Kevin Krawietz and Andreas Mies will be part of the German team at the inaugural ATP Cup, to be held from 3-12 January. They will join Alexander Zverev, Jan-Lennard Struff and Mats Moraing in Group F in Brisbane.

ATPTour.com caught up with Krawietz and Mies, who successfully transitioned from the ATP Challenger Tour to Roland Garros success and Nitto ATP Finals qualification in 2019.

What are you most looking forward to about the ATP Cup?
Krawietz: It’s great to be a part of the team and the team feeling, travelling around the world and following results of other German players. It’s great that former German players remain involved in the sport, such as Boris Becker, who will be the captain in Brisbane, plus Tommy Haas, Michael Kohlmann. It’s a big thing for us.

Who were your idols growing up? What shot would you like from a compatriot?
Krawietz: Roger Federer was one of the biggest for us, but also Marat Safin and Lleyton Hewitt for their style of play and personalities. If I could take one shot of a compatriot, it would be the Becker serve. Such power and placement.

Mies: My idol was Becker growing up, but I liked watching Roger, Haas, and the German guys. I’d certainly take the one-handed backhand of Haas, which was so smooth.

What is your favourite thing about Australia?
Mies: I like how relaxed Australia is. I went to Melbourne this year and I felt that the people were very nice. It’s completely different to Germany, where things are strict and people are stressed. Australia is more relaxed.

Krawietz: For me, Australia has great weather and beautiful cities.

Which German player do you find funny?
Krawietz: Struffi is funny, even when he doesn’t try to be. Kohli can have a dry and ironic sense of humour.

Mies: We’re Germans, we don’t joke! No, no, we like to joke around and have a lot of laughs. I once took a German player’s car key, and he was so stressed, looking around non-stop.

What are the things you love most about Germany?
Krawietz: When I come back, I always realise Germany is so structured and organised, that everything is on time. But I also see that people are stressed. I also like the football.

What sports did you play growing up?
Krawietz: I started playing tennis, football and a little bit of basketball, then I had a decision to continue with two sports.

Mies: Growing up, I played a lot of football, that was probably my main hobby until 10-11, when my parents said they couldn’t drive me four times per week for tennis and football. So I had to decide. I tried athletics and swimming too, but I stuck to tennis.

When did you first meet, and subsequently play together?
Krawietz: We met during Futures tournaments together. I was playing junior tournaments, then in 2017, I was looking for a fixed partner, as we were both changing partners a lot. We said let’s try it out.

Mies: I graduated from Auburn University in 2013, with an international business degree, and returned to Germany that summer. We played against each other a few times in doubles, then in December 2013, we played against each other in singles of the German Championships. Kevin won 7-6 in the third set and it still hurts, he was 5-1 up in the third set and I got to 6-5. He smelled the victory and beat me.

We played our first tournament in Meerbusch, a Challenger, and won. I was injured a bit after that for a few months, then we started playing full-time in 2018 and here were are.

How did your life change after you won your the Roland Garros title?
Krawietz: It was a special moment after Roland Garros. The walk from the Halle practice court to the hotel normally takes just a few minutes, but this time it took 30 minutes because we were signing so many autographs. We were very grateful and humbled. We helped conduct the singles draw and there were 200 people watching us. It was a great feeling.

Mies: Life has changed since then for sure, playing smaller events and the ATP Challenger Tour. It was a big surprise, even for us. There was a lot of attention all of a sudden, as it was 82 years since the last all-German pair (Gottfried Von Cramm and Henner Henkel) won a Grand Slam championship in 1937. There was so much attention in the first few weeks and we didn’t sleep very much the first few days as our phones were going off so much. Going to Halle and having so much attention, we weren’t used to it.

Leander Paes, the 46-year-old Indian who has amassed 767 tour-level doubles wins and 54 tour-level doubles titles during his illustrious career, announced Wednesday that 2020 will be his final season.

“I am looking forward to the 2020 tennis calendar where I will be playing a few select tournaments, travelling with my team and celebrating with all my friends and fans around the world. It is all of you who have inspired me to become me and I want to take this year to say ‘Thank you’ to you,” Paes wrote on social media. “2020 is going to be an emotional one and I look forward to seeing all of you out there roaring with me.” 

#OneLastRoar pic.twitter.com/WwALCVF5LO

— Leander Paes (@Leander) December 25, 2019

Paes won his first ATP Tour doubles title at 1997 Chennai, nearly 23 years ago, before the likes of Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alexander Zverev, Denis Shapovalov and Alex de Minaur were born. He lifted at least one tour-level trophy every year from 1997-2015, with his most recent triumph coming at 2015 Auckland. Paes, who first reached No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings in 1999, won the bronze medal in singles at the 1996 Olympics and captured his lone ATP Tour singles title at 1998 Newport.

“I’m playing for a lot of passion now. I really love my life and travelling the world,” Paes told ATPTour.com in July. “When I was younger, I was playing to put bread and butter on the table. I still am, but now I’m playing because I get a lot of happiness out of playing tennis.

“Every morning, I put on [tennis clothes] and have fun… [tennis is] a beautiful sport to bring happiness to a lot of people.”

Did You Know?
Paes has won eight men’s doubles and 10 mixed doubles Grand Slam titles.

Veteran Nicolas Mahut will play on a stacked French team at the inaugural ATP Cup, to be held 3-12 January. Mahut, along with countrymen Gael Monfils, Gilles Simon, Benoit Paire and occasional doubles partner Edouard Roger-Vasselin, will look to outplay Serbia, South Africa and Chile in Group A in Brisbane.

Mahut talked with ATPTour.com about his French pride and his hopes for next month’s ATP Cup.

Which French players did you watch growing up as a kid and what did you like about them?
I started to watch tennis and really became a tennis player when I watched the Davis Cup final in 1991 with Guy Forget and Henri Leconte. They were my heroes at the time.

If you could take one stroke from any of your ATP Cup teammates and add it to your game, what would you take?
I would say Benoit Paire’s backhand. He can hit winners from everywhere. I would take Gael Monfils’ athleticism. He is the best athlete on Tour for me, one of the best. I would [also] take his serve.

If you were to have a team dinner, which player would most likely be late?
Definitely Gael. Or it would be a contest between Gael and Benoit, but I would say Gael.

What is your favourite thing about Australia?
The people. I love Australian people… It is funny because when you arrive from Europe and you arrive at the security, you know you are in Australia already. The weather, of course, but if I had to pick one I would say the people.

What are the things you love most about France?
Wine, food and I think in France you can stay in every part. You have mountains, you have sea and you have big cities. Paris, of course.

What are your memories of playing in teams, and what do you like about being part of a team?
I played in all the teams since I was 14 in France. I played under-14, under-16 and under-18. To me, French teams are really important. When you play tennis you are mostly alone on the court or sharing good or bad moments with your coach. For once a year, you are with your teammates wanting to achieve the same goal. It is what I like in team sports.

What are you most looking forward to about the ATP Cup?
It is a brand-new competition. I am really excited that we are going to have a new captain that will be Gilles Simon. I am really excited to be on the court, with him on the bench. That will be a really good experience. We will start in Brisbane and hopefully finish in Sydney. I want to see how this works. I am really excited about this competition.

Do you like hearing from a captain who can give you tips on the court during a match?
I like being on court with a captain, especially Gilles, who is a good friend of mine. Tactically, he is really strong. He can see quick on the court and I really look forward to it.

Can you sing 100 per cent of your national anthem?
Of course. When you grow up in France, this is something you learn at the beginning at school. Every French [person] knows the national anthem.

South Africa’s Raven Klaasen is 37 but he’s hardly slowing down. The veteran right-hander reached a career-high No. 7 in the ATP Doubles Rankings in 2019 and, along with partner Michael Venus of New Zealand, made the doubles title match of the Nitto ATP Finals.

Ahead of the ATP Cup, to be held 3-12 January, Klaasen talked with ATPTour.com about which South African’s serve he’d like the most, his three favourite things about his country and what he’s most looking forward to about the inaugural ATP Cup.

Which countrymen did you watch, on the television or in person, as a kid growing up?
I just missed the back end of Kevin Curren’s career. I heard about him a lot but I started watching when Wayne Ferreira was starting to play good tennis, so I caught most of his career. He was probably the South African that I watched play tennis the most and [he was] a big inspiration for me.

If you could take one shot from one of your ATP Cup teammates and add it to your game, what would it be?
Kevin Anderson’s serve. Give me that. I would take that in a heartbeat. I think if you can start points like he does, it would make my job a little easier.

Who is the funniest player in the team and why?
That is a good question. I think we all think we are pretty funny in our own right, but right now I am going to go with myself. I am going to be confident there.

What are the three things you love most about your country?
I think South Africa is a beautiful place to live. I have grown up there and not ever wanted to leave. The scenery is the first thing, the second thing is the weather — we get spectacular weather — and right now, in the past year or two, the wine country has started to be a big one for me. The weather, beaches, scenery and people are fantastic.

What percentage of your national anthem can you sing?
I can sing the whole thing, but I probably understand about 60 per cent. I know what to say and I understand the meanings, but two of the languages I don’t speak.

Name three Australian animals.
Wallaby, I want to say kangaroo and what is it, a dingo? Dingo, yeah.

Talk about the team sports you played growing up. What did it mean to be playing as part of a team?
I played quite a bit of rugby growing up. My dad was a good rugby player and I played until I was about 14 or 15 years old. I think that team aspect is really spectacular when you are going out there and have more motivation than just the self satisfaction to put a result together. Looking back and seeing how happy people get when you are doing well and how nice it is supporting other guys is really a fun part of team sports.

Who would be most likely to turn up late to an ATP Cup team dinner?
Can I pass on this one, because I might have to say myself!

What do you enjoy most about Australia?
It is such a similar culture to South Africa. We have similar things that we enjoy, we are big sporting nations and [share the] Southern Hemisphere weather. Coming back at the beginning of every year is exciting to me and I look forward to going back there for many more years.

What are your earliest memories of playing tennis in South Africa?
The earliest vivid memories would probably be at 10 to 11, but I have got some vague memories of being next to the court [at a younger age]. Both my parents played league matches and they were pretty competitive tennis players themselves, so they had me next to the court — my mum says — when I was an infant. I don’t have great memories of that but I do remember some early days when we were young kids hanging out at the court, not even playing, just being around tennis. That is probably where the love of the game started.

Who on the team would be the best to dress up as the team mascot?
I’d say Lloyd Harris is probably the one to go to there. He is a pretty confident individual and I think he’d pull that off pretty good.

What would be a signature comment from your home country?
It is also a greeting, but we say ‘Howzit boet?’. That is just ‘How are you doing?’. ‘Boet’ means brother as a loose translation.

What are you most looking forward to about ATP Cup?
It is part of history. To get the opportunity to play this tournament, that is going to be massive for us. It is something that I look forward to and something that I will cherish when I look back one day. I have got a little guy now and to pass that story on to him will be a lot of fun. Having the South African boys on the team and hopefully giving some struggles to the other teams out there, that would be a lot of fun to me. I look forward to that event a big deal.

The statistical chance of breaking Ivo Karlovic’s serve when he wins the first point of the game is so small that it’s laughable.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Karlovic’s service games for the past five seasons (2015-2019) uncovers just how dominant he has been when he gets ahead in the point score. The data set includes players who have played 50-plus matches during that period, so on average 10 matches per year.

The only point score over the past five seasons where the returner was favoured to break Karlovic was 0/40. How often did opponents win the first three points of the 6’11” Croatian’s serve game? Just 1.8 per cent (59/3329) of the time.

Holding From 40/0
Karlovic is near-perfect at this specific score, holding serve 1,040 times out of 1,041 from 185 matches. During that span, he averaged playing a “love-hold” game almost six times a match. Reilly Opelka, who played his first ATP main draw match in 2016, has not yet dropped serve on Tour when leading 40/0. The leading three players holding from 40/0:

R. Opelka = 100% (310/310)
I. Karlovic = 99.90% (1040/1041)
J. Isner = 99.85% (1362/1364)

Holding From 30/0
Karlovic has dropped serve only 11 times in five years when leading 30/0. It’s an astounding statistic that puts him above a 99 per cent win rate with only half the points in the game completed. The leading three players holding from 30/0:

I. Karlovic = 99.23% (1411/1422)
J. Isner = 98.93 (1844/1864)
M. Raonic = 98.76% (1518/1537)

Holding From 15/0
Karlovic is the career leader for Service Games Won at 92.08 per cent (8713/9462) from 683 matches. He is one of only four players to be above the 90 percentile mark, along with Isner (91.79%), Milos Raonic (91.02%) and Andy Roddick (90.11).

In the past five seasons when Karlovic has won just one point in his service game to surge ahead 15/0, he has won a jaw-dropping 97.3 per cent (1915/1969) of his service games. You may as well turn the lights out after just one point. The leading three players holding from 15/0:

I. Karlovic = 97.26% (1915/1969)
J. Isner = 96.83% (2537/2620)
R. Opelka = 96.66% (636/658)

Holding from 15/40
You may think you have finally turned the tables on Karlovic by putting him in a 15/40 hole. Think again. Karlovic is the only player in the past five seasons to have a winning record from 15/40, just tipping the scales at 50.9 per cent. The leading three players holding from 15/40:

I Karlovic = 50.94% (81/159)
J. Isner = 45.03% (86/191)
S. Wawrinka = 39.77% (138/347)

Holding From 0/40
Amazingly, this is the only point score in the past five seasons that the returner tips the scales above 50 per cent with the odds to break serve. Karlovic is still the best-rated player in this category, holding serve on average one out of three times. The leading three players holding from 0/40:

I. Karlovic = 33.90% (20/59)
R. Federer = 30.12% (25/83)
M. Raonic = 28.57% (22/77)

Karlovic’s career-high ATP Ranking is No. 14, which he reached in August 2008. and he was ranked inside the Top 20 as recently as February 2017. The Croatian has made a career of winning one more point than his opponent. He finished the 2016 season ranked No. 20, went 34-24, and won $1.2 million. He won 4,612 points for the season. He lost 4,611.

Editor’s Note: This story was amended to correct Karlovic’s hold percentage from 15/0, which is 97.26%, not 99.26% as originally reported.

The 2019 resurrection of Stan Wawrinka has a fascinating sub-plot that provides an insight into how he halved his ATP Ranking and then halved it again this season.

An Infosys ATP Insights deep dive into Wawrinka’s journey back to the very top level of our sport identifies the Swiss was No. 68 in February of this year, and finished the season by storming northward all the way back up to No. 16.

Wawrinka held a career-high ATP Ranking of No. 3 as recently as July 2017, but two knee operations later in 2017 knocked his ranking all the way down to No. 263.

Wawrinka finished this year ranked 11th on the ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, powered by Infosys Nia Data, which was considerably higher than 62nd place he finished on the ATP Stats Return LEADERBOARD, powered by Infosys Nia Data.

So what did the Swiss do so well on the serving side of the equation? Buckle down when his service games were under threat. The following data set comes from the 2019 season and includes players who competed in 10-plus matches.

Serve Performance When Trailing In The Game
Wawrinka was ranked 11th overall on the ATP Stats Serve LEADERBOARD, powered by Infosys Nia Data, in 2019, but in four point-score situations where he was trailing in the game, he was ranked considerably higher than his season average.

2019 Season: Wawrinka Ranking Holding Serve / Per Point Score

Wawrinka’s serve performance elevated in the face of adversity, rising to the challenge at these specific point scores exactly the same way as he methodically improved his ranking back towards 2017 markers.

What’s interesting is that when Wawrinka was level in the point score, or ahead, his performance was solid, but not as good as when he was trailing in the point score compared to his peers.

2019 Season: Wawrinka Ranking Holding Serve / Per Point Score

Quite simply, Wawrinka performed better when serving under pressure in 2019, rising to the occasion as he rose up the ATP Rankings.

Wawrinka has an excellent opportunity to keep climbing up the rankings in the first quarter of 2020 as he won only two matches combined at the Australian Open, Indian Wells and Miami in 2019.

He does have to defend a final in Rotterdam (300 points) and a quarter-final in Acapulco (90 points), but don’t be surprised to the see the Swiss star break back into the Top 10 around the middle of the year.

It happens every year on the ATP Challenger Tour. Players emerge onto the professional scene with breakthrough Challenger campaigns, making immediate statements as they surge up the ATP Rankings. The 2010s were no exception.

All paths to the top are created differently. While it takes some players longer to achieve their goals, others have entered the fray with immediate success. From Top 10 stars Kei Nishikori and Grigor Dimitrov launching their careers to open the decade, to the likes of Felix Auger-Aliassime and Jannik Sinner most recently crashing the party, fresh faces have burst onto the scene every year.

As the decade draws to a close, we look back on the players that made immediate impressions in the 2010s.

2010 – Grigor Dimitrov
When Dimitrov entered the 2010 season, the highly-touted Bulgarian was already on everyone’s radar. A junior Wimbledon champion just two years earlier, the 18-year-old was embarking on his professional journey with plenty of hype surrounding him. While his ascent would prove to be slow and steady, eventually peaking at World No. 3 after lifting the Nitto ATP Finals trophy in 2017, the start to Dimitrov’s career was anything but. He sprinted to the Challenger winners’ circle early and often.

In his first full season as a pro, Dimitrov vaulted from outside the Top 300 to a year-end position of No. 106 in the ATP Rankings. A total of 30 wins included his maiden Challenger title on the clay of Geneva, followed by back-to-back triumphs in Bangkok a month later. Also a finalist in Orleans, Dimitrov would cap his campaign on a staggering 23-5 run.

Honourable Mention: This technically wasn’t the breakthrough season for Kei Nishikori. That came two years prior when he won his maiden ATP Tour title in Delray Beach as an 18-year-old. But after missing nearly all of 2009 with an elbow injury, the teen was forced to rebuild his ATP Ranking from scratch and prove himself at the Challenger level. He would return with a vengeance, posting a 27-4 record, with titles in Savannah, Sarasota, Binghamton and Knoxville. From outside the Top 800 in March to a Top 100 return by year’s end.

2011 – Cedrik-Marcel Stebe
Stebe will be the first to admit that his professional career has not gone according to plan. The 29-year-old has featured in the Top 100, reached an ATP Tour final and battled the likes of Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer on the biggest stages. But a long list of injuries and multiple surgeries on his hip, back, pelvis, wrist and forearm tendon had the German recently saying, “I felt like someone has a voodoo doll of myself.”

Before the litany of physical ailments, Stebe captured the attention of the tennis world with a dominant 2011 campaign. A 20-year-old competing in his first full pro season, he would break through with a 42-15 record and a title at the former ATP Challenger Tour Finals. After opening the season with a final appearance in Kyoto, he would also lift the trophies in Bangkok and Shanghai, soaring to year-end No. 81 in the ATP Rankings. And after making his Grand Slam debut at Wimbledon as a qualiifer, he stunned Nikolay Davydenko en route his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Stuttgart.

Eight years later, Stebe is on the comeback trail once again, completing a resurgent season that included a first tour-level final in Gstaad.

Honourable Mention: Benoit Paire entered the fray as a 21-year-old, claiming his first Challenger titles in Brasov, Romania and Salzburg, Austria, in 2011. The future World No. 18 and three-time ATP Tour champion would win 37 matches during his breakout season.

2012 – Martin Klizan
Klizan was the Newcomer of the Year in 2012. And for good reason. The Slovakian claimed the honour in the ATP Awards after registering a ruthless Challenger campaign that saw him win 28 of 33 matches played. It included four titles from five finals, prevailing on the clay of Rabat, Marrakech, Bordeaux and San Marino.

The Bratislava native, who would rise to a career-high No. 24 in the ATP Rankings just three years later, was already plotting his ascent on the ATP Tour while dominating the Challenger circuit. He also made a statement at the US Open, storming to the Round of 16 behind an upset of fifth seed Jo-Wilfried Tsonga. And just a few weeks later he lifted his biggest piece of silverware at the St. Petersburg Open. Where most players don’t experience such a rapid, seamless transition from the Challengers, that was the 22-year-old’s reality in 2012. He would soar to No. 30 in the year-end ATP Rankings.

Honourable Mention: The 2012 season was one for the breakthroughs. Andrey Kuznetsov, Guido Pella and Jerzy Janowicz also crashed onto the scene with impressive campaigns. Kuznetsov and Janowicz, whose careers were plagued by injuries, combined for 66 wins and a 7-1 mark in finals in 2012. Poland’s Janowicz memorably streaked to the final at the Rolex Paris Masters to conclude his season.

After five years competing on the ITF circuit and sitting outside the Top 300, Pella made his mark in 2012 with 40 wins in his first season on the Challenger Tour. He would take home the trophy at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals, surging to the year-end Top 100.

2013 – Pablo Carreno Busta
There are no words to describe Carreno Busta’s 2013 season. Any hyperbole would not be sufficient to explain what the Spaniard achieved in his breakthrough season.

At the age of 21, Carreno Busta won a grand total of 92 matches at all levels – ITF, ATP Challenger Tour, ATP Tour and Grand Slams. Yes, NINETY-TWO victories. After opening the season at No. 654 in the ATP Rankings, he transitioned smoothly from the ITF circuit, promptly reaching his first tour-level semi-final as a qualifier at the Estoril Open.

From there, Carreno Busta qualified for his first Grand Slam at Roland Garros and proceeded to reel off 33 of 39 matches at the Challenger level. That included three straight titles on home soil in Segovia and Italian territory in Cordenons and Como. He also lifted the trophy in Tanger, Morocco, celebrating a rise of nearly 600 spots to No. 64 in the year-end ATP Rankings.

Did we mention he achieved all that at the age of 21? Four years later, Carreno Busta would crack the Top 10 and feature at the Nitto ATP Finals.

Honourable Mention: Jiri Vesely earned Newcomer of the Year honours behind a 31-win season and three titles from five final appearances. And Bradley Klahn notched a 40-17 Challenger record after completing a storied career at Stanford University.  

2014 – Diego Schwartzman
Wait, where’s Nick Kyrgios in this spot? After all, the Aussie won three Challenger titles in just five tournaments played, before marching to the Wimbledon quarter-finals. We’ll get to Kyrgios soon, but this is Schwartzman’s moment in the spotlight.

Before he became a perrenial Top 20 star, three-time ATP Tour champion and Grand Slam quarter-finalist, the Argentine paid his dues at the Challenger level. Schwartzman spent two seasons on the circuit before finally putting it all together in 2014. A 48-14 record included a whopping seven finals and titles in Aix-en-Provence, Prague, Campinas, on home soil in San Juan and at the ATP Challenger Tour Finals.

Schwartzman rose to No. 61 in the year-end ATP Rankings, continuing his steady progression from unheralded Challenger star to unstoppable force on the ATP Tour.

Honourable Mention: We promised Kyrgios would get his due and here it is. The Aussie went back-to-back on the clay of Sarasota and Savannah and triumphed on the grass of Nottingham, posting a 15-2 record in a two-month span. As quickly as his Challenger career started, it ended. Kyrgios would stun Rafael Nadal en route to the last eight at Wimbledon and reach the third round at the US Open. From outside the Top 200 entering Sarasota to year-end No. 52.

2015 – Hyeon Chung
In previous years, there were rumblings about a Korean teen with incredible potential. As the calendar flipped to 2015, Chung announced his arrival with authority. After capping his 2014 campaign with a maiden crown in Bangkok, he picked up where he left off with a title in Burnie and final run in Launceston in February.

But it was Chung’s sprint to the finish that was the most impressive part of his season. The 18-year-old not only reeled off a 19-1 stretch to conclude his Challenger campaign, but did so with the loss of just four sets. He triumphed on the clay of Savannah and hard courts of Busan and Kaohsiung. One week later, he would surge to his first ATP Tour quarter-final in Shenzhen, en route to year-end No. 51 in the ATP Rankings.

Honourable Mention: Kyle Edmund marched up the ATP Rankings in 2015, storming into the Top 100 behind a 33-win season and titles on three continents – in Hong Kong, Binghamton and Buenos Aires. And we can’t forget about Taylor Fritz’s month of October. In just his second and third Challenger appearances, the 17-year-old claimed his first titles in Sacramento and Fairfield. He saved a combined 47 of 51 break points in doing so, soaring from No. 694 to the year-end Top 200.

2016 – Frances Tiafoe
Nowadays, the 21-year-old Tiafoe has established himself as a Top 50 stalwart, already boasting an ATP Tour title and Grand Slam quarter-final. But many forget that the American had dropped his first five Challenger finals. Every path to the top is created differently and Tiafoe’s was no exception.

After struggling to find his footing in 2015, he put it all together in 2016, compiling an impressive 42-18 record and finally lifting his first trophy in Granby. Another title would follow in Stockton and he would push John Isner to five gripping sets at the US Open. After many years with plenty of hype surrounding him, Tiafoe’s breakthrough had arrived in grand fashion. And a year later, he concluded his Challenger tenure with back-to-back titles on the green clay of Sarasota and red clay of Aix-en-Provence. The Top 50 would soon follow.

Honourable Mention: Jordan Thompson dominated in 2016, posting a 46-17 record to break into the Top 100. Meanwhile, Daniil Medvedev also cracked the Top 100 after earning his lone Challenger trophy in Saint-Remy, France, part of a 35-win season.

2017 – Denis Shapovalov & Felix Auger-Aliassime
How can you choose between Shapo and Felix here? You can’t go wrong either way. While Felix pulled in record after record, rewriting the Challenger history books with seemingly every tournament, it was his fellow Canadian who instantly became a household name after a stunning single-season ascent.

Having entered the season outside the Top 200, an 18-year-old Shapovalov would complete a dramatic rise to No. 51 in the ATP Rankings. He did not drop a set in claiming his first crown in Drummondville, becoming the first player born in the year 1999 to win a title. And after lifting his second trophy in nearby Gatineau, he introduced himself to the world with a stunning run to the Rogers Cup semis and US Open fourth round, stunning Rafael Nadal along the way. While many players spend years moving up from the Challenger to the ATP level, Shapovalov did it in a matter of months.

The left-hander may have snatched the spotlight, but it was his countryman Auger-Aliassime who etched his name in the record books. It’s hard to believe that the teen was just 14 years old when he became the youngest match winner in Challenger history in 2015. And two years later, the Montreal native became the eighth-youngest champion with his maiden title in Lyon, France. Auger-Aliassime, who vaulted 439 spots to No. 162 in the ATP Rankings in 2017, joined Richard Gasquet, Rafael Nadal and Lleyton Hewitt as the youngest players to break into the Top 200 in the past 20 years. The Canadian would add a second title in Sevilla, Spain later in the year.

Honourable Mention: Cameron Norrie and Matteo Berrettini more than tripled their career wins totals in 2017, with the Brit putting together a 32-11 campaign and the Italian registering a 31-14 season. Both players put themselves on the map with their breakout seasons and would be just months from surging into the Top 100.

2018 – Ugo Humbert
To say that Humbert came out of nowhere to break onto the scene in 2018 would be an understatement. Just inside the Top 400 to open the year, the Frenchman was well off the radar as he mixed some Challenger appearances with ITF tournaments in the first half of the season. Then, suddenly, it all clicked for the Metz native as the calendar flipped to July.

Humbert turned in an astonishing five-month stretch to not only soar 300 spots to the year-end Top 100, but nearly qualify for the Next Gen ATP Finals. Having previously competed in just a handful of Challengers, he would put together the following mid-season run: Gatineau final, Granby final, Segovia title, Cassis final, Orleans second round, Ortisei title. Considering that Humbert had previously won a combined five matches at the level, his run was awe-inspiring.

The Frenchman would also qualify for the US Open and win a round in the main draw, before claiming his first ATP Tour match win in Metz. And he capped his campaign with a third Challenger title of the season in Andria, Italy, solidifying his Top 100 ascent.

Honourable Mention: Reilly Opelka and Cristian Garin were on a mission to finish the 2018 season. The American and the Chilean both lifted three trophies in the final months, with Opelka capping a 17-4 stretch with a Top 100 debut and Garin going back-to-back-to-back in Campinas, Santo Domingo and Lima to break into the year-end Top 100 himself.

2019 – Jannik Sinner
It was a breakthrough unlike any other. The incredible ascent of Jannik Sinner goes down as arguably the biggest storyline on the ATP Challenger Tour this decade. And it came in the final year of the 2010s.

From competing in Tunisia and Kazakhstan on the ITF circuit in January to lifting the trophy at the Next Gen ATP Finals in November, Sinner’s rapid rise was as awe-inspiring as it was shocking. In just the fourth Challenger appearance of his fledgling career, the Italian lifted the trophy on home soil in Bergamo in February. He was outside the Top 500 at the time and only 17 years of age.

Sinner would post a 28-7 record with two more titles in Lexington and Ortisei, becoming the youngest player in the year-end Top 100. The Italian is also the second-youngest to win three titles in a single season in Challenger history, behind only Richard Gasquet.

Honourable Mention: The Nordic NextGen revolution kicked into high gear with Emil Ruusuvuori and Mikael Ymer both registering four titles and finishing in the Top 10 among win percentage leaders. And of all players with at least 30 matches played in 2019, no one had fewer losses than Tommy Paul. He posted a staggering 30-5 record, finally putting it all together after many years competing on the Challenger circuit.

The ATP Cup is more than a star-filled competition to kick off the 2020 season. Former Russian stalwarts Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin, who both won the Australian Open and reached No. 1 in the ATP Rankings, believe that immediate success in Australia could shape career-defining seasons for the members of Team Russia.

“It’s very important. The way my year in Australia went was often how the rest of the year went,” Kafelnikov said. “Getting to the final or winning the event could help make their year.”

Team captain Safin looks to help guide Russia past Italy, the United States and Norway in Group D action in Perth. World No. 5 Daniil Medvedev and World No. 17 Karen Khachanov will suit up for singles on the Russian squad that also includes Teymuraz Gabashvili, Ivan Nedelko and Konstantin Kravchuk.

Having prevailed in Melbourne in 2005, Safin knows what it takes to succeed Down Under. He believes that being surrounded by the world’s best players is an ideal way to begin the year and the round- robin format will aid in quickly removing any off-season rust.

“It’s a perfect setup for this event at the beginning of the year. All the guys are already in Australia and they want to start with a good step in the new year,” Safin said. “You are guaranteed three matches and you have two groups playing in the same spot, so you have a chance to practise day and night to get ready for the beginning of the season. To win with your team at the beginning of the year, I think it’s pretty cool.”

All eyes will be on Medvedev, who picked up more tour-level wins (59) than anyone in 2019. The Russian’s magical run in the second half of the year included his first two ATP Masters 1000 titles in Cincinnati (d. Goffin) and Shanghai (d. Zverev), in addition to a maiden crown on home soil at the St. Petersburg Open (d. Coric) and debut Grand Slam final at the US Open (l. to Nadal). His inspired play fittingly led to a debut appearance at the season-ending Nitto ATP Finals.

Now that Medvedev has elevated himself to the highest echelon of the sport, Kafelnikov wants to see him stay there. The 1999 Australian Open champion admired Medvedev’s mental fortitude against the world’s best this year and said maintaining it will be essential as he looks to break into the Top 3.

“The confidence level was very good this year. He believed he could beat top players and that’s why he got these results,” Kafelnikov said. “If he can repeat that success next year, he’ll be along that elite row.”

Buy Tickets At Official Tournament Website, ATPCup.com

Kafelnikov is also eager to see Khachanov continue to build on his powerful game. The 23-year-old made his Top 10 debut in July and reached his first Grand Slam quarter-final this year at Roland Garros. But what makes Kafelnikov most excited is that the rising Russian “can still improve his game in all areas”, yet is already capable of beating anyone when he’s in top form.

Kafelnikov and Safin both thrived on representing their country throughout their careers. Kafelnikov earned a gold medal in singles at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. Both men know firsthand that team competitions can inspire players to elevate their games and are optimistic that the unique environment of the ATP Cup will help the Russian squad deliver their best tennis.

“We compete on a daily basis just for yourself, so playing for your country is a bit different,” Kafelnikov said. “I always had that spark playing for Russia, so hopefully they have the same when they go out there.”

On 4 January 2010, when the first ATP Rankings of this decade were published, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic topped the list. As this decade comes to a close, Nadal is No. 1, Djokovic is No. 2 and Federer is No. 3. Ten years have come and gone, and the Big Three are still on top. 

The trio has combined to win 183 tour-level titles over the past decade, including 33 Grand Slam championships. So it’s no surprise that they have earned the highest winning percentage of the 2010s.

The surface leaders of the decade won’t shock, either.

Nadal won more tour-level matches on clay than anyone else with 255 victories, lifting 33 trophies on the dirt over the past 10 years. Djokovic ruled the hard courts, tallying 416 triumphs on the surface and Federer paced the ATP Tour with 99 tour-level wins on grass.

Most Tie-Break Wins
John Isner won more tie-breaks in the past decade than anyone, and it wasn’t particularly close. The American won 376 tie-breaks, with his closest rival, Ivo Karlovic, emerging victorious 228 times.

Isner hit the most aces this decade with 10,619, which is more than all but three other players in history have struck in their careers (Karlovic, Federer, Ivanisevic). Karlovic was second on the list with 7,804.

Service Games Won
Karlovic began the 2010s at 30 years old, and as we near 2020, the Croat is still going strong at 40. The World No. 95 led the ATP Tour in rate of service games won at 92.5 per cent over the past 10 years, with Isner right behind at 92.2 per cent.

Return Games Won
Nadal and Djokovic dominated on return over the past decade, winning a higher rate of return games than anyone else on the ATP Tour. They also proved clutch with their break point chances. The Spaniard converted 45.2 per cent of his opportunities, while the Serbian took advantage of 44.7 per cent of his break points.

Most Match Points Saved
In the past decade, the most match points a player has saved before going on to win the match is 10. Luxembourg’s Gilles Muller did so at the 2016 Fever-Tree Championships, defeating John Isner 3-6, 7-6(16), 7-6(7).

Weeks At World No. 1
Two players reached No. 1 in the ATP Rankings for the first time this decade — Djokovic and Andy Murray. Djokovic would finish atop the year-end standings five times, the most of any player during the 2010s.

The Serbian held top spot over the past 10 years for 28 weeks longer than the rest of the Big Four combined.

Did You Know?
Only one player finished inside the Top 10 of the year-end ATP Rankings every year from 2010-19: Rafael Nadal.