level matches this season (40-18). For the third straight year, the British-Brazilian pairing has captured three tour-level trophies, lifting titles in Cincinnati, Washington, D.C. and Acapulco.

Kontinen and Peers quickly adapted to familiar surroundings at The O2, earning their first break of serve in the third game. From 30/30, the Toronto champions closed on the net and forced consecutive volley errors from their ooponents to snatch an early break. Kontinen and Peers maintained that advantage throughout the set before breaking once more in similar fashion at 5-3 on a deuce deciding point.

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With both teams unable to convert multiple break points early on, a tie-break was needed to decide the outcome of the second set. After splitting the opening six points, Murray and Soares capitalised on uncharacteristic errors from Peers to claim four straight points and level the match.

Early in the Match Tie-break, Murray took the initiative with key interceptions, creativity and strong reactions to open up a 5/1 lead at the change of ends. From there Murray and Soares entertained the crowd, getting the better of their opponents in extended rallies before converting their first match point.

After the withdrawal of Nikola Mektic and Alexander Peya, due to Peya's elbow injury, Kontinen and Peers were making their third consecutive appearance at the season-ending event. In both previous visits to The O2, Kontinen and Peers lifted the trophy. Last year, the No. 10-ranked team in the ATP Doubles Team Rankings became the first back-to-back Nitto ATP Finals champions since Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan (2003-04).

The ATP and Tennis Australia today officially unveiled the ATP Cup - a new team competition to kickstart the men’s tennis season from 2020. The tournament, which was announced during the Nitto ATP Finals in London, will be played across three Australian cities over ten days in the lead up to the Australian Open and will feature teams from 24 countries.

World No. 1 and President of the ATP Player Council Novak Djokovic was among the players who joined ATP Executive Chairman & President Chris Kermode and Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia, to reveal the details of the competition, which has been shaped through extensive consultation over several years with players, tournament organisers and sponsors. The launch also revealed the ATP Cup’s new brand identity and a promotional video to bring the plans to life.

The event sees the return of an ATP team competition into the calendar for the first time since the ATP World Team Cup, which was held in Dusseldorf from 1978-2012.

The move represents the latest initiative by ATP to innovate in the sport, as well as providing increased earning opportunities for its players, and introducing new fans to the game. The tournament will ensure every season starts with an event with a truly global profile, giving players the chance to see their nation crowned the best in the world. The 2020 ATP Cup will offer US$15 million in prize money and up to 750 ATP Rankings points to the winners.

Djokovic, who finished 2018 as year-end No.1 for a fifth time, stated: “I like that it’s owned by ATP, by the players, and that we have ranking points, and it’s going to be the best way to kick start the season. Australia is a country that has a Grand Slam, that nurtures tennis tradition. More than 90 per cent of the time we’re playing as individuals and we don’t have too many team events. This is going to bring together a lot of nations and for me personally it will be a very nice and proud moment to represent my country.”

Kermode added: “This new event fits perfectly with our strategy to innovate and look towards the future. We know from our extensive discussions with the players that the ATP Cup will provide a great way for them to open their season – bringing together the world’s best for a major team event that compliments existing scheduling, provides highly-coveted ATP ranking points and clearly links to the Australian Open. The first week of the season is when the players want to play and that’s why the tournament has their strong support. By staging the event with Tennis Australia, which is renowned for its experience as an outstanding event promoter, we know that the tournament will be a great success from year one.”

Tennis Australia CEO, Craig Tiley added: “This is an amazing opportunity, in close collaboration with the players and the tour, to deliver a globally impactful event that further elevates the sport and the fan interest in it.

“We want to keep growing tennis, give the players an environment where they can perform to the best of their abilities and then ensure they are appropriately appreciated and rewarded. This event will help us all achieve that while connecting with new generations of tennis fans. It will provide a new source of inspiration for young athletes to choose our sport.”

The format of the ATP Cup will see nations split into six groups, with eight teams emerging from the round-robin stage to compete in the knockout phase until only one team is left standing. There will be up to five players in each team, with ties comprising two singles matches and one doubles match. The criteria for entry into the ATP Cup will be based off the ATP Ranking of the No. 1 singles player from each country.

Venue announcements will be made in due course.

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Current players look ahead to competing at the ATP Cup, a new team competition, which will kickstart the men's tennis season from 2020.

The ATP and Tennis Australia today officially unveiled the ATP Cup, a new 24-team competition to kickstart the men's tennis season from 2020.

Watch Marin Cilic reflect on his three-set victory against John Isner on Wednesday at the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

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Michael Venus was two hours into his 13-hour flight from Shanghai to London last month when he received a text message from his fiancée Sally: her water had just broken and she’d gone into labour.

“That’s probably the longest flight I’ve ever had in my life!” he said.

Venus, who alongside doubles partner Raven Klaasen had been beaten in the Rolex Shanghai Masters quarter-finals on Friday afternoon, landed at Heathrow at 6 a.m. Saturday and got an Uber straight to the hospital. His daughter, Lila Grace, was born at 1 a.m. on Sunday.

“I still had some time,” he said. “I guess good for me, not so good for [Sally], she had a long labour, but unbelievable to be there for it.”

From becoming a father to returning to The O2, it’s been quite the month for Venus. In the days following his daughter’s birth, the Auckland native celebrated his 31st birthday and qualified for the Nitto ATP Finals with Klaasen in their team’s debut season. This week, exactly one year after proposing to Sally on the rooftop of The O2, he returned to the special venue with his wife and their daughter.

“That was an awesome week. She was born two days before my birthday – I felt having her was a great present,” he said. “And then on top of that, to have the icing that we’re going to be playing here was pretty cool. Her first credential that she got was here at the [Nitto] ATP Finals, so you can’t ask for much more.”

Similar to American John Isner, who has been joined at The O2 by wife Maddie and two-month-old daughter Hunter Grace, Venus has been learning to balance the responsibilities that come with fatherhood and finishing the 2018 season on a strong note.

He has played three tournaments in the four weeks since Lila’s birth, but has been trying to help out as much as possible when he is home. “I’ve got pretty good at changing diapers and trying to soothe her and put her down a little bit at night so that Sally can get a little bit more sleep,” he said.

This week, the family has relocated from their home 25 minutes outside of London to the player hotel, where Venus stays in a separate room the night before matches as “it’s not ideal to be getting up two or three times”. But once the match is done, it’s “back on nappy duty”.

On Thursday night, Venus and Klaasen will play Colombians Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah for a place in the semi-finals. Sally and Lila will be at The O2 to support him, watching from the suite upstairs, as they have been all week.

Watch as Nicolas Mahut and Pierre-Hugues Herbert share their thoughts on a crucial round-robin victory at the Nitto ATP Finals, before looking ahead to their match against Mike Bryan and Jack Sock on Friday. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

Watch highlights as Marin Cilic defeats John Isner in three sets at the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals, earning his first victory in Group Guga Kuerten. Photo credit: Peter Staples/ATP World Tour. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

Watch Hot Shot as Marin Cilic breaks John Isner with a lunging drop volley, delighting the crowd at The O2 in London. Watch live tennis at tennistv.com.

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It’s no secret that one of the toughest tasks in all of tennis is breaking John Isner’s serve. But Marin Cilic broke the American three times in a row at the end of the second set and the beginning of the decider on Wednesday to earn his first victory of the 2018 Nitto ATP Finals, 6-7(2), 6-3, 6-4.

"I had to just stay patient, just stay focused and I felt that I played really great tennis from the second set and the third set as well," Cilic said. "I'm really pleased with the win."

Cilic puts an end to a four-match losing streak at the season finale, capturing the second victory of his career at The O2 (2-9). And since Cilic lost a set, Group Guga Kuerten leader Novak Djokovic (2-0) is through to the semi-finals at the event for the eighth time.

Semi-final Qualification Scenarios

Thirty-year-old Cilic got some help from the big-serving Isner, who double-faulted two breaks to the fifth seed. It was a surprising sight, as Isner entered the tournament second in ATP World Tour history in break points saved according to Infosys ATP Scores & Stats, staving off 70.5 per cent of them in his career. The oldest first-time qualifier at the Nitto ATP Finals since 35-year-old Andres Gimeno in 1972 saved his first five break points of the match.

But Cilic increasingly put returns in play, doing well to recover close to neutral by placing those returns deep in the court. And perhaps it was that pressure that forced Isner to go for more, getting broken via a double fault at 3-4 in the second set and to begin the third set.

"I think he just started seeing the ball better," Isner said. "Maybe I tipped some of my pitches. But he started getting on me a lot there."

But even still, Isner was not out of the match just yet, as a sloppy service game from Cilic, which included a double fault, evened the third set. The Croat broke for the third time in a row though, managing to throw Isner’s footwork off with another deep return near the baseline before scrambling forward and carving a perfect backhand drop volley.

"I just felt that I got that momentum towards the end of the second set and just started to feel the ball really well. Just on a few occasions, I guessed right," Cilic said. "On critical points on John's serve, he made a couple double faults as well, which helped on the break points. I just had to stay patient, stay always looking for those chances and be ready for them. I lost my serve at the beginning of the third set, but managed to break back. I definitely played great tennis towards the end."

It’s easy to forget that Isner began his 2018 ATP World Tour season 2-6 at tour-level. But perhaps the turning point of his season came at the Miami Open presented by Itau, where the American upset then-World No. 3 Cilic in the Round of 16 en route to becoming the oldest first-time ATP World Tour Masters 1000 titlist.

Cilic exacted his revenge in London in two hours and 14 minutes, extending his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against Isner to 8-3. The Croat had lost his only previous match on an indoor hard court against the Nitto ATP Finals debutant two years ago at the Rolex Paris Masters.

The 18-time tour-level champion will next face Novak Djokovic in the final match of round-robin play. Cilic has won just two of 18 FedEx ATP Head2Head matches against the World No. 1, but he saved championship point against the Serbian earlier this season before triumphing at the Fever-Tree Championships.

Watch as Bradley Klahn enjoys authentic Texas BBQ at The Pit Room, while competing at the Oracle Challenger Series Houston. Video courtesy of www.oraclechallengerseries.com

After Mike Bryan and Jack Sock's win over Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic earlier in the day, Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut knew they needed to post a win at the Nitto ATP Finals on Wednesday night to avoid elimination from the tournament.

"We are still in the competition. We wanted to show something better. The past few years were not that good [here] and the first match was not very good, so we really wanted to show that we are a good team and I think that is what we did today," said Mahut.

The French pairing managed exactly that, defeating Lukasz Kubot and Marcelo Melo 6-2, 6-4 to move to 1-1 in Group Knowles/Nestor. Herbert and Mahut won 62 per cent of second-serve return points and did not face a break point en route to their 70-minute victory, improving to 21-10 at tour-level this season.

"It is the best match we have played together here," said Herbert. "It is a good feeling right now because the matches were not like this every time."

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Making their fourth straight appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals, Herbert and Mahut are bidding to reach the semi-finals at The O2 for the first time. The eighth seeds will face Mike Bryan and Jack Sock in their final round-robin match on Friday.

"In the past six months, [Bryan and Sock] have been the best team," said Mahut. "We know what we have to do. [We have to] play the same match as today."

Herbert and Mahut got off to the best possible start at The O2, with sharp returning in the opening game. The Frenchmen forced errors on consecutive points directly from their returns, before converting break point after a double fault from Melo. A second break soon followed as Kubot failed to control Herbert's return on deciding point, before the Roland Garros champions served out the set to love after 29 minutes.

In a repeat of the opening set, Herbert continued to apply pressure on return and was rewarded for his efforts. After earning break point with a powerful forehand return, the prospect of once again serving to the 27-year-old extracted another poorly timed double fault, this time from Kubot, to hand the Frenchmen an early second-set advantage. Mahut and Herbert maintained that lead throughout the set, serving the match out to love.

"We served well. We were aggressive and we won the key points," said Herbert.

Kubot and Melo, who drop to 0-2 in Group Knowles/Nestor, can still qualify for the semi-finals when they face top seeds Oliver Marach and Mate Pavic on Friday. Last year's finalists have lifted four tour-level trophies in 2018, including back-to-back titles in Beijing and Shanghai.

Did You Know?
In June, Herbert and Mahut became just the third all-French team in the Open Era to win the title at Roland Garros.