Tennis News

Bolelli & Vavassori repeat as Fans’ Favourite doubles duo in 2025 ATP Awards

For the second consecutive year, Italians Simone Bolelli and Andrea Vavassori have been voted as the Fans’ Favourite doubles team in the 2025 ATP Awards.

The duo claimed four tour-level titles this year, reached the Australian Open final for the second straight season and earned a return trip to the Nitto ATP Finals on home soil in Turin.

Special messages from @BolelliSimone and Andrea Vavassori 🙌#ATPAwards pic.twitter.com/bS4OLS31CL

— ATP Tour (@atptour) December 9, 2025

“I would like to thank all of you,” Bolelli said in a video message to fans. “We are really happy to win the Fans’ Favourite award for the second year. I hope you enjoy our doubles during the year. We are really pumped for the new season, we already started working on it. See you soon.”

Vavassori added: “Thank you so much for voting for us. We are really happy to win for the second time. We had a great season and your support in Turin was amazing. See you soon in Australia, and forza!”

In their second season as a pairing, Bolelli and Vavassori began the year on a hot streak. They won the ATP 250 in Adelaide and built a nine-match winning streak. Despite title-match heartbreak in Melbourne, the Italians quickly regrouped with a title run in their very next tournament, the ATP 500 in Rotterdam. Bolelli and Vavassori would later also capture the ATP 500 events in Hamburg and Washington, D.C.

They finished the year at home in Italy, where they competed in front of a raucous crowd en route to the semi-finals at the Nitto ATP Finals. Bolelli and Vavassori partnered for a 37-22 season record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Bolelli and Vavassori are the first doubles pairing to win back-to-back Fans’ Favourite doubles team honours since Mike Bryan and Bob Bryan (2005-17).

Source link

Alcaraz, Sinner, headline Australian Open field; Who else is on the entry list?

Carlos Alcaraz and Jannik Sinner will attempt to extend their dominance at the majors in January at the Australian Open, with the duo headlining the entry list for the 2026 edition of the hard-court major in Melbourne.

The No. 1 in the PIF ATP Rankings Alcaraz and No. 2 Sinner have between them lifted the men’s singles at the past eight Grand Slam events. That streak dates back to Sinner’s maiden major triumph at the 2024 Australian Open, and the Italian will arrive in Melbourne in January chasing his third consecutive crown having also triumphed at the season’s opening major in 2025.

A six-time major champion, Alcaraz will be bidding to complete the Career Grand Slam in Melbourne, having already won at least once at Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US Open. The Spaniard’s best Australian Open results across four appearances were his quarter-final finishes in 2024 and 2025.

The 2025 Melbourne finalist Alexander Zverev is third on the entry list, followed by record-10-time Australian Open titlist Novak Djokovic. The Serbian reached the semi-finals at all four majors in 2025 in pursuit of a record-extending 25th Grand Slam men’s singles crown.

Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz, Lorenzo Musetti and Ben Shelton are among the other Top 10 stars on the entry list, with World No. 15 Holger Rune, who is recovering from a ruptured Achilles tendon, the only player missing from the Top 100. World No. 7 Alex de Minaur will spearhead the Australian charge on home soil. De Minaur reached the quarter-finals at Melbourne Park for the first time in 2025.

Source link

Cash/Glasspool headline Best of 2025 doubles review

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. Today we highlight five standout doubles teams from this season.

Julian Cash & Lloyd Glasspool
Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool produced a season that will be etched into British tennis history. In their first full campaign together, they finished as Year-End ATP Doubles No. 1 presented by PIF honours, becoming the first all-British duo to achieve that feat. They won a Tour-leading seven titles in 2025, including a streak of five consecutive trophies between June and August, a run during which they went 22 matches unbeaten.

“It’s been one crazy year, that’s for sure. We put an awful lot of work in in the offseason. Couldn’t have done it without everyone there in the box, also my family up there in the corner,” Cash said when collecting the Year-End No. 1 trophy at the Nitto ATP Finals. “We’ve ticked off so many things this year and I think we both truly believed at the start of the year that this was possible for us.”

One of the defining moments of Cash and Glasspool’s season came at Wimbledon, where they became the first all-British team since 1936 to win a major men’s doubles trophy, sealing a first Grand Slam title for both players.

<img alt=”Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool win their first major crown.” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/07/12/14/05/cash-glasspool-wimbledon-2025-title.jpg?w=100%25″ />_{^{Julian Cash and Lloyd Glasspool win their first major title at Wimbledon. Photo: Kirill Kudryavtsev/AFP via Getty Images}}

Harri Heliovaara & Henry Patten
For Harri Heliovaara and Henry Patten, 2025 told a story of starting strong and finishing even stronger. The British-Finnish pair opened the season by winning its second major title at the Australian Open, then closed the year in dominant fashion — capturing their first ATP Masters 1000 crown in Paris before topping it off with a maiden Nitto ATP Finals triumph in Turin.

“It is hard to describe,” Heliovaara said after winning the Nitto ATP Finals. “The whole week I have looked at the list of winners, with huge winners and I thought, if there was ever going to be my name on that, I am going to be so proud. To be there next to Henry is unreal.”

Having also won the ATP 500 event in Beijing, Heliovaara and Patten ended the season with a 50-20 record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Marcel Granollers & Horacio Zeballos
After three previous losses in major finals, Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos turned heartache into redemption not once, but twice in 2025. First came a gripping Roland Garros title-match triumph over Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, followed by an even more dramatic win at the US Open, where they saved three championship points to prevail again over the British pair.

“Honestly, I don’t know what to think right now. It was an amazing battle,” said Zeballos at the US Open trophy ceremony. “When you play these kinds of matches, it is so unfair when there is a winner and a loser, because the guys did everything great.

“I can’t believe we just won the US Open. It’s so beautiful to be here with all these people watching us.”

Granollers and Zeballos, who also triumphed in Bucharest, Madrid and Basel, ended the season by making their sixth consecutive appearance at the Nitto ATP Finals.

<img alt=”Marcel Granollers/Horacio Zeballos” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/09/06/19/12/granollers-zeballos-us-open-2025-trophy-shot.jpg” />_{^{Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos win the 2025 US Open men’s doubles title. Photo: Clive Brunskill/Getty Images}}

Marcelo Arevalo & Mate Pavic
Marcelo Arevalo and Mate Pavic delivered another statement year, highlighted by ATP Masters 1000 titles in Indian Wells, Miami, and Rome to secure a well-earned return to the season finale in Turin. They became only the sixth team in history to complete the ‘Sunshine Double’, winning in Indian Wells and Miami in the same season.

Though Arevalo and Pavic fell short to Granollers and Zeballos in the Madrid final, they bounced back in Rome, where they saved a championship point to defeat Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul — a fitting redemption after losing the 2024 final.

“It means a lot, I’m really emotional now,” Arevalo said. “I love this tournament. Since the first time I played here, I had a connection with the city. I’m just really happy that we were able to win this match, because it was a true battle. Mate and I stayed together.”

Christian Harrison & Evan King
A partnership that didn’t exist at the start of the year became one of the most intriguing success stories. Christian Harrison and Evan King burst onto the scene with ATP 500 titles in Dallas and Acapulco, and added another trophy in Brussels, culminating in Nitto ATP Finals berth — the first all-American duo to reach the season finale since Mike Bryan and Jack Sock won the title in 2018.

Harrison and King showcased their all-court mastery by winning two indoor hard-court titles and reaching the semi-finals on the clay of Roland Garros. They also reached finals in Auckland and Delray Beach after they made their team debut at the ATP Challenger Tour event in Quimper, France, in January.

<img alt=”Evan King and Christian Harrison” style=”width:100%;” src=”/-/media/images/news/2025/02/09/23/42/king-harrison-dallas-2025-final.jpg” />_{^{Evan King and Christian Harrison win the ATP 500 title in Dallas. Photo: Sam Hodde/Getty Images}}

Source link

Boulter misses out on Australian Open main draw

Former British number one Katie Boulter will have to go through qualifying in January to secure a place at the Australian Open.

Source link

The parents of Alice, Elsie and Bebe on the love and legacy left behind

The parents of Alice, Elsie and Bebe on the love and legacy left behind.

Source link

Teens Engel, Budkov Kjaer, Fonseca among five Challenger player storylines from 2025

From teenage breakthroughs to the reigning NCAA champion surging onto the pro stage and a historic title run in Africa, ATPTour.com recaps five Challenger player storylines from the 2025 season.

German teen Engel finishes as youngest champion of 2025
Fans in Hamburg witnessed a new German star emerge as Justin Engel stormed to his maiden ATP Challenger title on home soil.

At 18 years and 25 days, Engel became the youngest Challenger champion of the season and the fifth-youngest German winner in history. The #NextGenATP teen downed fellow 18-year-old Federico Cina 7-5, 7-6(4) in the final — the youngest championship match at that level since 2003, when Mario Ancic beat Rafael Nadal, also in Hamburg. Engel became the first player born in 2007 to win an ATP Challenger event.

“Every title is a big one, especially my first Challenger,” Engel said at the time. “Cina is a big player and I knew before the match it was going to be a tough match. This win makes it even better and I’m really happy.”

Zheng goes from NCAA champ to three-time Challenger titlist
College tennis players continue to excel on the Challenger circuit, including Michael Zheng, who won the 2024 NCAA singles title representing Columbia University and successfully defended his title last month.

Thanks to his collegiate success, Zheng qualified for the ATP Next Gen Accelerator, a programme that aims to increase the development pathway for top players in the American collegiate system to earn direct entry into select Challenger events. Zheng made the best possible use of one of his Accelerator spots at the Chicago Challenger in August, going all the way to the winner’s circle as World No. 416. Zheng then added to his title haul in September with consecutive trophies in Columbus and Tiburon.

“It’s definitely a super helpful programme,” the 21-year-old said of the Accelerator programme.
“It gives a lot of incentive for players to come to college and go through that pathway. You just get that jump start from your career… You have a good result like how I had in Chicago, then all of a sudden your ranking is there to get into the main draw of Challengers by yourself. I think it’s a great initiative.”

^{Michael Zheng is crowned champion at the Tiburon Challenger. Credit: Natalie Kim}

Coulibaly’s historic title in Côte d’Ivoire
You could not script Eliakim Coulabily’s first Challenger title run any better. His home country, Côte d’Ivoire, hosted back-to-back tournaments and became the 95th country to host an ATP Challenger event — it was there in the capital city Abidjan where Coulibaly produced contrasting results, finishing with one of the most memorable moments of his career.

After an opening-round loss in the first week, Coulibaly swung freely and gave his home fans plenty to cheer about. Capping the title run with a three-set final victory, the Ivorian fell on his back in relief as the locals rose to their feet. Coulibaly became the first player from Côte d’Ivoire to win a Challenger title.

Reflecting on his full-circle journey, Coulibaly said, “Never stop believing, man. Never stop believing. I come from fire. I come from Africa. Being an African person and being able to try to make it on the ATP Tour is difficult. You don’t see many too many African players out there trying to play because it’s difficult. But for me it’s just discipline and never stop believing. It’s a tough journey for me.”

#NextGenATP Budkov Kjaer caps historic season, joins Gasquet, Rune and Coria in record books
Remember the name Nicolai Budkov Kjaer. The 19-year-old, who will be competing at this month’s Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, was one of six players to capture a season-leading four Challenger titles. The Norwegian became the fourth-youngest player to accomplish that feat, alongside an elite trio of Richard Gasquet, Holger Rune and Guillermo Coria, all of whom spent time inside the Top 10 of the PIF ATP Rankings.

“You always want to believe you have the level to beat the guys at the top and I always had the belief that I’m a very dangerous opponent,” Budkov Kjaer said after winning his first Challenger title in Glasgow in February. He was also crowned champion in Tampere, Astana and Mouilleron le Captif.

Fonseca, Del Potro side-by-side in history
Across a meteoric rise the past 12 months since winning the Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF, Joao Fonseca made history in his ATP Challenger appearances. Just 13 days removed from his Jeddah triumph, the Brazilian won the Canberra Challenger, joining Jannik Sinner as the only players to win their ensuing tournament after claiming the 20-and-under event.

Then, at the ATP Challenger 175 event in Phoenix in March, Fonseca won his third trophy at that level and became the second-youngest player from South America — behind Juan Martin del Potro — to achieve that feat. Fonseca, who also won the ATP 250 in Buenos Aires and the ATP 500 in Basel, also became the fourth-youngest player to win an ATP Tour event and an ATP Challenger tournament in the same season. He stands alongside Kei Nishikori and three ATP No. 1 Club members; Carlos Alcaraz, Andy Roddick and Lleyton Hewitt as the five-youngest players to achieve the feat.

Source link

Rublev honoured with 2025 Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award

Andrey Rublev has been named the recipient of the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award in the 2025 ATP Awards, a testament to the 28-year-old’s impact on and off the court.

The 17-time tour-level titlist launched the Andrey Rublev Foundation in March 2024 with an aim to provide resources and support to children struggling with critical illness. Rublev expanded his efforts throughout the 2025 season.

“I’m really happy to win the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award,” Rublev said in a video, accepting the award. “We’re really working hard to improve our Foundation. We’re learning, it’s something new for us. It’s only been two years, so to win this award means a lot. We’re going to keep growing the Foundation and do better and more things. Thank you so much.”

Earlier this year, the Andrey Rublev Foundation announced a partnership with Bambino Gesu Children’s Hospital in Rome. The World No. 16 in the PIF ATP Rankings visited the hospital ahead of the ATP Masters 1000 tournament, spending time with members of the medical staff and the patients who are undergoing treatment. Rublev also provided presents to the children.

In a statement published on the Andrey Rublev Foundation website, the fan favourite wrote: “I’ve been so fortunate to play a professional sport for a living and have my health. There are so many children in need of financial support for critical medical needs and being able to help them is a huge privilege for me. I look forward to working with kids, their families and doctors and helping them face a brighter future because of the resources I am fortunate enough to provide.”

Rublev has also spoken candidly about mental health and the importance of seeking help. In June, he was featured in an ATP Originals documentary, ‘Breaking Back’, in which Rublev bravely discussed his personal struggles. Rublev and fellow ATP Tour star Casper Ruud participated in Tennis Canada’s Mental Health Panel at this season’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Toronto.

This marks Rublev’s first time winning the Arthur Ashe Humanitarian Award, an honour that some of the sport’s most notable legends, including Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Andy Murray, Andre Agassi and John McEnroe, have won. Ashe, the 1992 recipient, was further honoured with the award bearing his name in 1999.

This is Rublev’s third overall ATP Award. He was voted as Fans’ Favourite doubles team alongside Karen Khachanov in 2023, and he also took home Most Improved Player of the Year honours in 2020.

Rublev added another title to his trophy cabinet this year with a title run in Doha. He also reached the fourth round of Wimbledon and the US Open. Rublev tallied a 34-25 season record, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index.

Source link

Alcaraz & Djokovic feature as ATP Tour star’s declare their rivals… naughty, or nice?

The donuts on the table may have been light and fluffy, but could the same be said about some of the characters on the ATP Tour?

A host of top stars gave a little insight into several of their Lexus ATP Head2Head rivals by taking on our ‘Naughty or Nice’ cake game. Eight players, including Top 10 stars Felix Auger-Aliassime, Taylor Fritz and Ben Shelton, placed photos on ‘naughty’ donuts or ‘nice’ donuts to reflect their own judgements on rivals including ATP No. 1 Club members Carlos Alcaraz, Jannik Sinner and Novak Djokovic.

So did our participants turn harshly on their on-court foes, or does the ATP Tour locker room remain a place of camaraderie and harmony? Watch the video below to find out, but let’s just say that several judges seemed to have their own unique definitions of both ‘naughty’ and ‘nice’.

Watch Tennis Players Place Each Other On The ‘Naughty Or Nice’ Cake:

Take the split opinions on Alcaraz, for example. Gabriel Diallo’s decision was swayed by the Spanish star’s tattoos, while Auger-Aliassime declared Alcaraz ‘nice’ due to him having an almost constant smile on his face. When it came to judging Djokovic, Alejandro Davidovich Fokina played it safe: “I don’t want any trouble with him”, laughed the Spaniard, perhaps in fear of some future on-court retribution from the 101-time tour-level champion.

Meanwhile the photo of Alexander Bublik, one of the Tour’s maverick players and biggest characters, repeatedly appeared on the ‘naughty’ donut. Some of the justifications for that, such as the one given by Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, may not surprise you…

“He did 20 underarm serves against me in two matches,” said the Frenchman of Bublik. “He’s going to be in the naughty side.”

.videoWrapper {
position: relative;
padding-bottom: 56.25%; /* 16:9 */
padding-top: 25px;
height: 0;
}
.videoWrapper iframe {
position: absolute;
top: 0;
left: 0;
width: 100%;
height: 100%;
}

Source link

Musetti announces addition of this veteran coach to his team…

Lorenzo Musetti has added veteran coach Jose Perlas to his team, the Italian confirmed in an Instagram post Monday.

“Let’s start preparing for 2026,” Musetti wrote, captioning a photo of him with longtime coach Simone Tartarini, Perlas and fitness trainer Damiano Fiorucci. “Welcome Jose 💪.”

 

 

 

 

View this post on Instagram

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A post shared by Lorenzo Musetti (@lore_musetti)

Perlas boasts an extensive resumé, having coached a list of names including Carlos Moya, Albert Costa, Guillermo Coria, Nicolas Almagro, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Janko Tipsarevic and Fabio Fognini, among others. Perlas most recently worked with Serbian Dusan Lajovic. The Spaniard also captained his home country to the Davis Cup title in 2000 and 2004.

Musetti finished the 2025 season at No. 8 in the PIF ATP Rankings, tallying a 45-22 match record for the year, according to the Infosys ATP Win/Loss Index. The 23-year-old competed at the Nitto ATP Finals for the first time, gaining a spot in Turin following the withdrawal of Novak Djokovic.

Musetti hit a career-high No. 6 in June following a standout clay-court swing. He reached his first ATP Masters 1000 final in Monte-Carlo and then advanced to the semi-finals in Madrid, Rome and at Roland Garros, his first major semi-final appearance. Among his other results in 2025, Musetti reached the US Open quarter-finals for the first time and was a finalist in Chengdu and Athens.

In November, Musetti shared that he and his partner Veronica welcomed the birth of their second child, Leandro.

Source link

Journey to Jeddah: Your complete guide to the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF

Journey to Jeddah: Your complete guide to the 2025 Next Gen ATP Finals presented by PIF

Source link