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Marin Cilic on Wednesday announced his withdrawal from Wimbledon as he continues his recovery from a right knee injury he suffered at the beginning of the season.

The Croatian reached the final at The Championships in 2017. Cilic owns a 31-13 record at the grass-court major.

“I’m sad to be missing the grass season and especially Wimbledon; this is a highlight of the season for every tennis player, but I know how important it is not to rush the recovery process,” Cilic wrote on Instagram. Things have generally been going well the last few weeks with my post-surgery training so I'm staying positive and focused on my long-term recovery. ?

“I hope that I'll be competing very soon. I miss being on Tour, the tournaments and the fans, and I can’t wait to get back to all of that, to feel the thrill of stepping on court & competing. Until then, I’ll keep training and sharpening my motivation. Thanks for your continued support as always! ???”

Yannick Hanfmann’s strong 2023 hit a new high Wednesday at the Mallorca Championships.

The German defeated top seed and defending champion Stefanos Tsitsipas 6-4, 3-6, 6-2 at the grass-court ATP 250 in Spain’s Balaeric Islands for the biggest win of his career. Hanfmann won 80 per cent (36/45) of points behind his first serve in a rock-solid performance to reach his first non-clay ATP Tour quarter-final.

“I think a lot of things have to work to beat a Top 10 player,” said Hanfmann after his win against the World No. 5. “I think I had a really good start. Maybe Stefanos was a little bit rusty in the conditions. With the wind and the grass it was not that easy, so maybe having a match already on the first day was really important.

“I served really well in all three sets. Just that one service game with two double faults, but overall I’m really happy with my performance.”

Biggest win of his career! ?@YannickHanfmann takes out the defending champion in Mallorca, Stefanos Tsitsipas, 6-4 3-6 6-2 ?@MallorcaChamps | #MallorcaChampionships pic.twitter.com/RRcO6zg409

Tournament organisers at Wimbledon announced on Wednesday the seeds for the 2023 edition of The Championships, headlined by first seed Carlos Alcaraz and second seed Novak Djokovic.

From 2002-2019, Wimbledon used a seeding formula that took into account players' success on grass. But starting from the 2021 edition (no tournament in 2020), organisers reverted to using the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

Alcaraz will be the top seed at the second consecutive major after leading the way at Roland Garros, where he lost in the semi-finals to Djokovic. The Serbian over the coming fortnight will try to tie Roger Federer's record by claiming his eighth Wimbledon title.

Rounding out the Top 8 seeds are third seed Daniil Medvedev, fourth seed Casper Ruud, fifth seed Stefanos Tsitsipas, sixth seed Holger Rune, seventh seed Andrey Rublev and eighth seed Jannik Sinner.

Nick Kyrgios, the Australian who reached last year's Wimbledon final, is World No. 33 in this week's Pepperstone ATP Rankings. However, due to the withdrawal of Karen Khachanov and Pablo Carreno Busta, who would have been seeded, Kyrgios is the 31st seed. 

With the release of the latest five episodes of Netflix’s Break Point, fans got a closer look at Frances Tiafoe.

The American was featured in Episode 9, which focussed on Tiafoe’s dream run to the semi-finals of the 2022 US Open. The fans’ favourite not only provided the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at his magnetic personality, but revealed why he believes his efforts on Tour are about more than just tennis.

Tiafoe spoke to ATPTour.com late last year about what it was like filming with the Netflix crews, being a “jokester” and more.

Was there anything they filmed that you wished they didn’t?
I probably said some off-the-cuff stuff, everybody probably did. [It was] just me being me. I like to clown around and joke around, but they were pretty good with it. ‘Don’t worry about it.’

They just wanted me to be me, so they were never trying to catch me on something. They did a great job. They were there as much and as little as I wanted them to be and I’m happy this opportunity came.

An all-Californian clash on the English south coast went the way of Mackenzie McDonald on Wednesday in Eastbourne, where the World No. 64 downed top seed and defending champion Taylor Fritz at the Rothesay International.

McDonald recovered a break deficit in both sets to clinch a 7-6(3), 7-6(8) second-round victory at the grass-court ATP 250. His two-hour, 21-minute upset of the World No. 9 Fritz was McDonald’s third against an opponent in the Top 10 of the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, and his second of 2023 after he defeated then-World No. 2 Rafael Nadal at January’s Australian Open.

“It’s a big win for me,” said McDonald in his on-court interview. “Taylor’s a close friend, and it’s always tough playing your friends. It was a battle out there. I’m happy with how I competed and I think I put on a show today, so it was really fun.”

[ATP APP]

The 28-year-old McDonald stayed cool under pressure to triumph in his third Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting with Fritz, who lifted the trophy in Eastbourne in 2019 as well as 2022. McDonald rallied from 2-5 in the first set and 2-4 in the second, and was forced to save two set points in the second-set tie-break before sealing his spot in his fourth ATP Tour quarter-final of the year.

Stefanos Tsitsipas has long been a fan of filmmaking, as evidenced by his creativity on social media as well as his YouTube channel, so it was no surprise to see the Greek participate in Netfflix’s Break Point filming.

The 2019 Nitto ATP Finals champion was featured in Episodes 6 and 7, with the main focus being his memorable clash against Nick Kyrgios at Wimbledon.

Tsitsipas spoke to ATPTour.com late last year about his experience filming Break Point, why he cares about more than the storylines featured and more.

Watch Episode 6 Trailer:

You always have loved filming and photography and videography. Was there anything particularly surprising from the whole Netflix experience?
How nice they were. The crew is so much fun to be working with. They were not just there to film, they were also very friendly and made the whole atmosphere very genuine for all of us to be part of this. They are a bunch of professionals that are trying to create nice memories with us. And I really appreciated them putting so much work into it. They seem quite smart as well.

Tuesday saw Feliciano Lopez play his first match at his last ever tournament, the Mallorca Championships. Not only did he delay his goodbye to the ATP Tour with a convincing win, he also sealed another record to cap off his long career.

The Spaniard, who beat Max Purcell 6-3, 7-5 in round one, served up 11 aces. According to Infosys ATP Stats, his new haul of 10,244 untouched serves puts him fourth on the all-time list of career aces.

The 41-year-old Toledo native leapfrogged serving great Goran Ivanisevic on the list. The Croatian was one of his childhood heroes.

“It’s a good stat, because Ivanisevic was one of my favourite players,” Feliciano told ATPTour.com. “When I was little, I always dreamed of being able to serve like him one day and now I’ve overtaken him on the list.

“I knew that I was among the top seven or eight, but I didn’t know exactly where. Surpassing Ivanisevic is a great achievement, I can’t say anything else. Thanks for letting me know,” he concluded with a smile.

Rajeev Ram and Joe Salisbury survived a first-round scare Tuesday at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne.

The second seeds saved two match points in a Match Tie-break to defeat Robert Galloway and Miguel Angel Reyes-Varela 6-3, 6-7(6), 13-11. Ram and Salisbury won 86 per cent of points behind their first delivery and will next face Romain Arneodo and Sam Weissborn in the second round.

Top seeds Ivan Dodig and Austin Krajicek continued their hot streak by ousting Argentines Francisco Cerundolo and Tomas Martin Etcheverry. Dodig and Krajicek have won 11 consecutive matches with titles at Roland Garros and last week in London. The Croatian-American pair will next meet home favourites Liam Broady and Jonny O’Mara.

Mallorca
Yuki Bhambri and Lloyd Harris cruised past Alexander Erler and Lucas Miedler 6-3, 6-2 after winning 23 of 25 first-serve points at the Mallorca Championships. The Indian-South African duo did not face a break point throughout the 52-minute contest to set a second-round clash against fourth seeds Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos.

Robin Haase and Philipp Oswald saved all five break points faced as they rallied to beat French duo Sadio Doumbia and Fabien Reboul 6-7(4), 6-3, 10-8.

The world's best players, including seven-time champion Novak Djokovic, are practising at Wimbledon ahead of the grass-court major.

Djokovic, Holger Rune, Jannik Sinner, Jiri Lehecka, Alexander Zverev and Andrey Rublev were photographed training at SW19 on Tuesday.

Djokovic has won the past four editions of The Championships. If the Serbian wins the title, he will have claimed the first three majors of the season for the second time in three years (also 2021).

Sinner defeated Stan Wawrinka and Carlos Alcaraz en route to the Wimbledon quarter-finals last year. The Italian won the first two sets before falling to eventual champion Djokovic in five.

Former World No. 4 Tomas Berdych was spotted on the practice court with fellow Czech star Jiri Lehecka, who will be competing at the grass-court major for the second time.

Former World No. 4 Kei Nishikori will return to ATP Tour action in July at the Atlanta Open, it was announced Tuesday by a tournament press release.

The Japanese star, who underwent arthroscopic left hip surgery last year, has not competed at the ATP Tour level since the BNP Paribas Open in October 2021.

Earlier this month, the 12-time tour-level titlist Nishikori began his comeback in style on the ATP Challenger Tour. Despite not competing for 20 months, Nishikori dropped just one set en route to triumphing at the Palmas del Mar Challenger in Puerto Rico.

American No. 1 Taylor Fritz and defending champion Alex de Minaur are also among the Atlanta entry list. Six-time champion John Isner will return to Atlantic Station, as well as World No. 35 Ben Shelton, who made his tour-level debut at the 250 event last year. The Atlanta Open will be held 24-30 July.

China’s Zhang Zhizhen earned his first tour-level grass-court win on Tuesday at the Rothesay International where he defeated former finalist Lorenzo Sonego 7-6(4), 6-3.

The World No. 54 saved three set points on serve in the first set at 5-6, before earning the decisive break of the second set in the eighth game to advance after one hour and 59 minutes in Eastbourne.

"It was very enjoyable. My first win on grass, so it is amazing," Zhang said. "Going from clay to grass is not easy, different styles... I am happy to win this match."

Zhang, who is competing in his third tour-level event on the surface this week, will play Maxime Cressy in the second round after the American defeated Colombian qualifier Daniel Elahi Galan 6-4, 7-5 to snap an 11-match losing streak.

[BREAK POINT]

Novak Djokovic enters Wimbledon chasing plenty of history. The Serbian, who has won the past four editions of The Championships, will be the firm favourite when he takes the court at SW19 having triumphed at the first two majors of the season.

ATPTour.com looks at five incredible facts about Djokovic before he begins his run at the grass-court major.

Djokovic Owns More Wimbledon Wins Than The Rest Of The Top 20 Combined
The 36-year-old owns an 86-10 record at Wimbledon. His 86 wins are more than the rest of the Top 20 players in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings combined (85).

The player in the Top 20 with the second-most wins at Wimbledon is Karen Khachanov, who has 11. Djokovic’s winning percentage at the tournament is 89.6 per cent compared to 56.3 per cent for the rest of the Top 20.

Djokovic is 89-8 at the Australian Open, 92-16 at Roland Garros and 81-13 at the US Open.

Fans at the Mallorca Championships received a special surprise on Tuesday. Rafael Nadal was sitting front row for close friend Feliciano Lopez's first-round win against Australian Max Purcell.

Nadal is one of the most famous residents of Mallorca. He was joined by his wife, Maria Francisca Perello, Carlos Moya, Marc Lopez, Bartolome Salva-Vidal and others to watch Lopez compete in his final ATP Tour event.

A familiar face ?@RafaelNadal watches on in Mallorca! #MallorcaChampionships @MallorcaChamps pic.twitter.com/5mCgLnmgjr

The tournament director of the Mallorca Championships is Toni Nadal, Rafa's uncle and former coach. Nadal and Lopez's first Lexus ATP Head2Head meeting came in 2003 in Basel, where Lopez triumphed in a final-set tie-break. Nadal won their series 10-4. 

"I was lucky that Rafa [Nadal], Marc [López] and many tennis friends came today," Lopez said. "Some of them couldn't be here today, but they were there on Saturday [at Lopez's tennis party] and I felt very supported.

Adrian Mannarino’s consistent grass-court season continued Tuesday at the Mallorca Championships. The fourth-seeded Frenchman prevailed in a topsy-turvy battle with Guido Pella in Spain to reach his third ATP Tour quarter-final in as many weeks.

The two-time tour-level champion Mannarino trailed Pella by a set and a break but he dug deep for a 3-6, 7-6(5), 6-3 second-round triumph. Mannarino fired 34 winners to his opponent’s 24 in a remarkable two-hour, 31-minute encounter that featured 11 breaks of serve.

Mannarino, a quarter-finalist in 's-Hertogenbosch and at The Queen's Club in the past two weeks, lifted the first ATP Tour title of his career on grass at the former in 2019. The 34-year-old will next chase his first semi-final of the season against Corentin Moutet, who was a 6-3, 7-6(4) winner against eighth seed Roberto Carballes Baena.

Also on Tuesday, Lloyd Harris triumphed 7-6(5), 6-3 in an all-qualifier battle with Roman Safiullin to reach his first tour-level quarter-final since October 2021. The South African, who missed the second half of 2022 after having wrist surgery, will play second seed Alejandro Davidovich Fokina or Pavel Kotov next in the Balearic Islands.

[ATP APP]

The ATP has announced the launch of an official merchandise collection, dedicated to serving the more than 85 million recreational tennis players around the world, created in collaboration with Tennis-Point, the ATP’s Official Racket Sports Products Retailer.

The collection features a classic apparel line and essential equipment including tennis bags, strings and grips. With a focus on providing great quality at fair prices, the collection aims to make tennis more accessible to the millions of global fans who enjoy playing the game at all levels. It marks a significant new milestone in the global partnership between ATP and Tennis-Point, which began in 2021.

The unisex apparel line includes essential polos, tees, hoodies, shorts and headwear. Sporting the ATP Tour’s signature blue and white colourway, discreet detailing and clean lines inspired by classic tennis collections, the items offer a versatile and timeless on-court and clubhouse look.

In parallel, ATP and Tennis-Point have released a line of affordable, high-quality strings, grips and tennis bags. Other performance gear includes towels, wristbands and dampeners – providing players with the complete equipment set to maximise their enjoyment and performance playing the game. This marks the first time ATP has launched a comprehensive collection of apparel and equipment.

“We’re excited to bring the ATP Tour brand even closer to the tennis playing community through our new official merchandise line,” said Daniele Sanò, ATP Chief Business Officer. “We’re thrilled to expand our collaboration with Tennis-Point and offer high-value products that unlock great experiences for our fans.”

Editor's note: This story was translated from ATPTour.com/es

The challenge faced by Stefanos Tsitsipas at the Mallorca Championships is not unfamiliar to him. The Greek landed on the Balearic Island on Sunday aiming to make to it back-to-back titles at the grass-court ATP 250, something he has previously achieved in Marseille (2019-20) and at the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (2021-22).

The No. 5 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings is yet to add to his trophy haul this season, although he has reached two finals. One of them came on Spanish soil, at the Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell (the other was at January’s Australian Open).

Tsitsipas is fifth on the leaderboard of most tour-level wins in 2023 with 32. This week, he will hope for a trophy to reward his consistent winning on the grass of Mallorca. For his trip to the ATP 250, Tsitsipas is joined by his father and long-term coach Apostolos Tsitsipas, his brother Petros Tsitsipas (who is competing in the doubles), and his girlfriend, WTA Tour star Paula Badosa.

Badosa, who is recovering from a stress fracture to a vertebra, is preparing herself for a return to competition. On Monday morning she took part in a practice session under the supervision of Apostolos.

Luca Van Assche’s first tour-level win on grass was a memorable one.

The #NextGenATP Frenchman prevailed 2-6, 7-6(5), 7-6(4) in a thrilling first-round encounter against home wild card George Loffhagen on Monday at the Rothesay International in Eastbourne.

In the second set, Van Assche twice broke Loffhagen when the Briton was serving for the match. In the decider, the 19-year-old qualifier rallied from 1-3 before winning his second tie-break of the match for a see-saw two-hour, 56-minute victory.

Van Assche, who has claimed his first four tour-level victories this year and also won ATP Challenger Tour titles on hard courts and clay, is sixth in the Pepperstone ATP Live Next Gen Race. In the second round he will take on J.J. Wolf, who defeated sixth seed Tomas Martin Etcheverry 6-2, 6-4 earlier in the day for his own maiden tour-level win on grass.

[ATP APP]

The first season of Break Point wrapped by digging deeper with Taylor Fritz and getting to know WTA player Aryna Sabalenka.

The settings were the Nitto ATP Finals and the WTA Finals, the respective tours’ year-end championships.

“This is what everyone has their sights set on,” Fritz said.

The American for the first time in the series spoke about his son, Jordan, from a previous relationship.

“I just hope as he gets older he understands what I’m doing and understands what I’m trying to do,” Fritz said.

One of the most memorable moments from the first season of Netflix's Break Point came in Episode 6, which detailed Nick Kyrgios' mental struggles at Wimbledon in 2019.

It was revealed that Kyrgios checked into a psych ward in London that year. The Australian's father, George, sister, Halimah, and manager, Daniel Horsfall, shared emotional recollections of that period in Kyrgios' life.

“He has not told a soul what they said in there,” Horsfall said. “That conversation they had in that room, no one knows.”

Paul Martin, one of Break Point's executive producers, explained that it was Kyrgios who steered the production team towards sharing the moment.

"I think it is just a process. It was never a narrative that we tried to force. I think when you spend time around Nick, you understand that there's something bigger at play," Martin told ATPTour.com. "Clearly there's this stuff going on, stuff in his head and all that stuff. But it wasn't a case of saying, ‘Hey, listen, we really need to get to the bottom of this.’

Lucas Pouille led a slew of stars through the first round of Wimbledon qualifying on Monday with a 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 victory over Zdenek Kolar.

The former World No. 10 captured the hearts of fans at Roland Garros, where as the No. 675 player in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings he qualified and won a match in the main draw. The Frenchman will try to qualify again at SW19, where he made the quarter-finals in 2016.

Hyeon Chung, the 2018 Australian Open semi-finalist who has been battling injury in recent years, eliminated Dimitar Kuzmanov 6-2, 3-6, 6-3. It was a tough draw for Chung, as Kuzmanov two weeks ago reached an ATP Challenger Tour final in Bratislava. But that tournament was on clay, and the South Korean earned his first win of the year at any level on the Roehampton grass.

[BREAK POINT]

Second seed Thanasi Kokkinakis was unable to advance. #NextGenATP Swiss Leandro Riedi stunned the Australian 7-5, 6-4. Another #NextGenATP player, Luca Nardi, ousted Jozef Kovalik 6-2, 4-6, 6-4. Fellow Next Gen ATP Finals contender Hamad Medjedovic cruised past Pedro Martinez 6-0, 6-1.