T30: Gstaad, Los Cabos, Umag 2020

[Kamileki]

[Damian]

Flashback: At Long Last, Federer Prevails At Home In Gstaad

Spoiler:

Swiss triumphed in 2004 event
Roger Federer’s 10 titles in Basel make it clear that he thrives at home, but that wasn’t always the case. When he arrived at the 2004 Swiss Open Gstaad, Federer had yet to stand in the winner’s circle in Switzerland.

The World No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings had lost all three finals he contested at home, including a heartbreaking five-set defeat to Jiri Novak the previous year in Gstaad. Although Gstaad held special memories for the 23-year-old as it was the site of his ATP Tour debut in 1998, he historically struggled there and lost in the opening round in each of his first four appearances.

Despite his heartbreak at this event, Federer arrived with confidence. He had successfully defended his Wimbledon crown the week before (d. Roddick) and also prevailed in Halle (d. Fish) to build up a 12-match winning streak.

But after receiving an opening-round bye, it appeared that Federer’s woes in Gstaad would continue against big-serving Croatian Ivo Karlovic, who racked up 15 aces on the slow clay court. Federer came within mere points of defeat, but dug deep to prevail 6-7(5), 6-3, 7-6(4).

Rain the previous day meant the top seed returned hours later for a quarter-final clash with Radek Stepanek. The unseeded Czech took advantage of a fatiguing Federer to grab the second set and an upset looked increasingly likely. With the home crowd urging him on, Federer stayed with Stepanek and broke late in the third set to advance 6-1, 5-7, 6-4. The Swiss spent nearly four hours on court to complete his two victories and advance to the semi-finals.

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There would be no rest for the top seed as he contested his third match in 24 hours against Italian qualifier Potito Starace. Federer prevailed 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 to reach the landmark of 50 match wins that season, notching the milestone quicker than any man since Ivan Lendl in 1989. Although he admitted to feeling fatigued, he said that his five-set loss in the 2003 final “nearly killed me” and vowed to find energy for a championship clash with Russian Igor Andreev.

"I feel very tired right now, but I hope to recuperate enough this afternoon to play tomorrow,” Federer said. "I am tired, but I feel alright. I am a bit stiff, but that is to be expected. I think I have one more match in me, so I will have to get myself together and do my best.”

Federer came out swinging against Andreev, cracking 16 winners to eight unforced errors in storming to a two-sets lead. Nerves began to creep in for the Swiss as the title came within sight, but he eventually raised his arms in triumph after a backhand slice error from Andreev wrapped up a 6-2, 6-3, 5-7, 6-3 win.

The victory marked the first time in Federer’s career that he won three titles in a row. It also clinched his seventh title of the season, matching the number of trophies he lifted in 2003.

”I’ve attempted to win a title in Switzerland three times and now I’ve done it here in Gstaad. It means a lot to me,” Federer said. “It’s something I’ve dreamed of doing since I was a boy."

Federer wouldn’t return to Gstaad until 2013, when he was honoured in a special on-court ceremony and presented with a cow.

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/flashba ... 004-gstaad

[Damian]

Flashback: Del Potro's Los Cabos Run Helps Spark Rankings Breakthrough

Spoiler:

Argentine finished runner-up in 2018
Good things come to those who wait. Eight years after reaching No. 4 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, Juan Martin del Potro finally reached a new career-high of World No. 3 on 13 August 2018. The Argentine showed fitting form in that year's Abierto de Tenis Mifel presentado por Cinemex in Los Cabos, his last event before reaching that milestone.

The Argentine arrived in Los Cabos as the top seed and looked to complete the “Mexican Double” after prevailing that February in Acapulco (d. Anderson). But regardless of his performance, Del Potro reaching the Top 3 that week hinged on the Citi Open results of Alexander Zverev. Zverev, the defending champion in Washington, D.C., needed to reach the final in order to remain at No. 3.

After receiving a first-round bye, Del Potro moved past American qualifier Marcos Giron before facing another player outside the Top 300 in Egor Gerasimov. The 29-year-old Del Potro shook off the rust from his opener and won all 19 of his first-serve points to dismantle the Belarusian 6-1, 6-1 in 59 minutes.


Third seed Damir Dzumhur of Bosnia and Herzegovina provided a much sterner test in the semi-finals. Their clash looked primed to go the distance after Dzumhur reached set point at 6/5 in the second-set tie-break, but Del Potro fought back to level the score and closed out the match with a forehand winner to advance 6-3, 7-6(6).

"It was a good fight from him. We played good tennis, especially in the second set," Del Potro said. "I made some mistakes in the end of the set, but then I played a smart game in the tie-break. I took my chances to win and I'm glad to reach another final this season.”

Del Potro

Standing between Del Potro and his third tour-level title of the year was second-seeded Italian Fabio Fognini. The Argentine was the on-paper favourite, having won their only previous ATP Head2Head meeting three years earlier in Sydney.

It appeared that Del Potro would cruise past Fognini after charging to a 3-0 lead in the first set, but the Italian settled in and began gambling on Del Potro’s second serve, winning 71 per cent of those points (15/21). Del Potro’s game slowly unraveled, including on his usually reliable forehand wing, enabling Fognini to win 12 of the last 15 games in his 6-4, 6-2 victory.

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“It was a good week for me. Unfortunately, I couldn't play my best tennis in the final,” Del Potro said. “But Fabio deserved to win. He played a very smart game. He took all the chances to win and I think he's a good winner of the tournament.”

Eight days later, Del Potro moved to World No. 3 after Zverev, defending champion at the Rogers Cup, was unable to defend the majority of his points in Toronto and fell in the quarter-finals. The moment completed a remarkable climb back up the FedEx ATP Rankings for the Argentine, who sat at No. 141 just two years earlier.

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[Damian]

[Damian]

Remembering Djokovic’s ATP Debut: ‘This Guy Is Really Good!’

Spoiler:

Volandri tells ATPTour.com his memories of playing Djokovic at 2004 Umag
Novak Djokovic made his ATP Tour debut at the 2004 Plava Laguna Croatia Open Umag less than two months after turning 17. Filippo Volandri ousted the Serbian 7-6(5), 6-1, but the teen certainly left an impression.

“Outside the court I was talking with some colleagues and I said, ‘This guy is really good!’” Volandri recalled. “All the players said, ‘Come on, you could have won 6-1 6-1.' But I was right!”

Volandri, who later that week beat three-time defending champion Carlos Moya in straight sets, remembers leading Djokovic 5-1 in the opening set. He had never seen the teen play before, but things were going smoothly.

“I was winning easily. I was already a good player and he had a reaction that surprised me,” Volandri said. “Even though he was fighting with [his breathing] and he wasn’t breathing well, he had a reaction that you have inside or you don’t. You can work on it, but most players are born with something inside where they never surrender and they always try to make a reaction [when they are down]. That kind of reaction, 1-5 down, was really impressive.”

ATP Coach Programme

Djokovic forced a tie-break in the first set, but Volandri held off the Serbian’s surge. The Italian then used his experience on a hot day to maintain his momentum in the second set. Nevertheless, he saw a lot of potential in Djokovic, who broke serve four times in the 90-minute match.

“Already, physically and in terms of flexibility, he was at a different level. He was so powerful. He was jumping [everywhere] on the court and he put so much spin on the ball without having so much weight [on his body],” Volandri said. “That’s the difference between champions and normal players. They don’t need too much weight to put so much spin on the ball, speed as well.”

Volandri grew up playing in the juniors with Roger Federer, so he was no stranger to competing against elite young talent.

“When someone has something different, it’s tough to explain,” Volandri said. “You see how they are on court, his attitude, his mental power. Djokovic managed the bad moments as a pro when he was really, really young.

“He was playing maybe too far behind [the baseline], but that’s quite normal. When you don’t have so much weight, when you’re young, it’s tough to stay on the baseline. That’s improved so much. He made a lot of technical changes, especially on his serve, during his career. But I think what made the difference is how close he can play to the baseline. Now he plays so, so close.”

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Their first-round Umag clash was the pair’s only ATP Head2Head meeting. Since then, Djokovic has won 79 tour-level titles, 17 Grand Slam championships and finished year-end No. 1 in the FedEx ATP Rankings five times.

“Of course it’s strange. Obviously I couldn’t say from that match he’s going to be No. 1 in the world and he’s going to be No. 1 for so many weeks. Even growing up with Federer… you could see he had something different between him and the others. But you couldn’t say, ‘Okay, this guy is going to be No. 1,'” Volandri said. “[Novak has] one of the best backhands ever, one of the best returns ever. In the most important moments, he’s a champion.”

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[Damian]

Federer's ATP Debut: 'I Never Imagined He Was Going To Be One Of The Best'

Spoiler:

The Swiss star played his first ATP Tour event at 1998 Gstaad when he was 16
Lucas Arnold Ker calls himself a tennis lover and does not hesitate to acknowledge that racquets and tennis balls were “everything” for a large part of his life. The 45-year-old Argentine, for whom tennis runs in the family with his father and brother both playing professionally, reached the doubles final at Roland Garros in 1997 and climbed as high as No. 77 in FedEx ATP Rankings.

One thing he’ll never forget is facing Roger Federer at the 1998 Swiss Open Gstaad, Federer’s ATP Tour debut. Arnold Ker defeated the 16-year-old home favourite 6-4, 6-4 in 80 minutes.

“I’m often reminded that I beat him... but not many know that it was his first match on the ATP Tour," Arnold Ker told ATPTour.com. “I never thought or imagined that Federer was going to be one of the best in the world and in history, I really didn’t."

ATP Coach Programme

At that tournament Arnold Ker, then No. 88 in the FedEx ATP Rankings, fell in the final round of qualifying. He competed in the main draw as a lucky loser thanks to Tommy Haas’ withdrawal due to food poisoning. Arnold Ker had never set eyes on Federer, who had just been crowned the Wimbledon boys' singles champion.

“I had to play a Swiss junior and at the time Switzerland didn’t have much of a [tennis] history,” Arnold Ker said. “They weren’t very good players.”

That match, on 7 July 1998, was the first of over 1,500 tour-level matches for Federer. Arnold Ker broke the Swiss four times in his triumph.

“Roger had a good serve, a good forehand... but his backhand was stunted, not good at all,” Arnold Ker said. “I remember moving him over there all the time and that allowed me to beat him solidly in two sets.”

ATP Heritage: Milestones. Records. Legends.

Did Arnold Ker imagine at the time that he had just faced a future World No. 1 and the winner of 20 Grand Slam titles?

“It’s incredible that he progressed as a player to be one of the best in history,” Arnold Ker said.

Federer also recalled the match a few months back in an interview with Argentine newspaper La Nación.

“I was disappointed because I was supposed to play Tommy Haas, but he had a stomach bug and, instead of playing on Centre Court, they put me on Court 1,” Federer said. “But it was still full of fans and it was really crazy, because I had won [the] Wimbledon juniors.

“I remember Lucas, who was from the generation of players who played serve and volley. He served to my backhand with spin and I had come from Wimbledon, where the ball bounces at a different height and I struggled. He was more experienced. I played well from what I remember. I lost 6-4, 6-4, but it was a great experience to have the media spotlight on me playing in front of a lot of people, getting used to that kind of pressure.”

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For his part, Arnold only crossed paths on court with Federer one more time, in doubles. When he talks about tennis with his students today and remembers old times, the Argentine normally tells them to keep an eye on the Swiss legend. Federer still surprises him by continuing to improve despite his greatness.

Arnold Ker teaches tennis “more socially than competitively” because he prioritises his family, even moreso since battling testicular cancer in 2007, which he beat after countless chemotherapy sessions.

“Until I was probably 30, I spent 24 hours a day thinking about tennis,” Arnold Ker said. “Since I was little I knew I wanted to be a professional and I can say that I gave it everything.”

https://www.atptour.com/en/news/federer ... arnold-ker

[Damian]

Got Milk? Well, Gstaad Gave Federer Cows

Spoiler:

Learn about some of the most interesting tournament prizes and gifts
No player goes to a tournament expecting to leave with a cow. Roger Federer has done so at the Swiss Open Gstaad… twice.

“It was a total surprise,” Federer told SwissInfo in 2003, when he received his first cow from one of his home ATP Tour events. “Now I need to find a garage for a cow, although I have no idea what a cow garage looks like.”

The tournament gifted Federer the cow after the Swiss won his maiden Grand Slam championship at 2003 Wimbledon. He also received a cow in Gstaad in 2013 following a nine-year absence from the tournament, where he made his ATP Tour debut in 1998.

<a href='/en/players/novak-djokovic/d643/overview'>Novak Djokovic</a>

Novak Djokovic won his first ATP Tour title at Amersfoort in 2006. The Serbian is now a 79-time tour-level champion, but the prize he received for that victory was unique. In addition to the winner's prize money, he got an iPod and a flower bouquet.

“I will always remember this tournament in Amersfoort," Djokovic said after accepting the gifts.

Those aren’t the only memorable trophies or gifts players have been given by tournaments. Rafael Nadal won his third Abierto Mexicano Telcel presentado por HSBC title this year and he bit into the silver pear trophy to celebrate.

Nadal Acapulco 2020 trophy 3
From 2009 through 2018, the Hamburg European Open champions received a propeller trophy. Gilles Simon beat Nicolas Almagro in a three-set 2011 final to lift the special prize.

<a href='/en/players/gilles-simon/sd32/overview'>Gilles Simon</a>

One of the most unique championship match experiences on the ATP Tour comes at the ASB Classic in Auckland. Before the match, the haka, a ceremonial challenge dance, is performed in front of both finalists. A Maori warrior later presents the champion with a traditional spear to recognise his accomplishment.

<a href='/en/players/roberto-bautista-agut/bd06/overview'>Roberto Bautista Agut</a>

Are you a fan of art? The New York Open gives its champions and finalists a large painting to take home, created by artist Ted Dimond.

Mirnyi Oswald

The New York Open was previously held in Memphis, which is well-known for its music. The city houses multiple music museums.

The ATP 250 presented its champion with a guitar trophy. Kei Nishikori won four consecutive editions of the tournament from 2013-2016.

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