Roger Federer is well accustomed to calling the tunes when he steps out on court, so it seems only apt he sings up a storm when he is off it. While the Swiss great called time on an abbreviated season to have knee surgery, 2020 will go down as a highlight for a very different reason.

Federer, it seems, has broadened his repertoire and his vocal range in the process. The 39-year-old recently turned his voice to the Beatles classic With A Little Help From My Friends as part of a commercial for Sunrise, a Swiss telecommunications provider based in Zurich, Switzerland.

The opening verse may provide a hint to the tongue-in-cheek performance. However, this was not the first time Federer had recorded a song on film – even if his debut film clip was slightly less sophisticated.

In 2017 he joined Grigor Dimitrov and Tommy Haas to create the Backhand Boys supergroup during the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells. The trio recorded version of the 1982 Chicago hit, Hard To Say I’m Sorry, with Haas’ father-in-law, the world-renowned record producer and musician David Foster, on piano.

A post tennis career could yet be on the cards. We’re all here for the album drop.

They may be rivals on the ATP Tour, but that hasn’t stopped Denis Shapovalov from collaborating with fellow #NextGenATP star Corentin Moutet for his latest single.

The Canadian announced that Moutet will feature on his latest single ‘Drip’ via his second Instagram account: @shapo.music. The song, to be released this Friday, follows the release of Shapovalov’s debut single ‘Night Train’ last month. Alongside his music release, Shapovalov will also be in action on Friday when he faces Ugo Humbert for a place in the Internazionali BNL d’Italia quarter-finals.

 

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@corentinmoutet_music think they’re ready for this? #Drip #ComingSoon?

A post shared by Shapo (@shapo.music) on Sep 13, 2020 at 7:00am PDT

“It’s like Night Train. I just did it at my home. During the pandemic there was so much time and I saw Corentin Moutet releasing a lot of music, so I figured, ‘Why not get on a track with him and just put it out to the world?’ I actually think it is a really cool song… Hopefully people are enjoying the music and like it,” said Shapovalov.

Moutet is no stranger to the world of rap music. The Parisian recently created his own YouTube channel to showcase his talent following a positive reaction from fellow players and coaches.

“The days can be long on site at tournaments, so I wanted to do something else,” said Moutet. “I’m usually writing, singing or rapping most of the time now. I try to write every day about my feelings or anything else that comes to mind.”

Could further ATP Tour music collaborations be in the near future? Watch this space.

Mate Pavic and Bruno Soares extended their winning streak to seven matches at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday.

The US Open champions converted five of six break points to defeat Sander Gille and Joran Vliegen 6-3, 6-2 in 66 minutes. Pavic and Soares are aiming to lift their second ATP Masters 1000 trophy as a pairing, having won their maiden team trophy at the level at last year’s Rolex Shanghai Masters.

Pavic and Soares will meet Kitzbühel finalists Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in the quarter-finals. The fourth seeds recovered from a set down to beat Canadians Felix Auger-Aliassime and Milos Raonic 4-6, 6-4, 10-3. 

Rohan Bopanna and Denis Shapovalov ended Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah’s bid for a third straight Rome trophy. The US Open quarter-finalists saved five of six break points to overcome the top seeds 6-3, 3-6, 10-5 in 82 minutes.

Bopanna and Shapovalov are chasing their maiden team title this week. The pair reached its first ATP Tour championship match at last year’s MercedesCup in Stuttgart.

Bopanna and Shapovalov’s victory ends Cabal and Farah’s 10-match winning streak in Rome. The Colombians won back-to-back trophies in the Italian capital in 2018 and 2019.

The Indian-Canadian tandem will face Jeremy Chardy and Fabrice Martin in the quarter-finals. The Frenchmen dominated a Match Tie-break to eliminate US Open finalists Wesley Koolhof and Nikola Mektic 4-6, 7-6(2), 10-0.

Daniil Medvedev and Stefanos Tsitsipas lead the way at the Hamburg European Open, an ATP 500 tournament in Germany. Held the week preceding Roland Garros in the revised 2020 ATP Tour calendar, the tournament also features three other Top 10 players: Matteo Berrettini, Gael Monfils and Roberto Bautista Agut. 

Medvedev returns to Hamburg for the first time since his debut as a qualifier in 2016. This will mark the Russian’s first appearance on clay since last year’s Roland Garros. He enjoyed a breakthrough in the second half of 2019, when he reached six straight finals, highlighted by two ATP Masters 1000 titles and a runner-up finish at the US Open. 

Tsitsipas, the reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion, will be making his Hamburg debut. The Greek will be looking to rebound from a loss in his clay return this past week at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia (l. to Sinner). 

Nikoloz Basilashvili will go for his third straight title against a strong Hamburg field that also includes Andrey Rublev, Fabio Fognini, Denis Shapovalov, Diego Schwartzman, Felix Auger-Aliassime, Cristian Garin and Kevin Anderson. Garin won two clay-court titles earlier during season at the Rio Open presented by Claro and Cordoba Open. 

Here’s all you need to know about the Hamburg tennis tournament: what is the schedule, where to watch, who has won and more. 

Established: 1892

Tournament Dates: 21-27 September 2020

Tournament Director: Sandra Reichel

Draw Ceremony: Saturday 19 September

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Schedule (View On Official Website)
* Qualifying: Saturday – Sunday from 10:30am
* Main draw: Monday, 21 September – Sunday, 27 September
* Singles final: Sunday, 27 September at 12;00pm
* Doubles final: Sunday, 27 September, following singles final 

How To Watch
Watch Live On Tennis TV 
TV Schedule

Venue: Rothenbaum Tennis Stadium

Prize Money: €1,062,520 (Total Financial Commitment:€1,203,960)  

Tickets On Sale: Buy Now

View Who Is Playing, Past Champions, Seeds, Points & Prize Money Breakdown

Honour Roll (Open Era)
Most Titles, Singles: Roger Federer (4)
Most Titles, Doubles: Andres Gomez, Emilio Sanchez (4)
Oldest Champion: Andres Gimeno, 33, in 1971
Youngest Champion: Andrei Medvedev, 19, in 1994
Lowest-Ranked Champion (since 1979): No. 143 Roberto Carretero in 1996
Most Match Wins: Guillermo Vilas (35)

2019 Finals
Singles: [4] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) d Andrey Rublev (RUS) 75 46 63   Read & Watch
Doubles: [3] Oliver Marach (AUT) / Jurgen Melzer (AUT) d [4] Robin Haase (NED) / Wesley Koolhof (NED) 62 76(3)  Read More 

Social
Hashtag: #hamburgopen

Facebook: @HamburgOpen
Twitter: @hamburgopen
Instagram: @hamburgopen

Did You Know… The Hamburg honour roll includes a number of former World No. 1s, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Gustavo Kuerten, Marcelo Rios, Stefan Edberg, Ivan Lendl and John Newcombe. Read Tournament Heritage

Eighth seed Diego Schwartzman kickstarted his Internazionali BNL d’Italia campaign on Thursday with a straight-sets victory over John Millman to reach the third round. The Argentine – a semi-finalist in Rome last year – needed two hours and 19 minutes to hold off the Australian, 6-4, 7-6(1). 

Schwartzman saved a set point at 4-5 in the second set and turned it up a notch in the ensuing tie-break. He reeled off seven straight points to book a clash with either ninth seed Andrey Rublev or Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz.

The 28-year-old is one win from reaching his fourth straight clay-court quarter-final this season. He reached the final on home soil at the Cordoba Open in February and a week later, the semi-finals at the Argentina Open before a leg injury ruled him out of remaining South American events in Rio de Janeiro and Santiago.

Following a first-round exit at the US Open, he returned to clay last week when he fell to Laslo Djere in the quarter-finals of the Generali Open in Kitzbühel. In only his second appearance in Rome, Millman was coming off a straight-sets win over lucky loser Joao Sousa in the opening round.

Gael Monfils bids to reignite a red-hot run of early-season form when he makes his tour return at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Thursday. The French fifth seed faces German qualifier Dominik Koepfer for a place in the third round.

In his most recent outing, Monfils let slip three match points against Novak Djokovic in the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships semi-finals in February. It would have been his first triumph in the pair’s ATP Head2Head series in 17 tour-level meetings.

Following a fourth-round defeat to Dominic Thiem at the Australian Open, Monfils had won two titles – in Montpellier and Rotterdam – and hit a 12-match, 25-set winning streak before the World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings denied him. It was the first time he had claimed multiple titles in a season.

Qualifier Koepfer scraped back from a set down and saved a match point against Australian World No. 27 Alex de Minaur on Tuesday. It will be his first ATP Head2Head meeting with the Frenchman.

A trio of Italians – Lorenzo Musetti, Fabio Fognini and Lorenzo Sonego – stands to join compatriots Matteo Berrettini, Jannik Sinner and Stefano Travaglia in the third round at home. If two advance it would set a new Open Era record for Italians through to the round of 16 in Rome.

On Tuesday, 18-year-old qualifier Musetti sprung the upset to beat former World No. 3 Stan Wawrinka to become the first player born in 2002 to win an ATP Tour match. A win in his first meeting with former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori would make him the youngest man to reach the third round in Rome since an 18-year-old Fabrice Santoro in 1991.

A right elbow injury wiped out Nishikori’s opening two months of 2020 before the tour’s COVID-19 pandemic pause. Nishikori downed Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the opening round for his first match win since August 2019 on Monday.

Seventh seed Fognini returns for his 13th main draw appearance at the Foro Italico on Thursday when he meets Frenchman Ugo Humbert in the duo’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. The 33-year-old is searching for his first match win since undergoing surgery on both ankles in May.

Humbert, who started his year with a title at Auckland, comes off an opening-round win over Kevin Anderson. The third Italian in action, Sonego, takes on World No. 34 Casper Ruud in a first-time ATP Head2Head meeting.

Two US Open quarter-finalists continue their campaigns on Thursday as ninth seed Andrey Rublev takes on Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and 12th seed Denis Shapovalov meets Spanish qualifier, Pedro Martinez – both first-time ATP Head2Head clashes. Rublev, who started the season with titles in Doha and Adelaide, downed qualifier Facundo Bagnis in his Rome debut, while Shapovalov also had the measure of an Argentine, Guillo Pella, first up.

The top-ranked Argentine, eighth seed Diego Schwartzman, takes on Australian John Millman for a place in the third round, having retired during their pair’s only prior ATP Head2Head encounter at the 2016 Australian Open. Former World No. 3 Milos Raonic – a finalist at the Western & Southern Open last month – will carry a 1-0 ledger into his showdown with Serb Dusan Lajovic.

ORDER OF PLAY – THURSDAY 17 SEPTEMBER 2020
CENTRALE start 11:00 am
[Q] Pedro Martinez v [12] Denis Shapovalov
WTA Match
[7] Fabio Fognini v Ugo Humbert

Not Before 7:00 pm
WTA Match
[Q] Lorenzo Musetti v Kei Nishikori

PIETRANGELI start 11:00 am
WTA Match
[13] Milos Raonic v Dusan Lajovic
WTA Match
WTA Match

Not Before 7:00 pm
[Q] Dominik Koepfer v [5] Gael Monfils

GRAND STAND ARENA start 11:00am
[8] Diego Schwartzman v John Millman
WTA Match
Hubert Hurkacz v [9] Andrey Rublev
Casper Ruud v Lorenzo Sonego

Click here to view the full Internazionali BNL d’Italia Thursday schedule.