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Nadal Awarded Second Conde De Godo Trophy

  • Posted: Dec 13, 2017

Nadal Awarded Second Conde De Godo Trophy

Spaniard’s Barcelona achievements honored by tournament officials

Rafael Nadal, 10-time winner of the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell, was honored by tournament officials with the Conde de Godo trophy to commemorate his career event achievements on Monday. 

Albert Agusti, president of the Real Club de Tenis Barcelona 1899, and Javier Godo, Count of Godo in Barcelona, traveled to the Rafa Nadal Academy by Movistar in Manacor, Spain, to award the World No. 1 player with his second silver replica of the trophy. 

“There’s no one better fit to receive this award in his own museum than Nadal,” Agusti said. 

You May Also Like: Nadal Notches 10th Barcelona Title

Nadal received his first replica of the Conde de Godo trophy in 2009 following five consecutive Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell triumphs. In addition to his 10 Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell titles, the Spaniard is also a 10-time champion of both the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters and Roland Garros.

“(Nadal) is going to have to make room in this museum because there are surely more trophies to come,” Agusti said. 

Godo backed Agusti’s sentiments by jokingly suggesting that even by taking appropriate measures to keep another trophy from Nadal, no accolade is out of reach. “We’ll shield off our tournament trophies from him but even then, nothing is safe from this guy.”

Nadal, who confirmed he’ll compete in the 66th edition of the tournament (23-29 April 2018) and would need another five event victories in Barcelona to add a third Conde de Godo trophy to his collection, was humble in his response.

“I’m very excited about this second big Barcelona trophy, but there will be no more,” said the 16-time Grand Slam champion.

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Australian Open: Former champion Victoria Azarenka awarded wildcard

  • Posted: Dec 13, 2017

Former world number one and two-time champion Victoria Azarenka has been given an Australian Open wildcard.

The 28-year-old pulled out of the US Open and Belarus’ Davis Cup final earlier this year because of a custody dispute over her young son.

“Vika’s current situation is obviously very difficult for her. We have reached out to offer any support we can,” said tournament director Craig Tiley.

Azarenka is ranked 201 in the world and has not played since Wimbledon.

The champion in 2012 and 2013 at Melbourne Park, Azarenka has claimed that a judge in California has not allowed her to travel outside of California with 11-month old Leo while a legal case is ongoing.

“I’m so excited about coming back to Melbourne for the Australian Open, it’s my favourite tournament,” Azarenka said.

“I’ve won there twice and always feel so comfortable on court and the city is great.”

Azarenka has already received a wildcard to the WTA event in Auckland where she will begin her 2018 season.

The Australian Open begins on 15 January.

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Dimitrov Dive Volley Named Masters 1000 Golden Hot Shot

  • Posted: Dec 12, 2017

Dimitrov Dive Volley Named Masters 1000 Golden Hot Shot

Cuevas no-look winner finishes second in voting

Grigor Dimitrov produced a number of moments worthy of the highlight reel during a season filled with career milestones, including a year-end No. 3 finish in the Emirates ATP Rankings, triumph at the Nitto ATP Finals and his first ATP World Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open. After six days of voting, fans gave Dimitrov another accolade, with his dive volley against Yuichi Sugita in the Cincinnati quarter-finals crowned the Masters 1000 Golden Hot Shot.

View Complete Results For Golden Hot Shot 

The hot shot finished as the overwhelming favourite in the poll, receiving 33 per cent of votes cast. Pablo Cuevas’s no-look winner against Alexander Zverev at the Mutua Madrid Open finished second in the voting with 13 per cent of votes, followed by Rafael Nadal and Dimitrov’s rally at the Rolex Shanghai Masters and Juan Martin del Potro’s tweener at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, which both received 12 per cent.

Re-live nine great hot shots from the season’s ATP World Tour Masters 1000 tournaments:

Subscribe to our Hot Shot playlist, and watch match replays on TennisTV.

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Five Biggest Grand Slam Upsets of 2017

  • Posted: Dec 12, 2017

Five Biggest Grand Slam Upsets of 2017

ATP World Tour Season In Review: The Biggest Upsets at Grand Slams

Continuing our Season In Review series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the five biggest Grand Slam upsets of 2017.

(5) Andrey Rublev d. Grigor Dimitrov 7-5, 7-6(3), 6-3 – US Open Second Round

Grigor Dimitrov had arrived, again. After reaching the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings in 2014, the Bulgarian was back among the elite this August and again a favourite to make a deep run at Grand Slams. A week before the US Open, Dimitrov had won his maiden ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati. The seventh seed was a trendy pick to reach the second week in Flushing Meadows.

Read More: Rublev Honest After Tough Loss In Milan

But #NextGenATP Russian Andrey Rublev had been quietly building an impressive season, and the 19-year-old didn’t lie down for Dimitrov. Rublev fell behind a break in the first and second sets but came back in both sets, feeding Dimitrov a steady barrage of heavy forehands. He finished with 36 winners, including 23 on the forehand side. Rublev was also clutch on his serve, erasing eight of 10 break points.

The win was the Russian’s first Top 10 victory. He’d go to on reach the quarter-finals in New York (l. to eventual champion Nadal), becoming the youngest US Open quarter-finalist since Andy Roddick in 2003.

The run also solidified Rublev’s status as one of the top #NextGenATP players in the world. The right-hander later reached the final of the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals (l. to Chung).

(4) Daniil Medvedev d. Stan Wawrinka 6-4, 3-6, 6-4, 6-1 – Wimbledon First Round

Daniil Medvedev checked a number of boxes by beating Stan Wawrinka at SW19. Before playing fearlessly to beat the Swiss right-hander, the 21-year-old had never won a match at a Grand Slam, beaten a Top 5 player or even played a match at Wimbledon.

The #NextGenATP Russian picked the perfect setting for the career breakthrough: Centre Court. After splitting the first two sets with Wawrinka, Medvedev gained the crucial break at 5-4 to take the third set against the three-time Grand Slam champion.

In the fourth, the Russian rolled, hitting four aces and converting both break points to advance.

Wawrinka, who was eyeing a career Grand Slam at The Championships, has struggled at Wimbledon. But he was coming off a final run at Roland Garros and had brought on Pete Sampras’ former coach Paul Annacone to help as part of his coaching team during the grass-court swing.

But the Swiss star was also battling a knee injury. His match against Medvedev was his final contest of the 2017 season.

(3) Fernando Verdasco d. Alexander Zverev 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, 6-2 – Roland Garros First Round

This was Alexander Zverev’s time to make a splash at a Grand Slam. The 6’6” right-hander had beaten Novak Djokovic for the Internazionali BNL d’Italia title in Rome weeks earlier. The win had given Zverev his first ATP World Tour Masters 1000 title and a spot in the Top 10 of the Emirates ATP Rankings at No. 10. The right-hander looked ready to battle deep into the second week of Grand Slam tournaments.

His first-round opponent, however, was no debutant. Spanish veteran Fernando Verdasco had conquered bigger odds in the past – see his 2016 Australian Open first-round upset of Rafael Nadal – and Verdasco is never one to be intimidated against a higher-ranked player.

The 33-year-old broke the German eight times in the two-hour and 52-minute contest that spanned two days because of darkness. Play was suspended after two sets, and Zverev looked ready to take control of the match when play resumed, gaining a 3-1 lead in the third set.

But Verdasco fought back and broke the 20-year-old’s will, winning five of the third set’s final six games to lead two sets to one. The left-hander cruised in the fourth set to gain a 2-1 lead in their FedEx ATP Head2Head series.

“Winning the third set gave me a lot of confidence… and I think it was hard for him on the other side, to start again and have to win two more sets,” Verdasco said.

The Spaniard, who was making his 56th consecutive Grand Slam appearance, improved to 13-1 in Roland Garros first-round contests.

(2) Mischa Zverev d. Andy Murray 7-5, 5-7, 6-2, 6-4 – Australian Open Fourth Round

It had been eight years since Andy Murray lost at the Australian Open before the quarter-finals. The Scot had reached the Melbourne final five of those times, a semi-final in 2012 and a quarter-final in 2014.

Throw in the fact that Murray had won 32 of his past 33 matches, dating back to his perfect 2016 finish, and you can easily see why the Brit was the heavy favourite during his fourth-round match against Mischa Zverev. But the German’s serve-and-volley game presents a different look for players, and Murray struggled all day against the aggressive left-hander, who was eager to make the most of his first Grand Slam fourth round appearance.

The German attacked the net 118 times against the top seed, winning 55 per cent of those points (65/118). He also mixed up his groundstrokes, slicing often to prevent Murray from gaining rhythm.

It didn’t matter how many times Zverev got passed at the net or how many times he missed a volley — the 29-year-old was committed to his game plan, and he never wavered.

“There was no Plan B, really,” he said. “I can’t stay on the baseline, a couple feet behind the baseline, try to out-rally him. He’s very strong physically. He has a good baseline game. I knew I had to come in. That was my only chance to win.”

The victory marked a successful turnaround for Zverev. In March 2015, he was No. 1,067 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. Less than two years later, he was playing in the quarter-finals of the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Roger Federer).

(1) Denis Istomin d. Novak Djokovic 7-6(8), 5-7, 2-6, 7-6(5), 6-4 – Australian Open Second Round

The Serbian was The King of Melbourne. Novak Djokovic had won five of the past six Australian Open titles. The only year he didn’t win during that stretch – 2014 – the right-hander was knocked out in the quarter-finals by eventual champion Stan Wawrinka of Switzerland.

In his most recent Grand Slam, the US Open, Djokovic also performed well, reaching the final in New York (l. to Wawrinka). Suffice to say, the Serbian was feeling good in the world’s biggest stadiums.

World No. 117 Denis Istomin, on the other hand, had never performed exceptionally well at Grand Slams. His best result had been two fourth-round runs – at 2012 Wimbledon and 2013 US Open.

But the wild card from Uzbekistan picked the right time to play the match of his life. As Djokovic acknowledged after the upset, Istomin did just simply outplay the World No. 2, playing bigger in the crucial moments and outrallying one of the most consistent players of all-time.

“All the credit to Denis for playing amazing,” Djokovic said. “He deserved to win. No doubt, he was a better player in the clutch moments. He stepped it up, played aggressive. Served very well, very precise. There’s not much I could do. Of course, I was not pleased with my performance overall. But I have to congratulate my opponent today.”

Istomin ended Djokovic’s 15-match win streak at Melbourne Park. The Serbian had only lost once to a player ranked outside of the Top 100 in the Emirates ATP Rankings during the past seven years – No. 145 Juan Martin del Potro in the opening round of the 2016 Rio Olympics.

The stunner was Djokovic’s earliest loss at a Grand Slam championship since his 2008 Wimbledon second-round exit to Russian Marat Safin. The loss also marked the first time that Djokovic had gone three Grand Slam championships without picking up a title, since between 2013 Roland Garros and 2014 Wimbledon.

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The Five Biggest ATP World Tour Upsets of 2017

  • Posted: Dec 11, 2017

The Five Biggest ATP World Tour Upsets of 2017

ATP World Tour Season In Review: Biggest ATP Upsets

Continuing our Season In Review series, ATPWorldTour.com revisits the top 5 ATP World Tour upsets of 2017.

(5) Vasek Pospisil d. Andy Murray 6-4, 7-6(5) – BNP Paribas Open Second Round

Vasek Pospisil has the game to beat the top players. In January 2014, he reached No. 25 in the Emirates ATP Rankings, and a year later, he was in the quarter-finals of The Championships, Wimbledon (l. to Murray). His serve-and-volley game can flummox the greatest.

So even though Pospisil had been beset with injuries and had a triple-digit number (No. 129) next to his name, the Canadian, who had recently started working with former doubles No. 1 Mark Woodforde, surely believed he could shock the BNP Paribas Open and knock off World No. 1 Andy Murray.

The Scot had never won the BNP Paribas Open title in Indian Wells, and he had suffered early setbacks in the past, falling in the second round three times (2006, 2011, 2012).

But, after a disappointing Australian Open, Murray looked determined to pen a new Indian Wells story for himself. He led 4-2 in the opener and was having little trouble with Pospisil’s big game, having broken the 6’4” right-hander in the fourth and sixth games.

But the Canadian came alive, winning six straight games to gain a set and a break lead. Pospisil was darting around the court, and the crowd was loving his aggressive, old-school style.

Murray rallied to force a second-set tie-break, but Pospisil stayed on offence and didn’t back away from the challenge, earning the biggest win of his career with a forehand winner. He tossed his racquet into the sky to celebrate.

“If I pick a handful of great moments in my career, this is definitely one of them,” Pospisil said. “To beat the No. 1 player and somebody as accomplished as Andy, one of the greats of the game, is amazing.”

(4) Damir Dzumhur d. Stan Wawrinka 7-6(4), 6-3 – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships First Round

Defending champion Stan Wawrinka entered the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships on a roll. The Swiss right-hander had fallen just short of reaching his fourth Grand Slam final at the Australian Open (l. to eventual champion Federer in five sets).

Wawrinka’s first-round match against Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia-Herzegovina in Dubai looked as if it’d be a “get-used-to-the-conditions” match. Wawrinka had a 3-0 lead after about eight minutes, and Dzumhur could hardly keep the ball in play. “Stan The Man” was blasting forehands from the centre of the court and teeing off on Dzumhur’s second serve.

But the 5’9” Bosnian chased down more balls and hoped Wawrinka would slow down, which eventually happened, and Dzumhur earned the biggest win of his career with some exhausting defence and clutch serving. “I was fighting. I was grinding,” Dzumhur said.

The career-best win at the time foreshadowed a career year for Dzumhur. He went on to win his first and second ATP World Tour titles (St. Petersburg, Moscow), becoming the first Bosnian to claim an ATP World Tour crown. At the start of the season, Dzumhur was No. 82 in the Emirates ATP Rankings. He will finish 2017 at a career-high No. 30.

(3) David Goffin d. Roger Federer 2-6, 6-3, 6-4 – Nitto ATP Finals Semi-final

You have to appreciate the honesty. The day before David Goffin celebrated the “best win” of his career, beating Roger Federer to reach the championship of the Nitto ATP Finals, the Belgian was asked what he planned to do differently against Federer.

The 26-year-old Goffin had never beaten the Swiss right-hander, coming up short in all six of their FedEx ATP Head2Head matchups, including a 6-1, 6-2 drubbing weeks earlier at the Swiss Indoors Basel.

What would Goffin do differently? He wasn’t sure. “Honestly, I don’t know what to do,” he said.

Goffin had been up and down at the Nitto ATP Finals. He upset World No. 1 Rafael Nadal but then, two days later, won only two games against Grigor Dimitrov. Goffin reached the semi-finals by beating fourth seed Dominic Thiem in a ‘win and you’re in’ round-robin match.

So which Goffin would show against Federer? Or maybe it didn’t matter which Goffin arrived, as all tournament, Federer had been clear about his intentions – a record-extending seventh Nitto ATP Finals title. The 36-year-old had finished Group Boris Becker play a perfect 3-0, and Federer was 16-0 against the other three semi-finalists – Goffin, Jack Sock of the U.S. and Bulgarian Grigor Dimitrov.

Exactly what Goffin did not want to happen – a repeat of their Basel matchup – looked like it was occurring in the first set. Federer was dominating, cutting shoestring volleys for winners and blistering backhands. But Goffin gradually relaxed and grew in confidence, and he forced a third set, where he had thrived all year.

He entered the semi-finals 21-5 in deciding sets, and even in one of the biggest arenas in tennis, Goffin held his nerve. He broke in the third game and served out the match on his first opportunity.

“As soon as I had the chance to go for the shot from the return and from the serve, [that] was the key, to go for the shot,” Goffin said.

He became the first player to beat the Top 2 players at the Nitto ATP Finals since 2009, when champion Nikolay Davydenko beat No. 2 Nadal in group play and No. 1 Federer in the semi-finals. The Belgian also became the sixth player ever to beat Nadal and Federer in the same tournament and the first since Novak Djokovic at the 2015 Nitto ATP Finals.

(2) Denis Shapovalov d. Rafael Nadal 3-6, 6-4, 7-6(4) – Coupe Rogers in Montreal Third Round

A long-awaited return to No. 1 was in Rafael Nadal’s sights, but an excited Canadian with wavy blonde hair had other ideas. Eighteen-year-old Denis Shapovalov had saved four match points in his Coupe Rogers opener to beat Brazil’s Rogerio Dutra Silva, and he had then dismissed Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in straight sets for the biggest win of his life.

Nadal was his next opponent, but if the Spaniard were to beat Shapovalov and win one more match, the No. 1 spot in the Emirates ATP Rankings would be his for the first time in more than three years, since 6 June 2014.

The Spaniard started quicker, breaking routinely in the eighth game. Shapovalov, though, swung freely in the second set, attacking with his forehand to even the match. Both players held throughout the third, so they headed to one of the most dramatic moments in tennis: a third-set tie-break.

Nadal cruised to a 3/0 lead and looked as if he would finally pull away. But Shapovalov rallied, crushing another forehand winner on match point before falling to the ground in shock. He embraced Nadal at the net before kissing the court and blowing kisses to his thousands of red-and-white clad admirers in the crowd.

The Canadian became the youngest Masters 1000 quarter-finalist (since 1990) and the lowest-ranked player to reach a Masters 1000 quarter-final since No. 239 Ivo Karlovic at 2011 BNP Paribas Open. It had been 13 years since a player younger than the 18-year-old Shapovalov had beaten a Top 2 player during a completed match. Nadal, 17, beat No. 1 Roger Federer at the 2004 Miami Open presented by Itau.

Shapovalov would go on to beat France’s Adrian Mannarino and reach the Masters 1000 semi-final, where he fell to eventual champion Alexander Zverev of Germany. The 18-year-old Shapovalov also became one of seven 21-and-under players to qualify for the inaugural Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan.

(1) Evgeny Donskoy d. Roger Federer 3-6, 7-6(7), 7-6(5) – Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships Third Round

Roger Federer had been perfect. The 36-year-old had shocked everyone and won seven straight matches to win his first tournament in six months, the Australian Open, beating four Top 10 players, including Rafael Nadal in the final, to capture his record 18th Grand Slam title.

A month later, Federer headed to Dubai, where it looked like his successful comeback from knee surgery would continue. The Swiss right-hander had won seven titles and 10 consecutive matches in the United Arab Emirates. After beating Frenchman Benoit Paire, Federer faced World No. 116 Evgeny Donskoy in the third round.

Federer rolled through the first set and held match points at 6/4 and 7/6 in the second set tie-break. He was a swing away from making the quarter-finals.

But Donskoy fought them off and forced a third set. Surely, though, Federer would rebound in the third.

Federer broke in the sixth game and served for the match at 5-4. But again, Donskoy, who hadn’t reached a quarter-final since Moscow 2015, broke one of the greatest players of all time, and in the tie-break, the Russian delivered his best of the match.

Federer was in control at 5/2 with two serves to come. But in one of the wildest tie-breaks of 2017, World No. 116 Donskoy reeled off the final five points to prevail in just over two hours and pull off the biggest upset of the 2017 season. “I surprised everyone today,” Donskoy said.

Federer perhaps summed up best what his fans were thinking on the day his perfect season ended. “I don’t know how it got away,” he said. “So many chances, it was crazy.”

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