Victory never tasted so sweet for Tommy Paul. For more than three years, the #NextGenATP American has battled on the ATP Challenger Tour in search of his maiden moment. It has been a long journey, but, under the tutelage of coach Diego Moyano, all the work is paying off.

On Sunday, the 21-year-old became a Challenger champion for the first time. After losing in the final round of qualifying in Charlottesville, he did not drop a set in the main draw, culminating with a 6-2, 6-2 win over close friend Peter Polansky. 

Paul, who lost in qualifying to Petros Chrysochos, entered the main draw a determined man. He dropped a combined six games in beating Noah Rubin and Kamil Majchrzak, followed by back-to-back upsets of third seed Ivo Karlovic and top seed Bradley Klahn. Revenge was sweet for the North Carolina native, who lost to Rubin in the 2015 final, having led by a set and a double break.

Just the second lucky loser champion of 2018, joining countryman Ulises Blanch (Perugia, Italy), Paul rises 55 spots to No. 222 in the ATP Rankings. He will look to continue his push towards a Top 200 return before the end of the season.

Tommy spoke to broadcaster Mike Cation following his victory in Charlottesville. 

This is a big moment for you. You took a knee when you got to your chair. What did you say to yourself in that moment?
I was just thinking how tough my year has been. In the beginning of the year, I started well in Australia. I was playing well, but I didn’t have the results that I wanted. I ended up getting injured for five or six months and the comeback from that was really slow. I’m just thinking about that. It’s really nice to get the win here.

I hate bringing this up, but I’m sure in some way you were thinking about the 2015 final, being a set and two breaks up. I might make a big deal of it, but how much did you think about that this week?
With me, usually when something is done, it’s in the past. But it would definitely get under my skin when people bring it up. [My coach] Diego [Moyano] loves bringing up my old matches to try and keep me going in practice. During the match I wasn’t really thinking about it too much, because it’s hard to feel much pressure as a lucky loser. I think I had a bit of an advantage there. I was just playing my game and not overthinking too much.

Having seen you for the past three-plus years, it was interesting to watch you play this week. You were completely locked in from the first ball of the main draw. It was all business. 
That was the goal. It’s something that everyone I know is telling me. I’ve been trying to buy into it. It was good. I definitely had a business-like attitude during the week and it was helpful for me physically too. If I’m playing long matches, my body doesn’t hold up well. Having played through qualies, playing short matches in the main draw was important for me.

You were working with Scott Clark this week, the physio who has been working with Bjorn Fratangelo and Bradley Klahn. How much did that help, considering your knee tendinitis?
My knee has definitely been bothering me a lot. Through qualies, I didn’t know how it would hold up. I know I’m going to play the rest of the tournaments this year, because I need to try to get into Australian Open qualies. Diego and I were talking and he said that Doc’s here, so we should work with him the rest of the week. Right after I lost and saw I got the lucky loser, I spoke to him and we started working together. The knee didn’t feel perfect, but it definitely helped a lot to get through all these matches.

To get a lucky loser is great, but this was not a lucky draw for you. Between Noah Rubin, Bradley Klahn, Ivo Karlovic, Peter Polansky, that’s not an easy draw. Yet you made it look easy and didn’t drop a set. What was it in terms of the style of play that worked?
For me, I don’t think I had a great service week. But I think the biggest thing was my return. I was returning really well. The only time in the tournament I did not return well was the first five of Ivo’s service games. He wasn’t missing first serves. Besides that, I felt I was returning really well. When that happens, it puts a lot of pressure on my opponents and helps me with those neutral groundstoke points. That was the biggest difference for me.

Against Klahn, you didn’t give him many opportunities. Maybe you didn’t have the biggest winner count. You kept him in positions that were uncomfortable. Is that the style you’re looking for long term?
Exactly. For me, the biggest thing is the returns and not checking out mentally when I’m on the run. Just staying in there and making him hit another tough ball. As long as they’re not comfortable, I’ll take that any day of the week.

American #NextGenATP Winners In 2018

It’s obviously been a very long road for you. Two years ago, you played out this swing of tournaments looking lost. You didn’t want to be out here. How sweet does this moment feel considering where you were?
I had some low points this year as well. I’ll tell you that. This is the best part of winning, considering the matches you played earlier and the dark place you were in then. There were times I went home and didn’t want to think about anything with tennis. It’s good for me right now. I have two more weeks and then some R&R, which I won’t mind at all.

Diego Moyano has been such a mainstay in your corner over the years. What has that relationship been like for you, considering you guys seem so opposite?
He’s my rock. If I didn’t have him, I think I’d go off the rails. He keeps me straight. Diego’s the best. Nobody wants me to win more than him. It’s great having him. This is his last week on the road this year, so when I lost in qualies and got the lucky loser, I said to him, ‘No you’re not going home yet. You don’t get to go on vacation.’ Every match it was the same. And now I just said to him, ‘Ok, you can go home now.’

He’s a father figure for you. What’s it like off the court?
It’s much more than just tennis. He lives a mile away from me and we have barbecues. I’m always over there. I’m really close with his family. He’s just a really great guy for me and a father figure for sure.

So many of these young Americans, with Frances Tiafoe and Taylor Fritz, are playing well. Your win comes at the same time they are in Milan. Is that an extra motivation for you?
I mean, I definitely want to be there, but I didn’t earn it. I have to deal with that. I missed my chance. Hopefully I’ll play the big one [the Nitto ATP Finals], one day. I hope they do well over there. Obviously, I’m very jealous. I want to be there, but I’ll take a title this week.

How do you celebrate tonight, considering you have to get to Knoxville?
I’m driving there! [laughs] But maybe I’ll have a beer when I get there. Maybe a glass of wine, but we’ll see. Definitely something when I get there. At the end of the year, I’m going to Europe to see my girlfriend. Will probably do a bit of celebrating over there.

Eight #NextGenATP players are set to compete in Milan for the second annual Next Gen ATP Finals title.

On Sunday evening, the eight Milan contenders: Stefanos Tsitsipas, Alex de Minaur, Frances Tiafoe, Taylor Fritz, Andrey Rublev, Jaume Munar, Hubert Hurkacz and Liam Caruana were split into two groups, within which each player will contest three matches, with two competitors per group emerging into the knockout semi-finals.

Group A
Stefanos Tsitsipas
Frances Tiafoe
Hubert Hurkacz
Jaume Munar

Group B
Alex de Minaur
Taylor Fritz
Andrey Rublev
Liam Caruana

Tsitsipas, who defeated four Top 10 opponents en route to the Toronto final and lifted his first ATP World Tour trophy in Stockholm last month, is No. 16 in the ATP Rankings, the highest-ranked player in the field.

The Greek leads Group A, in which there are three other players whom he has never contested a FedEx ATP Head2Head match against. Joining the event’s top seed are American Frances Tiafoe, Poland’s Hubert Hurkacz and Spaniard Jaume Munar.

“I think our group is much better than Group B,” Tsitsipas said on stage at the Nhow Hotel, joking.

In seriousness, Tsitsipas is in a far different position at this season’s Next Gen ATP Finals. One year ago, the Greek was an alternate in Milan. Now, he is one of the leading candidates to capture the tournament’s second crown, following in Hyeon Chung’s footsteps.

“I’m really satisfied,” Tsitsipas said. “I think I belong here.”

The only Group A athletes who have played one another at tour-level are Tiafoe and Hurkacz. Tiafoe defeated Poland’s top player in straight sets at the Citi Open in Washington, D.C.

The American has enjoyed the best season of his career, winning his maiden ATP World Tour title at the Delray Beach Open and climbing as high as No. 38 in the ATP Rankings. The 20-year-old will hope that experience helps him earn a berth in the Milan semi-finals.

Group B is led by De Minaur, an Aussie who advanced to his first two ATP World Tour finals (Sydney and Washington, D.C.) and also captured his maiden ATP Challenger Tour trophy in 2018. De Minaur ascended as high as No. 31 in the ATP Rankings this year.

“I definitely wasn’t expecting this,” De Minaur said. “It’s been a great year, I’ve played some unbelievable tennis.”

The 19-year-old will hope that continues at the Fiera Milano, where he was grouped with American Taylor Fritz, 2017 Milan competitor Andrey Rublev and Italian wild card Liam Caruana.

Both De Minaur and Fritz have defeated Rublev in their only previous FedEx ATP Head2Head meetings. It’s hard to forget De Minaur’s win over the Russian, which came in the semi-finals of the Citi Open earlier this year. The Australian saved four match points in a row from 2/6 down in the second-set tie-break before eventually moving into his first ATP World Tour 500-level final after two hours and 52 minutes.

Fritz ousted Rublev in more straightforward fashion, dismissing the 2017 Umag champion in straight sets at this year’s BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells. Caruana will try to be the ‘x-factor’ in the group, as he carries the momentum of three wins in three days in the Italian 21-and-under wild card event.

While Caruana has played just one tour-level match, he knows Fritz well, residing in Texas and practising with him in the past. The Italian also played both De Minaur and Rublev once each when they were juniors.

And while the FedEx ATP Head2Head series don’t favour Rublev, the Russian can rely on his experience competing in Milan last year, when he advanced to the championship match.

“I’m really happy to be back,” Rublev said.

Karen Khachanov’s backswing on his forehand looks like a serpent coiling to strike. It’s big and menacing and his extreme wrist bend provides opponents with no clue where this venomous shot is going to bite them.

Khachanov stunned Novak Djokovic 7-5, 6-4 in the final of the Rolex Paris Masters Sunday, with the Russian’s forehand running rampant all over the court.

Djokovic at times looked exhausted from his three hour, three minute semi-final encounter with Roger Federer, and a week-long battle with the flu, but Khachanov still had to reach out and claim the biggest title of his career, with his unorthodox forehand being the driving force.

Khachanov Forehand Winners = 12

The most efficient strategy Khachanov employed to set up a forehand winner was to hit it as his first shot after a serve. He hit six Serve +1 forehand winners, with half rocketing past Djokovic’s forehand wing and the other three directed to the backhand. The Russian also chipped in with a forehand return winner.

The other five forehand winners displayed the versatility of the 6’6″ Russian’s game. One was a standard groundstroke from the baseline, one was at the front of the court, another was an approach, and the other two were scintillating, on-the-run passing shots that brought the Parisian crowd to their feet and Djokovic to his knees. 

Of the 13 forehand groundstroke errors Djokovic committed in the match, six came from a Khachanov forehand groundstroke, and one from a forehand return.

The backswing on Khachanov’s forehand is extremely difficult to decipher any clues from as to what destination it will ultimately rocket towards, and his patterns of play are equally confounding.

Khachanov hit 41 per cent of his forehands to the outer third of the Ad court (to Djokovic’s backhand), and 42 per cent to the outer third of the Deuce court, stretching Djokovic wide off the court to hit his own forehand. Only 17 per cent of Khachanov’s forehands landed in the middle of the court. When Khachanov created time to wind up and crush a big forehand, it was simply unreadable for Djokovic to predict where it was going.

Khachanov was also far more likely to step forward to the ball on his forehand side to attack than off his backhand wing. The Russian made contact with 25 per cent of his forehands inside the baseline, but only managed to do that 11 per cent of the time on his backhand side. 

Khachanov hit some blistering forehands in the match, but surprisingly he averaged hitting his forehand slower than Djokovic overall. The Russian would quite often add heavy spin with his extreme western grip to create a short angle and run Djokovic or hit it higher over the net with more shape to get the ball up out of the Serb’s strike zone.

Average Rally Speed
Forehands

• Khachanov = 113kph
• Djokovic = 120kph

   

  Backhands

• Khachanov = 108kph
• Djokovic = 111kph

  Both players ended up hitting slightly more backhands than forehands for the match, but Khachanov was able to do more damage with his when he did get to hit it.

   

  Total Groundstrokes

• Khachanov = 105 forehands / 121 backhands
• Djokovic = 109 forehands / 111 backhands

Djokovic took control of the match early in the first set, leading 3-1, 30-0 on serve, but inexplicably lost 10 straight points to lose all his early momentum. Khachanov’s forehand had a lot to do with that purple patch, striking four forehand winners in the span of six points, with an additional two Djokovic groundstroke errors coming after a Khachanov forehand.

Khachanov’s funky forehand technique may very well come with a “do not try this at home” label, but it was his weapon of choice that helped capture the biggest title of his career in Paris. He makes it work, and then some.

– Hawkeye data used in this story is courtesy ATP Media.

– Craig O’Shannessy is a member of Novak Djokovic’s coaching team.