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Denis Shapovalov might have pursued a career in ice hockey if he wasn't a tennis player. On Monday night, he experienced the game at its highest level before his opening match at the Dallas Open.

The Canadian watched the Dallas Stars — the NHL's Western Conference leaders — defeat the Anaheim Ducks 3-2 in a shootout. He even had time to snap some photos with members of the Stars team from Toronto, including his friend Tyler Seguin, who scored the winning goal in the shootout.

"I've met Tyler before. We've known each other for years now," Shapovalov said. "Really cool to see him again, and to meet a couple of the other Toronto guys was a really cool moment."

Left to right: Wyatt Johnston, Ty Dellandrea, Colin Miller, Denis Shapovalov, Tyler Seguin and Mason Marchment. Photo credit: @DallasStars

The third seed at the Dallas Open, Shapovalov will hope to replicate the Stars' fighting spirit that was on display in Monday's win.

Marc-Andrea Huesler maintained his good start to the year Tuesday with first-round victory at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier, but not before he was given a thorough test by emerging #NextGenATP Frenchman Luca Van Assche.

The Swiss lefty arrived at the ATP 250 event off the back of notching victories for Switzerland against Germany’s Oscar Otte and Alexander Zverev in the weekend’s Davis Cup Qualifiers. Huesler was made to dig deep by the 18-year-old World No. 145 Van Assche in southern France, however, where he fended off five of six break points in his 6-3, 3-6, 6-3 win.

“Obviously he’s very young. He’s 18, [but] already Top 150, so he’s a great player” said Huesler in his on-court interview after booking a second-round clash against top seed Holger Rune. "I saw that in the second set especially. He had a great phase there, where he wasn’t missing and [was] making my life really difficult. I’m very happy that I was able to come through this round.”

The World No. 49 Huesler's serve pulled him through tough moments against an opponent playing just his third tour-level match. The 26-year-old fired 13 aces and won 86 per cent (38/44) of points behind his first delivery to move to 6-2 for the 2023 season.

“It’s always different, every tournament starts from scratch,” said Huesler, when asked whether his Davis Cup heroics had boosted his confidence ahead of the Van Assche clash. “Today I felt the pressure was a bit more on my side because obviously I want to win, I want to start off the year well indoors as well. I’m really happy I got it done.”

John Isner has racked up frequent-flyer miles throughout his 15-year career. But the American doesn't have to travel far this week as he competes in front of family, friends, and a local crowd at the Dallas Open. The only travel he will do this week is a short drive from his house to the Styslinger/Altec Tennis Complex.

The World No. 38, who has called Dallas home for five years, spoke with ATPTour.com about what he enjoys most residing in the Texas city. Isner, seeded fifth, meets Chun-Hsin Tseng on Tuesday night in the opening round of the Dallas Open.

[ATP APP]

What do you like about living in Dallas?
I think the people here. By and large, the people here are very, very nice. They have welcomed my family here with open arms.

How much time do you get to check out the city and is there a certain area you like to check out?
I get a lot of time to check out the city. I like Deep Ellum, Lower Greenville, I have some friends that live in that area. I like Downtown and the Perot Museum [of Nature and Science] — our kids really like that. And the aquarium. A lot of the stuff we do revolves around the kids.

The Rolex Shanghai Masters has renewed its contract with the tournament title sponsor, the prestige Swiss watchmaker Rolex.

Rolex will continue to sponsor the ATP Masters 1000 event in China for the next 10 years. The two parties will jointly present the Rolex Shanghai Masters from 2-15 October 2023 (including qualifying rounds) following an exciting and significant upgrade to the award-winning tournament.

The partnership between Rolex and the Rolex Shanghai Masters began in 2009, when the event first came to Shanghai. Rolex is the highest-level sponsor of the event, the Asia-Pacific region's only ATP Masters 1000 tournament, and the association has brought about a long-term relationship.

In recognition of the tournament’s recognisable branding and the organising committee's strength in staging the event, Rolex upgraded its sponsorship level and assumed title sponsorship of the Shanghai event in 2010. The Rolex Shanghai Masters is a prominent annual event in China's sports calendar and the region’s premier tennis tournament.

The combination of the tournament and the prestige brand helped the Rolex Shanghai Masters earn the ATP Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year award, as voted by ATP players, for five consecutive years from 2009. 

A wrist injury may have disrupted Alex Rybakov’s plans for the final months of the 2022 season, but the American has wasted no time getting back to business this year.

Playing in just his second tournament after a four-month absence, Rybakov defeated Jonas Forejtek and Elmar Ejupovic in straight sets to reach the main draw of an ATP Tour event for the first time at this week’s Dallas Open.

The 26-year-old’s tour-level debut against countryman Marcos Giron on Tuesday at the indoor ATP 250 event will be made even more special by the fact that he spent four years cutting his teeth in college tennis at the nearby Texas Christian University. ATPTour.com spoke to Rybakov to find out more about the World No. 378 and his journey to the top level of the sport.

[ATP APP]

How does it feel to qualify for your first tour-level main draw?
It feels great. I’m stoked, honestly. I’m really just happy to be back on court. I was out for about four to five months with a wrist injury after the US Open, so I’m just happy to be playing and competing, and obviously qualifying for my first ATP [event] on top of that is just the cherry on top. I just really feel great being back on court, feeling healthy, and feeling like I can play matches at a full percentage.

Jack Sock rode a rollercoaster on Monday evening at the Dallas Open. For the American, the up-and-down ride took him into the second round.

The former World No. 8 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings battled past Ilya Ivashka 7-6(2), 4-6, 6-4 after three hours and four minutes of topsy-turvy tennis. Sock saved 15 of the 18 break points he faced to move on and earn a clash with top seed Taylor Fritz.

[ATP APP]

“That’s why I put in the work right there the past few months,” Sock said. “For anybody that follows [me] obviously I didn’t go down to Australia, so I did about a three-month offseason to get my body right, get everything dialed in and give this sport another good run.

“I’ve had a tough couple years and it’s been fun grinding my way back. These matches are what makes it worth it to keep going and this one feels great. I’m excited to move on.”

It did not take long for history to be made at the 2023 Cordoba Open.

Spaniard Bernabe Zapata Miralles won the longest match in tournament history on Monday when he defeated countryman Roberto Carballes Baena 6-7(6), 6-3, 7-5 in three hours and 26 minutes to reach the second round. The previous-longest match came in 2020, when Albert Ramos-Vinolas outlasted Pablo Andujar in three hours and 20 minutes.

"It has been a battle. The conditions on clay are always with a lot of rallies and long matches, especially with two Spanish players. And I like to play these kind of matches... although not so long," Zapata Miralles said, cracking a laugh. "It's the first match I've won this year, but in the first tournament on clay. So for now the goal is to keep improving and to be able to advance in the tournaments and to take advantage of this clay swing, which is important for me."

[ATP APP]

Zapata Miralles converted five of the 11 break points he earned in the first ATP Tour main draw match contested on clay this year. The eighth seed will next face Colombian Daniel Elahi Galan or Chilean Tomas Barrios Vera.

Chinese men’s tennis continues to rise. Less than four months after Zhang Zhizhen made history as the first Chinese man to crack the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, Wu Yibing on Monday became the second to achieve the feat.

After reaching the final of the ATP Challenger Tour event in Cleveland, Wu ascended to a career-high World No. 97.

“That’s [a] goal I’ve wanted to achieve since I’m a kid,” Wu told ATPTour.com of breaking into the Top 100. “Everything became true and of course I feel good. It’s not the end. It’s just the beginning for me, I think.”

As recently as April last year, Wu was tied for World No. 1869 following a series of injuries. But he has enjoyed a meteoric rise since, winning three ATP Challenger events in less than a two-month span last year before qualifying for the US Open and reaching the third round.

“Since now I have a better ranking I will start playing more on the ATP Tour than Challengers,” Wu said. “Hopefully I can achieve the Top 30 this year.”

If Arthur Fils wanted to make a big first impression on his home fans, the 18-year-old Frenchman certainly chose a good time to do it at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier.

Fils upset countryman and 16-time tour-level titlist Richard Gasquet 7-5, 7-5 on Monday to register his maiden ATP Tour win. Gasquet entered the clash with a 10-0 record in opening rounds at the ATP 250 event in southern France, where he is a three-time champion. But wild card Fils broke decisively in the 12th game of both sets to clinch a famous one-hour, 52-minute first-round triumph.

“[I’m] really happy, it was a tough match for me,” said Fils post-match. “He was playing good, I was playing good too, but I played really good in the end of the first set and then I was a little bit more relaxed on the court. I’m happy about this win.”

[ATP APP]

The 36-year-old Gasquet knows how it feels to make a big impact at a young age — he remains the youngest winner of an ATP Tour match after his victory as a 15-year-old against Franco Squillari at the 2002 Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters. Despite taking an early 4-2 lead in the first set on Monday, however, Gasquet this time found himself on the wrong end of the upset as Fils sealed the win having fended off seven of nine break points.

The first ATP 500 event of the 2023 season will see Stefanos Tsitsipas, Andrey Rublev, defending champion Felix Auger-Aliassime and Daniil Medvedev lead the field at the ABN AMRO Open in Rotterdam.

Here's what you need to know ahead of the tournament in The Netherlands:

When is the ABN AMRO Open?

The 2023 ABN AMRO Open will be held from 13-19 February. The indoor hard court ATP 500 tournament, established in 1974, will take place at Rotterdam Ahoy in Rotterdam, The Netherlands. The tournament director is Richard Krajicek.

Who is playing at the 2023 ABN AMRO Open?

The ABN AMRO Open will feature stars including World No. 3 Tsitsipas, 2021 titlist Rublev, defending champion Auger-Aliassime and former World No. 1 Medvedev.

When is the draw for the ABN AMRO Open?

The ABN AMRO Open draw will be made Friday, 10 February at 7 p.m.

Win titles and you will quickly climb the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. Though much easier said than done, those are the hopes and dreams for the young stars on the ATP Challenger Tour who are hungry for a professional breakthrough. And all four of this week’s Challenger Tour champions are at a career-high Pepperstone ATP Ranking following their triumphs.

American Aleksandar Kovacevic triumphed in Cleveland for his maiden Challenger crown while Rinky Hijikata won in Burnie, Australia to back up his Grand Slam doubles title Down Under. Matteo Arnaldi and Roman Safiullin also lifted trophies on the Challenger Tour this week.

Kovacevic rallied from a set down in the Cleveland Open final to defeat Wu Yibing 3-6, 7-5, 7-6(2). The American avenged his Indianapolis Challenger loss to Wu, who defeated him in July after fending off six championship points.

En route to the Cleveland title, the former University of Illinois standout needed a deciding set in four of his five matches and took out the top three seeds: Emilio Gomez, Wu and Steve Johnson. The Challenger 75 title lifted Kovacevic to a career-high World No. 125 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings.

After a week of ATP Challenger Tour events, players have broken new ground in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings. ATPTour.com looks at the movers of the week as of Monday, 6 February 2023.

View Pepperstone ATP Rankings

[ATP APP]

No. 97 Yibing Wu, +15 (Career High)
China’s Yibing Wu has climbed into the Top 100 in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings for the first time after he reached the final at an ATP Challenger Tour event in Cleveland. The 23-year-old is up 15 spots to a career-high No. 97 and is the second Chinese man inside the Top 100, joining World No. 91 Zhizhen Zhang.

No. 82 Roman Safiullin, +18 (Career High)
The 25-year-old has jumped 18 spots after he clinched his first ATP Challenger Tour title of the year in Germany. Safiullin won four three-set matches before he downed Vasek Pospisil in the final.

Michael Mmoh and J.J. Wolf spent Sunday in true Texas fashion as they enjoyed time at AT&T Stadium, home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys.

Mmoh and Wolf, who are both competing in this week’s Dallas Open, got an inside look at the 80,000-capacity stadium before throwing tight spirals to each other on a replica turf field. And the fun did not stop there.

The Americans then switched to a more familiar playing ground, indulging in a friendly rally of mini tennis. Following Mmoh and Wolf’s third-round clash at the Australian Open just two weeks ago, Sunday’s meeting was all about soaking in time away from the court before competing at the ATP 250 event in Dallas. 

“It was cool to see the stadium without a game being played,” Mmoh said. “You could see the stadium a little more rather than just watching a game. The jumbotron is insane.”

Mmoh added: “I’ve been to two games there before when I’ve been in town. The first time the [Washington Commanders] were playing the Cowboys, division rivalry, I had to go. The Commanders are my favourite team. The second time [the Cowboys] were playing the Patriots and Tom Brady. It was like eight years ago and it was a cool experience.”

Borna Coric fired Croatia through to the Davis Cup Finals for a fourth time after ending Austria’s hopes of a final day fightback in their 2023 Qualifier in Rijeka.

The World No. 23 saw off former World No. 3 Dominic Thiem 7-6(3) 6-2 in one hour and 45 minutes to prevent Jurgen Melzer’s visiting side from gaining any further momentum after Lucas Miedler and Alexander Erler recorded a surprise triumph over the home side in the doubles.

“It was not easy, but I knew that this is Davis Cup, and this is tennis, and that anything can happen," said Coric of ending Austria's resurgence. "I was ready after the doubles match. I was pretty nervous, but I had time to prepare myself for the match. I came out on the court and I was playing great tennis today."

Austrian's doubles pair upset Nikola Mektic and Ivan Dodig, the doubles World No. 8 and No. 11, respectively, 6-3 7-6 (11) in one hour and 50 minutes to deny a Croatian clean sweep after the two Borna’s – Borna Coric and Borna Gojo – had won their singles on the opening day.

That left Thiem with an opportunity to take the contest to a deciding fifth match on Sunday afternoon, but the 2020 US Open champion, still on the comeback trail from a wrist injury, struggled for consistency against Coric.

To stay at the top of the ATP Tour, you need to be able to adapt and develop. With new stars emerging and a range of styles being implemented, the Tour provides numerous tests.

For Stefanos Tsitsipas, who will star in season one of Netflix's Break Point, the desire to improve is constant.

“I really plan to push boundaries and try and improve, even during games. [I am] aggressive, slightly creative. I am never really satisfied by doing the same thing over and over again,” Tsitsipas told ATP Uncovered in 2022. “I was trying to find new creative ways to perform certain tasks and play in any condition.”

The Greek has continued to adapt, winning titles every season since he captured his maiden crown in 2018. The ability to stay mentally strong and trust his game in crucial moments has been key to his success, with Tsitsipas highlighting this when reflecting on his title run at the Nitto ATP Finals in 2019.

“Serving at 6/4 at the Nitto ATP Finals in London in the tie-break, I think I missed my first serve by very few centimetres. I go for an unpredictable second serve towards Dominic’s forehand. I felt it was the right thing to do, it was kind of instinct. Do the opposite of what he would have expected in such a crucial important moment,” Tsitsipas said.

Netherlands are through to the Davis Cup Finals for the third time after beating Slovakia 3-0 in Groningen.

The foundations for the victory were laid on Saturday when Tallon Griekspoor and Tim van Rijthoven both stepped up to deliver singles points and put the Netherlands 2-0 ahead.

Those wins left the Dutch team in an incredibly strong position, not least because they could rely on the doubles duo of World No. 1 Wesley Koolhof and No. 19 Matwe Middelkoop to lead them out on Sunday, and they didn’t disappoint, beating Alex Molcan and Lukas Klein 6-3 6-3 to clinch the tie.

Middelkoop and Koolhof - with a combined age of 72 - have now won four of their six Davis Cup doubles matches together, and they were a class apart throughout the one-hour, eight-minute clash.

[ATP APP]

On a sensational Sunday in Seoul, South Korea dismantled Belgium’s 2-0 lead in the 2023 Davis Cup Qualifiers by winning the doubles and both singles. It is the first time the nation has overturned such a deficit in the history of the prestigious team event.

The hero of the day was World No. 237 Seong-chan Hong, who kept his cool to defeat Zizou Bergs 6-3, 7-6(4) in the deciding fifth rubber. Even when nerves were a factor for Hong, who is 122 places below the Belgian in the Pepperstone ATP Rankings, he held firm to complete a famous victory for his country.

"I tried to show my strengths as much as I could and tried to frustrate my opponent," said Hong after the match. "As soon as I started, I thought it was working well today. The atmosphere was good before the game. Of course, I was very nervous, but I was also very excited. After the match point, I thought I showed it."

The decider was needed after Belgian No.1 David Goffin failed in his bid to wrap up the tie, with Soonwoo Kwon coming from behind to take the match 3-6, 6-1, 6-3, serving up 11 aces in the process.

“It was not an easy game, but I think I could win thanks to the fans who came to see the game today,” Kwon said. “In the first set, there were a lot of errors because I had too many thoughts,” he added. “But from the second set, I tried to find composure and played well as I thought about the practice game with Goffin.”

An ATP 250 triple-header this week features a host of top stars eyeing early-season success. Cordoba, Dallas and Montpellier play host to tournaments from 6-12 February.

Diego Schwartzman leads the draw at the opening clay-court event of the 2023 season at the Cordoba Open, while Taylor Fritz and Frances Tiafoe bring Top 20 quality to the hard courts at the Dallas Open. The hard-hitting Holger Rune and Jannik Sinner spearhead the field at the Open Sud de France – Montpellier.

ATPTour.com looks ahead at five things to watch at each event.

[ATP APP]

View Draws: Cordoba | Dallas | Montpellier

Cameron Norrie completed a Davis Cup double on Saturday to clinch victory for Great Britain against Colombia in a 2023 Qualifier.

After scoring the visitors' first point with a win against Nicolas Barrientos on Friday, the World No. 11 earned his team a decisive third point with 6-4, 6-4 victory against Nicolas Mejia on Day 2 of the tie. In Saturday's opening match in Cota, the doubles duo of Daniel Evans and Neal Skupski gave Great Britain a 2-1 lead with a 6-4, 6-4 result against Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah.

[ATP APP]

"Feelings are one of immense pride for what the boys have done, and the support team," said British captain Leon Smith. "Everyone's committed a lot of time to this, but hats off to the players. They came down to Colombia, most straight from Melbourne, came earlier than we'd ever normally do for Davis Cup, which is a big commitment from them. But we did that to prepare best for what happened these past two days and it's definitely paid off.

"There's a lot of work that the players have done to be able to adapt in a short space of time, and they went out and they fought really hard... It needed a lot of grit and determination. The important thing is we got a win, which gives us a chance to keep being successful this year. Really looking forward to September now."

Stan Wawrinka rolled back the years to fire Switzerland into the group stage of the Davis Cup by Rakuten Finals for the first time as the visitors completed a stunning 3-2 turnaround triumph against Germany in Trier.

The Germans had looked destined to win the 2023 Qualifier tie when Tim Puetz and Andreas Mies gave the hosts a 2-1 lead earlier on Saturday after beating Wawrinka and Dominic Stricker in the doubles, with world No. 14 Alexander Zverev waiting in the wings to polish off the tie.

But Swiss No. 1 Marc-Andrea Huesler tore up the script, perfectly executing his gameplan to stun Zverev in straight sets and give 37-year-old Wawrinka — a 2014 Davis Cup champion — the chance to secure Switzerland’s progress to the group stage in September.

“I’m happy I won one point and the last one was the most important,” said Wawrinka. “[Marc] played super well against Zverev. He put us back in the tie after losing the doubles.”

??✨Stan-ning tennis ✨??

Stan Wawrinka wins the tie for Switzerland with a match point drop shot ?#DavisCup | @stanwawrinka | @swiss_tennis pic.twitter.com/iw8w3Afw6p