The Practical #NextGenATP Ernesto Escobedo
The Practical #NextGenATP Ernesto Escobedo
May152017
View FedEx ATP Head2Head for the following matches Tuesday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia & vote for who you think will win!
Murray v Fognini | Goffin v Verdasco | Djokovic v Bedene | Zverev v Anderson
The first round ends and second round begins Tuesday in Rome as Top 2 seeds Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic take to Center Court. Murray, who is 16-6 this season, faces No. 1 Italian Fabio Fognini. The Brit was 17-5 entering Rome last season before winning the title and finishing 2016 on a 61-4 run. Djokovic, a four-time champion, opens against Budapest finalist Aljaz Bedene.
David Ferrer and No. 12 seed Tomas Berdych are hoping to post milestone victories against Feliciano Lopez and Carlos Berlocq respectively. Ferrer, who defeated World No. 1 Andre Agassi in his Rome debut 14 years ago, is one win from 700 career victories. Berdych could break a tie with his coach Goran Ivanisevic by beating Berlocq on Court 1 for his 600th career win.
The newly named Next Gen Arena hosts Emirates ATP Race to Milan leader Alexander Zverev against qualifier Kevin Anderson. No. 18 Nick Kyrgios and No. 20 Roberto Bautista Agut, the highest-ranked unseeded players in the field, face one another in a first-round match on Pietrangeli. Originally scheduled to meet 38-year-old Ivo Karlovic in the oldest ATP match since 1982, 39-year-old Tommy Haas instead meets 20-year-old lucky loser Ernesto Escobedo on Court 1.
View Tuesday schedule
Roger Federer will return to the ATP World Tour on the grass. The 35-year-old Swiss announced on Monday that he will not play at Roland Garros, as he had initially planned. Federer made the decision with the next few years in mind.
“Regrettably, I’ve decided not to participate in the French Open. I’ve been working really hard, both on and off the court, during the last month, but in order to try and play on the ATP World Tour for many years to come, I feel it’s best to skip the clay-court season this year and prepare for the grass and hard-court seasons,” Federer said in a statement on his website.
The right-hander has had one of his best starts to a season. He’s currently 19-1 and has won three of the four tournaments he’s played, including the Australian Open, the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells and the Miami Open presented by Itau. His “Big Title” count has climbed to 50. Federer’s only defeat came against Russian Evgeny Donskoy in Dubai.
Roland Garros had been the only clay-court event Federer had planned to play. “The start to the year has been magical for me but I need to recognise that scheduling will be the key to my longevity moving forward,” he said. “Thus, my team and I concluded today that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season. I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year.”
Federer also missed Roland Garros last year when he was recovering from knee surgery. He plans to return in June at the MercedesCup in Stuttgart, where he will be going for his first title.
She may be a divisive figure on the WTA Tour but there is no doubt that Maria Sharapova has given it a much needed boost coming…
Eighteen-time major winner Roger Federer will sit out the French Open and the rest of the clay-court season.
The 35-year-old, fifth in the world rankings, says he made the decision in an attempt to continue playing on the ATP Tour “for many years to come”.
The Swiss added he will now prepare for the grass and hard-court seasons, which begin in June.
“I need to recognise that scheduling will be the key to my longevity,” he said.
“Thus, my team and I concluded that playing just one event on clay was not in the best interest of my tennis and physical preparation for the remainder of the season.
“I will miss the French fans, who have always been so supportive and I look forward to seeing them at Roland Garros next year.”
Federer missed last year’s French Open through injury – the first time he did not compete in Paris since his debut in 1999.
He won the tournament for the only time in 2009 and is a four-time runner-up.
Federer has won three titles so far this season, including the Australian Open – his first Grand Slam success in five years.
He also claimed the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells in March and, two weeks later, won the Miami Open.
The French Open begins on 28 May.
Former Olympic champion Marc Rosset backed his compatriot, saying it was a matter of Federer prioritising tournaments he can win.
“The chances of him winning on clay at the French Open were quite low,” Rosset told the BBC’s World Service.
“Roger is the kind of guy who goes to a tournament to win. If he doesn’t feel he is capable of winning the tournament, I don’t see any sense in him attending.
“I don’t think it is a matter of age, it is one of priority. He is going to play the two tournaments on grass before Wimbledon.”
BBC tennis correspondent Russell Fuller
Federer was in such devastating form in the first three months of the year that an eighth Wimbledon title seems very much within his grasp. Trying to win a clay-court Grand Slam at the age of nearly 36 without playing any other tournament to prepare would surely have been beyond even him, and I say that with memories of Australia still very vivid.
Federer is talking like a man who would still love to be competing at 40, and to do so the clay-court season may need to become a permanent casualty.
I suspect he will want to play Roland Garros at least once more before he is done, and he says he looks forward to returning next year.
But he did say exactly the same thing 12 months ago when making a very late withdrawal because of concerns about his back.
Former World No. 10 Juan Monaco, a winner of nine ATP World Tour titles, announced his retirement from professional tennis on Monday.
“Although it creates me a lot of nostalgia, I am sure I am making the right decision,” said Monaco, in a statement on his social media. “One wonderful and very important part of my life has come to the end. I retire from professional tennis.”
The 33-year-old Argentinean, who reached a career-high No. 10 in the Emirates ATP Rankings on 23 July 2012, added, “There are so many feelings that it is very difficult to write them down on a piece of paper. [There is] pride to have faced so many challenges over many years. Thanks for what tennis gave me: education, discipline, friendship and unforgettable moments. [There is] sadness, because I will really miss the tennis courts [and] happiness to have had the chance to work in what I really loved since I was a kid.
“Knowing that dedication, sacrifice, tenacity and compromise have always been my engine, I leave with the satisfaction that I gave all I had and I want to let you know that I enjoyed until my last match.”
Monaco won eight of his nine titles on clay, including four trophies in 2012. The Tandil native also lifted three doubles titles, most recently with his good friend Rafael Nadal (2015 Doha).
“Thanks to all of you for joining me on this wonderful trip, which lasted 14 years,” said Monaco.
Britons Kyle Edmund and Aljaz Bedene both made it through to the second round of the Italian Open in Rome with victories on Monday.
Edmund, 22, impressed on his debut at the Foro Italico with a 6-3 6-4 win over Portugal’s Joao Sousa.
Qualifier Bedene, 27, was leading 6-7 (3-7) 6-4 3-0 when Italy’s Gianluca Mager retired with an injury.
Defending champion Andy Murray will face Italy’s Fabio Fognini in his opening match on Tuesday.
Edmund, ranked 53rd in the world, remained ahead in the battle to be British number two thanks to his victory over Sousa.
The Yorkshireman’s big forehand was backed up by fine serving as he broke once in each set to see off the world number 51.
He will next face Juan Martin del Potro or Grigor Dimitrov.
Bedene, the world number 55, continued his fine form on the clay, following up his two qualifying wins to set up a second-round match with number two seed Novak Djokovic.
Murray faces a tough test in his opening match as he looks to find some form before the French Open later this month.
“Fognini is one of the better clay-court players,” said the world number one.
“He obviously will be highly motivated playing in Italy as well.
“I have had some tough matches with him in the past, so it won’t be easy. I will definitely need to play well in that one to have a chance of winning.”
Murray turned 30 on Monday but is optimistic he can overcome his struggles with form and fitness this year and continue to challenge for the major titles.
“You never know how your body’s going to be and your health,” said the Scot.
“If that’s fine, there is no reason why you can’t compete at the top of the game into your early to mid-30s.”
Former World No. 4 advances to round two
Tomas Berdych moved to within one match win of 600 victories on Monday at the Internazionali BNL d’Italia. Berdych, the No. 12 seed and 2013 semi-finalist, triumphed 7-6(7), 6-4 over Mischa Zverev in one hour and 49 minutes. The Czech could not convert four set points on Zverev’s serve when leading 5-4, and he then saved two set points at 4/6 in the tie-break.
Berdych, who has the same number of career victories (599) as his coach Goran Ivanisevic, goes on to meet Robin Haase or qualifier Carlos Berlocq in the second round. Should Berdych win he would become the 25th player in ATP World Tour history to hit the 600 match wins milestone.
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Maria Sharapova secured a place in Wimbledon qualifying – at the very least – with a first-round win over Christina McHale at the Italian Open.
The 30-year-old Russian is ranked 211 in the world and was given a wildcard in Rome as she continues her return from a 15-month drugs ban.
Monday’s 6-4 6-2 win ensures Sharapova will move inside the top 200 and earn a Wimbledon qualifying place next month.
She will qualify for Wimbledon’s main draw if she reaches the Rome semis.
Sharapova will learn on Tuesday whether she has been given a wildcard into either qualifying or the main draw at the French Open, which gets under way on 28 May.
The five-time Grand Slam champion reached the semi-finals on her return to action in Stuttgart last month, but lost to Eugenie Bouchard in the second round in Madrid last week.
She made a slow start against American McHale, ranked 58th, at the Foro Italico, dropping serve three times before edging through the first set and dominating the second.
Sharapova will play Croatian 16th seed Mirjana Lucic-Baroni in round two, with world number one Angelique Kerber a potential third-round opponent.
Wimbledon’s qualifying tournament is played over three rounds and takes place from 26 to 29 June at the Bank of England Sports Grounds in Roehampton.
It has previously been an unticketed event but this year there will be 1,000 tickets for sale at £5 each, with proceeds going to the Wimbledon Foundation, along with video coverage of one court.
