Meet the youngest person to qualify for Wimbledon in the open era, 15-year-old American Cori Gauff, who is set to play one of her heroes Venus Williams on Court 1.
ATPTour.com looks at the top Movers of the Week in the ATP Rankings, as of Monday, 1 July 2019
No. 31 (Career-High) Taylor Fritz, +11
More than three years after reaching his first ATP Tour final at 2016 Memphis, Taylor Fritz lifted his maiden tour-level trophy at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne. The 21-year-old American defeated top seed Guido Pella and British No. 1 Kyle Edmund en route to the championship match, where he overcame countryman Sam Querrey in straight sets. The 6’4″ Californian climbs 11 spots to a career-high No. 31 in the ATP Rankings. Read More
No. 46 (Career-High) Lorenzo Sonego, +29
The 24-year-old entered the Turkish Airlines Open Antalya without a victory on grass, riding a six-match tour-level losing streak that dated back to his last-eight run at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters in April. But Sonego defeated three seeded players to reach his first ATP Tour final, and saved championship point against Miomir Kecmanovic, before claiming his first ATP Tour crown. The Italian soars 29 positions to a career-high No. 46 in the ATP Rankings. Read More
No. 67 (Career-High) Miomir Kecmanovic, +15
The Serbian reached his first tour-level final in Antalya and found himself just one point away from the title against Sonego. Kecmanovic dropped serve once in 48 service games to reach the final, overcoming third seed Jordan Thompson in the last four in a final-set tie-break The 19-year-old rises 15 positions to a career-high No. 67 in the ATP Rankings.
Other Notable Movers
No. 50 Pablo Carreno Busta, +9
No. 58 Mikhail Kukushkin, -11
No. 65 Sam Querrey, +14
No. 83 Hugo Dellien, +10
No. 89 Thomas Fabbiano, +13
No. 91 Damir Dzumhur, -28
History is on the side of the Big Three — Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic — entering Wimbledon, as the legendary trio has combined to claim 14 of the past 16 titles at The Championships.
And although some may look to Grand Slam champions Stan Wawrinka and Marin Cilic, 2018 finalist Kevin Anderson or recent Roland Garros runner-up Dominic Thiem to spring a surprise on the grass, former World No. 1 Mats Wilander has other ideas. His sights are set on current or recent #NextGenATP players.
“I think the surprise is the group of young players that has started to present themselves. Stefanos Tsitsipas made the semi-finals of the Australian Open. There is Denis Shapovalov, there is Felix Auger-Aliassime, there is Daniil Medvedev, there is Karen Khachanov,” Wilander said. “There are so many young players and I feel like Wimbledon is where they need to present themselves and I believe that one of the 19, 20, 21-year-old guys is going to do it this year.”
Each of those five players Wilander named either has competed at the Next Gen ATP Finals or is currently a #NextGenATP star. They range in age from 18 (Auger-Aliassime) to 23 (Khachanov and Medvedev). But they all have enjoyed impressive ascents up the ATP Rankings over the past two years.
Entering the first week of Wimbledon in 2017, none of those five players were placed inside the Top 30 of the ATP Rankings. This year, they all are. Of the group, Tsitsipas has advanced furthest at a Grand Slam, reaching the semi-finals at this year’s Australian Open. They all have made at least the semi-finals of an ATP Masters 1000 tournament, with Khachanov triumphing at last year’s Rolex Paris Masters.
| Player | ATP Ranking Two Years Ago | Current ATP Ranking |
| Stefanos Tsitsipas | 192 | 6 |
| Karen Khachanov | 34 | 9 |
| Daniil Medvedev | 49 | 13 |
| Felix Auger-Aliassime | 231 | 21 |
| Denis Shapovalov | 164 | 27 |
No player who has competed at the 21-and-under season finale in Milan or is currently a #NextGenATP competitor has won a Grand Slam title. If one does at SW19, they will become the 150th men’s singles major winner in history.
Wilander’s fellow Swede, Jonas Bjorkman, with whom he won this week’s ATP Champions Tour event — the Svaneholm Open — thinks that a member of the Big Three will reign again at the All England Club.
“It’s going to be a boring answer,” said Bjorkman, the former World No. 4 who climbed to No. 1 in the ATP Doubles Rankings. “I’m going to go with Novak Djokovic, putting him and Roger Federer as favourites with maybe Rafael Nadal just underneath.”
Novak Djokovic will open Centre Court at this year’s Wimbledon as is the custom at the event. The defending champion…
Stefanos Tsitsipas looks to continue his excellent 2019 with a strong run at Wimbledon this fortnight. The Greek is at a…
Naomi Osaka faces a tough test in her opener at Wimbledon, hoping to bounce back from the disappointment of her French Open…
Former World No. 1 Andy Murray is set to return to Grand Slam action at Wimbledon. And it’s more than just his fans who are happy to see the two-time singles winner at The Championships back on the hallowed grass, albeit on the doubles court.
“Everybody should be happy to see him back,” said two-time champion Rafael Nadal, the third seed. “He is one of the most important players of our sport in the past 10 years. It’s good news when we have the top players back. Most important thing, [I am] happy for him personally that he’s able to keep playing.”
Murray made his return at the Fever-Tree Championships at The Queen’s Club, where he triumphed alongside Feliciano Lopez. Murray then partnered Marcelo Melo at the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne, where they fell to eventual champions Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.
And although Murray has made clear that he is alright if it doesn’t happen, the 32-year-old said that if he continues to progress, he wants to try to play singles again. It’s only been five months since Murray underwent hip surgery.
“Hopefully he will have the chance to keep playing in singles. But anyway, he’s able to enjoy tennis again without much pain, as I heard. That’s the main thing and the most important thing,” Nadal said. “I know how tough it is being injured, when you want to recover and you don’t find the solution… [I am] happy to see him on court again and enjoying [it].”
Nadal, who holds a 17-7 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Murray, faced the Scot three times at Wimbledon (2008, ‘10, ‘11), winning on all three occasions. Although they won’t get to play this year, since Murray is only competing in doubles, Nadal couldn’t help but take a look at the two-time champion preparing for the grass-court Grand Slam next to him on the practice courts.
“He looks very happy practising,” Nadal said. “So happy for that.”
Murray and his partner, Pierre-Hugues Herbert, open their tournament against Marius Copil and Ugo Humbert. They could play No. 6 seeds Nikola Mektic and Franko Skugor in the second round, and Andy’s brother Jamie Murray and Neal Skupski in the third round. But Murray is not thinking ahead, and he has not put more pressure on himself because of the early success in his comeback.
“I’m just happy to be playing tennis again really. I would like to do well when I get on the court. I play to win. I’m really competitive,” Murray said. “But… I didn’t know four or five weeks ago if I’d even be playing on the grass. Shouldn’t be expecting too much. But once I step on the court, I’ll be out there trying to win every match I play.”
Wimbledon history has proven that wild cards are far from space fillers in the draws.
From Marcos Baghdatis and Paul Jubb in singles, to Lleyton Hewitt and Jordan Thompson in doubles, this year’s wild card recipients will look to match some of the most unlikely runs in tournament history. ATPTour.com looks back at the five most memorable wild cards at The All England Club.
Goran Ivanisevic (2001 champion)
There wasn’t a dry eye in the stands when Ivanisevic completed his improbable run to the title. After three runner-up finishes (1992, 1994, 1998), injuries saw his ATP Ranking plummet outside the Top 100. Ivanisevic arrived as a sentimental favourite in 2001 with a 13-22 ATP Tour record over the previous 12 months.
But the Croatian caught fire once again, defeating Carlos Moya, Andy Roddick, Marat Safin and Tim Henman en route to the championship match against Patrick Rafter. Rain pushed the final to a unprecedented “People’s Monday”. Ten thousand tickets were given out by lottery to fans waiting in the queue, most of whom were vocal enough to give Centre Court the energy of a football match.
After more than three hours, Ivanisevic prevailed in a 6-3, 3-6, 6-3, 2-6, 9-7 classic. He remains the lowest-ranked player (No. 125) to win Wimbledon and the only male player to win a Grand Slam singles title as a wild card.
“I think I’m dreaming. To touch the trophy is so great,” said Ivanisevic. “I don’t even care if I win another match in my life again. This is it. This is the end of the world.”
Nick Kyrgios (2014 quarter-finals)
A 19-year-old Kyrgios was awarded a wild card after winning an ATP Challenger Tour event on grass earlier that month in Nottingham. The Aussie put it to good use, rallying from two sets down to beat No. 13 seed Richard Gasquet in the second round before stunning second seed Rafael Nadal in the fourth round. His audacious shotmaking during the four-set victory made him the first male debutant to reach the Wimbledon quarter-finals since Florian Mayer in 2004.
“It still hasn’t sunk in yet,” said Kyrgios after the match. “I was overwhelmed with every feeling out there. I turned to my whole box and just shared that moment with them.”
Kyrgios fell to Milos Raonic in the quarter-finals, but his run pushed him inside the Top 100 in the ATP Rankings and announced his arrival as a star player.
Juan Carlos Ferrero (2009 quarter-finals)
Injuries had pushed the former World No. 1 outside the Top 100 of the ATP Rankings, but he found his form again on the grass by reaching the semi-finals earlier in the month at the Fever-Tree Championships. Arriving on a wave of confidence, Ferrero matched his best result at this event by defeating No. 10 seed Fernando Gonzalez and eighth seed Gilles Simon to reach the quarter-finals.
Although Ferrero would lose to Andy Murray, he continued his run of form to re-enter the Top 20 that season.
Pat Cash (1986 quarter-finals)
The Aussie had already enjoyed plenty of success at The All England Club, having reached the singles semi-finals in 1984 and doubles final in 1984 (w/McNamee) and 1985 (w/Fitzgerald). But an operation for a herniated disc in his lower back limited Cash to three events in the previous 12 months. Just weeks before the tournament, he underwent an emergency appendix operation.
Once Cash stepped on the grass, his health woes and lack of match play were never a factor. The Aussie knocked out No. 2 seed Mats Wilander to reach the quarter-finals before losing to Henri Leconte. He also started what has now become a tradition of throwing headbands and wristbands into the crowd to celebrate his wins.
“To get a wild card at Wimbledon, then to pull out is not something you want to do,” said Cash to ATPTour.com. “My legs were gone [against Leconte]. It was out of my control, but I did make sure I was super fit moving forwards to ensure that if I got to the quarter-finals, I was ready and wasn’t in the situation again.”
The Aussie would return the following year to clinch his lone Grand Slam title over Ivan Lendl.
Frederik Nielsen and Jonathan Marray (2012 champions)
The only wild card men’s doubles champions in tournament history weren’t even supposed to play together. Marray was meant to pair with Adil Shamasdin, but they couldn’t get into the tournament on their ATP Doubles Rankings.
Marray and Nielsen’s dream run saw them defeat defending champions Bob Bryan and Mike Bryan in the semi-finals before taking out Robert Lindstedt and Horia Tecau in five sets for the title. The win marked the first ATP Tour-level doubles title for either player and made Marray the first British men’s doubles champion at Wimbledon since 1936.
By winning a Wimbledon title, Nielsen also finished the job that his grandfather, Kurt Nielsen, nearly completed 60 years earlier. Kurt reached the men’s singles final in 1953 and 1955.
Two-time Wimbledon champion Petra Kvitova, who has won 27 singles title on the WTA Tour, is writing a column for the BBC Sport website during the championships at the All England Club.
The 29-year-old Czech, who has not played since pulling out of the French Open in May with an arm injury, faces Tunisian Ons Jabeur in the first round on Tuesday.
I had some doubts about whether I would play at Wimbledon but my arm is better, which is great.
The tear in my forearm has been an unusual injury – nobody knows how it is going to be and how much time I will need to be ready again.
I had a few MRI scans during the period when I couldn’t hit and it didn’t show that it’s 100% ready but sometimes in our life, nothing is really ready!
I only held a racquet again a few days ago after hurting it the day before my match five weeks ago at the French Open. Before that I couldn’t do anything for a couple of weeks and was glad to just do something simple like holding a drink in that hand.
I’m happy that I hit on Saturday and I have no pain. That is really important.
After so many problems I’ve been through in my life already, which have been well documented, I think I feel my body more and I’m not as risky a person as I was probably before.
I do have my age as well, so sometimes I have to really think about it. But of course, if I do have pain in my arm I won’t play. So far it’s OK – there’s a few more days so anything can happen.
Reaching the final at this year’s Australian Open in January was a huge result for me. I had a great two weeks in Melbourne.
But losing in the final was so painful. It took me a while to get over it but it was a big motivation to continue the work I had been doing before and how I was getting ready for matches. And I still have that motivation.
Unfortunately I missed the French Open but life is continuing and I am still going to try my best and be prepared for everything.
Winning a Grand Slam or becoming world number one are pretty connected with each other. If you win a Grand Slam, you have a big chance to be world number one.
It would be great if it happened that way for me. Of course, I’m missing the world number one ranking in my career but on the other hand I always was focusing on the tournaments and on the results, especially in the Grand Slams.
In the past I did used to come here and do things like looking for my name on the winners’ board but after so many years on the tour, it’s a little bit more familiar.
Of course I love it here, I love this club, I love playing on the grass – it’s always very special for me.
When I was growing up in the Czech Republic we played on clay in the summer but in the winter we played indoors where the surface was so fast. I think that’s where I have got the game for grass because it was pretty low and pretty fast. So I always played the fast game and not really the clay game.
I do have Wimbledon twice already so it would be great to win another one but Wimbledon is the most famous one. If I win another Grand Slam, it doesn’t matter which one.
My expectations here are not really high but maybe this can help me relax more on court. But also, I know from the past that sometimes I don’t need to have hit for that many hours to be ready.
Petra Kvitova was speaking to BBC Sport’s Sonia Oxley
