Nikołoz Basilaszwili

[Razing]

[Razing]

[Damian]

Baslashvili had far less drama in his victory, beating Frenchman Jeremy Chardy 6-2, 6-3 in 67 minutes. The Georgian has won eight consecutive main draw matches in Hamburg, and he is pursuing his first title of the 2019 season.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev- ... 019-friday

[Kamileki]

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Basilashvili Saves 2 M.P., Stuns Zverev In Hamburg

Spoiler:

Defending champ will compete for his third ATP Tour title on Sunday
Reigning Nitto ATP Finals champion Alexander Zverev was able to battle from the brink of defeat in his quarter-final on Friday against Filip Krajinovic. But the German was on the opposite end of a Harry Houdini act on Saturday against defending champion Nikoloz Basilashvili.

The Georgian saved two match points at 3-5 in the third set en route to a 6-4, 4-6, 7-6(5) victory against the second seed. Basilashvili, who captured his first ATP Tour title in Hamburg last year as a qualifier ranked World No. 81, is now just one victory from retaining his trophy at the ATP 500 tournament.

"I don’t think I was calm. I was really emotional inside. Maybe I didn’t show that much," Basilashvili said. "I was serving really, really bad in the third set, so that got me very emotional and I got very tight also in the third set. But in general, how I managed to come back from 2/5 in the tie-break was something that I give credit to myself. It doesn’t happen with my tennis that often, so I’m really happy. "

He needed every sliver of mental fortitude he could find in what was a roller coaster battle against the World No. 5. Basilashvili led by a break early in both the second and third sets, but relinquished those leads on both occasions as Zverev locked down defensively, allowing the World No. 16 to make more unforced errors.

You May Also Like: Nikoloz Basilashvili: Putting Together A Jigsaw
Just as it appeared Zverev would complete his comeback when he had a 5-3 lead in the third set, Basilashvili found some of his best tennis. He saved two match points — first with an inside-out forehand winner and then when he sprinted to the net to swat away a forehand volley — on his own serve before breaking back, ultimately leading to a final-set tie-break.

Despite trailing 2/5 in the tie-break, Basilashvili once again rose to the occasion, going for his shots and landing. On his first match point, the Georgian fired an inside-in forehand that forced Zverev to hit a forehand slice into the net, completing his triumph after three hours and eight minutes.

"In the tie-break, I was really concentrated on the ball and just how to play tennis, how just to play the game," Basilashvili said. "But inside I think Sascha was also very tight and emotional, and me also because it is one or two points that decide the match."

Watch Live

Throughout nearly the entire match, the rallies were on Basilashvili’s racquet, as the Georgian took his typical big cuts at the ball to push Zverev back. That aggression paid dividends as he took the lead. But when he broke early in the second and third sets, unforced errors trickled into his game, allowing Zverev to buckle down defensively and put more pressure on the Georgian.

Even after the disappointment of losing the second set, Basilashvili remained calm and broke for a 3-1 lead in the decider after crushing a forehand winner. But Zverev raised his level to break back with a laser-like backhand pass down the line. He broke in Basilashvili’s next service game, too, that time hitting a backhand winner down the line on a second-serve return.

But the German was unable to complete the victory to advance to his first Hamburg final. Instead, Basilashvili will face Russian Andrey Rublev in the championship match. He owns a 1-0 FedEx ATP Head2Head series lead against Rublev, defeating the 21-year-old this year in Doha in straight sets.

"My mind was calm pretty much," Zverev said. "I came back yesterday so I knew I could do it again today, and I was close to it... I guess it was a nice atmosphere and it was good for the crowd, but now he is in the final and I lost. So it’s not the nicest feeling in the world."

Did You Know?
Basilashvili saved 16 of the 20 break points he faced, while converting four of the eight opportunities he had to break Zverev's serve.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev- ... rg-2019-sf

[Damian]

Nikoloz Basilashvili: Putting Together A Jigsaw

Spoiler:

Over the past 12 months, the Georgian has transformed his career

Editor's Note: This story was originally published on 19 March. Nikoloz Basilashvili is into the final of the Hamburg European Open, an ATP 500 tournament.

Nikoloz Basilashvili is a perfectionist, and also an artist. He looks to strike the cleanest ball, put together a combination of shots that is devastating, and play the perfect game. But tennis is about the optimum, following a plan and getting the job done as efficiently as possible. “I am not a big fan of wanting to be perfect,” says Jan de Witt, his highly experienced German coach. “I know I have the reputation of wanting to be super precise, but you can’t be. You have to go for the simple solution and not over-complicate a match. He really likes to do things perfectly, and wants to make it look easy, so he struggles to win.”

So the 27-year-old Georgian, who turned pro in 2008, and once tried to kill every ball over consistency point-in, point-out, faces a daily fight against his natural instinct. “I’m understanding how tennis really works,” says the softly spoken Basilashvili, who never steps onto court to strike a ball without a bandana — or, to improvise, a tennis grip — firmly tied around his head. “It’s not just about hitting tennis balls or fitness, it’s working on the mental side of the game as well. It’s very important in this sport to know how to handle the nerves in important moments. I am still getting that experience.

“Until 22 or 23, I was wild. I was not professional in my approach. I knew I wanted to play well, but I wasn’t capable of playing at this level. I had no game plan to get here. I knew I was missing something. I was around [World No.] 50-100 for a long time, for two to three years. I needed somebody to trust 100 per cent.”

For years, the son of a former Georgian national ballet dancer, Nodar, drifted and never quite left his comfort zone: a product of financial constraints; of not always having the right people — or fully trusting those — around him; and of having to come up with ideas to improve his own game. Stephen Koon, who coached Basilashvili as a 16-year-old in Granite Bay, Sacramento, and once more when he was financially able to employ a travelling coach in 2005-06, recalls his initial impression, “I loved his raw power, how he just crushed the ball. He had an extremely high physical tolerance — he didn’t mind the hard work at all — and straight away I knew this guy didn’t fear anything or anyone when it came to tennis.”

The talent was never questioned. But Basilashvili, who was first handed a tennis racquet as a five-year-old, shortly before another Tbilisi son, Irakli Labadze, finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the 1998 junior Wimbledon final, recalls, “There were moments when my father and I would sleep in our car for a couple of weeks. It’s been an interesting journey. I was training in bad conditions and I couldn’t even find a sponsor, so I got Russian citizenship. There was a time when we slept in a car for a month on the junior tour and we also slept in tents at tournaments. When I was 20, 21, I almost started tennis again really from scratch, as mentally I was down. All these kinds of things really make you realise that the bad times weren’t for nothing. It’s made me stronger and hungry to play tennis at a high level.”

The decisions, taken out of necessity with the full sport of his father, helped the talented junior extend his vision far beyond Georgia, a country of football and weight-lifting fanatics. For Basilashvili, who values loyalty and honesty the most, it was a period of great frustration. “I was only thinking about having enough money to get to tournaments,” adds Basilashvili. “I was thinking about booking tennis courts, getting tennis balls and a practice partner. It was purely survival. It was only when I qualified for Wimbledon in 2015, and won two matches in the main draw, that heralded a big change in my mind. I was playing good tennis, but I couldn’t get beyond the Top 50. I knew I needed a mentor to help me with that. I knew Jan’s tactics and how he coached. I liked him and that’s why I contacted him.”


His meteoric rise over the past 13 months from No. 89 to a career-high No. 18 in the ATP Rankings this month, has centred on Basilashvili’s hard-working alliance with Gilles Simon’s former coach De Witt, who has been opening his charges eyes to what was possible since June 2018. Following a successful one-week trial, Basilashvili showcased his hard-working ethic, but lost eight of his 12 matches under De Witt’s guidance. “What convinced me was how he reacted in training and I realised this guy was really serious to do what it takes to take his game to the next level,” says De Witt.

The results soon came, including two ATP 500-level trophies in 2018 at the Hamburg Open (d. Leonardo Mayer), where he qualified, and the China Open in Beijing (d. Juan Martin del Potro), which represented the third Top 10 victory of his career. “I’d been in finals before, I’d played in Kitzbuhel [in July 2016] and Memphis [in February 2017],” says Basilashvili. “But to win a title is different, especially a [ATP] 500. It gives you a lot of confidence, which is one of the most important things in tennis — knowing when you step on the court you can win this match.

“With a plan, being more professional and trusting my coach completely, I got direction. I needed to win an ATP Tour title as validation of my work — that I was moving in the right direction — and when I did in Hamburg and Beijing, it relaxed me and left me really motivated.”

You May Also Like: First-Time Winner Spotlight: Nikoloz Basilashvili

With a big forehand, solid backhand and the ability to hit through players in all areas of the courts, Basilashvili always had the technique and physically strength to hurt the biggest players. But his perfectionist and critical nature, heightened by not having a coach for so many years; and his wish to make the game look easy, was also a hindrance to his development. “If I could talk to my 21-year-old self, I would not change my game style, but more my mental approach,” says Basilashvili. “I’m not looking for results, but to give 100 per cent on and off the court. I want to maximise what I have, so when I do retire I know I left no stone unturned.”

De Witt, a coach with a reputation of being “super precise”, who has a database with the tactical and technical details of 400 players, is fully focused on the future with Basilashvili, who recently turned 27. “We had a clear picture about where we wanted to go,” admits De Witt. “It surprised me how fast he progressed. I have never had a player that has learned as quickly as him. He has a very special talent about learning when it comes to biomechanics and movement. It’s very unusual and it’s something I didn’t know when I first started working with him. He was learning complex things quickly. He has the discipline to work hard, and if you push him he will do so.”

Koon remembers the “fearlessness, when Nik saw his name next to the seeds in the draw or when he loved to play the big players” and while Basilashvili is now gaining mental consistency in preparation for every match, frailties persist. “The difference in levels are not very big,” says Basilashvili. “But the difference is I have to be ready for every match, not to be off slightly in a match. That’s what we’re working on, to be able to play against lower ranked players with the same intensity as against the top players.”


“I know he will not be satisfied until he makes the Top 10, and I absolutely would not be surprised at all when he does it,” admits Koon, who assisted his former charge again in December 2017 at the Impact Tennis Academy, in a pre-season camp with Hyeon Chung, Yen-Hsun Lu, Yoshihito Nishioka and Yuki Bhambri in Thailand.

“To be World No. 20 was not a goal for him or me,” says De Witt. “The goal of being No. 10 is not a goal, it will come if we do the things we do. Nothing has been short-term. We have a goal to win a Grand Slam title. This does not come in the short term. I am surprised, and I am happy he is learning quickly, but it’s important that we have to do all of the steps. There are no short cuts [and] it’s challenging the whole time. There is not one easy day, there will always be problems. It’s about maximising the potential of this player. The potential, for Nik, if we put everything together, is to go for a Grand Slam title.”

After years of deciding what's best to make his way up the ATP Rankings, Basilashvili is now efficiently going about his job on the court, with the full support of his family — Neka, his model wife of five years, who he 'met' on social media, and his beloved three-year-old son, Lukas. Memories of his struggle may endure, but the tennis education of Georgia’s lone world-class player continues with De Witt.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/basilas ... miami-2019

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

[Damian]

Basilashvili Claims Second Straight Hamburg Crown

Spoiler:

Georgian extends Hamburg main-draw win streak to 10 matches

Nikoloz Basilashvili arrived at last year’s Hamburg European Open at No. 81 in the ATP Rankings with a place in the qualifying draw.

On Sunday, the Georgian lifted his second straight trophy at the ATP 500 event with a 7-5, 4-6, 6-3 victory against Andrey Rublev. Basilashvili hit 26 forehand winners to claim his 12th straight win in Hamburg, which includes 10 main-draw victories. He improved to 2-0 in his FedEx ATP Head2Head series against the 21-year-old.

The fourth seed has now lifted three tour-level trophies, with each title run coming at the ATP 500-level. Basilashvili also triumphed at last year’s China Open, defeating Juan Martin del Potro in the championship match. The World No. 16 is the first player since Roger Federer in 2005 to claim back-to-back Hamburg crowns.

You May Also Like: Nikoloz Basilashvili: Putting Together A Jigsaw
The 27-year-old, who owns 20 victories from 36 tour-level clashes this season, was forced to save two match points in his semi-final meeting against Alexander Zverev. Basilashvili trailed 3-5 in the deciding set before claiming his second Top 5 win (2-6) after three hours and eight minutes.

Rublev made a quick start to his first ATP 500 final, breaking his opponent in the third game after an extended forehand battle. The Russian changed direction well to find Basilashvili’s backhand corner with pace and precision to take the lead.

But three games later, Basilashvili settled into the match. The Georgian found his range on his forehand to dictate rallies, before firing a forehand winner up the line on his fifth break point. With Rublev serving to stay in the set at 5-6, Basilashvili punished his opponent with a series of aggressive returns to take the set after 55 minutes.

Once again, it was Rublev who broke first in the second set. The Russian stepped up the court to take time away from his opponent and move into a 4-3 lead. After just over 90 minutes, Rublev captured the second set as Basilashvili committed back-to-back forehand errors.

Basilashvili continued to dictate points with varied success at the start of the decider, with both men trading service breaks in the opening three games. But Basilashvili trusted his strategy, moving in behind his return to earn a second straight break and a 3-1 advantage. The Georgian maintained his advantage, holding serve to love to clinch the title as Rublev's backhand floated beyond the baseline.

Watch Live

Rublev was aiming to lift his second ATP Tour title, following his maiden triumph as a lucky loser at 2017 Umag. The Russian defeated top seed Dominic Thiem to earn his first Top 5 win en route to the championship match.

Basilashvili receives 500 ATP Ranking points and collects €354,845 in prize money. Rublev gains 300 ATP Ranking points and receives €178,220.

Did You Know?
Basilashvili is the first seeded player to lift the Hamburg trophy since Martin Klizan in 2016. Lucky loser Leonardo Mayer won the title in 2017, while Basilashvili was a qualifier when earned his maiden crown last year.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/basilas ... 2019-final

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Nikoloz Basilashvili: Putting Together A Jigsaw

Spoiler:

Over the past 12 months, the Georgian has transformed his career

Nikoloz Basilashvili is a perfectionist, and also an artist. He looks to strike the cleanest ball, put together a combination of shots that is devastating, and play the perfect game. But tennis is about the optimum, following a plan and getting the job done as efficiently as possible. “I am not a big fan of wanting to be perfect,” says Jan de Witt, his highly experienced German coach. “I know I have the reputation of wanting to be super precise, but you can’t be. You have to go for the simple solution and not over-complicate a match. He really likes to do things perfectly, and wants to make it look easy, so he struggles to win.”

So the 27-year-old Georgian, who turned pro in 2008, and once tried to kill every ball over consistency point-in, point-out, faces a daily fight against his natural instinct. “I’m understanding how tennis really works,” says the softly spoken Basilashvili, who never steps onto court to strike a ball without a bandana — or, to improvise, a tennis grip — firmly tied around his head. “It’s not just about hitting tennis balls or fitness, it’s working on the mental side of the game as well. It’s very important in this sport to know how to handle the nerves in important moments. I am still getting that experience.

“Until 22 or 23, I was wild. I was not professional in my approach. I knew I wanted to play well, but I wasn’t capable of playing at this level. I had no game plan to get here. I knew I was missing something. I was around [World No.] 50-100 for a long time, for two to three years. I needed somebody to trust 100 per cent.”

For years, the son of a former Georgian national ballet dancer, Nodar, drifted and never quite left his comfort zone: a product of financial constraints; of not always having the right people — or fully trusting those — around him; and of having to come up with ideas to improve his own game. Stephen Koon, who coached Basilashvili as a 16-year-old in Granite Bay, Sacramento, and once more when he was financially able to employ a travelling coach in 2005-06, recalls his initial impression, “I loved his raw power, how he just crushed the ball. He had an extremely high physical tolerance — he didn’t mind the hard work at all — and straight away I knew this guy didn’t fear anything or anyone when it came to tennis.”

The talent was never questioned. But Basilashvili, who was first handed a tennis racquet as a five-year-old, shortly before another Tbilisi son, Irakli Labadze, finished runner-up to Roger Federer in the 1998 junior Wimbledon final, recalls, “There were moments when my father and I would sleep in our car for a couple of weeks. It’s been an interesting journey. I was training in bad conditions and I couldn’t even find a sponsor, so I got Russian citizenship. There was a time when we slept in a car for a month on the junior tour and we also slept in tents at tournaments. When I was 20, 21, I almost started tennis again really from scratch, as mentally I was down. All these kinds of things really make you realise that the bad times weren’t for nothing. It’s made me stronger and hungry to play tennis at a high level.”

The decisions, taken out of necessity with the full sport of his father, helped the talented junior extend his vision far beyond Georgia, a country of football and weight-lifting fanatics. For Basilashvili, who values loyalty and honesty the most, it was a period of great frustration. “I was only thinking about having enough money to get to tournaments,” adds Basilashvili. “I was thinking about booking tennis courts, getting tennis balls and a practice partner. It was purely survival. It was only when I qualified for Wimbledon in 2015, and won two matches in the main draw, that heralded a big change in my mind. I was playing good tennis, but I couldn’t get beyond the Top 50. I knew I needed a mentor to help me with that. I knew Jan’s tactics and how he coached. I liked him and that’s why I contacted him.”


His meteoric rise over the past 13 months from No. 89 to a career-high No. 18 in the ATP Rankings this month, has centred on Basilashvili’s hard-working alliance with Gilles Simon’s former coach De Witt, who has been opening his charges eyes to what was possible since June 2018. Following a successful one-week trial, Basilashvili showcased his hard-working ethic, but lost eight of his 12 matches under De Witt’s guidance. “What convinced me was how he reacted in training and I realised this guy was really serious to do what it takes to take his game to the next level,” says De Witt.

The results soon came, including two ATP 500-level trophies in 2018 at the Hamburg Open (d. Leonardo Mayer), where he qualified, and the China Open in Beijing (d. Juan Martin del Potro), which represented the third Top 10 victory of his career. “I’d been in finals before, I’d played in Kitzbuhel [in July 2016] and Memphis [in February 2017],” says Basilashvili. “But to win a title is different, especially a [ATP] 500. It gives you a lot of confidence, which is one of the most important things in tennis — knowing when you step on the court you can win this match.

“With a plan, being more professional and trusting my coach completely, I got direction. I needed to win an ATP Tour title as validation of my work — that I was moving in the right direction — and when I did in Hamburg and Beijing, it relaxed me and left me really motivated.”

You May Also Like: First-Time Winner Spotlight: Nikoloz Basilashvili

With a big forehand, solid backhand and the ability to hit through players in all areas of the courts, Basilashvili always had the technique and physically strength to hurt the biggest players. But his perfectionist and critical nature, heightened by not having a coach for so many years; and his wish to make the game look easy, was also a hindrance to his development. “If I could talk to my 21-year-old self, I would not change my game style, but more my mental approach,” says Basilashvili. “I’m not looking for results, but to give 100 per cent on and off the court. I want to maximise what I have, so when I do retire I know I left no stone unturned.”

De Witt, a coach with a reputation of being “super precise”, who has a database with the tactical and technical details of 400 players, is fully focused on the future with Basilashvili, who recently turned 27. “We had a clear picture about where we wanted to go,” admits De Witt. “It surprised me how fast he progressed. I have never had a player that has learned as quickly as him. He has a very special talent about learning when it comes to biomechanics and movement. It’s very unusual and it’s something I didn’t know when I first started working with him. He was learning complex things quickly. He has the discipline to work hard, and if you push him he will do so.”

Koon remembers the “fearlessness, when Nik saw his name next to the seeds in the draw or when he loved to play the big players” and while Basilashvili is now gaining mental consistency in preparation for every match, frailties persist. “The difference in levels are not very big,” says Basilashvili. “But the difference is I have to be ready for every match, not to be off slightly in a match. That’s what we’re working on, to be able to play against lower ranked players with the same intensity as against the top players.”


“I know he will not be satisfied until he makes the Top 10, and I absolutely would not be surprised at all when he does it,” admits Koon, who assisted his former charge again in December 2017 at the Impact Tennis Academy, in a pre-season camp with Hyeon Chung, Yen-Hsun Lu, Yoshihito Nishioka and Yuki Bhambri in Thailand.

“To be World No. 20 was not a goal for him or me,” says De Witt. “The goal of being No. 10 is not a goal, it will come if we do the things we do. Nothing has been short-term. We have a goal to win a Grand Slam title. This does not come in the short term. I am surprised, and I am happy he is learning quickly, but it’s important that we have to do all of the steps. There are no short cuts [and] it’s challenging the whole time. There is not one easy day, there will always be problems. It’s about maximising the potential of this player. The potential, for Nik, if we put everything together, is to go for a Grand Slam title.”

After years of deciding what's best to make his way up the ATP Rankings, Basilashvili is now efficiently going about his job on the court, with the full support of his family — Neka, his model wife of five years, who he 'met' on social media, and his beloved three-year-old son, Lukas. Memories of his struggle may endure, but the tennis education of Georgia’s lone world-class player continues with De Witt

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/basilas ... miami-2019

[Damian]

[Kamileki]

#3) Hamburg 2019


BBC

R1 Hugo Dellien 64 63
R2 Juan Ignacio Londero 64 36 63
QF Jeremy Chardy 62 63
SF Alexander Zverev 64 46 76(5)
W Andriej Rubliow 75 46 63

[Damian]

Struff will play No. 13 seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who fought past Monte-Carlo finalist Dusan Lajovic 3-6, 6-4, 6-4. Basilashvili has won six consecutive matches after celebrating his second Hamburg European Open title last month

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/wawrink ... 019-monday

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Zverev will next meet 13th seed Nikoloz Basilashvili, who beat the German in the Hamburg European Open semi-finals last month en route to his third ATP 500 title. The Georgian beat Jan-Lennard Struff 2-6, 6-2, 6-3.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/zverev- ... 19-tuesday

[Kamileki]

[Kamileki]

[17] Nikoloz Basilashvili: Captured all 3 of his titles at ATP 500 events (2018 Hamburg, 2018 Beijing and 2019 Hamburg).

[Lucas]