Watch: Cerundolo's 'jaw-dropping' drop shot against Draper
Watch Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo as he hits an “incredible” drop shot against Great Britain’s Jack Draper at the Davis Cup in Manchester.
Watch Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo as he hits an “incredible” drop shot against Great Britain’s Jack Draper at the Davis Cup in Manchester.
The USA continued to give a reminder of the strength in depth of its talent pool on Friday in Zhuhai, where it defeated Slovakia 3-0 to seal its passage to the 2024 Davis Cup Final 8.
The record-32-time Davis Cup champion headed to China without any of its five players currently in the Top 20 of the PIF ATP Rankings. Yet Brandon Nakashima, Reilly Opelka and Mackenzie McDonald have all notched singles victories this week to ensure a perfect start to their country’s Davis Cup Finals Group Stage campaign.
On Friday, McDonald defeated Lukas Klein 6-4, 6-3 and Nakashima overcame Jozef Kovalik 6-3, 6-3 to confirm the USA’s place in the Final 8. Austin Krajicek and Rajeev Ram then won 15 of the final 16 points to rally past Norbert Gombos and Klein 6-7(4), 7-6(4), 10-1 in the doubles rubber.
[ATP APP]“It means a lot,” said Nakashima, when asked about his country reaching just its second quarter-final since the Davis Cup Finals format was introduced in 2019. “I know last year the guys missed out on that spot just by a little bit. To be able to be in this position right now, to be clinching that spot, it’s very important for us and I’m just proud of all the guys on the team.”
McDonald added: “I’m actually really proud of myself for performing well today and putting the team on the board. It means a lot to me. I love it in China, I feel like the fans treat me so well. I love Chinese food. My grandparents on my mum’s side are actually from this region so yeah… it’s kinda home.”
Friday’s triumph for the USA simultaneously guaranteed Germany its own Final 8 spot. The two teams will face off on Saturday to determine who will win Group C and therefore be seeded at November’s Davis Cup Finals knockout stage, to be held in Malaga from 19-24 November.
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An untimely net-cord winner sets Tomas Martin Etcheverry on his way to victory against Dan Evans in Great Britain’s opening match against Argentina at the Davis Cup in Manchester.
Great Britain must fight back to reach the Davis Cup last eight at the earliest opportunity after Dan Evans loses the opening match against Argentina.
Great Britain’s Dan Evans wins a “ridiculous” point after an extraordinary rally against Argentina’s Tomas Martin Etcheverry at the Davis Cup in Manchester.
Carlos Alcaraz produces fearless ballstriking and thrilling shotmaking that makes him one of the most exciting players to watch on the ATP Tour. Still at the youthful age of 21, the Spaniard may dabble in his fair share of high-risk, high-reward plays, but key metrics confirm that Alcaraz’s electrifying groundstrokes are what have anchored his strong 2024 season, which has him on the cusp on qualifying for the Nitto ATP Finals in Turin.
Alcaraz is second in both forehand (8.62) and backhand shot quality (8.24) this season, according to Tennis Data Innovations, in partnership with TennisViz. Shot Quality is calculated in real-time by analysing each shot’s speed, spin, depth, width, and the impact it has on the opponent.
Shot Quality Update 🚨
The latest top 5⃣ leaderboards below👀
See the thread for serve, return and backhand…
Context: Tour Avg.
Serve 7.9
Return 6.5
Forehand 7.5
Backhand 7.1#TennisInsights | @atptour pic.twitter.com/NrGNOOSyNh— Tennis Insights (@tennis_insights) September 12, 2024
“I think I’m always pushing my opponents to the limit. I’m trying to be aggressive all the time, just to play different shots,” Alcaraz recently said. “I think that I’m going to say the worst thing for my opponent, they are not going to know what’s going to be next. They have to be aggressive. They have to defend well if they want to be alive in the point.”
The data and on-court results go hand in hand. Alcaraz has won two of the season’s four majors and this year’s ATP Masters 1000 event in Indian Wells. The only player ahead of Alcaraz in forehand and backhand shot quality is rival and World No. 1 Jannik Sinner, who captured both hard-court Slams this season. [Click here to read our feature on Sinner’s baseline domination in 2024].
Forehand Shot Quality (2024)
| Player | Shot Quality |
| Jannik Sinner | 8.80 |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 8.62 |
| Novak Djokovic | 8.54 |
| Grigor Dimitrov | 8.44 |
| Alexander Zverev | 8.23 |
Backhand Shot Quality (2024)
| Player | Shot Quality |
| Jannik Sinner | 8.48 |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 8.24 |
| Novak Djokovic | 8.16 |
| Alexander Zverev | 8.12 |
| Daniil Medvedev | 7.94 |
Alcaraz’s firepower rarely drops off, no matter which wing or where he is placed in the court. His topspin forehand speed of 78 mph is 3 mph above the Tour average and his forehand rpms of 3208 vs. the Tour average of 2708 rpms reflects his weight of shot. His topspin backhand speed of 73 mph is 5 mph faster than the Tour average and his topspin backhand rpms is 2005, well above the Tour average of 1775.
On return, the 15-time tour-level titlist is third in return shot quality (7.78), behind second-placed Daniil Medvedev (7.78) and Sinner (8.04).
Narrowly trailing the Spaniard in all three categories is the same man directly below him in the PIF ATP Rankings: Novak Djokovic, who has claimed 99 tour-level trophies throughout his illustrious career.
The Serbian defeated Alcaraz in the Paris Olympics gold-medal match to capture his career ‘Golden Slam’ — winning all four majors and an Olympic gold medal. In a hard-fought battle, Djokovic produced arguably his best performance of the season just weeks after falling to Alcaraz in the Wimbledon final for the second consecutive year.
Return Shot Quality (2024)
| Player | Shot Quality |
| Jannik Sinner | 8.04 |
| Daniil Medvedev | 7.97 |
| Carlos Alcaraz | 7.78 |
| Novak Djokovic | 7.57 |
| Alexander Zverev | 7.49 |
Traditional thinking may be that this far into the season, the game’s best servers would also be among the Top 10 in the PIF ATP Live Race To Turin, in good position for a spot at the prestigious Nitto ATP Finals. But in TDI’s shot quality serve leaders, only one of the Top 5 players is also Top 10 in the Race: the 6’6″ Zverev.
In fact, this year’s Rome champion is the only player featured on all four shot quality lists.
Frenchman Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard, towering at 6’8″, stands above the rest with his serve shot quality (9.38). The 21-year-old has enjoyed a breakthrough season, having won his maiden tour-level title in Lyon and later reaching the Wimbledon fourth round. At the All England Club, he upset 20th seed Sebastian Korda in the first round, during which Mpetshi Perricard hammered 51 aces.
Also among the serve quality leaders is Milos Raonic, not far behind (9.32) Mpetshi Perricard. Reilly Opelka and Hubert Hurkacz are among the Top 5.
Serve Shot Quality (2024)
| Player | Shot Quality |
| Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard | 9.38 |
| Milos Raonic | 9.32 |
| Reilly Opelka | 9.04 |
| Alexander Zverev | 8.80 |
| Hubert Hurkacz | 8.78 |
To say Carlos Alcaraz was disappointed with his US Open elimination would be an understatement. The Spaniard, No. 3 in the PIF ATP Rankings, took a few days off after bowing out prematurely from the season’s final Grand Slam before heading to Valencia to join the Spanish team for the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage. By Wednesday, Alcaraz was back to winning ways with two victories in the match against Czechia, beating Tomas Machac in his singles encounter and then joining Marcel Granollers to see off Jakub Mensik and Adam Pavlasek.
“I needed it after the last few matches, as it wasn’t feeling very positive,” explained the Murcia native at the end of the day. “I felt the extra pressure of being number one the first set, I wasn’t comfortable, but I had to stay positive,” added Alcaraz. “The Davis Cup is special and you always want to do well.”
Alcaraz endured an intense day of tennis on Wednesday, taking to the court twice, doubling his normal matchday workload.
“It was a day with a lot of hard work, but I’m happy to have had the opportunity to play singles and doubles,” said Alcaraz. “I’m trying to take the positives from my time in the US and use them so I don’t make the same mistakes again, trying to progress on the mental side and to become increasingly mature,” he continued. “I was very motivated to be here, I’m looking forward to helping the team go as far as possible.”
[ATP APP]It was with this mentality that Alcaraz approached his first Davis Cup match of 2024, which turned out to be a tough encounter. He would lose the first set and fight back to level the scores before his Czech opponent withdrew injured.
“Of course, on the North American swing I didn’t feel great during the matches and that’s why I started off a little nervous,” admitted the Spaniard. “I had chances, even though I didn’t take them. I knew that I’d get more if I stayed strong mentally. After a very tough first set, I managed to keep my head up and put him in difficulty so that he would feel the pressure. Despite everything, this isn’t the way I’d like to win matches, but that’s the way it went.”
Alcaraz will be back on court on Friday, when Spain face France in the second match of the Davis Cup Finals Group Stage.
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Great Britain’s Lily Miyazaki fails to join compatriot Sonay Kartal in the quarter-finals of the Jasmin Open in Tunisia.
Rafael Nadal says he thinks there are “other players who can help the team deliver the win” for Europe as he withdraws from this month’s Laver Cup.
Rafael Nadal has withdrawn from next week’s Laver Cup in Berlin, the tournament announced Thursday.
In a tweet issued by the event, Nadal said: “I’m really disappointed to share that I won’t be able to compete at the Laver Cup in Berlin next week.
A statement from @RafaelNadal regarding Laver Cup Berlin 2024: “I’m really disappointed to share that I won’t be able to compete at the Laver Cup in Berlin next week.
This is a team competition and to really support Team Europe, I need to do what’s best for them and at this… pic.twitter.com/Y9i0T61kbA
— Laver Cup (@LaverCup) September 12, 2024
“This is a team competition and to really support Team Europe, I need to do what’s best for them and at this moment there are other players who can help the team deliver the win.
“I have so many great, emotional memories from playing Laver Cup and I was really looking forward to being with my teammates and with Bjorn in his final year as Captain.
“I wish Team Europe the very best of luck and will be cheering them on from afar.”
[ATP APP]Nadal has a 12-7 match record on the season and last competed at the Paris Olympics, where he fell in the second round to Novak Djokovic.
The Laver Cup will run 20-22 September.
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