Tennis News

The voices driving Landaluce & Cina to the top

In tennis, a sport that spotlights the lone competitor, it’s easy to forget how much of a player’s identity is shaped long before they step on court. For Martin Landaluce, the steady climb toward the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF hasn’t only been about growing into his talent, it’s been about having the right voice next to him, pushing, guiding, grounding.

One of those voices belongs to Oscar Burrieza, one of the Spaniard’s two coaches, alongside Esteban Carril.

Landaluce’s partnership with Burrieza began with a phone call. Landaluce was just 14, full of potential but still a mystery to the top coaches. Burrieza was working with established pros in Madrid when Landaluce’s father reached out.

“I remember his dad called me and talked to me about the possibility of coaching Martin,” Burrieza told ATPTour.com in September. “He wasn’t sure if I’d be open to coaching a 14-year-old. He asked me if I knew him.”

Burrieza did what any coach does when curiosity sparks. He went online, pulled up a few matches and watched.

“Immediately, I liked what I saw,” Burrieza said. “From the first time we met, we had a good connection. Even early on, I could see he was a really nice kid, mature for his age, responsible. On court, he was ready to work and eager to learn. Honestly, it was easy to start working with him.”

 

 

 

 

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That ease has turned into years of discipline, progress and perspective. It is a combination that has fueled one of the most balanced young players on Tour.

Landaluce captured the US Open Boys’ singles title in 2022 and then lifted his first ATP Challenger Tour title in 2024. A second triumph at that level followed in 2025, with the 19-year-old reaching a career-high No. 110 in the PIF ATP Rankings in October.

Landaluce’s rise has been built brick by brick and every milestone hits with a familiar mix of pride and purpose for Burrieza.

“As a coach, every time you get a good result with your player, you feel proud and happy,” Burrieza said. “Happy for them, but also for yourself and the work you’ve put in. When Martin became World No. 1 in juniors, when he won the US Open junior title, those were very special moments. But honestly, not much changes. We enjoy the training weeks, not just the competition.”

What sets Landaluce apart goes beyond his backhand or his court sense. Burrieza believes his greatest advantage is something rare, something almost intangible.

“For me, his balance, mentally, is one of his biggest talents,” Burrieza said. “Tennis is mentally brutal. Most weeks, you lose. But Martin has this ability to wake up the next day and get back to practice like nothing happened. He resets emotionally. Whether he’s about to play at the Madrid Open or a Futures match, he acts the same. That consistency in attitude is rare.”

It’s also nurtured. Burrieza gives him space, lets him be independent, lets him be 19. They travel together, train together and find rhythm in the mundane. And beneath the professional structure, there’s a warmth that powers everything.

“We don’t need to be friends because I’m his coach,” Burrieza said. “I care about him a lot, as a person. I love him, and I truly want the best for him.”

That human connection is what shapes a player-coach relationship.

It’s a theme that runs through this generation of #NextGenATP stars. Italian Federico Cina knows it intimately. His rise, featuring his first tour-level win in Miami and three ATP Challenger Tour finals, has been built around the familiar voice he hears every day: his father and coach, Francesco Cina.

“That’s maybe the hardest part, he’s the coach on court and dad off court,” Cina said. “But my dad is really good at separating the two. On court, he talks to me like a coach, and off court he’s just my dad. I like having that balance. It’s very cool, and I feel lucky.”

They break down opponents together. They troubleshoot practices together. And when stress creeps in, Francesco resets his son the same way Burrieza steadies Landaluce.

“My coach and my dad remind me to keep enjoying practice,” Cina said. “Keeping that spirit is very important, and the results will come.”

Burrieza will hope to push Landaluce to the next level this year in Jeddah, where the Spaniard competes at the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF. For Cina, more progress alongside his father Francesco and he will be in good shape to qualify for the 20-and-under event in 2026.

This is the fifth feature of our Next Gen ATP series Next in Line. Read our other stories here:

Wimbledon dreams, Nishikori’s run & Vinci’s courtside lessons: Next Gen stars share memories

Next Steps: How Tien, Basavareddy & Engel are making the leap
Learning from Legends: Nadal, Cilic & Ram inspiring #NextGenATP stars
Fuel for the future: Inside the mindset of the best youngsters

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Rivalries of 2025: Medvedev vs. Tien

To mark the end of another thrilling season, ATPTour.com is unveiling our annual ‘Best Of’ series, which will reflect on the most intriguing rivalries, matches, comebacks, upsets and more. This week, we are looking at the best rivalries of the year.

Daniil Medvedev against Learner Tien was the rivalry that nobody saw coming in 2025. Medvedev began the season inside the Top 5 while Tien was outside the Top 100, hardly a setup for a recurring showdown. Yet their three Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings proved to be some of the most captivating of the year.

As all-court players capable of carving up opponents, their clashes became a series of compelling strategic equations. Another layer of intrigue lay in the battle between experience and youth as a former No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings took on a rising teenage sensation, while even the seven-inch height difference between the two has been of note in this budding rivalry.

All three of Medvedev and Tien’s Lexus ATP Head2Head meetings this year went to a deciding set, with the American lefty holding a 2-1 advantage over Medvedev. Tien started the year with a stunning five-set upset against Medvedev at the Australian Open and they would not meet again until the Asian hard-court swing, where two meetings in eight days ended in a split.

Australian Open R64, Tien d. Medvedev 6-3, 7-6(4), 6-7(8), 1-6, 7-6(7)
The scoreline of Medvedev and Tien’s Melbourne clash, featuring three tie-breaks, resembles a Sudoku puzzle more than a tennis match and the 2:54 a.m finish only added to the drama.

Tien held a match point in the third set, which Medvedev erased with an ace, but ultimately the match was destined for a Melbourne late-night classic instead of a straight-sets routine win. Medvedev was a defending finalist and had reached the title match on two other occasions, but the former World No. 1 let slip a 7/6 lead in the deciding-set tie-break, putting an end to his tournament. Tien captured four consecutive points and raised in his arms in relief, with a big smile painted across his face after clinching victory.

“I was definitely hoping it wouldn’t go to a fifth-set breaker,” Tien admitted after the victory. “But I’m just happy to get a win. I know I made it a lot harder than maybe it could have been.”

Displaying crafty shotmaking and brickwall consistency throughout the four-hour, 48-minute thriller, Tien would eventually become the second-youngest American man to reach the Round of 16 at the season’s first major, alongside Pete Sampras, who reached the same stage aged 18. Meanwhile, Medvedev finished the major season with a 1-4 record.

<img alt=”Learner Tien celebrates the biggest win of his career over World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev at the Australian Open.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/01/17/00/41/tien-ao-2025-thursday-3.jpg” />
_{^{Tien overcomes Medvedev in a Melbourne thriller. Credit: Getty Images}}

Beijing SFs, Tien d. Medvedev 5-7, 7-5, 4-0 retired
Early signs suggested Medvedev was on course to avenge his Melbourne defeat at the China Open in Beijing. Leading by a set and 4-1, and later serving for the match at 5-3, victory seemed within reach. But Tien refused to fade, staying composed in long rallies to draw errors from Medvedev and extend the semi-final clash at the ATP 500.

Medvedev went off court before the third set and returned with his upper right leg taped. He visibly struggled to move from the first point of the decider, seemingly dealing with cramps. After completing the fourth game, the 29-year-old limped to the net and shook hands with Tien, who advanced to his first tour-level final and became the second-youngest finalist in Beijing history behind Rafael Nadal.

“I had that belief that I was still in the match even though I was down a break,” Tien said of his comeback. “I had the confidence that I could break him because I was able to break him a few times in the first set. I hung around and it worked out.”

Shanghai R16, Medvedev d. Tien 7-6(6), 6-7(1), 6-4
Just eight days after Medvedev was forced to retire in Beijing, he was again standing across the net from Tien and the third time was the charm. In a drama-laced Rolex Shanghai Masters fourth-round clash, Medvedev overcame physical struggles late in the second set and summoned a gritty late surge to victory.

A high-quality opener set the tone for one of the season’s best matches. Then, the drama intensified when Medvedev began cramping at 6-5 in the second set. He asked his coaching team for pickle juice and spoke with the physio before the tie-break, saying in desperation, “What do you think I can do?” Hobbling around the court, Medvedev’s fate looked destined for a repeat of Beijing as Tien dominated the tie-break.

Medvedev would not go down without a fight, however. Although frustrated with his physical state and despite frequently pleading with his team for answers, Medvedev surged to three consecutive games from 3-4 in the decider to cap the two-hour, 53-minute encounter. Medvedev’s rollercoaster victory was fuelled more by heart than anything else and he signed the camera lens afterwards: ‘I don’t want to leave the best city in the world yet!’

In his post-match interview, a relieved Medvedev reflected: “For me to beat him… I thought I was going to lose. I was cramping again and I’m just super happy to manage to do it.

“I think the toughest part was that we played two times [before], and in my opinion he is an unbelievable player, because he doesn’t have a great serve and serve is so important in tennis. Without the serve, he is 19 years old and 30-something in the world and only going up. In my opinion he is such a good tennis player. He feels the game so well.”

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Sinner makes ATP history with unmatched statistical double in 2025

Jannik Sinner may not have ended the year as the No. 1 player in the PIF ATP Rankings, but that did not stop him adding another significant achievement to an already successful season.

In 2025, the 24-year-old Italian became the first player in ATP history (since statistical records began in 1991) to lead the Tour in both percentage of service games won and percentage of return games won over the course of a single season. Sinner’s dominance in both areas helped him deliver a six-title haul, including a successful defence of his Nitto ATP Finals crown on home soil in Turin.

Across 64 matches in 2025, Sinner won 713 of 775 service games, according to Infosys ATP Stats, at a rock-solid 92 per cent hold rate.

Service Games Won (2025)

Sinner finished nearly three percentage points ahead of his nearest competitor Taylor Fritz and no other player held more than 89.18 per cent of his service games. The World No. 2’s margin over proven big servers — Fritz, Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, Reilly Opelka, and even Novak Djokovic — underlines how far his serve has come and how central it has been to his rise.

“On the serve, we changed a lot of things after the US Open,” Simone Vagnozzi, one of Sinner’s coaches, said after the Nitto ATP Finals. “We are lucky to have Jannik [who] is really fast to improve, to understand the changes and everything… For sure our goal in the next season is to be more aggressive than what we are now.”

That strong platform fed directly into Sinner’s return game, winning 247 of the 757 return games he played (32.63 per cent) in 2025.

Return Games Won (2025)

Sinner finished 0.75 percentage points ahead of his biggest rival, Carlos Alcaraz, with whom he split the four major titles in 2025. They also clashed in the Nitto ATP Finals title match, and Sinner used his effective return of serve to apply maximum pressure.

“The return of serve is incredibly important. If you don’t get the ball back in play, you’re not going to break serve too often,” Darren Cahill, one of Sinner’s coaches, said after the Nitto ATP Finals. “Jannik, even though he was down a break of serve in that second set, was consistently putting pressure on Carlos’ service games.”

The gap between Sinner and his closest peers reflects how consistently he applied pressure in return games — especially given that in 2024, the season in which he earned ATP Year-End No. 1 presented by PIF honours, he won 28.3 per cent of return games.

Rising from 28.30 per cent to 32.63 in just one year marks a significant leap. Combined with a serve that continues to grow in reliability and potency, Sinner now possesses one of the most complete statistical profiles in modern tennis, and a foundation that makes him a formidable threat heading into 2026.

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