As some players begin to resume their training, coaches are starting to return as well. Daniel Vallverdu has been working in Monaco with Stan Wawrinka for the past two weeks and believes the Swiss can continue to build on his solid form at the start of 2020 when action resumes on the ATP Tour.

“We were on a good path before the pandemic hit. He was finding his way again after injury and getting his game back in some of the biggest events,” Vallverdu said on the latest ATP Tennis Radio podcast. “We had good momentum going from last year and a good off-season… The most important thing is that he’s feeling fit and [has] no injuries. I hope we can have a good couple of months of practice now.

“He’s coming towards the late stage of his career and quite a tough surgery [in 2017], so the main thing when we’re training and scheduling is how everything will benefit or hurt his body. We’re looking at how he can peak physically when he steps on court at events and obviously how much time you give the body to recover. We spoke about scheduling a lot in December because Stan needs a lot of balls to gain confidence and needs matches, but we also need time for him to rest.”

The 34-year-old Venezuelan’s resume would make it easy for any player to heed his advice. Vallverdu was part of the team that helped guide Andy Murray to two Grand Slam titles (2012 Wimbledon, 2013 US Open) and a gold medal at the 2012 London Olympics. He also brought Tomas Berdych to his career-high FedEx ATP Ranking of No. 4 in 2015 and steered Grigor Dimitrov to the title at the 2017 Nitto ATP Finals. But while his credentials speak for themselves, he attributed good fortune to getting his initial break.

“I was offered a great job with Andy when I was 23 years old. He was No. 2 in the rankings and it worked quite well from the beginning, so that was the luckiest part of my life,” Vallverdu said. “He was winning tournaments and a contender for the big tournaments from the moment I started working with him, so it put my name out there a lot. Obviously I did something right when I started working with other players after that.”

Vallverdu is now leading the effort to raise funds for fellow coaches who have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He teamed up with other members of the ATP Coach Programme, in collaboration with ATP, to enable fans to bid on a series of exclusive fan experiences through online fundraising platform Givergy.

These include private coaching sessions with Paul Annacone, Boris Becker, Darren Cahill, Brad Gilbert, Goran Ivanisevic, Ivan Lendl, Ivan Ljubicic, Carlos Moya, Patrick Mouratoglou and Marian Vajda. The experiences will be held on site at Grand Slam and ATP Tour events worldwide and include a combination of behind-the-scenes access, match tickets and premium hospitality. Fans can also enter drawings for exclusive merchandise and signed player memorabilia, with a percentage of the funds raised going to COVID-19 relief efforts.

“I’m just trying to help as much as I can by putting this auction together,” Vallverdu said. “We’re offering some pretty amazing experiences with some of the coaches. It’s difficult to find that kind of access.”

For more information on available experiences and merchandise or to donate to the initiative, please visit the Givergy website.

The Fever-Tree Championships has been staged for more than a century at The Queen’s Club in London.

The 2020 edition of the event would have been held this week, if not for the Tour suspension due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

ATPTour.com looks at five things to know about the tournament.

1) An Award-Winning Event
In recent years, the Fever-Tree Championships has consistently been recognised by players as one of the finest events on the ATP Tour. In 2013 and 2014, the event was named ATP 250 Tournament of the Year.

Following its move to ATP 500 status in 2015, the event was also voted ATP 500 Tournament of the Year in 2015, 2016 and 2018. Since 2013, only the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells — the recipient of the past six ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year awards — has been recognised by players more often.

Mark Philippoussis, recognising the Fever-Tree Championships as the ATP 500 Tournament of the Year in the 2018 ATP Awards.” width=”100%” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2019/06/24/20/30/farrow-philippoussis-london-queens-2018-atp-award.jpg” />

2) The Perfect Preparation
Since 1981, seven players have translated title runs at The Queen’s Club to success at Wimbledon. The ATP 500 — held roughly four miles north of the All England Club — has provided players with the perfect preparation for a title bid at SW19.

John McEnroe (1981, ’84), Jimmy Connors (1982), Boris Becker (1985), Pete Sampras (1995, ’99), Lleyton Hewitt (2002) and Rafael Nadal (2008) have each triumphed at Queen’s and Wimbledon in the same year. The most recent man to join the exclusive club was Andy Murray, who achieved the feat in 2013 and 2016.

John McEnroe captured his fourth title at The Queen’s Club in 1984.” width=”100%” src=”https://www.atptour.com/-/media/images/news/2020/06/10/15/43/mcenroe-queens-club-1984-trophy.jpg” />

3) The Hewitt/Roddick Years
In the opening eight editions of the event in the 21st century (2000-’07), Hewitt and Andy Roddick were the dominant forces at The Queen’s Club. During that period, they each captured four titles and compiled a combined 50-6 record at the grass-court tournament.

One of those six losses came in 2004, when Roddick defeated Hewitt in straight sets to reach his second straight final. The American also ended Hewitt’s title bid in 2009, winning their second-round clash in two tie-breaks.

4) Murray Makes History In 2016
From 1979 to 2007, four men won the tournament on four occasions: McEnroe (1979-’81, ’84), Becker (1985, ’87-’88, ’96), Hewitt (2000-’02, ’06) and Roddick (2003-’05, ’07). Backed passionately by British fans since his tournament debut in 2005, Murray joined the list of four-time Open Era champions in 2015.

One year later, as the top seed, Murray battled through three consecutive three-set matches to become the first man to win five singles titles at the event. Murray overcame countryman Kyle Edmund and Marin Cilic to reach the championship match, before rallying from a set down to beat Milos Raonic for the trophy. Three weeks later, Murray also defeated the Canadian in straight sets to claim his second Wimbledon crown.

In doubles, Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan have also lifted an Open Era record five titles at the event.

5) Lopez’s Greatest Career Moments
Three years after failing to convert championship point in the 2014 final, Feliciano Lopez captured his first title at The Queen’s Club in his 12th tournament appearance. The big-serving Spaniard beat three Top 15 players en route to the final, where he saved championship point against two-time winner Marin Cilic. Lopez described his run to the 2017 trophy as ‘the best week of my career’ but, just two years later, he was forced to correct that statement.

In 2019, the left-hander earned his second title at The Queen’s Club in dramatic fashion. The 37-year-old defeated Canadians Raonic and Felix Auger-Aliassime in three sets to reach his third final, where he outlasted Gilles Simon in a final-set tie-break to become the oldest Open Era champion (since 1968) at the event.

“I thought the best moment of my career was when I won this tournament in 2017, but it’s right now,” said Lopez.

Later in the day, Lopez completed a dream week at the grass-court ATP 500 by lifting the doubles title alongside Andy Murray.

Yoshihito Nishioka owns one ATP Tour title and is at a career-high No. 48 in the FedEx ATP Rankings.

ATPTour.com looks at five things you should know about the 24-year-old.

1) He Suffered A Major Injury In 2017
After reaching the quarter-finals in Acapulco and the Round of 16 in Indian Wells, Nishioka arrived in Miami in 2017 at what was a career-high No. 58 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. It would be the final event he played that year.

Nishioka suffered a torn ACL in his left knee during a second-round contest against Jack Sock and was forced to have surgery following the tournament. Attending two rehab sessions a day in Tokyo, the Japanese was unable to run for three months and couldn’t play tennis for nine months.

After returning to action at the start of the 2018 ATP Tour season, Nishioka returned to Miami at World No. 374 in the FedEx ATP Rankings. He recorded his second tour-level win of the year at the event, beating Alex de Minaur in straight sets.

2) He Made His Breakthrough In Shenzhen
Just 18 months after sustaining his ACL injury in Miami, Nishioka captured his maiden ATP Tour title in Shenzhen in 2018. The left-hander claimed seven straight wins from qualifying to take the trophy.

Nishioka saved two match points to defeat Denis Shapovalov in the second round and earned back-to-back three-set victories in his final two matches against Fernando Verdasco and Pierre-Hugues Herbert. The Japanese dropped seven straight games from 7-5, 2-0 in the championship match before regrouping to become the sixth qualifier of the year to lift an ATP Tour trophy.

“To get here, it was seven matches. It is not easy,” said Nishioka. “I am very tired right now, but my strength is my mentality, my stamina and never giving up. Those are my weapons.”

3) He’s Nishioka Not Nishikori
“Please remember my name. It’s not Nishikori. I’m Nishioka.”

After triumphing in Shenzhen, Nishioka took a moment to ask fans to remember his name. The request might have seemed odd if it came from any other player, but Nishioka’s case is unique. The 24-year-old is aiming to become the next Japanese star on the ATP Tour, following more than a decade of success from his countryman — who owns a very similar surname — Kei Nishikori.

At last year’s Western & Southern Open, Nishioka beat Nishikori in the pair’s first ATP Head2Head meeting. With an ATP Tour crown and a victory against the highest-ranked Japanese player in FedEx ATP Rankings history, Nishioka is now building a strong reputation of his own on the ATP Tour.

4) Height Is Not An Issue
Nishioka and Diego Schwartzman, both of whom are 5’7”, are tied for shortest player in the Top 50. But that statistic is not going to deny the Japanese success on the ATP Tour.

Following discussions with Nick Bollettieri at the IMG Academy, the 24-year-old modelled his game on former World No. 1 Marcelo Rios. At 5’9”, Rios rose to No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings and clinched 18 tour-level crowns.

“We have the speed, we have the technique and the most important thing is [to be a] fighter,” said Nishioka. “We have to use [these qualities] because we don’t have power like them. We cannot hit service winners 20 times a match, we have to figure out where is the weakness and which [area] is the strongest for our opponents.”

5) Yoshi Is The Fastest One
We’ve all seen Mario Kart, but have you ever seen DBO Kart? At this year’s Delray Beach Open by VITACOST.com, Nishioka competed against Steve Johnson and Jordan Thompson in a golf-cart racing competition.

Wearing the headgear of his namesake Nintendo character, Yoshi, Nishioka took home the title with a clean run around the track.

“I think everybody knows, but Yoshi is the fastest one, so that’s why I win,” said Nishioka.

Novak Djokovic has played 1,098 tour-level matches, and he has been in several gruelling, physical encounters. But according to the Serbian, one battle was more exhausting than the rest.

“The final of the Australian Open in 2012 against Rafa. Five hours, 53 minutes. Probably hard to repeat that ever in my career,” Djokovic said on Tennis United. “You understand that it’s the final of a Slam, it’s the fifth set, and the end is around the corner. [You think], ‘I don’t want to stop now.’

“You keep pushing yourself mentally. You lose a sense of what’s happening in your body and then there’s something that carries you all the way through. It’s quite amazing.”

Djokovic also discussed some of his tennis “firsts”. Through the highs and lows of life as a professional tennis player, the Serbian always calls the same person after his matches.

“Mom for sure. Mom is always there in good and bad times,” Djokovic said. “[Moms] truly care about you, you care about them, and then you can share that moment of joy with them intrinsically.”

The World No. 1 played his first junior tournament 25 years ago. Djokovic remembers it vividly, revealing that he cried multiple times at the event.

“The first tournament I ever played in my life, the first competition I had officially, I was eight, I won [the] first match ever, [an] 8-8 tie-break, 10/8,” Djokovic recalled. “I was really obviously filled with joy and everything, but I was very exhausted. My mom was there. She hugged me, and when she hugged me, I started crying.”

Djokovic lost 0-9 against good friend Viktor Troicki in his next match, and he shed tears again.

Your favourite players are finding plenty of ways to keep busy this week. From Dominic Thiem getting in the driver’s seat, to Stefanos Tsitsipas showing off his artistic side, find out how the world’s best players have been spending their days.

Thiem put the pedal to the metal with former F1 racing driver Patrick Friesacher.

 

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Unbelievable racing experience today with @p.friesacher Thanks to Patrick and the team @redbullring

A post shared by Dominic Thiem (@domithiem) on Jun 10, 2020 at 10:09am PDT

Tsitsipas kept it simple for his latest photo shoot and only required an iPhone.

 

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Grainy days. #ShotOniPhone

A post shared by Stefanos Tsitsipas (@stefanostsitsipas98) on Jun 7, 2020 at 2:45pm PDT

Roberto Bautista Agut looked back at his visit to the Museum of Illusions during the ATP Tour event in Dubai.

 

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Cuántos Robertos podéis contar? Yo me pierdo ? Recuerdo de cuando visitamos el “Museum of Illusions” durante el ATP de Dubái. . #RobertoBautistaAgut #Tenis #Tennis @ddftennis ? #JorgeFerrari

A post shared by Roberto Bautista Agut (@robertobautistaagut) on Jun 11, 2020 at 3:26am PDT

Felix Auger-Aliassime continued to build on his powerful baseline game.

 

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Little clip from this week’s training ???#çacavale

A post shared by Félix Auger-Aliassime (@felixaliassime) on Jun 7, 2020 at 12:57pm PDT

Stan Wawrinka made serving a priority in his practice session.

 

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Same shirt, same court, different day !♟??? #practice #hardwork #enjoy #trusttheprocess #stantheman

A post shared by Stanislas Wawrinka (@stanwawrinka85) on Jun 10, 2020 at 10:50am PDT

Jan-Lennard Struff reminisced about his grass-court success on home soil in Stuttgart.

 

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Grass season I miss you ?❤️? #neverquit

A post shared by Jan-Lennard Struff (@jl_struff) on Jun 9, 2020 at 2:12am PDT

Soonwoo Kwon was all smiles after completing a tough training session with his coach.

 

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?????❤

A post shared by 권순우SoonWoo Kwon (@soonwoo1202) on Jun 7, 2020 at 4:16am PDT

Reilly Opelka made the most of a day out in Los Angeles.

 

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3:44 on Melrose

A post shared by Reilly Opelka (@reillyopelka) on Jun 11, 2020 at 11:22am PDT

Robert Farah took an adventure-filled vacation with his girlfriend.

 

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Definitivamente nuestra tierrita es muy bella.

A post shared by robertfarah (@robertfarah) on Jun 7, 2020 at 4:52pm PDT