Q2 Review: Djokovic’s Destiny, Tsitsipas & Berrettini Break Through | ATP Tour

The second quarter of the 2021 ATP Tour season noticed long-awaited breakthroughs, streaks of dominance, and future fulfilled.

We noticed Novak Djokovic tighten his grip on the highest of the FedEx ATP Rankings and add two Grand Slam titles to his record-tying haul – placing him one main win away from a historic feat.

Stefanos Tsitsipas and Matteo Berrettini reached their first Grand Slam finals at Roland Garros and Wimbledon, respectively. The Greek participant dominated the clay-court swing, however Rafael Nadal was to not be left behind as he set file after file on the floor. Berrettini went from barely having the ability to serve, to serving up a serious breakthrough on grass courts.

Daniil Medvedev discovered that selection is the spice of tennis, whereas one doubles duo forgot methods to lose as they secured a spot into the Nitto ATP Finals earlier than anybody else.

Under, ATPTour.com displays on a head-turning chapter of the 2021 season.

The Restrict Does Not Exist For Djokovic 
The game’s greats work laborious to realize unimaginable outcomes and achieve unprecedented feats. However solely one of the best of one of the best could make it look straightforward, and even fewer could make victory appear inevitable. That’s precisely what World No. 1 Novak Djokovic managed to do when he took his already historic 2021 season and dialed it as much as a legendary degree.

After taking a two-month break following his record-extending ninth Australian Open victory, Djokovic returned to motion on clay together with his sights set on extending his historic streak of most all-time weeks at No. 1 within the FedEx ATP Rankings. However because the wins piled up, one other purpose was now inside attain: the calendar-year Grand Slam. 

“I’ll positively go for the title at Wimbledon, the US Open and some other match and some other Slam that I play. I all the time have the best ambition and expectations of myself, however I attempt to be within the current second,” Djokovic stated. “I do know that if I do every part in the correct manner, if I put myself in the correct mind-set — my physique and soul, so to say — I’m in a position to win in opposition to anyone on any floor.”

Learn Tribute: Djokovic, Serial Champion

Djokovic fought by 13-time Roland Garros champion Rafael Nadal and defeated Stefanos Tsitsipas in a dramatic closing in Paris to raise his second Coupe des Mousquetaires – turning into the primary man within the Open Period to win all of the Grand Slams twice. At Wimbledon, he solely dropped one set on his method to his sixth Gents’s Singles Trophy (d. Berrettini), an all-time record-tying twentieth main title. He’s now one main win away from emulating Don Budge (1938) and Rod Laver (1962 and 1969) in successful all 4 Grand Slam tournaments in a single season.

Nadal Sends A Message In Rome
For years, the ATP Tour’s clay-court season has been synonymous with Nadal season, because the Spaniard has lengthy dominated the crimson dust with 62 of his 88 tour-level titles approaching the floor, together with a file 13 Roland Garros victories. This 12 months, two of the largest titles might have eluded him, with Roland Garros going to Djokovic and the ATP Masters 1000 in Madrid to Alexander Zverev. However Nadal despatched a message that he’s not able to relinquish his grip after reaching the quarter-finals or higher in any respect clay-court occasions he contested, and including two extra titles to his ever-growing haul.

In actual fact, within the six tournaments that he has performed up to now in 2021, Nadal has but to lose earlier than the final eight. After taking a two-month break following the Australian Open (l. to Tsitsipas), he raced out of the gates on the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters, the place he ran up in opposition to an impressed Andrey Rublev within the quarter-finals.

He was again in enterprise on the courts of his beloved Barcelona, the place he claimed a tournament-record-extending twelfth title on the ATP 500 occasion and lifted the trophy at his namesake court docket, Pista Rafa Nadal. Nadal backed up a quarter-final run in Madrid by shattering one other match file in Rome, claiming his tenth Internazionali BNL d’Italia title (d. Djokovic). 

“I actually wished this tenth right here in Rome… After reaching 10 at Roland Garros, 10 in Monte-Carlo, 10 in Barcelona, I actually wished this one,” he stated. “It’s [a] tremendous vital match for me… I wish to win day by day and each match that I’m enjoying. One thing that I do know [is] not going to occur. However the ardour and the motivation to strive is all the time the identical.”

Tsitsipas’ Clay-Court docket Dominance
It could have been straightforward for Stefanos Tsitsipas to get down on himself after letting a golden alternative slip by after the Miami Open presented by Itau, the place a wide-open subject gave the 22-year-old an opportunity at his first ATP Masters 1000 occasion. Ultimately, he didn’t give doubters very lengthy to query it. Tsitsipas made his long-awaited breakthrough within the very subsequent match, tearing by the draw on the Rolex Monte-Carlo Masters (d. Rublev) with out dropping a set.

It could have additionally been straightforward to cease there, with Tsitsipas happy after his sixth tour-level title and his first above the ATP 250 degree. However that’s not his fashion. Fairly than the height, Tsitsipas’ triumph in Monte-Carlo was simply the beginning of a season of clay-court dominance. 

Learn Extra: Tsitsipas Reveals ‘What I’m Fighting For’

The Greek participant racked up a 22-4 file on the floor, including to his tour-leading 39 matches received (39-10 on the season). Tsitsipas reached the Barcelona closing – holding match factors in opposition to Nadal – and went on a 10-match successful streak that took him to a different title in Lyon title and his first Grand Slam closing at Roland Garros (l. to Djokovic). 

Because of this Tsitsipas led the sector within the FedEx ATP Race to Turin and occupied the primary place for many of Q2, earlier than being overtaken by Djokovic. However don’t count on the Greek to be happy with second place for lengthy.

“That is what I am combating for; that is the place most of my consideration is correct now,” Tsitsipas stated. “It is a precedence and I am making an attempt to achieve as many factors within the Race To Turin this 12 months. It is going properly up to now. I have been enjoying good tennis. I have been constant and that has helped me be the place I’m proper now. I’ve a purpose of reaching 7,000 or 8,000 factors this 12 months. I believe it is a good purpose and with this consistency, I see no motive to not get there.”

Berrettini Bounces Again In A Massive Approach
After sitting out a lot of the first half of the season with an belly damage, it could have been comprehensible if Matteo Berrettini wanted a number of tournaments to seek out his ft once more on clay courts and saved expectations low. 

As an alternative, Berrettini blew expectations out of the water as he claimed his fourth tour-level title in his second match again in motion, cooling the red-hot Aslan Karatsev within the Serbia Open closing. He made it eight wins in a row as he powered his method to his first ATP Masters 1000 closing on the Mutua Madrid Open (l. to Zverev). Not unhealthy, contemplating that only a few weeks earlier he was struggling to even land a serve.

Learn Extra: Berrettini’s Road From Painful Sneezing To Madrid Final

“It is loopy as a result of after three days [when] I obtained injured, I might do a crunch with my abs, however I could not flip. Once I was getting within the automobile, after I took flights, I used to be struggling. I used to be feeling it. Once I was sneezing, I used to be feeling it… I could not serve for a very long time.” he described in Madrid.

However one of the best was but to come back, because the Italian reached a good larger degree on the lawns of London. Berrettini took down five-time Queen’s Membership champion Andy Murray en path to his first ATP 500 title on the cinch Championships (d. Norrie). At Wimbledon, a match the place he had by no means been previous the fourth spherical, Berrettini made his largest transfer but. Solely Djokovic was in a position to halt the big-serving Berrettini and snap his 11-match successful streak as he powered his manner into his first Grand Slam closing.

Medvedev Masters All The Surfaces
With two Grand Slam finals and 10-tour degree titles, there’s no query that Daniil Medvedev has been one of many high hard-court gamers of the previous few years. However after rising to World No. 2 and having subsequent to no FedEx ATP Rating factors to defend between April and August 2021, the Russian seized the chance to problem himself on clay and grass courts.

In Madrid (0-2), Rome (0-2) and Roland Garros (0-4), the purpose was easy: win a minimum of one match. He did that and extra. After breaking his duck together with his first win in Madrid and the falling on the first hurdle in Rome, Medvedev defied the chances with a run to his first Grand Slam quarter-final away from hard-courts at Roland Garros. After years of being vocal together with his dislike for clay courts, the Russian was beginning to change his tune. 

“The clay at Roland Garros feels nice this 12 months,” stated Medvedev. “Now I do know that to beat me right here, the fellows need to play properly.”

He continued to thrive outdoors of his consolation zone because the tour turned to grass, a floor that he traditionally enjoys enjoying on however the place he had not achieved skilled success. He translated a run to the title on the Mallorca Championships (d. Querrey), his eleventh tour-level title and his first away from laborious courts, into his finest Wimbledon outcome, reaching the fourth spherical (l. to Hurkacz) with a victory over former finalist Marin Cilic alongside the way in which.

Mektic/Pavic Guide Their Nitto ATP Finals Ticket
In singles, nobody has dominated the 2021 season greater than Djokovic. In doubles, that title goes to the unstoppable Croatian duo of Nikola Mektic and Mate Pavic, whose unimaginable streak of success has earned them the primary spot into the Nitto ATP Finals.

The No. 1 and No. 2 gamers within the FedEx ATP Doubles Rankings teamed up firstly of the 12 months, and every part their partnership touched has turned to gold. They reached 4 consecutive ATP Masters 1000 finals, and received three of these in Miami, Monte-Carlo and Rome.

After being bested by Marcel Granollers and Horacio Zeballos in Madrid, Mektic and Pavic claimed their revenge a number of weeks afterward grass. They received 10 matches in a row to raise the trophy at Eastbourne, after which triumphed at Wimbledon (d. Granollers/Zeballos) for his or her first Grand Slam title as a crew.