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Jakub Mensik continued his breakthrough season Saturday when he qualified for his first major main draw at the US Open. The 17-year-old relied on a rock-solid serving performance, firing 11 aces and winning 84 per cent of points behind his first delivery to down countryman Zdenek Kolar 7-5, 6-4.

Turning 18 on 1 September, Mensik is the second-youngest player in the US Open main draw, behind American Learner Tien. The Czech, who will meet Frenchman Gregoire Barrere in the opening round, ousted tour veteran Fabio Fognini in the first round of qualifying before defeating #NextGenATP Swiss Leandro Riedi and Kolar to advance.

In May, Mensik won the ATP Challenger Tour event in Prague, where he became the youngest Czech Challenger champion in history (since 1978). The 2022 Australian Open boys’ singles finalist was ranked outside the Top 800 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings last August and has since risen to No. 191.

Three Americans also advanced through qualifying Saturday, with New York native Nicolas Moreno De Alboran leading the way by saving two match points to survive Belgian Joris De Loore 3-6, 7-6(3), 7-6(12). Despite trailing 0/5 in the deciding-set tie-break, the 25th seed mounted a comeback to make his major main-draw debut. Zachary Svajda cruised past Marc Polmans 6-2, 6-1. Emilio Nava led Eliot Spizzirri 6-3, 3-6, 3-1 before his countryman retired.

What a moment!

New York native Nicolas Moreno de Alboran earns a spot in the main draw with a thrilling three-set win! pic.twitter.com/CgZdkt7coz

A U.S. summer of success continued for Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow on Saturday at the Winston-Salem Open.

The American duo downed second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Neal Skupski 6-3, 6-4 in the final at the hard-court ATP 250 for their third tour-level title as a team, all of which have come in the past six weeks on American soil.

“I think our U.S. summer has been pretty great so far, taking our third title,” said Withrow. “I think even coming here, where we hadn’t had the best results before, kind of getting on top of that and just trying to trust our stuff and playing well in Winston is a confidence builder for us [heading into the US Open].”

Having triumphed back-to-back in Newport and Atlanta in July, Lammons and Withrow did not drop a set en route to the trophy in Winston-Salem, where they also defeated top seeds Rajeev Ram/Joe Salisbury in the first round and third seeds Hugo Nys/Jan Zielinski in the semi-finals.

“Tennis is a sport where we spend at least half of our year in other countries, so it’s always cool to be back home,” said Lammons. “The crowd really gets behind us, it’s fun to play with that atmosphere and we feel like we’re playing for more than just ourselves. It’s a lot more fun, and I think that’s a big reason why we’ve been successful.”

Nicolas Jarry’s first-round win at the Western & Southern Open in Cincinnati was ordinary. The Chilean’s life ever since has been anything but.

Instead of taking the court for his second-round clash at the ATP Masters 1000 event against Alexei Popyrin last week, Jarry rushed home to await the birth of his second child.

“It wasn't that much of a surprise. I already had said with my wife that if something happened, she would be monitoring herself and the baby already since Toronto. And whenever the doctor said that it was close, I would just get a flight,” Jarry told ATPTour.com. “And the day after I won, she went to the doctor and they told her that it was better if I can go home because it could go any day. She already was having contractions. So that was enough. I went.”

Last Friday Jarry’s wife, Laura, gave birth to their second son, Santiago. They also have a 17-month old, Juan.

“[I got there with] two days, so I had time to be with her,” Jarry said. “I arrived and everything was very, very smooth. She didn't want to be alone if something happens. So that gave her mental [calm].”

Argentine Sebastian Baez extended his match-winning streak to nine on Friday when he survived a gruelling battle against top seed Borna Coric in the Winston-Salem Open semi-finals.

The 22-year-old, who won the ATP 250 event in Kitzbühel three weeks ago, defeated Coric 6-3, 6-7(4), 7-6(2) after three hours, 19 minutes. Baez dropped just one point behind his serve in the opening set and displayed all-court coverage as he struck the ball confidently to reach his first tour-level final on hard courts.

“[The crowd’s] energy was amazing,” Baez said in his on-court interview. “Of course [I am] tired, but happy because it was a great battle. Happy to be in the final.”

[ATP APP]

After a fast start, it seemed Baez was going to cruise in the second set as well. Baez held a 3-1 lead before he suffered a nosebleed that stopped play, forcing him to visit with the physio. He then was broken in his ensuing service game before Coric raised his level to win an exciting one-hour, 23-minute second set.

Frenchman Enzo Couacaud rallied from a set down Friday at the US Open to qualify for his third major appearance of the season.

The 28-year-old defeated Italian Giulio Zeppieri 3-6, 6-1, 6-1 after winning 90 per cent of first serve points. Couacaud, who advanced through qualifying at the Australian Open and Wimbledon, will look to improve upon his first-round appearance last year at Flushing Meadows, where he fell to 25th seed Borna Coric in five sets.

Couacaud won his opening-round match in Melbourne before taking a set against eventual champion Novak Djokovic. 

#NextGenATP Dominic Stricker also qualified on Friday, defeating Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante 6-2, 6-3. Fourth seed Taro Daniel cruised past Argentine Francisco Comesana 6-1, 6-4. Finland's Otto Virtanen pulled away Chinese teen Shang Juncheng 7-5, 6-7(2), 6-1 after two hours, one minute. 

[ATP APP]

Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow downed third seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski 7-6(4), 6-4 on Friday at the Winston-Salem Open to reach their sixth tour-level final of the season.

The American duo, who upset top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the opening round, have not dropped a set all week in North Carolina, where they saved all three break points faced in the semi-finals. Currently 12th in the Pepperstone ATP Live Doubles Teams Rankings, Lammons and Withrow are one win away from their third tour-level title of 2023, having won in Newport and Atlanta.

"I think we are staying very true to our style. We serve big and we play pretty aggressive," Lammons said. "We've played some tough teams and I think that's helped us stay really focussed. Had a pretty hard road so far to the final, played some tough guys who we've lost to before so I think staying true to that aggressive approach has helped us get here."

They will next meet second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Neal Skupski or Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop in Saturday's final.

What was going on in the van back to Manhattan after Frances Tiafoe stunned Rafael Nadal at last year’s US Open?

The American revealed all in a reunion for Season 1, Part 2 of Netflix’s Break Point. Tiafoe joined countryman Taylor Fritz and WTA star Aryna Sabalenka in studio.

“After a win like that you can play anything. I’m losing my mind,” Tiafoe said. “I can go crazy to Nickleback, it doesn’t really matter. But what was playing, I was so amped up.”

[BREAK POINT]

One of the interesting features of Tiafoe’s episode, which covered his run to the semi-finals last year in New York, was his relationship with coach Wayne Ferreira. The South African, a former top player himself, was shown to never get too high or too low, but even he enjoyed his charge’s victory according to Tiafoe.

Novak Djokovic explained on Friday before beginning his chase for a fourth US Open title that World No. 1 Carlos Alcaraz is bringing the best out of him.

The pair clashed on Sunday in the Western & Southern Open final and the Serbian needed three hours and 49 minutes to emerge with his record-extending 39th ATP Masters 1000 trophy.

“He's always pushing me to the limit. I think I do to him pretty much the same thing. That's why we produced memorable final. It was one of the best, most exciting, and most difficult finals I was ever part of in best-of-three, no doubt, throughout my career,” Djokovic said. “That's why I fell on the ground after I won the match because it felt like winning a Grand Slam, to be honest. The amount of exchanges and rallies. It was physically so demanding and grueling that I felt very exhausted for the next few days.”

Late in the first set and early in the second set of the epic Cincinnati final, Djokovic appeared to be struggling physically. But the 36-year-old embraced the battle, saved a championship point in the second-set tie-break and found his best tennis from there.

“I love competition. I think the more you find yourself in those particular circumstances where you're experiencing adversity on the court, where things are not maybe moving the right way for you in terms of the performance of that day, in terms of tennis, or mentally you're not feeling your best, that's normally the best possible opportunity for you to grow mentally from that, to learn something,” Djokovic said. “Normally in the face of adversity is where you learn the most.”

While tennis fans may be looking ahead to a potential Carlos Alcaraz and Novak Djokovic final at the US Open, World No. 3 Daniil Medvedev is looking to play the role of disruptor this fortnight.

Medvedev has enjoyed the Alcaraz-Djokovic budding rivalry like anyone else, but with much of the attention on the top seed and the 23-time major champion, the 27-year-old could crash the party.

“I think that's normal we talk about them. I do think we still talk about me,” Medvedev said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I'm not feeling too bad, but I'm going to try. The goal is after this US Open, that we talk about me, so I'm going to try to do it. I just try to win. That's the most important. But unconsciously, I feel like many times I was playing good in this role. Hopefully it can help me these two weeks.

“I think it's great for tennis that we have these two guys playing against each other right now. As I say, it's a great story, but then the tournament starts and hopefully we can — when I say 'we’ [I mean] me personally or someone else — we're going to try to beat them and stop them from playing each other.”

[ATP APP]

Last year, Carlos Alcaraz enjoyed his breakthrough moment at the US Open. The Spaniard captured his maiden major title and rose to No. 1 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time.

Twelve months on and the defending champion returns to New York, chasing his third Slam title. The top seed fired a warning to the rest of the field ahead of his opening match against Germany’s Dominik Koepfer.

“I feel that I'm more mature on court. I feel that I'm a better player than I was a year ago,” Alcaraz said in his pre-tournament press conference. “I got my first Grand Slam last year, but I feel like I'm more mature and I'm better.”

[BREAK POINT]

Alcaraz’s 53-6 record this season backs up his statement, with the 20-year-old clinching a Tour-leading six titles. The World No. 1 has demonstrated his ability to deal with pressure in 2023, clawing past Novak Djokovic in five sets to win Wimbledon in July.

Top seed Borna Coric advanced to his third semi-final of the year after waiting out a four-hour thunderstorm delay before taking the court against 21-year-old Juan Manuel Cerundolo Thursday night in Winston-Salem.

The storm, initially with heavy rain and later with thunder and lightning, pushed back the start of the night session to around 10.30 pm, leaving officials with no option but to play the two remaining quarter-finals concurrently on Stadium and Court 2.

Coric claimed an early break in the first set against the left-handed World No. 100, who had just three tour-level wins this season coming into the tournament, and pushed on to a 6-3, 6-1 victory.

"I was serving really well and I was much happier with my return today," said Coric. "Even though we had to wait four hours I wanted to play the match tonight so now I get to rest rather than playing two times tomorrow."

The Croatian is chasing his fourth career title and first since he claimed the biggest title of his career just over a year ago at the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Cincinnati.

Nathaniel Lammons and Jackson Withrow continued their Winston-Salem Open run on Thursday when they booked their ticket to the semi-finals.

After ousting top seeds Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury in the opening round, the Americans cruised past Simone Bolelli and Mate Pavic 6-3, 6-2 in just 64 minutes. Lammons and Withrow, who are aiming for their third tour-level title of the season (Newport, Atlanta), will next clash against third seeds Hugo Nys and Jan Zielinski.

Second seeds Lloyd Glasspool and Neal Skupski also advanced to the last four Thursday after they saved a match point to down Australians Matthew Ebden and John-Patrick Smith 7-5, 4-6, 11-9. The British duo won three straight points from 8-9 in the Match Tie-break to set a meeting against Marcelo Demoliner and Matwe Middelkoop or Romain Arneodo and Ariel Behar.

#NextGenATP lefties Dominic Stricker and Shang Juncheng secured US Open qualifying wins Thursday to move one step closer towards making their maiden main-draw appearance at the season's final major.

The Swiss Stricker survived fellow #NextGenATP star Pablo Llamas Ruiz 6-7(2), 6-4, 7-6(13-11) in a dramatic two hours, 41 minutes. Stricker and the Spaniard were locked at 9/9 in the Match Tie-break when rain stopped play for nearly three hours.

When players returned to court, the 22nd seed Stricker put the finishing touches on the victory, converting his third match point, to set a meeting with Argentine Thiago Agustin Tirante, who ousted American Brandon Holt 7-6(4), 6-3.

[ATP APP]

Shang, 18, downed home hope Patrick Kypson 6-4, 7-6(2) after winning 81 per cent of his first-serve points to set a meeting with 28th seed Finn Otto Virtanen. 

Is this the week Sebastian Korda captures his second tour-level title?

The American saved one match point against Frenchman Richard Gasquet at the Winston-Salem Open on Thursday, advancing 4-6, 6-1, 7-6(7) to reach the semi-finals at the ATP 250 event.

Korda, who captured his only tour-level trophy in Parma in 2021, recovered from failing to serve out the match at 5-4 in the third set. He struck two double faults in the game, but responded in the decisive tie-break, saving one match point at 6/7 before converting on his third opportunity to advance after two hours and 31 minutes.

"It was hot today. I just have to trust a little bit in all the work I've put in," Korda said in his on-court interview. "A lot of thanks to [the fans] for sticking by me in keeping me pumped up and ready to go."

[ATP APP]

When Ryan Peniston was one, he faced an immense challenge for which no family wishes.

The Briton was diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma, a soft tissue cancer found in children, forcing him to have surgery to remove a tumour before undergoing an extensive period of chemotherapy in London. Now the 27-year-old Peniston, who has been cancer-free since his toddler years, wants to impact families who are walking that same difficult path.

Since last summer, Peniston has been an ambassador for the charity organisation Young Lives vs. Cancer.

[ATP APP]

“They help kids and their families that are going through cancer and all the troubles that it brings, the costs, the hardships,” Peniston said. “They do some great work and I'm just happy to be a part of it and to try and spread awareness and help in any way.

Arthur Fils and Ben Shelton lead a quartet of #NextGenATP contenders at this year’s US Open, where the young stars will aim to earn standout wins to boost their chances of qualifying for the Next Gen ATP Finals as Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, prepares to host the event for the first time.

The 19-year-old Frenchman Fils, currently fourth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Race To Jeddah (908 points), is making his debut in New York and begins against 24th seed Tallon Griekspoor, who has won two tour-level titles this season.

Shelton, 20, made his debut at the hard-court major last year, falling to Nuno Borges in the first round. The American will hope to go deeper this fortnight, starting against Argentine Pedro Cachin. Shelton is fifth in the Live Race To Jeddah (735 points), having advanced to the second round in Toronto and Cincinnati earlier this month.

Shelton’s Countryman Alex Michelsen enjoyed a breakthrough run on home soil in Newport in July when he advanced to his first tour-level final. The 18-year-old, who is seventh in the Live Race To Jeddah (447 points), plays Spaniard Albert Ramos-Vinolas in the first round. Michelsen is making his Slam debut and reached the third round in Winston-Salem this week.

The American could face fellow #NextGenATP star Luca Van Assche in the second round. The Frenchman, 19, meets 23rd seed Nicolas Jarry. Van Assche is sixth in the Live Race To Jeddah (587 points), with his best result this season a run to the quarter-finals in Hamburg.

Reigning US Open champion Carlos Alcaraz will begin his title defence against Dominik Koepfer and could meet sixth seed Jannik Sinner in the quarter-finals in what would be a rematch of their epic 2022 New York clash.

The top seed Alcaraz, who is chasing his third major title at the hard-court Slam, arrives in New York off the back of a final run at Cincinnati. The 20-year-old is seeded to face 16th seed Cameron Norrie in the fourth round and is in the same half as third seed Daniil Medvedev, who would be a semi-final opponent.

The 27-year-old Medvedev lifted his maiden major title at the US Open in 2021. He opens against Attila Balazs and could meet Toronto finalist Alex de Minaur in the fourth round. Long-time friend Andrey Rublev is a potential quarter-final opponent.

[ATP APP]

In the bottom half, record 23-time major champion Novak Djokovic faces Frenchman Alexandre Muller in the first round. The 36-year-old Serbian, who is a three-time champion in New York, is in the same quarter as seventh seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, who could meet American Taylor Fritz in the fourth round. Tsitsipas opens against former World No. 3 Milos Raonic.

To celebrate Rafal Nadal becoming a global brand ambassador for Infosys, ATP's digital innovation partner, ATPTour.com looks at the evolution of Rafa’s game and the Spaniard’s key stats during his record-breaking career.

Rafael Nadal exploded onto the global tennis scene in 2005, winning 11 ATP Tour tournaments, including five ATP Masters 1000 events and his maiden Roland Garros title. He started the year ranked No. 51 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings and finished No. 2.

A star was born.

An Infosys ATP Beyond The Numbers analysis of Nadal’s illustrious career identifies how champions evolve by continually adding to their game - and also changing the game along the way.

Let's start at the beginning.

The Christopher Eubanks show will soon begin at the US Open. But off the court, the American star paid a visit to a different kind of show.

Eubanks joined WTA players Beatriz Haddad Maia and Alycia Parks for a behind-the-scenes tour of Hamilton at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in Manhattan. The players were showed around the stage, the music pit and even met several members of the cast.

[ATP APP]

One of the actors they met was Euan Morton, who plays King George in the musical. One of the most special moments of the visit came when the creator of the show, tennis fan Lin-Manuel Miranda, spoke to the players.

Eubanks, who had previously seen Hamilton twice, watched the first act in the music pit. It was a memorable experience before the season’s final major begins.

The ATP and Sense Arena, the world leader in virtual reality (VR) tennis training, have announced a new multiyear partnership that will see Sense Arena become the Official VR Tennis Training Tool of the ATP Tour.

Together, the partners will launch ATP Tour Sense Arena. The cobranded platform, operated via a Meta Quest 2 Headset paired with a haptic racquet, will offer groundbreaking VR training applications to tennis players of all levels worldwide. Additionally, the ATP’s Top 100 singles players and Top 25 doubles players will receive complimentary access to train with Sense Arena’s best-in-class VR technology.

The revamped ATP Tour Sense Arena platform will feature a new integration called Master Your Return, which will be powered by real match data and analytics from pro players on the ATP Tour and Hologic WTA Tours. This revolutionary feature will enable users to analyse and return true-to-life serves in VR from the top ATP and WTA players in the world. Additionally, Master Your Return will integrate match data from recreational players, allowing users to face accurate serves from virtual opponents of their equal skill level. The new feature will complement Sense Arena’s existing serve integrations from ATP pro Jack Sock, who had his serve replicated in Sense Arena earlier this year.

ATP Chief Business Officer Daniele Sano, ATP player Casper Ruud, WTA player Daria Saville and Sense Arena Founder and CEO Bob Tetiva. Photo: ATP Tour.
The ATP will in parallel collaborate with Sense Arena on the continued development of its training platform by designating advisors from its Medical Services, Technology and Business teams. The organisations will also work together to produce content to educate the wider tennis community about the benefits of mental training.

“Whether it’s on the ATP Tour or at any level of the game, the difference between winning and losing often comes down to mental fortitude and preparation,” said ATP CEO Massimo Calvelli. “Sense Arena is on the cutting edge of tennis training and we’re proud to lend our resources and expertise to advance a VR platform that will not only help our players, but tennis players of all ages and abilities across the globe.”