The European clay-court swing is an important period of the season for competitors on the ATP Tour. With three ATP Masters 1000 events leading into the second Grand Slam of the year, there are critical ATP Rankings points up for grabs on the dirt.

The same can be said for those battling on the ATP Challenger Tour, with the month of May providing a true battleground for those seeking to round into form ahead of Roland Garros qualifying. Three straight weeks of signature Challenger tournaments began with a pair of French events in Bordeaux and Aix-en-Provence, and culminate this week in Heilbronn, Germany. That’s three weeks in a row in three premier settings with three strong draws.

The NECKARCUP is setting the standard on the Challenger circuit, with back-to-back ‘Tournament of the Year’ honours in 2017-18. Tucked in the southwest corner of Germany, less than an hour north of Stuttgart, is the sleepy town of Heilbronn. With the river Neckar curling around the downtown district and a vast expanse of vineyards dotting the surrounding region, Heilbronn’s tranquility provides players with a relaxed setting for a tournament.

One of the few remaining clubs on the ATP Challenger Tour to be founded in the 1800s, the TC Heilbronn Trappensee E.V. 1892 has hosted the Neckarcup for the past five years. World No. 10 Alexander Zverev broke into the Top 100 for the first time after lifting the trophy in 2015.

This week, defending champion Rudolf Molleker is the talk of the town. The German was the youngest winner on tour last year, at the age of 17, having streaked to the title in Heilbronn. It was just his third Challenger main draw appearance. From the hunter to the hunted, his potential is no longer a secret, but he is ready for the challenge.

The defending champ returns.

Rudi Molleker was the youngest #ATPChallenger titlist in 2018, on home soil in Heilbronn.

On Monday, he kicked off his title defence with a 57 64 61 win over fellow ?? Mats Moraing. pic.twitter.com/iGYIiXAIx5

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 13, 2019

“It was my first Challenger title, so all the memories are coming back again,” said Molleker. “There are some points that I remember pretty well and of course my celebration too. That I will never forget. And this year I already got my first win here today, so I’m just getting ready for Sandgren tomorrow.”

Molleker will face second seed Tennys Sandgren in Tuesday’s night session, seeking the fifth Top 100 win already in his young career. The first came exactly one year ago in the Heilbronn final, where he stunned another second seed – Jiri Vesely.

With Roland Garros qualifying one week away, players have one last chance to fine tune their games and put themselves in the best position in the ATP Rankings prior to the grass season. Two Germans looking to build confidence ahead of moving to the terre battue of Paris are Dominik Koepfer and Oscar Otte. Koepfer, ranked 173, is coming off a quarter-final appearance at last week’s stop in Braga, Portugal, while No. 139 Otte reached the final in Francavilla al Mare, Italy, last month.

The battle is on for @DominikKoepfer in Heilbronn

Tomorrow ➡️ top seed Krajinovic
Today ➡️ coach @RhyneWilliams in ? pic.twitter.com/CTt0c9ACpb

— ATP Challenger Tour (@ATPChallenger) May 14, 2019

“You feel at home here,” said Koepfer. “The player area is the best you will find on tour. There’s plenty of food, enough bikes and a great place to cool down and warm up. You have your privacy too, which is important. They pick you up from the train station and airport too, which is 40 minutes away. You don’t get that at all Challengers. Transport is every 30 minutes and the hotel is very good. There are enough practice courts too. It’s just a great tournament, which really helps this time of year.

“I’m trying to build my ranking but it’s more fun to play better players here. That’s who you’re going to face next week in Paris. It’s been tough to get used to clay, but these past few weeks have been improving and getting better. I’ve only played a handful of Top 100 players so this is good for me [to open against Filip Krajinovic].”

With all 16 seeds inside the Top 130 of the ATP Rankings, the competition is fierce. Top seed and 2017 champion Krajinovic is in dominant form, coming off a signature victory over Stan Wawrinka at the ATP Masters 1000 stop in Miami, followed by a final run at the Challenger in Sophia Antipolis, France, and runner-up finish as a qualifier at the ATP 250 in Budapest. Other Top 100 stars  Sandgren, Alexander Bublik and Jiri Vesely are seeded second, third and fourth, respectively.

Heilbronn History

World No. 103 Denis Istomin rounds out the Top 5 seeds. The Uzbek will open against Otte on Wednesday, in what should be a featured early match at the clay-court event.

“It’s always great to play at home and this is my fourth time here,” said Otte. “Every year the tournament is improving and getting better. The whole organisation is great and the player area is a really high level for a Challenger. There’s also a lot of spectators supporting the Germans. We all like to play here. For me, it’s the best Challenger.

“This week is pretty important. Every week is important, but more so now, right in front of a Grand Slam qualifying. If you play well here it’s good preparation. You can check your level and the draw is always pretty strong. I think it helps you a lot for the end of the clay season.”

Also on this week’s slate is the Lisboa Belem Open, which returns for a third edition. Adrian Mannarino is the top seed, while 15th seed Joao Domingues looks to go back-to-back on home soil after lifting the trophy in nearby Braga on Sunday. And on the clay of Samarkand, Uzbekistan, top seed Corentin Moutet seeks a second title of the year. The tournament enters its 23rd edition on the circuit.

The lone hard-court stop of the week is in Gwangju, South Korea, where the three-week Korean swing concludes. Sergiy Stakhovsky and Brayden Schnur leads the charge, with sixth seed Soon-woo Kwon heading the home contingent. Defending champion Maverick Banes fell in the first round on Monday.

Like father like son has become much more than an adage of late for Casper Ruud, Norway’s Next Gen ATP Finals hopeful. It’s become a way of playing on the ATP Tour.

The 20-year-old #NextGenATP player reached the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings in March, becoming the first Norwegian to do so since his father, Christian Ruud, in December 1994.

One month later, Casper made his first ATP Tour final at the Fayez Sarofim & Co. U.S. Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston, becoming the second Norwegian ATP Tour finalist after his dad finished runner-up in Bastad in 1995.

Casper, however, is showing signs that he might do more than just match his father’s accomplishments. On Monday, the Norwegian qualifier beat Brit Daniel Evans at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia in Rome for his first ATP Masters 1000 win (1-3).

“This year is kind of the first year where I felt like I’ve been really steady throughout many tournaments and many weeks in a row,” Casper told ATPTour.com. “I just won my first Masters 1000 match, so of course I’m really happy, but I’m also greedy and trying to go for more.”

Casper Ruud wins his first ATP Masters 1000 win on Monday in Rome. (Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)

Greed on the court has served Casper well thus far, but the father-son rivalry has hardly been an intense competition. The two have accomplished the goals together, as Dad has coached Casper for most of his life.

“I know that he cares about me and he wants everything in the best way for me. So, of course, he’s been a really big part of my success and my team, ever since I was little,” Casper said.

“I’m from a small tennis country, and I don’t have too many people to look up to in my home country, except for him. He’s the only one who knows how it’s been and how the life on the Tour is. I think it’s been a huge advantage, even though I’m from Norway, to have my father so close to me and helping me with my tennis.”

The two form a rare sight on the ATP Tour – a former ATP player working with his player relative on a regular basis. Family members have coached players: Uncle Toni Nadal served as his Rafael Nadal’s main coach until 2018, and Tessa Shapovalova still coaches her son, #NextGenATP Canadian Denis Shapovalov.

But few former players coach their relatives on Tour for a number of reasons, including the fact that many children of pro tennis players go on to pursue other interests or sports.

Christian introduced Casper to football, hockey, golf and, of course, tennis. He placed a racquet in Casper’s hands when he was only one year old and the bucket of balls was taller than him. The two would walk out to the family’s court in their tennis garden, where Casper learned how to play. Eventually, though, Casper narrowed his sporting interests to only tennis.

“He was the one that decided at age 11, ‘OK, this is what I want to do. I’m more into individual sports than team sports.’ Since then it’s just been about the tennis,” Christian said.

The family realised Casper might have a future in the sport and worked on a ever-evolving plan to take Casper to highest levels of the ATP Tour. He played Tennis Europe events, but also spent time at home, practising forehands and backhands and working on his fitness in Oslo.

His father, seeing how the game was changing from the ’90s, when it favoured more all-around players, to the modern game, which favours players with weapons, especially worked on developing Casper’s forehand.

By the time he was 17, Casper was the No. 1 junior in the world. The next year, Casper, 18, was into his first ATP Tour semi-final at the Rio Open presented by Claro, an ATP 500 event. He was just 33 spots from cracking the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, a milestone achievement for every player.

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But Casper got stuck. For two years, he bounced around Nos. 108 to 205, never breaking into the double digits.

“It’s tough to stay focused and stay hungry every single week, especially in my case. I feel like I’ve been not stuck, but I’ve been ranked from 110 to 140 for about two years now. And you’re just pushing, pushing, pushing to get to that Top 100,” Casper said.

The family made his home training base the Rafa Nadal Academy in Mallorca last August, and Casper, frustrated by not being able to break into the Top 100, confided in his Spanish colleagues – 22-year-old Jaume Munar, who reached the Next Gen ATP Finals semi-finals last year, and veterans Albert Ramos-Vinolas and Pablo Carreno Busta – about how they handled reaching the Top 100. Their advice: It’s almost tougher to break into the Top 100 than to stay there, the milestone is that significant.

“You have to keep a high level throughout the year to stay in the Top 100, but the [ATP Challenger Tour] level has been really, really tough the last couple of years. You feel like you can win every week you play, but you also feel like you can lose second or third round or first round,” Casper said. “Everybody on the Challenger Tour wants to make it, and they’re really, really hungry and fighting as crazy guys.”

In February, however, Casper made the quarter-finals in Rio and the semi-finals at the Brasil Open in Sao Paulo, and on Monday 4 March 2019, his ATP Ranking was No. 94. “It just feels really good to finally get there,” Casper said.

He is No. 76 this week, and he is projected to rise to at least No. 67, which would be a new career-high, by qualifying and making the second round in Rome. Casper should keep climbing as well as he has only 166 points to defend until October, and he’ll spend the next month on clay, his favourite surface and where he’s made his best runs.

“I think it just fits my game a bit better… I feel like I can do a lot with my forehand and play heavy spin forehands and this kind of stuff that is more effective on clay than on hard court,” Casper said.

The current #NextGenATP class, led by Greek Stefanos Tsitsipas, Denis Shapovalov of Canada and American Frances Tiafoe, features big hitters throughout the group. But Casper sees an opening for someone like him. “I think the NextGen group needs a bit of a clay-court player so maybe I can be that one,” he said.

Who’s Ruud Chasing? View The ATP Race To Milan

He is currently in sixth place in the ATP Race To Milan, which will determine seven of the eight players who compete in Milan from 5-9 November, with the final spot reserved for a wild card.

“I think it’s a fun concept and a great chance for new young players to show their level and compete against each other. I think we’re all good friends among the NextGen players. Of course, we’re competitors, but we’re also getting along,” Casper said. “It’s a great atmosphere… So I would really, really enjoy playing there.”

The 2019 Next Gen ATP Finals could be the next big achievement in Casper’s constantly-evolving tennis journey.

2017 champion and fourth seed Alexander Zverev opens his campaign to reclaim the Internazionali BNL d’Italia on Tuesday against Italian Matteo Berrettini. Stan Wawrinka, runner-up in 2008, is also in action on Day 3 against David Goffin, while ninth seed Marin Cilic meets Italian wild card Andrea Basso and twelfth seed Daniil Medvedev takes on Nick Kyrgios.

Who will win the latest @FedEx ATP Head2Head meeting between these players?

— ATP Tour (@ATP_Tour) May 13, 2019

Zverev and Berrettini also faced off in the Round of 32 last year in Rome, a match the German won in straight sets. Berrettini has since won two clay-court titles, most recently in April at the Hungarian Open in Budapest. Zverev has struggled for form and posted a 6-7 record since reaching the final in Acapulco (l. Kyrgios), but the German rebounded last week with a quarter-final showing at the Mutua Madrid Open.

Wawrinka leads his FedEx ATP Head2Head with Goffin 3-1, but they haven’t played in three years and never faced each other on clay. The 34-year-old Swiss star defeated Kei Nishikori en route to a quarter-final finish last week in Madrid. Goffin has had an up-and-down season and arrives with a 9-11 record in 2019, but the Belgian recorded semi-final showings this year in Marseille and Estoril.

Cilic reached his first quarter-final of the season in Madrid, but had to withdraw before his match against Novak Djokovic due to food poisoning. The Croatian will be a heavy on-paper favourite against Basso. The 25-year-old, currently ranked No. 416 in the ATP Rankings, is competing in his first ATP Tour main draw.

Medvedev’s outstandingly consistent season has included several milestone moments on clay. He defeated World No. 1 Novak Djokovic en route to his first ATP Masters 1000 semi-final at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and finished runner-up in Barcelona (l. to Thiem). The Russian also reached the final in Brisbane (l. to Nishikori) and clinched the title in Sofia (d. Fucsovics). Kyrgios won his first ATP Tour title in 15 months this March in Acapulco (d. Zverev), but that is the Aussie’s only trip to a quarter-final this season.

Second-round matches will also take place on Tuesday. Sixteenth-seeded Italian Marco Cecchinato squares off with German Philipp Kohlschreiber and thirteenth-seeded Croatian Borna Coric meets British qualifier Cameron Norrie.

ORDER OF PLAY – TUESDAY, MAY 14, 2019

CENTRALE start 11:00 am
WTA match
ATP – [12] Daniil Medvedev (RUS) vs Nick Kyrgios (AUS) 
ATP – [4] Alexander Zverev (GER) vs [WC] Matteo Berrettini (ITA) 
Not Before 7:30 pm
WTA match
Not Before 9:00 pm
ATP – Philipp Kohlschreiber (GER) vs [16] Marco Cecchinato (ITA) 

GRANDSTAND start 11:00 am
ATP – David Goffin (BEL) vs Stan Wawrinka (SUI) 
ATP – [9] Marin Cilic (CRO) vs [WC] Andrea Basso (ITA) 
2 WTA matches
ATP – After Suitable Rest – Matteo Berrettini (ITA) / Fabio Fognini (ITA) vs Kyle Edmund (GBR) / Neal Skupski (GBR) 

PIETRANGELI start 11:00 am
WTA match
Not Before 12:00 noon
ATP – Richard Gasquet (FRA) vs Jeremy Chardy (FRA) – TBF 16 64 00
WTA match
ATP – Grigor Dimitrov (BUL) vs Jan-Lennard Struff (GER) 
ATP – [14] Nikoloz Basilashvili (GEO) vs Laslo Djere (SRB) 
Not Before 7:00 pm
ATP – [13] Borna Coric (CRO) vs [Q] Cameron Norrie (GBR) 

COURT 1 start 11:00 am
WTA match
ATP – Roberto Bautista Agut (ESP) vs [11] Karen Khachanov (RUS) 
WTA match
ATP – Pablo Cuevas (URU) / Juan Martin del Potro (ARG) vs Karen Khachanov (RUS) / Marc Lopez (ESP) 
ATP – Jean-Julien Rojer (NED) / Horia Tecau (ROU) vs [7] Bob Bryan (USA) / Mike Bryan (USA) 

COURT 2 start 11:00 am
ATP – [Q] Taylor Fritz (USA) vs Guido Pella (ARG) 
ATP – Diego Schwartzman (ARG) vs [Q] Yoshihito Nishioka (JPN) 
WTA match 
ATP – Guido Pella (ARG) / Diego Schwartzman (ARG) vs Rajeev Ram (USA) / Joe Salisbury (GBR) 
WTA match 

COURT 3 start 11:00 am
ATP – Radu Albot (MDA) vs [Q] Benoit Paire (FRA) 
Not Before 1:00 pm
ATP – Frances Tiafoe (USA) vs Joao Sousa (POR) 
ATP – [WC] Filippo Baldi (ITA) / Andrea Pellegrino (ITA) vs Jurgen Melzer (AUT) / Dominic Thiem (AUT) 
ATP – Maximo Gonzalez (ARG) / Horacio Zeballos (ARG) vs Jeremy Chardy (FRA) / David Goffin (BEL) 

COURT 4 start 11:00 am
2 WTA matches 
ATP – Wesley Koolhof (NED) / Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs Denis Shapovalov (CAN) / Fernando Verdasco (ESP) 
2 WTA matches 

Italian Fabio Fognini continued his march toward a Top 10 breakthrough on Monday, defeating former World No. 5 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga 6-3, 6-4 to reach the second round of the Internazionali BNL d’Italia.

The 10th seed made his best run at the Foro Italico last season, advancing to the quarter-finals before falling to eventual champion Rafael Nadal in three sets. He made a strong start under the lights against 17-time ATP Tour champion Tsonga, outmanoeuvring the Frenchman in baseline rallies to move on after one hour and 23 minutes.

““To play first round against Jo – [it was a] really tough match, because of course he was injured. He had surgery on the knee. He tried to recover his best performance, but at the same time I knew that it could be really dangerous,” Fognini said. “I’m happy, of course, happy because especially for me here, it’s always tough to play. But I’m happy about my performance, happy to be again in the second round in Roma.”

Tsonga had won four of the pair’s five FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings, with Fognini triumphing in their most recent encounter at the 2017 BNP Paribas Open. But the Italian is in some of the best form of his career, capturing his first ATP Masters 1000 title at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, and he saved five of the six break points he faced against Tsonga. Fognini will next face the player who beat him at Indian Wells, Moldovan Radu Albot, or French qualifier Benoit Paire.

With a big effort this week, Fognini could potentially crack the Top 10 of the ATP Rankings next Monday for the first time. If he does so, Fognini will be the third Italian man to reach the milestone, as well as the oldest player to do so for the first time since 38-year-old Ken Rosewall and 35-year-old Rod Laver on 23 August 1973, the first week of the ATP Rankings.

“I came in here with my best [ATP] Ranking… it’s not too far from the Top 10. The way I am playing, I feel confident,” Fognini said. “I know that if I play like that I can do something big. But at the same time I know that it’s difficult, every day is different, every match is different. Every match, it’s really complicated.”

Tsonga is still on the comeback trail after missing seven months of the 2018 season after undergoing left knee surgery last April. The Frenchman, who fell to World No. 262 last November, is already back inside the Top 100 after lifting the trophy at the Open Sud de France in February.

Spanish qualifier Albert Ramos-Vinolas upset 15th seed Gael Monfils 6-3, 6-1 in 61 minutes, breaking the Frenchman’s serve on all four chances he earned. It is the 31-year-old’s second Top 10 win of the season, and he will try to beat Argentine Diego Schwartzman or Japanese qualifier Yoshihito Nishioka to reach the third round

Rio de Janeiro champion Laslo Djere cruised past Kazakh Mikhail Kukushkin 6-3, 6-4 without facing a break point. The Serbian will next play 14th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili.